DAVE SENKO: Tiger, 8 under right now going into tomorrow. Maybe look back at today and a little bit ahead to the weekend.

TIGER WOODS: Well, today I drove it good again. Iron game was not very precise, and my speed on the greens was a little bit lacking, and another three putt again today.

Overall I've got a little bit of room for improvement. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it cleaned up a little bit more.

DAVE SENKO: You've not been able to really take advantage of the par 5s. Is that something you're going to try to do over the weekend?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I played them, what, 1 under today? I was in positions to make birdies on a couple of them and didn't do a very good job, three putted one and missed a short one there at 16. That's the way it goes.

DAVE SENKO: The play on 5, how much consideration you had nothing but to go backwards; is that correct?

TIGER WOODS: Uh huh.

DAVE SENKO: Could you talk about your distance and any consideration you gave to giving it a good whack?

TIGER WOODS: You mean the third shot?

DAVE SENKO: Yeah.

TIGER WOODS: The third shot, well, I had a shot to go up over the trees and hit a high cut. It was only 260 front, and that's not a problem with a 3 wood, but the problem is the wind changed. It was blowing down but changed and went back in our face on my third shot, which meant I couldn't get there. After I laid up, Henrik hit his shot as we were walking and it switched back to down, and I thought that was nice timing.

Then I proceeded to hit I thought it was a pretty good fourth shot, hit the flag. It was right at it. It's the second time in two days I've hit the flag.

DAVE SENKO: Have you ever found yourself when you're hitting it well to aim away from the flag?

TIGER WOODS: I'm not as good as Mo, no (laughter).

DAVE SENKO: To hear you talk about the things you went through today, it seems like you're sounding like an ordinary golfer in that every day there's something new that won't work, and you fix one thing and then you always have something else. How does a guy at your level look at that challenge? Do you recognize that every day there's going to be something, and what do you do? How do you cope with that?

TIGER WOODS: Well, golf is fluid. It's always changing. It's always evolving. You always have to make adjustments. It's not just from one round to the next, it's from shot to shot. That's what we do.

It's just whoever makes adjustments the best and most consistent usually wins the tournament.

DAVE SENKO: I have a question about Dubai and the project that you're doing there. What made you choose Dubai out of all of the other places in the world that I'm sure you are solicited for?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it was all timing. I wanted to play all around the world first of all before I ever decided to get into course design, and then lo and behold, this opportunity came up. I really haven't been subject to a lot of other different opportunities, but this one certainly came up and they mentioned it last year when I was over there and playing the tournament, and then all of a sudden it piqued my interest, and here we are.

DAVE SENKO: You're going to play the Desert Classic again this year?

TIGER WOODS: I am, yeah, I'm defending.

DAVE SENKO: And any other events in the Middle East, Qatar or Abu Dhabi?

TIGER WOODS: No, I've got to play the Buick the week before and then go to Dubai.

DAVE SENKO: I wondered about your thoughts as both a player and a golf businessman, we've seen sports going through popularity booms, tennis, ice hockey, maybe the NBA, too, and inevitably they plateau and face issues. Is golf facing those kinds of issues now, or is it going to in the near future? Where do you see it?

TIGER WOODS: Well, the popularity of the game is still increasing but our market is flat as far as entrance of new golfers. We really haven't been climbing. New golfers really haven't been springing up as much as we thought. It's been pretty flat over the last ten years now. So that's very interesting.

But popularity wise and our viewership, that's increased dramatically, as well as gallery size and attendance at tournaments. That has increased dramatically. But for some reason, newcomers to the game really haven't been following suit for some reason.

DAVE SENKO: Why do you think that is?

TIGER WOODS: Well, probably price and availability. It's pretty easy to find a place to play hoop, pick up game of football, soccer anywhere you want. But it's hard to find a golf course where you can actually learn and train and be equipped to train first of all and then have the ability to go out there and play and then get better.

DAVE SENKO: What can be done to resolve these factors?

TIGER WOODS: Well, that's one reason why the First Tee was developed, to try and shorten that gap. But it still needs some work.

