Tiger Woods made a quick trip to Washington D.C. this week to host a press conference, chat with the president, and get people excited for his upcoming tournament, the AT&T National Championship, July 2-5. Woods spoke on just about everything (he knows how to say "take out the trash" in Swedish!), but the main focus was on the Masters and how Tiger was just a hair off with his game."I'm obviously disappointed I didn't win," Woods said. "I was on the periphery of being in contention and being right there in the mix. I was just a fraction off. I didn't putt well till Sunday, and being a fraction off in that, and I do mean a fraction. Stevie and I were talking about it: 'Like how many times would you hit a shot that was one yard off?' And one yard is 30 or 40 feet at Augusta. Just takes the wrong side of the slope. And it just seemed to be happening all week."If you can remember back to the Masters two weeks ago that Angel Cabrera ended up winning, you know that the early buzz around Augusta National on Sunday was the battle between Tiger and Phil Mickelson, who tied the front-nine record with a 6-under 30. Tiger's front-nine wasn't too shabby either, as he made the turn at 3-under, but just couldn't get anything to fall on his way in.
People, including myself, have brought up the fact that Tiger hasn't seemed as comfortable around Augusta the last few years, a notion he rejected at the press conference.
"As far as my comfort level, I know how to play it," Woods said. "That's one of the reasons why you see a lot of the same guys near the top of the board; we understand how to play it. Only difference is a lot of our angles have been changed going into greens. ... So some of the things have changed over the years, but I still feel very comfortable over there. I really enjoy playing there and have an understanding of how to play it; even though I haven't won in recent years, but I've been there, and close, and that's because I understand how to play it."I would agree with his point about the same players being near the leaderboard, but that seems to be the same at any golf tournament with a course a certain player might enjoy. Woods did remark that he felt bad for Kenny Perry, who lost to Cabrera on the second playoff hole in his bid to be the oldest major championship winner in the history of the game.
You know, Kenny Perry's situation is very similar to what Raymond Floyd dealt with at the Masters; 50 or 51 at the time and lost in a playoff to [Nick] Faldo, and didn't know how many more chances he's going to get to get back there again; and played against Freddie [Couples] and loses again. Your time is running out, and I think that's one of the reasons why Raymond took it hard and one of the reason why is Kenny takes it hard. Realistically, you are not taking as many chances at 48 as you are at 28, and that's one of the reasons why it hit home so hard to him. And he had a chance to win.If you don't think Tiger is a golf historian, you just don't know much. Also, that burning question everyone is asking -- how are the kiddos?
"(Charlie) is good," Tiger said. "Growing like a weed."
