DAVE SENKO: Tiger, thanks for coming in, and maybe you could just get us started and talk about real quick your day and we'll get some questions.

TIGER WOODS: It was wet (laughter). A touch muddy, a little cool. But overall, I got off to just a great start today; birdied the first two right out of the gate. I had trouble making birdies after that. But I'm right there with a shot to win the tournament tomorrow. Geoff is playing great and, obviously, so is Chris. A bunch of pars is not going to get it done tomorrow, so hopefully I can play a little bit better than I did today and make some birdies.

DAVE SENKO: Par-5s, is that an area you’re still looking at as something you need to do differently?

TIGER WOODS: I drove it in a good spot there on most of them, and the second shot didn't hit very good second shots. Two of them I hit poor drives, one of them I had a shot at the green, and I made 6 on 16.

DAVE SENKO: On 16, can you talk about that? It seemed like a huge break and then…

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I probably hit the wrong club on the second shot. I had 225 front, 253 hole, and it was between 3 iron and 5 wood. I went with just a little 5 wood. The little 5 wood, I knew that it could get past the flag, and I was trying to get past that tree on the left and then pitch back, and in hindsight it probably would have been better to hit 3 iron and played to the front edge.

DAVE SENKO: Were there rocks down there or just junk?

TIGER WOODS: It was just sand, but it was sitting kind of down. I didn't know if there was going to be a rock underneath it.

The hard part was if there was a rock underneath there, the ball is going to come out flat, and this thing could bee line and come right back and hit me. I think that was one of the reasons why I kind of sodded it a little bit and just took too much sand and feathered it up there into the bunker.

DAVE SENKO: It was wet, and both Chris and Geoff said that the first few holes were pretty tough; the weather was nasty. Not the course but just getting damp and because of the ball's lack of spin, you couldn't control it as much. Did you find that?

TIGER WOODS: It's true, very true. Plus also you're a lot further back, too. I hit 3 wood and a 3 iron into 4 today. I've been hitting 5 wood and 6 iron and 7 iron in there, so it was playing a lot longer. You know, that's probably when it was coming down the hardest on that hole and the wind kind of kicked up a little bit. Overall it is what it is, you deal with it, you miss the ball in the correct spots you can get up and down or you can make birdies.

I was just amazed that Geoff was I think he was 5 under through 10, and I think David Howell was like 5 under through 13. I just thought are they playing the same course? David is way up there and Geoff is right in front of me, so obviously they're not playing too different a golf course. It was just amazing to shoot those scores under those conditions. It shows you how good these guys really are.

DAVE SENKO: You mentioned after the first two rounds you weren't happy with your speed on the greens. Thoughts today?

TIGER WOODS: I putted a lot better today. Today was fun. I hit a lot of good putts, made a few, but more importantly, had a lot of kick ins.

DAVE SENKO: Was there a change?

TIGER WOODS: No, I just felt more comfortable on the greens and with the speed. Maybe the rain had a lot to do with it because I had to focus a little more because the speed did change from yesterday to today, so I had to be aware of it on every putt.

DAVE SENKO: Geoff was talking about nerves of being in the last group, comparing this to a regular Tour event and a major, and he made some comment that if you do win this you still get a bit of an asterisk, it being unofficial. Can you relate to that at all, and what are your feelings playing the last day in this as compared to an official tournament?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's the same feeling. It's the same rush because it's the same guys. Granted, it's a smaller field, but you look at the top of the field, each and every time we play this thing, it's always guys that are some of the world's best. So with that being said, you have to work it out in your head on Sunday if you want to win the tournament.

DAVE SENKO: The pride is there, you're playing the best golfers in the world, you're No. 1, you want to beat them?

TIGER WOODS: There's no doubt about that. I mean, you don't ever want to lose to other top players. Whether it's a small event like the Grand Slam, there's only four of us, but still a lot of pride in that. Or something like that there's only 16 guys, you still enjoy beating them.

DAVE SENKO: What's the maddest you've been in the most insignificant round of golf you've played?

TIGER WOODS: That's a good question. You know, I really don't know. That's a good one. Let me get back to you on that one. I'd have to think about that one.

DAVE SENKO: This passion to win, you said you never go out there without believing you can win. Is this something your dad instilled in you? Did you pick it up at eight years old, ten years old, or was it natural?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I always wanted to beat my dad, plain and simple. I hated losing to anybody. That's the first thing I can remember. He didn't really have to teach that, he actually had to tone it down a little bit because I used to get too fired up. I had the mentality of a football player playing golf, which is probably not a good thing.

DAVE SENKO: Just getting back to the question of nerves that was mentioned earlier, what's the most nervous that you've ever been on a golf course?

