Woods Six Back, Comments on Dubai Round One and Being Number One

Tiger Woods, playing with current world No. 1 Lee Westwood and current world No. 2 Martin Kaymer, fired a -1 and is six shots back of leader Rory McIlroy.  Westwood and Kaymer are both -3.

“The last time I played in a pairing like this was the U.S. Open in 2008, the top three guys, and we had a lot of fun,” Woods said. “It was fun competing and playing in a group. I think tomorrow will be the same.”

Woods’ score was an improvement over the last two days at Torrey Pines.  However, he is the kind of golfer who typically beats people he’s paired with, and that did not happen Thursday.

Woods feels his game is showing signs of improvement, and some shots, like those on the final hole Thursday, which he eagled, indicated that.

“I'm putting pieces together,” Woods said. “Sean and I, we are sticking with the game plan and just trying to get better each and every week. “Good things happened at the last event I played in, and it's nice to have some things that showed up that I had not had in practice. So we were able to identify that, work on it, and I feel a lot more comfortable coming this week. “

As everyone saw, Woods struggled at Torrey Pines, where problems affected all parts of his game from accuracy to sand play to putting.   He also had some unforced errors in the first round at Dubai.  The back nine started birdie, birdie double, birdie.  So he just has to eliminate the big numbers. 

The struggles to regain form have not changed his goals in general. 

“If I'm in the event, it's to win. That's just plain and simple,” he insisted. “I don't always win. I've certainly lost a lot more tournaments than I've won. But it's the goal every week you tee it up and that doesn't change,” he said.  

However, he has won more than 30 of the 108 European Tour events he has entered.  That is a significant record.

While Woods it not currently No. 1, he knows the strategy to get the ranking back.

“Winning takes care of all that. That's how I got to No. 1 in the world. That's how I was able to sustain it, is to win golf tournaments,” he said.  “You've got to be consistent, but you also have to win. So the goal is still the same, it's to go out there and win.  The guys that have been No. 1 when I've been out here, how they got there, they won golf tournaments. That's how David got there; that's how Vijay got there; that's how Lee got there. And you have to do it for long periods of times. I think the only person who has been as consistent over the years was Norman. He won all over the world, and he won a lot. That's what you have to do.”

Woods declined to give his own assessment of a percentage of being back to “normal", but he did indicate the depth of the changes he is making.

“Obviously my swing, that made a complete change in philosophy and movements,” he explained, “and obviously still got to pay attention to the short game and my techniques there, all of the different shots, as well as the putting stroke.  You try and find practice time when you can, but we have had to do a lot more work on the golf swing. And I've made a complete overhaul on my swing, so that's taken quite a lot of time.”

He may be the only one not concerned that his game is not as sharp as it was two or three years ago.

“People forget, I went from '97 to '99 with only one win,” he recapped. “I went through a two-year period. But from '99 through '01, I had a pretty good run. So it's not like I have not been here before. I've been through stretches like this.  When I first started working with Hank, I went through a year and a half where I didn't do anything. It takes time to change, and especially a change in philosophy, which I've done on two other occasions and now this is my third occasion.”

For those who are concerned about whether Tiger Woods will return to the winner’s circle, worry not.

“I know what I can do in the game,” Woods concluded. “I feel like I can still win golf tournaments. I'm not that old. I figure I've still got some years ahead of me.”

Great shots:

Martin Kaymer drove the 359 yard par four 17^th and was inside Woods' second shot.

Woods eagled the final hole to get from +1 to -1.