DAVE SENKO: Your position I guess on the board, the tournament by 9 and 10, I wonder if you could talk about those putts and if there was any hole damage on 9.

TIGER WOODS: Well, first of all, 9 was uphill and would have been probably six to eight feet by. 10 was downhill and easily would have been six or eight feet by. So two lucky breaks. Again, people say “How can you be complaining? You made two putts.” But if you look at my speed on those putts, and if they don't go in, then I'm looking at probably two more three putts. I've already got three this week, and that's three too many.

DAVE SENKO: The inconsistency in your putting, why is that?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. This is one of the only years I've ever had that. I've been very streaky this year, and the tournaments I've putted well I've won.

DAVE SENKO: Do you ever think about trying not to three-putt?

TIGER WOODS: No, you don't ever go out there and think I'm not going to three putt. It's about concentrating on your speed a little bit more, concentrating on dying the putts around the hole. A lot of times just like anybody else, I get excited and get a little aggressive and think I can pour this thing right in the back of the hole and get out of here. It doesn't always happen that way.

DAVE SENKO: Where do you think was your worst three-putt this year?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I putted terrible on Sunday at Augusta. I had a chance to win that one.

DAVE SENKO: Was there one that drove you nuts?

TIGER WOODS: I can't really think of any. You've got to probably say those two and a few more because I had probably five or six three putts that week, and if I don't three putt I probably win the tournament.

DAVE SENKO: Can you imagine do you think there's pressure on somebody not to finish last in this tournament even though everyone is pretty great?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I think so. I was in that position last year (laughter). I was thinking, oh, yeah, you're leading the tournament. Oh, I'm sorry, I have the paper upside down (laughter). You don't want to be in that position, no.

DAVE SENKO: No matter what the prize money is?

TIGER WOODS: No matter what it is. This is an elite field. You don't ever want to bring up the rear like that.

DAVE SENKO: You want to be last one out on the course, right?

TIGER WOODS: There's no doubt about that. Of course we do. Of course we do. You don't want to be out there setting the pins for the guys coming up behind you, making sure all the dew is off the golf course.

DAVE SENKO: Speaking of elite field, Tiger, there's a lot of internationals here. We've talked a lot lately about the fact that there's only two Americans under the age of 30 who have won more than two tournaments. What is it? Can you give us some thought as to why the Europeans, the international players, have gotten so much better?

TIGER WOODS: I think a lot of those guys turn pro at a lot earlier age, and our college system also don't forget, too, that generally they don't start out playing this Tour. America is by far the most difficult Tour, and if you start off playing here, getting an opportunity to play, trying to qualify through Nationwide or Q school is not exactly easy. It's a lot easier to go through other avenues, which I mean by other places around the world to play. You learn to develop and you put yourself there in contention more often.

Because of our depth here in America, if you put yourself up there with a chance to win on Sunday and you don't win, well, when is the next time you're going to do it? That's the problem. Other tours don't have the depth that we have, and it's a little bit easier to get yourself back up there sooner with a chance to win and learn to do it again.

These guys have done that. If you look at most of the guys who are international players, they didn't come here right away when they turned pro. They played in Europe, played in Australia, played in South Africa and even some played in Asia.

DAVE SENKO: Do you think that some of our younger players should be playing other places before coming out?

TIGER WOODS: They won't do it because they were born and raised here. They know this culture. Also it's very convenient to travel from state to state and never have to change currencies. Everyone speaks the same language. Over in Europe that's totally different.

DAVE SENKO: Let me follow up on that. Are we saying the Nationwide Tour hasn't done what it's supposed to do? A lot of guys come off of it and win. What's your thoughts on that?

TIGER WOODS: Well, as I say, you play the Nationwide Tour, that's another few years out there before you get out here. Well, that's time. Also people don't recognize the Nationwide wins as European wins, the same level. You look at it as like basically AAA. You look at the European Tour on the same level as we do. Say like Seve has got 50 some odd wins. If he had 50 Nationwide wins, is that a big deal? I don't think you want to be leading the home runs ever hit in AAA.

