Tiger Woods Talks Augusta, Knee and Seve While Preparing for the Players

Kathy Bissell

Special from The Players Championship -- Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

"I miss winning," Tiger Woods admitted late afternoon on Tuesday prior to The Players when asked if he missed his No. 1 status.

Woods has been recuperating from an Achilles tendon and strained MCL injury since The Masters.

He did not hit balls until yesterday, perhaps demonstrating one of the biggest problem with his recurring injuries, inability to practice.

"I played through it, but yeah, it was one of those things," he said about the Augusta injury. "I was in the midst of playing and competing and had to power through it, so I did it. I was able to shut down for a little bit and was able to take care of it."

Woods is taking anti-inflammatories, using ice and having soft tissue treatment, elevating the leg and generally hoping recovery is complete or nearly complete. He played nine holes today.

"The whole idea is that I peak four times a year, and I'm trying to get ready for Congressional ( U.S. Open), and I need some playing time," he explained, not that most of the field would view The Players as some playing time.

"I missed playing last week at a course I truly love playing, but I really want to get out there and play and compete. This is a big event, and I want to be here and play."

Despite the injury and despite little practice time, Woods keeps his expectations high.

"Try and win the event. Nothing has changed," he added.

Woods said that what is helping him get through this trough of unexceptional golf was the time from after The Masters in 1997 through 1999.

"If I hadn't gone through it before, I probably wouldn't have handled it like this," he said. "The period I went through in '97-'99 was brutal because I had never gone through a stretch like that, ever."

He has not spoken about the Sunday round at the Masters until today. He blamed the three putt at the 12th and the 7-iron and an iron at the 13th for losing an opportunity to win.

"Thirteen, the 7-iron I had in there, was just a terrible golf shot after I just three-putted there ( at the 12th)," he said by way of self analysis.

Woods does not believe it was the 15th hole at Augusta National that cost him a green jacket.

"It was 12 and 13," he said. "Fifteen would have been nice, but I had already done the damage. Even if I make that putt at 15, I still had to make one or two more coming in."

Woods continued, "But obviously 12 and 13 were huge because I had all the momentum and everything was going my way at the time."

On Seve Ballesteros:

"Just the way he played was fun to watch. Granted he didn't drive it all that straight, but when he did, he was virtually unbeatable. You've never seen a person compete from the places he played from, and I think there's no greater example of that than when he played (Tom) Lehman at Oak Hill," Woods said about the legendary Spaniard who passed away late last week.

"I got a chance to play with him in several practice rounds. One of my favorites was at Augusta, him and Ollie ( Jose Maria Olazabal), just the two of them, and just to hear him explain how to hit shots around Augusta, the way Augusta used to play, it was just artful. Just the spin and how much spin you need to put here and where you need to land it, where it needs to kick and the feel, and the way he explained it."