A year after no wins and a back surgery, Tiger Woods played his first practice round of 2015 on Tuesday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Shortly after finishing his early-morning round, he talked to the media about the scoring conditions at TPC Scottsdale, his chances this season and the state of his game.
Here are a few of his most notable quotes:
"That didn't feel very good. (There are) two different podiums. After every race is completed, they move that up on hill so the photographers can do their deal. Lindsey had finished, I had walked onto the top. I still had the mask on so no one would know who I was, trying to blend in, because there's not a lot of brown dudes at the ski race. That was the whole idea why I wore the mask.
"All the camera guys were below me, moving all around trying to get a picture because she's hugging people, saying congratulations. ... The dude with the video camera on his shoulder kneeling right in front of me stood up and turned and caught me square in the mouth. He chipped that one, cracked the other one. ... Luckily, he hit the one I had a root canal on. That's the one that chipped. But the other one had to be fixed as well because it had cracks all through it.
"Flying home was a joke. I couldn't eat, couldn't drink until he fixed them, put the temporaries on. ... Even breathing hurt. ... I had to fly home and get it done first thing in the morning, which was nice."
"It's great to be back. It's been a long time since I've been back. The golf course is in fantastic shape. ... It's springy. The greens aren't overly quick. ... The longer hitters have done extremely well here and the numbers to carry the bunkers are barely out of reach, even for the big boys. You're going to be playing to the side of them instead of over them. ... Everyone is going to be playing from the same spots.
"I had to take a bit of break there for a while. That flu bug got me pretty good for another three weeks. I lost a lot more weight. Finally able to start gaining weight again and started training. ... Each stage, we're ahead of schedule in the gameplan. ... I'm cranking up the speed ... and it's going to be a fun year."
"I was caught up basically between two techniques. ... We had to basically hit thousands upon thousands upon thousands of chips to get (the old release pattern) out of there. Now, it's better."
"I don't know much about it. I know he got beat up. ... I saw a photo. He didn't look very good."
"I think I broke Fluff's hand (on the high-five). I missed his (Omar's high-five). Then old school, back in the day, raise the roof. And on top of that, smelling and hearing the beer hit behind me."
"I thought it was lighter than it was. ... I thought I could move it. In the end it took about five other dudes to do it. ... They moved it the wrong way."
"I haven't seen it yet. ... They didn't have bleachers like they do now. It was just a hill and people were just partying."
"My driving has come around a lot faster (than I expected). I'm a lot longer than I ever thought I could be again. I'm touching numbers that I did 15 years ago."
"I'd like to (go). That's the plan. I just wish my Raiders were there."
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