DAVE SENKO: Your friend Notah Begay went to the European Tour Qualifying School and got his card. Can you talk about the bravery of that decision to go and base himself in Europe and try and get back that way?

TIGER WOODS: I think it's a very smart decision. We actually talked about it at length, and I said I think it's a great I like where his head is at. He's been struggling and his back has been bad for years. It hasn't been any good since 2000, his back. To play six years in pain is not a whole lot of fun.

He wanted to go somewhere he can basically get away from everybody and things that he knew, and also, as I said, depth of field, give him a chance to get up there in contention a little more frequently. I think that he's going to do well over there. He's finally healthy, and he's starting to get his length back. When he was out here he was in the Top 10 in driving distance. When he had that back injury, he dropped pretty significantly. You know, I think this will be great for him to go over there and basically get his confidence back.

DAVE SENKO: Please indulge me since it's that time of year; your most memorable Christmas gift you've ever received, or best?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. Most memorable Christmas gift? Probably last year. Dad said merry Christmas to me. I was on the floor watching TV. I had been up for like three days in a row, hadn't slept. I finally passed out on the floor, and he threw his shoe at me and said, "Merry Christmas." I said, "Oh, thanks, Pop." I knew it was the last time he'd ever say that again, so that was pretty cool.

DAVE SENKO: Henrik, thanks for joining us, 7 under going into the weekend. Maybe just talk a little bit about your afternoon and we'll go into questions.

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I got off to a good start, birdied the first two and then hit a couple of so so shots and needed to save par on a few holes. Birdied 8 and bogeyed 9, but things were going pretty good.

I got a bit of a lucky break on 11, ended up with an eagle there, a nice bounce with a 3 wood, and then I just hit probably the worst shot of the day on 12, ended up in a bad lie in the rough and two chips and two putts with a lip out there. That double bogey sort of threw off the momentum a little bit.

Another bad shot on 14, bogeyed that one. And then I hit a good one and birdied 15. And then again, middle of the fairway on 16 and hit a poor shot left, hit the tree and bounced up, chip and bunker shot and missed a short putt and made a bogey there.

Really hit three bad shots that cost me about five, I guess, so that was otherwise it would have been a really good day. It still feels like if you shoot under par you're never doing a bad job out there.

DAVE SENKO: What was your shot sequence on 11?

HENRIK STENSON: 3 wood, 3 wood with a lucky bounce.

DAVE SENKO: What was the putt?

HENRIK STENSON: Probably about eight feet.

DAVE SENKO: On 12 what did you hit?

HENRIK STENSON: I caught a 6 iron short right and two chips in the rough and a lip out there. Not the best of scores.

DAVE SENKO: What do you call a lucky bounce, and, two, how often have you played with Tiger and does the crowd get to you at all or are you okay with the distraction?

HENRIK STENSON: No, the crowds are good. They're a little bit loud at times, but in general they're good. I played with Tiger this is probably my fifth round with him in the last year.

DAVE SENKO: Could you describe what you call a lucky bounce?

HENRIK STENSON: We had one each because he hit a really poor tee shot left on 11 and it stayed in bounds there, and then I carried it on the second shot right, short of the bunker and it flipped over the bunker and almost went in the hole somebody said. Ended up about eight feet by the hole.

DAVE SENKO: You had a four shot lead over Tiger at one point. On the back nine when Tiger is kind of making his charge, did you feel yourself almost kind of pressing a little bit?

HENRIK STENSON: I'm not sure. I think I was 10 and he was 7?

DAVE SENKO: I think at one point you were 9 and he was 5.

HENRIK STENSON: After 8, yeah.

DAVE SENKO: But when he was sort of making the charge and he went birdie, birdie, do you find yourself almost unavoidably pressing a little bit?

HENRIK STENSON: No, I just try and play my game. He's a fantastic putter. I think the putting and his trouble shots are probably the two things I admire the most in his game, and I know there's always going to be one or two long ones finding the right line. He threw both at 9 and 10. It's no surprise anymore that he makes those kind of putts.

So I just try and focus on my game. It didn't feel great swinging the club today, so I just tried to stay in there and do my best. I think I handled my bad shots pretty good. The head stayed on.