TIGER WOODS: Easily it's the Valley Open here when I was 16 years old teeing it up. I thought it was no big deal, a 3 wood down the hill, and I picked up that club and it was like a sledgehammer. I've never felt so nervous in my life. Hit it right down the middle and hit a 3 wood on the green and two putted and off I went, my first birdie. Then I proceeded to snipe up the next hole.

DAVE SENKO: How would you define pressure? What's your definition  of pressure?

TIGER WOODS: You're always feeling pressure, no matter what it is. If you want to do something well, obviously you're going to feel a little bit of pressure. But most of it is internal anyways.

DAVE SENKO: You've had a really good year obviously. Is it at all surprising that Europe has gone since Lawrie at Carnoustie winning a major, and how soon do you sense that drought will end given Stenson or Padraig or Howell or Paul now?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, you would think that along the way Monty has been there so many times, but it is quite remarkable that the Europeans haven't won them. But Ollie has been there when did he win, '99 at Augusta? But since then, you're right. It's been kind of amazing. But I think it also goes to show you that world golf is improving, as well, that players from all over the world are playing well, and not just from continental U.S. and Europe.

DAVE SENKO: We mentioned Carnoustie there. What are your memories of Carnoustie in 1999? You finished reasonably high, Top 10. What are you expecting next year? I know they've made changes to the course.

TIGER WOODS: I made one birdie on the weekend and I finished three shots out of the playoffs. That doesn't normally happen. But that was really weird how that golf course played. You could play it aggressively, try to hit driver on every hole, bomb it down there and hit the ball in the hay and pitch out or play conservative and bump it along the ground, and most of the guys chose to lay way back, and it was really weird because on some of the holes, I remember the par 5, No. 6 along the OB, when they added the second bunker down there, all the guys were playing back so you hit like a 2 iron off the tee, you then hit a 5 iron layup and then hit a 2 iron or 3 iron or 3 wood into the green. It made no sense but that's the way it played because it was only 12 yards across and the layup areas were domed with knee high rough. There was not a whole lot of room to lay up.

But each and every day they kept cutting back the rough on that hole. It was really weird, like there was another yard, another yard, another yard because they had so many complaints that you couldn't lay it up. It was just a very weird setup, and you knew that over par was going to win the golf tournament. Normally even the U.S. Opens like at Winged Foot, we'll see someone that really plays well here that you could shoot under par maybe, or Bethpage, it was playing brutal, but if you really play well, somebody might get to under par. Everyone knew no one was going to be under par at Carnoustie, even with good wind conditions. But we got lucky and it didn't howl and the score still was 7-over.

I've played the Scottish Open there twice, and it was fair and guys were shooting 10 , 12 under par. It was really weird to listen to some of the guys talk about the course setup. Everyone knew if you played great for all four days, you weren't going to be under par. Jean played incredible for 71 holes and he was still 4 over par, and he was hitting driver off every hole, piping it down there, making putts from everywhere, and he was still 4 over par, which is hard to believe.

DAVE SENKO: What about Carnoustie and the changes there?

TIGER WOODS: We'll see what happens. I mean, it's a great golf course. I mean, we got great weather that week, and if we would have had the weather the way it happened at Muirfield in 2002 I would have called you in. You would have been my sub (laughter).

DAVE SENKO: Geoff, 67 today going into tomorrow. Right now you're at 11 under. Maybe just talk about your day and looking ahead to Sunday.

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, I obviously played very well. It didn't look like it was going to be a very fun day when we walked out of the locker room this morning, cold and raining and forecast was for it to get worse, and when it started raining when we were teeing off, it didn't bode very well for the rest of the day.

I started very well again, birdied the first two holes. Always nice when it's tough. I played good all day, really. I hit a couple of bad shots on the way in, but really, you need a good score Sunday. Saturday you just want to keep yourself in the golf tournament as opposed to going the other way, especially on a day like today. Being in the last group tomorrow is always where you want to be.

DAVE SENKO: Take us through 18 again, the birdie.

GEOFF OGILVY: 18, I've hit it perfect there every day, and got closer and closer to the hole with my shot each day. The first day I hit an awful shot and made double. Yesterday I hit it to 40 feet from the fairway and today I hit it to about a foot. Hopefully I can keep that progression going. I hit 3 wood, 9 iron today. It was the easiest shot, and it's a birdie pin if you're on the fairway. It's probably a terrible pin if you're coming from out of the rough. Both me and Chris (DiMarco) made birdie from the fairway. It all just kind of goes that way. Nice way to finish, so it was good.

DAVE SENKO: Growing up in Australia did you play much in the rain?

GEOFF OGILVY: It rains in Australia. I grew up in Melbourne, which is probably similar to LA type of weather, kind of windy, rainy, not quite like San Francisco, but it's probably a bit like LA. Just like today, it can rain at the start of the day and then get sunny and then it can rain. That's kind of how I grew up. We played in the rain.

