Tiger Woods on injury, experience at THE PLAYERS Championship

Tiger Woods took some time in his Tuesday press conference to address a variety of subjects, including the neck injury that kept him out of Bay Hill, his experience with Sawgrass in March

Tiger Woods looked calm and relaxed in his pre-tournament press conference at The Players Championship. He had pulled out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week with neck problems. His neck is recovered, he said, after a week of rest and therapy. He’s ready to go.

One advantage Woods possesses this week is great course knowledge, particularly this time of year. There are only 23 in the field who have played The Players in March and May.

“It’s so familiar to some of us who have played in March,” Woods began. “It’s soft, it’s wet. We had the rain last night. We were getting mud balls, and it’s back to how it used to play.”

The difference is explained perfectly in the clubs Woods hit last year on the 18th hole and those he hit in his practice round Tuesday. Last year, Woods hit 3-iron, 9-iron at the 18th hole. Today, in his practice round, it was 3-wood, 3-iron.

“The golf course plays so much shorter in May than it does in March,” he explained. “That’s probably the biggest difference. We’re going to have to hit more clubs off the tees, have a little bit longer clubs into the greens, but the difference is the greens are much slower and much more receptive.”

One place the weather will make a difference is at the infamous 17th island green. When it’s warm, most golfers hit wedges or 9-irons there. But, depending on the wind direction and temperature, longer clubs may come into play.

“I’ve been between 6-iron and 5-iron on 17 to hit the shot. Not too many people can say that, unless they’ve played in March,” Woods noted.

Tiger Woods hit one of the most famous putts of The Players Championship at the 17th hole, but it was on a Saturday, not on a Sunday. It has become known as the “better than most” putt. He gave some insight on the dramatic stroke from 2001.

“The truth is that I had a little teach before that putt,” Woods recalled. Fred Funk had a similar putt while Woods’ group was waiting on the 17th tee. Woods was able to judge the speed of the putt and see the break.

“It broke left a lot at the top, and then it just snapped at the right,” he said about the famous putt. “I hit my spot and I was just hoping that it would take the break because I saw Fred’s, how much it went to the right at the end, and my putt was not going right. I’m like, would you start breaking. And as soon as it started to break, I’m like, stop breaking. And then it caught the low side of the hole and went in.”

While that putt did not come on Sunday, Woods did go on to win that year, one of his two Players victories.

The finishing hole is often overshadowed by the more notorious island 17th. However, the 18th, according to Woods, is extremely challenging. There is water along the entire left side of the hole from the tee to the green.

“The golf course is one that Pete (Dye) has set up to intimidate you visually. You have to overcome that part of it,” Woods explained. Nowhere more than the 17th and 18th.

In fact, what Pete Dye told me while he was building the Stadium Course at PGA West – which features a similar final hole — was that amateurs fear the shot that goes right, but pros fear the shot that goes left. Dye said that was why the water was on the left of the 18th hole at PGA West. He wasn’t out to scare the amateurs. He wanted to mess with the minds of the pros. The PGA West hole is nearly an identical twin to the TPC Sawgrass 18th.

“Anything starts left, it’s not coming back, and you’re going to have to be dropping up on the next tee or playing from there again,” Woods explained. That’s because of the left curvature of the hole.

The right side of the 18th hole, however, features another problem. It has a large tree on the right side at approximately 280 yards. While there’s no water there, the tree acts as a different kind of hazard.

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“I’ve tried to play more in the conservative side to try and put it in play, even though I’m a little further back,” Woods added. “It’s so much easier in May because, I mean, it’s a nothing tee shot because it’s always downwind. We always got the south wind here. And it’s just some kind of hybrid or 3-iron for me or even a 5-wood and some kind of wedge or 9-iron to the green.”

March is a different animal and makes the 18th a different hole.

“Now you’re forced to hit driver, and from there it’s going to be a tough fit,” Woods noted. “If you have a north wind, it’s slightly off the left, and off the left and with that hazard, it’s a tough tee shot.”

The second shot, assuming golfers do everything else right, also requires precision.

“You can’t bail right. You can’t bail short. You got to hit two really good golf shots to finish it off,” Woods summed up.

There are moguls to the right and moguls short, and there’s a small pot bunker, just for fun. Of course, the big bad hazard is the water left from the tee to the green.

Next. The PLAYERS Championship Power Rankings. dark

Tiger Woods is one of 23 PGA Tour golfers who have competed in The Players in March and in May. He’s the only one who has a victory in both times of year and one of few who have won The Players twice. Woods won in 2001 and in 2013.

In addition to Woods, double champs include Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Steve Elkington and Hal Sutton. Only Jack Nicklaus has won the tournament three times, and none of those came at TPC Sawgrass.

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