DAVE SENKO: Can you take us through 5 and where your ball was in comparison to Tiger?

HENRIK STENSON: On 5? Yeah, we were both in the trees there, and neither one of us had a very good lie. They were pretty awkward ones, and he had to go backwards and I had a little whip around the hip there to try and get it out forward, and I managed to get it out over the bunker so I could reach in three. Then he hit the flag and then he chipped in.

DAVE SENKO: When he makes a shot like that, does that kind of affect you at all?

HENRIK STENSON: No. I mean, sure, if we were playing the 71st hole on Sunday and we're all square or he's one behind and he chips in, of course it's going to affect me. But it's still a very long way to go. We're on the fifth hole in the second round. If he makes it or not, it's not going to affect my game that much.

DAVE SENKO: We've discussed how many non Americans are on the PGA TOUR, a lot of Australians, Europeans, et cetera. Do you find any negative reaction from the crowd out there either playing with a guy as popular as Tiger or just playing at all, any anti foreign spirit you might say?

HENRIK STENSON: Well, I mean, if you have a tree full of apples there's always going to be one bad apple, right? So there could be somebody clapping when the ball is off the green or something, but it's nothing that I pay too much attention to. As I said, the crowds are in general very good and supportive of good shots, and they want to see good golf. Of course they're going to cheer for Tiger, not for me.

DAVE SENKO: (Inaudible.)

HENRIK STENSON: No, I don't think so, no. I wouldn't say that.

DAVE SENKO: A general question about pre shot routine. Do you model your pre shot routine after anybody you were watching when you were growing up, and second part is what are you trying to accomplish with your pre shot routine?

HENRIK STENSON: Well, I mean, no, just sort of throughout the years I've worked on different things. I mean, I normally have like now, for instance, I'm trying to get a feeling in the swing, so that's what I'm doing before I sort of get into the ball. It's more probably the mental routine before I decide what I want to do, where I want to pitch the ball and what type of shot I want to play, and then I just try and step up there and do it.

That's what Tiger does the best. I mean, he's not holding back on any I mean, he just sees the shot and he goes after it. That's sort of the optimum.

DAVE SENKO: I know it's early days for you with Fanny on your bag, but could you talk a little bit about her influence, her experience, particularly when you have a bad hole or the going is a little rough?

HENRIK STENSON: She's a great girl and we're having good fun out there. I mean, she's very professional and I know she puts all the hard work and all the hours in to give me the best information when we're out there. I really appreciate that she puts the effort in and tries to be as prepared as possible. You know, she's been there, she's won four majors, so I'm going to try and make it at least five for her and my first. I mean, that's what we're aiming for. It's just great to have her on board.

DAVE SENKO: It seems like your confidence has really risen. Was there a point that it really got you to the top and you know you belong and you're really playing well all the time now?

HENRIK STENSON: Well, I think back in '05 I had a very good season, a lot of good tournaments, but I didn't win any, so I came really close and lost a couple of playoffs and stuff like that. I felt like during the '05 season I established myself in the top in Europe and also been moving in the right direction in the World Rankings. Sort of throughout this year I've gone from probably 35th to just outside top 10, and before that it was about 145 to 30.

DAVE SENKO:  How is the ball change going? Are you feeling any difference at all?

HENRIK STENSON: Well, I mean, there's always a slight difference. I'm really happy with the ball. This one feels slightly softer than the one I played before, but it still sort of travels the same distance. My clubs are irons are now two degrees weaker in the loft. I hit it a little bit shorter with the irons, and that's a little bit to get used to. But no, it feels good. I'm happy with the change. It's gone very smooth.

DAVE SENKO: Geoff, maybe just get us started, 2 under today and 6 under for this tournament heading into the weekend. Just take a quick look at your day and how things went out there.

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, I played quite well, up and down. I birdied the first two holes, which was nice. The first one, out of the trees, which was pretty good. 2 iron into the trees on the 1st isn't the way you want to start. I got away with it a little bit.

