Tiger Woods Speaks at Congressional

Tiger Woods won the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club on Sunday.

As host and competitor he spoke out on a variety of subjects throughout the week.

Here are some of his more interesting and revealing comments.

When Tiger Woods stepped forward to fill a gap in the PGA TOUR schedule two years ago he wanted to honor the military. What better place and time than in the nation's capital on the Fourth of July which marks the nation's birthday.

"Having the service men and women out there makes for such a special week that one I think everyone in this room would certainly agree that we should all say thank you to them personally and shake hands and be very appreciative what they do in putting their lives on their line to all of us."

Tiger recognizes his father's career as a Green Beret and knows this year's tournament will be better than last year when Anthony Kim won—at least from a personal perspective.

"Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend last year. I was at home watching it on the couch, and it wasn't a whole lot of fun."

What? Tiger taking direction from the United States Golf Association? Having to vacate the premises for two years so they can stage a U.S. Open here in 2011?

"It's unfortunate, with the U.S. Open coming here and we have no choice. We have to go (to Philadelphia and Aronimink), and it's part of what the USGA makes you do."

Hey what about Pebble Beach hosting the AT&T National Pro-Am and the 2010 U.S. Open?

The spin? Different seasons, different reasons.

Play on the Monterrey Peninsula is different in the heat of June versus the dampness of February. Plus Pebble has already been doctored by Rees Jones.

When asked on Tuesday how much effort he is going to put into winning the event he is hosting Tiger forecasted the inevitable.

"I always put in as much as I possibly can to win an event. Certainly I love being the gritty host. It is fun winning your own event. It's no doubt. It is awfully fun to do that. Hopefully I can do that again this week."

"Again" is a reference to his winning his offseason event in Southern California, the Chevron World Challenge four times since its inception in 1999.

"Once game time starts, it's just my job to actually get up there on the board and try to win an event."

"I've always enjoyed being a selfish host, and that's winning the event."

"I certainly have won my share of tournaments, but I've lost more than I've won. And that's the nature of our sport. You know, we do lose a lot of events. But I've won my share, and hopefully I can win a lot more in the future."

President Obama did not make it out to Congressional before leaving for Russia Sunday evening.

"As far as seeing the President this week, I have no plans. I've put out an invite for him to come out here. He's a little bit busy. There might be a couple things on his plate."

Looking back at the U.S. Open and his putting woes Tiger shared a key insight regarding the speed of putts.

"I didn't have my speed right, and I hit a lot of putts that lipped out, and when you're putting well, they lip in and when you're putting poorly or don't have the speed right, they're lipping out."

 
Line is still important though, right?

Tiger on Thursday after defending champion Anthony Kim shot an opening 62, when asked if he was surprised to see Kim leading after how he has played this year (his last and only Top 10 this year was in the season opening Mercedes Benz Championship.)

"He's got so much talent: It's just a matter of time before he turns it around. He came back to a site that he feels comfortable at, and he's played well here in the past. There's a lot to be said for that."

Tiger wanted to go head-to-head with Kim come Sunday afternoon and that is exactly what happened though a Sunday 62 by Hunter Mahan almost ruined Tiger's day.

"Hopefully we can both get into that situation. We have a long way to go before that happens. Today we both played well, but still, we have a long way to go before we can put ourselves in a position where if we do have a head-to-head battle, it is what it is."

Tiger sharing a putting tip his father gave to him when he was real little. Read this one slowly to get the true tip.

"So every time I'd take a look at the hole, and while I'm taking my practice strokes and I'm over the golf ball, that is a picture. And then all you do is just putt to what you just saw basically. That was his idea of trying to communicate to me how to putt. Even to this day I still putt the same way."

Did you get the picture?

See the picture of the line and hole while you are looking at the ball and making the stroke. I can't wait to get out on the practice putting green to try and perfect this tip.

Tiger when asked what it felt like when Kim posted the 62 before he even teed off.

"You know, you have to shoot something in the 60's obviously. But then again, you're going to have the same conditions they had the very next day, calm in the morning, good greens, and even if you don't get it the first day, you can always get it the second day."

