Golf Talk

A selection of quotes from today’s press conference at Southern Hills in Tulsa (OK), site of the 2007 PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods reflects on the year that was and wasn’t,

Q. As well as you hit the driver last week, are you going to have to scale back on this course because of the doglegs? How many drivers do you perceive to be hitting around here?

TIGER WOODS: Not many. I didn’t hit a whole lot back in 2001, and probably not going to hit a lot this week. The ball’s flying forever. I mean, it’s going a long way. A couple of times, like today, I hit — Bubba hit 6-iron off of 10 and I hit 5-iron. The ball’s just going a long ways. Both of those shots went about 230 and 240. So depends on obviously the wind, and obviously the temperature is not going to go down; so the ball is going to continue to fly, which means a lot of the doglegs in the spots that you want to get to are going to be long irons or even fairway woods.

Q. The difference between the setup in 2001 for the U.S. Open and here this week, can you enumerate what is a little bit different about it?

TIGER WOODS: Actually, it’s interesting. The fairways this week are narrower than they were for the Open, but the rough is not as deep. The greens, all 18, are the same speed. (Smiling) So that’s nice. But overall, I think the golf course is very similar, except for I think some of the landing areas have been pinched in just a touch. But the rough is still penal because if you get the ball in there, as I said it’s marginal whether you can get it to the green or not; and if you can get to the green, you can’t control it.

Q. Going back to the end of last year and into the beginning of this year, you were hitting the ball really well, you were winning. Obviously the Masters is disappointing, and the U.S. Open is disappointing, British Open; do you feel like the swing deserted you or do you feel like there was something about the swing you couldn’t get all of a sudden, and how did you get it back last week, and do you feel now that you’ve got it?

TIGER WOODS: You never feel like you have it. That’s one of the great things about this game of golf. But as far as this year, it’s been very interesting this year. You know, if I’ve hit it well, I haven’t putted well. And if I’ve hit it great, or if I’ve hit it poorly, I’ve made everything. It’s just like, can I get the two together, somehow. It just hasn’t materialized for some reason consistently enough. You know, I think a prime example of that was at Charlotte this year, I did not hit the ball very well but I made everything. And then at the U.S. Open, I hit it really well and didn’t make anything. So, you know, it’s just one of those weird things. Welcome to golf, eh.

Phil Mickelson on his left wrist and past success here,

Q. How much different is the setup than what you saw in the past? Obviously, because you played well here — is it that much different and also why have you played well here, what about it suits you?

PHIL MICKELSON: The setup is similar to some of the tournaments we’ve had in the past. But there’s not some — we don’t have that situation with 9 and 18 where the green speeds were totally different than the other greens. And there’s some special spots that are challenging that I think are going to be really cool. I liked the shaved part behind No. 2 green. The shaved part to the right of No. 12 brings water into play; No. 7 shaved right of the green. But it also gives, there’s a bunch of shaved areas that allow your short game to come out as well. And I think that this course just tests players very well, and it is similar to what we’ve had in the past. It’s a lot longer. There’s a number of holes that have been lengthened. The reason I think I’ve played well here is that the grass is grasses I’ve grown up, the same stuff I’ve had in my backyard chipping. Even though the rough is thick and tough, it’s hard to get the ball close to the hole around the greens, you can hit shots and get it close if you know how to play them. And because I grew up on those grasses, I think I’ve been able to salvage par and save strokes better here than on some other courses.

Q. Phil, could you just update us on how you stand physically and then given any problems that you may still have, how that affects you mentally and emotionally when you’re going into a big, tough week like this?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I’m really excited about playing right now, because last week was the first week that I didn’t have to numb up the back of my hand to be able to hit balls. I was able to practice and actually practice for a few hours a day and work on my game. I’ve been able to put more time in my game now in the last week or two than I have in the last three months. And so I’m really excited about getting back out and playing. I’m excited about the upcoming FedExCup Series, but especially excited about trying to play well here at Southern Hills. Now, I haven’t played well in the last couple of months, but I also haven’t been able to practice. So I’m hoping that given a different practice regime and being able to work on my game, I’m hoping to have a much better performance.

British Open champ, Padraig Harrington, talks about respect and protocol,

Q. Two questions. I read that you were disappointed at not being described as the Open Champion on the first tee at Firestone last week and were you satisfied with your own performance in that event?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: As regards — disappointment, how would I put this? I was — disappointment is the wrong word and I can’t find the wrong word. I was jokingly disappointed. As in I had been waiting for 24 hours and I said it to everybody, and I was actually preparing myself that I would not get emotional when they called me the “Open Champion” because I wanted to hit my tee shot and not get distracted (laughter). Traditionally on the 10th tee, ten years ago, there was a guy, he used to do a song and a dance going down the tee box and he used to fire his finger down the tee box like this (indicating strong, down fairway) and they actually got rid of him because he was so involved, players were laughing before they hit their tee shot. I just wish he was there. (Laughter) I would have enjoyed the 30-second intro. You know, I didn’t really — nobody was obviously announced at the event. I remember when I was announced as Padraig Harrington, Ireland, I looked at my caddie and started laughing. You win the Open Championship, you can’t wait to be announced as the Open Champion. It was only — I wasn’t — I wasn’t disappointed in the sense of, you know, I was just — it’s strange. It’s a hard one to describe. It was a funny thing that I wasn’t announced or it would have been nice to be announced; but it wasn’t something that I had an issue with, at all.
And how I played, I really struggled last week. I didn’t play well at all. I fought very hard for the scores that I got that last week, and would need to play a lot better. I didn’t hit it — I didn’t hit it very well, especially off the tee and struggled because of that. So I want to be a bit better this week.

Q. There’s a very good story in the Irish papers this morning that says you’re going to buy, or you have bought 1,000 18-hole flags from Carnoustie and three replicas of the trophy. What’s that all about and how much might that cost you?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I’ve been asking players like Zach, you know, what they did in terms of memorabilia, and nobody can quite get the figure on it. Certainly I’ve heard somebody who bought 500 and they said they didn’t have enough. I’m trying to buy up, you know, flags and posters and prints and things like that.
You know, cost-wise, I’m not sure. I don’t know about the trophies what you get. I’ve heard from one to three replicas, I’m not really sure. I’m sure there will be so many requests for a long time to come, so, yeah, it’s something you have to — as a first-time winner, I have no idea what I need. And as I said, the only thing you can do is ask other players. And as I said, I’ve heard 500 has been nowhere near enough, so that’s why I’ve ordered 1,000.

US Open champ, Angel Cabrera, discusses the rise of golf in his native Argentina,

Q. Are the people excited in Argentina for the next major?
ANGEL CABRERA: I think that people in Argentina are following golf more than ever. Me having won the U.S. Open, Romero having played so well lately, and also Jose Coceres playing very well lately; and so that means there are three players with good chances to win the tournament, the PGA Championship. So people are going to follow with a lot of enthusiasm this tournament in Argentina.

Q. How does Romero hit it so far? He’s half your size and the guy weighs like 145 pounds.
ANGEL CABRERA: I don’t think that hitting the ball far, depends on the weight or height or length of arms or whatever. It’s just an ability of the player to hit the ball far.

PGA Championship, Southern Hills, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera

Quotes from ASAP Sports