I birdied the first two holes, Freddie birdied the first three holes. I thought we were going to have a great day, and we kind of hit a bit of stalemate until the end of the front nine.

I made a putt on 10 that probably well it should have gone in but if it missed it was going to go a long way past. Then played quite well the back nine, actually missed a few putts, I think. Could have had three or four better if I would have had a really good putting nine. I'm going to be two or three back or something, I think. We'll see.

DAVE SENKO: What was your putt length on 10 and 11?

GEOFF OGILVY: 10 was 25 feet probably, and it was going to go 30 something, but it stopped at the hole. It was a two putt. 11 was a two putt from 20 feet. I had a really good shot. A really good eagle putt actually, left it short, but it was a tap in.

And then my other birdie was a tap in on the par-5. I got lucky; I drove it in the trees and wedged it out, wedged it to about a foot. But all the other putts were short ones.

DAVE SENKO: How about 1 and 2, do you remember the length?

GEOFF OGILVY: 1 was six feet maybe, five feet, 2 was a two putt on a par-5. All in all, it was pretty good.

DAVE SENKO: Talk about the drop on the curb.

GEOFF OGILVY: I could have hit the first one but there were rocks around it. Who knows where it was going to go. Then you take the nearest point and then a club length any direction, as long as you take relief from the path, and I was lucky I had six inches of room between the path and the brush. I had no chance. It was always going to roll forward twice.

DAVE SENKO: How did you end up getting there? What did you hit?

GEOFF OGILVY: Off the tee?

DAVE SENKO: Yeah.

GEOFF OGILVY: Driver. I just pushed it was really quite well, when you're up that high, it feels like … Freddie missed the fairway by five yards, I missed it by 25. I don't know how it went that far. It was a bad tee shot, but …

DAVE SENKO: And you had a really difficult stance because you were 

GEOFF OGILVY: It wasn't a very good spot. It was kind of lucky, the path I mean, it could have been if there was this much less room, I wouldn't have been able to take a drop because the drop would have been in that stuff, and I would have had to just swing it at the stones around the ball and hoped it came out good, which it might have done. It wouldn't have been very good for my golf club. But it turned out the slope was right so I could drop it twice, it rolls and I could place it, and I mean, it was a difficult wedge out, but it was better than hitting it when there was rocks around the ball. It turned out okay.

DAVE SENKO: What did you hit the rest of that hole?

GEOFF OGILVY: I hit it up to there with a 9 iron. It was actually on TV, dropped it from right next to the path, but I actually had just a better lie. I hit a 9 iron out about 100 yards, I guess, and had about 100 to the pin or something and hit it to about this far, I guess. I got away with it.

DAVE SENKO: And the relief was from what?

GEOFF OGILVY: From the cart path.

DAVE SENKO:  Is there an element of risk when the ball is sort of placed like that, that if you mis hit it, not so much where the ball might go but in giving yourself an injury because it looked like you caught it really flush, but there was a lot of power on the shot, and if something goes wrong and it jars that you could do yourself some harm?

GEOFF OGILVY: Not with where I played it from. If I had to play it from where it was originally, that wouldn't have been too good. There was some quite decent sized stones there. It would have been bad for my golf club, and potentially there were some risks. From where I hit it, there was some pebbles and stuff, but it didn't seem anything substantial enough. I wouldn't have hit it if I felt there was going to be an injury involved. There's always a risk I guess when you've got rocks around.

DAVE SENKO: Are you a bit surprised at all that, 2 under today, but you're still within only a couple strokes of the lead?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yes and no. I mean, it seems like there's lots of birdies out there but it's very easy to make a bogey pretty quick, too. Yes and no. The weather is so perfect, I mean, but there's only 16 guys. Normally there's 156 guys and you'll take three 65s. 16 guys there's less chances for that. They are the best players in the world, but they can't do it every day. I feel fortunate. I thought 9 or 10 under would be leading at the end of the day, so I feel fortunate I'm only a couple back.

DAVE SENKO: Off the top of your head, who do you think has played more since the U.S. Open, you or Mickelson?