Tiger did not wait until Friday he shot 64 on Thursday to keep pace with Kim and on target for the Sunday showdown and Shootout Congressional style.

Out in the morning on Friday Woods pieced together a decent 66 with better putting and worse driving and ball-striking.

Quizzed again on the marquee matchup with Kim on Sunday afternoon he responded as follows:

"If that happens, it happens. I have one more round to go (Saturday) and position myself, and he's got two more rounds (Friday afternoon and Saturday.) We've got a long way to go before that happens. We'll see what happens."

It is true—when you are in the golf business you play less golf.

Even if you are Tiger Woods.

"I love playing, but when I'm at home, it's more of preparing. I'll go out there and I'll play, but it's preparing for the next event. I rarely ever go out and just play just to play. Arnold used to do that all the time and still does."

Be like Mike? Be like Tiger? Not. Be like Arnie!

"I've never played Pine Valley, never played Seminole, Merion. I don't play golf on my vacations. I get away from it and I'm at home. I'd never, ever have a golfing vacation because it's not interesting for me to go out there and do that."

Yep he's married with two kids. Been there done that. Poor Tiger never played Pine Valley. Hey he has played Augusta National. We are still waiting and dreaming!

When asked about 50-year old Michael Allen's 65 on Saturday Tiger was amazed but not surprised.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it? It goes to show you, a lot of these guys are turning around their careers by training and doing things that they normally wouldn't have done.

"Normally we see guys in their probably mid-40's kind of waiting, buying time to try to get to the Senior Tour, and instead, we've seen from Jay Haas to Fred Funk to Michael, Kenny, guys really playing well up into the Senior Tour and even when they could be out there and they're still playing out here really well."

Hey he forgot to mention Greg Norman, Loren Roberts, Tom Lehman, Olin Browne, Tom Pernice Jr., Fred Couples, Tommy Armour III, Corey Pavin, March Calcavecchia, and Steve Lowery. Never name names you always miss one or two.

Tiger after shooting 70 on Saturday when asked if he was excited to be paired in the final group on Sunday with Anthony Kim.

"No, not yet. I'm just looking forward to taking the family and watching fireworks tonight and then getting reset tomorrow morning for the round. But that's when I'll get fired up. Usually I don't get fired up the night before. There's no sense in wasting energy."

Fireworks tonight, fire in the belly tomorrow at game time.

Tiger during Sunday afternoon when Hunter Mahan shot a 62 and posted 12-under par in the clubhouse.

"Six holes to go, and at the time I was tied for the lead. It was just like, you can go either way. You can win the tournament or you can lose the tournament from here. Just got to keep plodding along and hopefully maybe sneak one or two birdies coming in and get the title."

"There's more pressure because Hunter posted so early. When you post that early on a difficult golf course, a lot of different things can happen. This golf course is not easy, and we only have basically one real birdie chance coming in."

He did birdie the par-5 16th hole and snuck in his 68th career win.

Tiger responded to a reporter's questioning what it is about him that always seems to make his opponents crack on Sunday?

"Well, I'm 6'5", 250, you know. You just go about your business. The great thing about golf is you just play your own game. You know, you can't physically intimidate anybody. You can't physically influence somebody like what happened to Fed today (Roger Federer winning Wimbledon). In that sport you can. In our sport, you can't. You hit the ball long, you hit the ball short, you have the same chance to shoot a low score."

Funny but true I guess.

While one does not have to volley back an opponent's 300-plus yard drive one is left to deal with being over 50 yards further from the hole on the second shot.

Kim and Woods have competed in the same stroke play event on the PGA TOUR on 17 occasions. Tiger has finished ahead of Kim in every one of those 17 events.

Tiger relating his words to Anthony Kim walking down No. 18 on Sunday afternoon:

"I just said that I enjoyed it, and there will be many more to come. Just keep working hard, and we'll do this for many more years."

Yeah right I am sure that is what Anthony Kim wanted to hear.

Congratulations Tiger for winning your own tournament on the PGA TOUR.

Good luck at Turnberry!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]