Tiger Woods at Hero World Challenge

Talks about his game, his approach to 2016 and why he may remain cautiously optimistic about his game

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Tiger Woods remained firmly in contention at the Wyndham Championship

Tiger Woods reflects on his game as he launches the Hero World Challenge in Albany Bahamas. He isn’t playing the tournament but making a big effort to get some of the best players in the world together. Woods shares it’s wonderful to have Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal along with India’s top player Anirban Lahiri at the press conference. Woods is in conversation with John Bush and talks about why he will approach the year with cautious optimism.

Q: Tiger, I know you’re disappointed to not be playing this week but just comment on what an excellent field we have and how important this tournament is to your Foundation, and I might add to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of (the Foundation) next year.
A: Yes, this is fantastic to have Hero and Pawan here, and Anirban, and to have this amazing facility here in Albany and Tavistock. It has been incredible over the years, my relationship with Tavistock, and to have this opportunity, to have it here at Albany is just fantastic. To have the field that we have, it’s by far the best field we’ve ever had. To have Jordan and Adam both come from Australia to come play this event. I know they’ve had a busy offseason and playing. Adam’s just basically coming here for the week and going right back home, so his commitment to this event and to this project here has been phenomenal.

(Left to Right) Tiger Woods-Pawan Munjal-Anirban Lahiri, Hero World Challenge 12.1.15 (1)
(Left to Right) Tiger Woods-Pawan Munjal-Anirban Lahiri, Hero World Challenge 12.1.15 (1)

Q.Tiger, you’ve been on Tour for almost 20 years now. When you look back at yourself at 21 and now approaching 40, does it seem like an entirely different person, who you are now as to who you were then?
A. Yeah, I have a lot less hair. (Laughs.) It’s hard to believe I’ve been out here for 20 years, going to my 21st season. How fast it’s gone by. To have had the amount of success I’ve had in such a short period of time, it’s been really cool.

QTiger, where are you in the rehab process now and what’s the soonest you could imagine yourself playing competitive golf again?
A: Therein lies the tough question and tough answer, because I have no answer for that, and neither does my surgeon or my physios. There is no timetable. So that’s the hardest part, that’s the hardest part for me is there’s really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build towards. It’s just taking it literally just day by day and week by week and time by time. It’s different from any of the other the surgeries and procedures that I’ve had in the past, where, okay, you blow out your ACL, which I did, and I had ACL reconstruction, and, okay, you’re back in nine months. That’s the timetable. For nerves, there are really no timetables and therein lies the tricky part of it because you can come back earlier or you can come back later, it just depends on how the nerve heals and how it settles.

Hero World Challenge with Anirban Lahiri
Hero World Challenge with Anirban Lahiri

Q. Last time a lot of us saw you was in Greensboro where you had a good tournament, seemingly turned the corner with your game a little bit, had a lot of optimism. Three weeks later you’re having surgery. What happened in those three weeks? And was the surgery, the fact that you needed to have it, a surprise to you?
A
: Yeah, was it a surprise? Yeah. Because as I was alluding to, that week and subsequent weeks, I felt my hip was killing me and I didn’t think it was coming from my back. I’ve had back pain and I’ve had that level feel uneasy before but I thought it was coming from my hip, and we worked out in the trailer each and every day and just tried to loosen up my hip. And okay, fine, we went out and played. But I didn’t feel any back discomfort; it was more my hip. Come to find out it wasn’t my hip, it was coming from my back, and hence the procedure.

Q.Will you approach this any more conservatively than you did in 2014?
A: Absolutely. This is my third one and it’s on the same level, so I have to, I don’t have any choice.

So to have these types of relationships, these types of players coming here and supporting what we’re trying to do for kids, not just domestically but eventually globally, it’s absolutely fantastic.

Next year is our 20th anniversary of the Foundation as well, so we’re looking forward to rolling a few more things out in the subsequent year. We’re excited to have again such a great field, to have amazing sponsors at this amazing venue.

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