GEOFF OGILVY: Oh, only because of the last few weeks I would have played more. I didn't play very much I played about five regular tournaments after the U.S. Open to THE TOUR Championship, but I played a full schedule since then, a few in Australia and the (PGA) Grand Slam and this one. I haven't played a lot on purpose. It was influenced by having a baby, too. I would have played a few more weeks without that.

DAVE SENKO:  I ask that to basically lead toward next year. How fresh do you think you are heading into '07?

GEOFF OGILVY: I think really good. I mean, I had nine weeks off after Akron, influenced by the baby. I would have gone over and played the American Express over in Europe.

Pretty fresh. I feel pretty ready to go. I wish there was probably four weeks between here and Mercedes instead of two. My golf is decent. It's a pretty good place to start the year. We're going to go there a couple days early. It's a serious tournament but a relaxing one at the same time, Practice rounds in carts. Then I'll have a couple weeks off after Sony, so I'll be pretty fresh by the time I really get going.

DAVE SENKO: Do you think there's any link to the fact that Stewie has won that three years in a row and Stewie is one of the few people in that field who plays a pretty full schedule in November and December?

GEOFF OGILVY: I think the reason Stewart wins that tournament is, because if Stewart ever gets into trouble and he out thinks because he hasn't practiced for a few weeks by the time he gets into Mercedes, so he has time to out think it. There must be something in it definitely because he plays his best every time he gets to Mercedes.

Someone will beat him one day. Hopefully it's me next year. I don't know, maybe he's fresher than a lot of guys. It's not like the old days. It used to be guys would lob up in Hawaii and they hadn't seen their clubs since October. They hadn't touched them for three months but it's different now, there's so much stuff to play in. Especially the guys who are in Mercedes, they play these silly runs at the end of the year, so they're relatively fresh.

DAVE SENKO: But he was thinking he, too, was a little sharper just having played seriously the PGA or The Masters or the Open or whatever he was doing?

GEOFF OGILVY: Probably. I don't know because like the Australians, it's unlucky that we have to play in December but lucky because it keeps us fresh for the start of the year, too. That might have an influence, playing high competitive golf really up to the start of the year.

DAVE SENKO: Are you encouraged to play?

GEOFF OGILVY: We're always encouraged to play in Australia. It's home.

PAUL CASEY: I felt like I hit the ball really well, and I really struggled on the greens. Obviously the card was cleaned up a bit at the end there because I made a couple of putts, but I really enjoyed the golf course. I really like it and can see a way of getting around there and making birdies. I’m happy to be in the position I’m in – not too far back, if the guys don’t go crazy coming in. And we’ll see what happens going into the weekend.

Q: How do you feel going into the weekend? Do you feel you’ve built some good momentum through your play in the first two days?

PAUL CASEY: Oh, yeah. I’m very happy with that. It’s nice to be in that sort of position when a lot of putts haven’t gone in. But then again, I’ve hit the ball pretty well tee to green. I couldn’t have hit it much better on some of those opening holes. So it’s a tradeoff – tomorrow, maybe I don’t hit it as good and I make everything. That’s the way it goes. I’m enjoying it, and the crowds are great, and as long as it doesn’t get too cold and rainy over the weekend, things will be pretty good.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Today I actually hit a great shot into 1, had a six footer, missed that. Birdied 2, made two good birdies on 6 and 7. Any time you can birdie those holes it's nice. Made a bogey on 8, made a great birdie on 10, hit it about a foot.

11, hit a great putt from about eight feet, almost a 360, didn't go in. I birdied 12. I hit a 5 iron to about 12 feet, made a 12 footer. 14 made a great up and down, made about an eight footer for par. 15, hit a good 6 iron in there to about eight feet, lip out.
I was able to birdie 16, 3 wood, 3 wood, chipped it up a foot. 18 had a tough shot, was able to hit a 5 iron just short of the green and then missed my putt. It went right over the edge. I would have liked to have not finished that way.

I think I've had three three putts this week, which is amazing. I don't three putt that often, and that's not sitting well.

Q. The three putt, was it a result of the greens, the conditions of the greens?

CHRIS DiMARCO: They certainly weren't from like 12 feet. All of them were long putts. On 18 I probably had 65 feet up that slope, so that was one of them. Yesterday, on 10, same thing, hit it right of the hole and it spun all the way down, had a 60 footer coming back up the hill, and I think I three putted No. 2 yesterday, hit it right on the front edge of the green and had a 75 footer up two slopes, and I had it go through the fringe. I really don't count that one, either.

It's certainly not missing short putts. I'm putting really good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, keep hitting good shots.

Q. In terms of your year, can you kind of give us some thoughts on your year and what you think up to this point?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, the first quarter of it was good and the last quarter of it was good. The middle kind of sucked. I got off to a great start, I won overseas in Abu Dhabi, and then on the regular Tour I got off to a good start, finished top 15 in three tournaments or four tournaments, and then I went skiing and hurt myself.
I just got done with Doral, hit a great shot into 18 at Doral, made a great birdie, finished like 20th there. So the first five tournaments I played I had top 20s, I was fine, and I had won. I was looking good, and I hurt myself skiing and I had to miss TPC. I tried to play Atlanta and I tried to play Augusta and struggled through it.

One thing I've learned from that is that I will never try to play injured again. I will just take off until I'm better. The first thing was obviously physically I was hurt and I was doing things in my swing and hitting shots I don't normally hit. Then after enough of that, you lose your confidence. So it was hard to get my confidence back.
The British Open basically saved the year. I finished in second there and it helped me with the Ryder Cup, which was one of my huge goals. It put me back into an okay year. $1.6 million isn't a bad year, it's not up to what I've done the last six or seven years, but for being hurt it threw me back about three or four months. I was out of not playing normal golf for 12 or 16 weeks.

Q. Does that make you rethink in terms of you getting hurt skiing, does that make you rethink some of the things you do in the offseason?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, basically what happened was I had a backpack, and when I fell I had something in my backpack that kind of kidney punched me and bruised one of my ribs. I can still feel it right now. So there will be no backpack basically. I'm going to take it a little bit easier. I have three children, they all ski, and it's just a great family thing.

I know I think Tiger has even been skiing lately. He's got about $100 million in endorsements, so he's got a little bit more to lose than we do. If you do it the right way and you're careful about it and you're not overly crazy, it's a good, fun week, and I'm looking forward to it. It's a great way to relax.

Q. Like Tiger, you had to deal with some personal adversity losing your mom. Talk about that a little bit. Tiger was saying the one place for him that's difficult is on the golf course because he thinks so much of his dad. I know you talked at the British about your mom took you to junior tournaments. Is it difficult for you or has it been?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I think about her two or three times a day. Absolutely if I'm sitting around I'll think about her. I know that she's always with me. It was just such a shock. It just happened unexpectedly. This time of the year is probably the worst time, around the holidays. I know my dad is struggling with it at home.

Luckily we have a lot of family that's real close, and I talk to my brothers almost every day, I talk to my dad almost every day, and we just talk our way through it. We're certainly an emotional family so tears are certainly not held back.

We're not the only family to ever lose a loved one. It happens to everybody, you just have to handle it how you handle it. It's really the first adversity we ever really went through as a family, and it really made us stronger, closer, and like I always say, my mom will never be forgotten, she'll always be remembered.

Q. Where are you going skiing?

CHRIS DiMARCO: We go to Snowmass.

Q. And another question, coming back to that, are you going to play the Middle East?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I am, I'm going to Abu Dhabi and Qatar my first two. Phoenix will be my first one over here.

Q. But we will see you for the first two over there?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I am going to play Abu Dhabi and Qatar, yes.

Q. At Hoylake you went into a lot with your mother. When this type of thing happens in the public, in other words, all of a sudden everybody is writing about it and talking about it, does that bother you, and do people come up to you and express condolences because of that?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I've had a lot of people come up to me and just say, “You know what, you've really helped. I've lost a mom or a dad in the last few months, and the way you handled it has really helped me deal with it.” That's great. That's gratifying obviously.

Like I said, I've always been a player that wears his emotions on his sleeve and I've never been one to try to hide that. I was hurt, without a doubt. You only have one mother and one father in this world.

I think about her a lot, and she was such a great mom. She was always there for me. She always put our needs way ahead of hers.

It's a great loss to the world, not only as a mother but as a great woman.

Q. Your dad didn't want to go to Hoylake?

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, I made him go.

Q. It was another great run for you in the majors, and I know people keep asking you, do you think you can get over that edge? Is there anything holding you back, the two playoff losses and then another good run at Hoylake?

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, there is one thing holding me back. There's a guy who's named Tiger Woods who's pretty good. Me and him beat the field by seven at Augusta one year, and last year I think third place was four or five shots behind me. I certainly played well enough to win. Obviously Vijay played great at the PGA and I lost in a playoff there, too.

You know, the ball has to bounce your way. If my career ended Sunday and I never got to play again, I'd be happy with the way my career was. Obviously just winning on the PGA TOUR is a great thing, and to be consistently up there the last seven, eight years like I have been is something I don't know if 10, 12 years ago if you would have told me that I'd have seven or eight years that I had that I would have believed it. I'm certainly believing that now and I certainly feel like I belong there, and it's a great confidence thing. Comfortability is one of the greatest things we can have out there, to be comfortable on the golf course.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHRIS DiMARCO: Make the Ryder Cup team, absolutely. Playing for your country is the greatest honor there is in the world, I think. We don't get Olympics, we don't get to do that, and to be a team event and to strap that U.S. flag somewhere on your person is the greatest feeling you ever have, the proudest feeling, and it makes you really be honored to be part of it.

Q. I wonder if you'd have a thought on a general question about golf, the golf industry's place in the world right now, I guess. We've seen sports go through boom periods in popularity, and inevitably they peak and face issues as they plateau and maybe even dip a little bit. Do you see golf facing those issues? Has it reached that point? Is it going to reach that point? What does it need to do to avoid it?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, I think obviously everybody thinks that we have reached a plateau, that's why we're changing things next year for the FedEx Cup. I personally thought we were doing okay playing for somewhere between $5 to $8 million a week. I mean, it was okay. I certainly wasn't knocking it.

You know, is Tiger going to play the last six tournaments in a row? I mean, that's what we have to see. If he's going to play the last six tournaments in a row and our ratings go way up, then it's worth it.

There's no doubt everybody knows out here where our bread is buttered. It's Tiger Woods, and he is what has made our purses go up, and when he plays a tournament the ratings are better, the amount of people that come out and watch is greater, and we know that. As great as Phil is and as great as Vijay is, they're not the ticket that Tiger is, and I think he knows that, too, and he plays quite a bit of tournaments, but he also likes his life and wants to go out and do things. It's unfortunate he can't be a normal person in this world because of who he is.

I still have a little bit of anonymity, which is good, where he doesn't have any. I kind of like having that and being able to go places and kind of blend in is nice.

Q. Can you talk about were you and Tiger, did you guys ever have a conversation or did you bond over both having lost a parent in the same season? I'm wondering if you guys were able to bond over that at all.

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, we had a moment where I think that we both we gave each other a hug, and we didn't need to have any words spoken, it was just kind of felt, what we were both going through. Right after he won at the British Open I was still in the tent and we just kind of said, "great playing," gave each other a hug and knew what we were going through. He was very gracious at his speech, including my mom in the speech, which I thought was great.

Not only is he the greatest player in the world, but the way he speaks to people is pretty unbelievable, too, and he certainly includes everybody and he always says the right thing.

Q. Could you explain to us what it's like playing with John Daly, and secondly, compare a John Daly gallery with a Tiger Woods gallery?

CHRIS DiMARCO: They're very similar. I mean, you get a lot of people, not to use this the wrong way, but you get a lot of people that don't really care much about golf, they just want to see these two guys play, and people that come out that don't really know much about golf. They're just out here to see Tiger Woods and John Daly.
It's not like going to Augusta where 99 percent of the people are golf fans. Here with Tiger and John, you get guys that don't necessarily know what the object of golf is, they just want to see these guys.