Golf courses here are generally softer. Where I grew up, it's on the sand belt so it doesn't matter how much it rains. It just drains underneath, just natural drainage. It's always firm.

But we played in the rain. No matter how much you play in the rain you deal with it, but it's no fun. It's worse for the caddies, but it's no fun, especially when it's kind of cold. In the middle of the summer and it's 90 degrees and raining, it doesn't seem that bad. But when it's 50 degrees, it's no fun.

DAVE SENKO: Saying that it was tough early on, you just have to kind of hold on, is that how you felt? It was basically hold on until the weather got a little better and you were able to make some shots?

GEOFF OGILVY: Well, birdieing the first two holes, that's really nice on a day like this because you bogey the first two holes, you're probably not going to find your way back. The first two holes, I felt like they were playing pretty tough. It was just awkward. It's just not nice when it's a little bit windy. It was that annoying type of rain that doesn't get the golf course under water but it gets you really wet. It's right in that bad spot.

I mean, the greens are soft and they hold, so if you're coming from the fairway and you've got a dry grip, you've still got every chance, it's just uncomfortable, no fun. But, like Chris said, you want to get off to a decent start. Those first three holes you want to have a birdie or two because -- 4, 5 and 6 -- you turn back into the wind. Yeah, I was just lucky to birdie the first two holes, I think.

DAVE SENKO: Your off season is short…

GEOFF OGILVY: Actually I'm kind of lucky that I had nine weeks off between Akron and the TOUR Championship, so that was my off season was kind of between August and October, really. That was my off season. I mean, I had a baby; it kind of got forced on me. I'm probably more fresh than a lot of blokes. Two weeks isn't a long time, but two weeks in Hawaii at the start of the year, that's not like it's a hardship. It's a pretty decent place to start the year, so I don't think I'll be doing too much driving on the range in Hawaii. It's more like play your game, lay by the pool. So it's a nice way to start the year. Then after Hawaii I probably won't play until Phoenix, so it'll be nice.

DAVE SENKO: It is certainly not a TOUR tournament or a major or anything, but are you aware of Tiger out there, or does it matter?

GEOFF OGILVY: I guess. Not really. I mean, it's his golf tournament, so you know he's here. Kind of. I mean, I look at leaderboards. I mean, you look and you're not going to look at a leaderboard and not check what he's doing. Every time you have a player, especially how he's played the last five, six months, if you beat him you'll probably win. Whatever he's doing, if you're going better than him, you're doing all right.

But no, I mean, obviously when he hits a good shot the cheer is a bit louder than it is for anyone else. He hits a bad shot, the groan is a little bit louder than it is for anyone else. Not really. I mean, there's 16 guys here, but if you're beating him, you're going to do pretty well.

DAVE SENKO: Earlier this week you talked about how much more comfortable you are in a final round. Can you talk a little bit about that compared to how you were before?

GEOFF OGILVY: I mean, it's just a comfort thing. The first time playing in the last group at any golf tournament, the way you feel on the first tee is indescribable how out of place you feel. The next time you feel a little bit better but still uncomfortable. I'm sure it's like public speaking. The first time you do it you just can't believe anyone can do that. The second, third and fourth time it starts seeming easier. I guess that's the only way I don't think there's any magic.

The first time Tiger got in the last group on Sunday, he would have felt very uncomfortable. I'm sure he did. He probably does it more than any of us, so that's why he looks the most comfortable on Sundays. I'm sure it is. It's just a comfort level. For me it was. It was just a gradual progression from a little tournament and then obviously you get in a big tournament and then you're uncomfortable and then you start getting comfortable in majors and everything.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't comfortable at all on Sunday at Winged Foot, but you learn to deal with the nerves and the way you feel. You just learn to understand the feelings better, I think. The first time you feel them you don't quite understand what you're feeling and you don't know how to hit it when you feel like that, but I guess you just learn how to play like that.

DAVE SENKO: You weren't in the last group on Sunday at Winged Foot, were you?

GEOFF OGILVY: No, I wasn't, but in the mix. I'm sure it was easier for me than it was Kenneth Ferrie on Sunday. That's a group that probably you don't it's not the easiest group to play in, in New York in the last round. That's a tough group to play in.

I wasn't disappointed when I found out I was in the group in front of them. But in the mix, yeah. Any time you're in the mix on Sunday, you have some nerves about it. But as I said, the more you do it, the better you feel about it and you start focusing on winning.

DAVE SENKO: You're not going to feel as you do in the U.S. Open or Masters, but I just wonder in a little non official event like this whether you feel it.

GEOFF OGILVY: I'm sure I'll I mean, I've never played in the last group at a little non official event like this (laughter), so I don't know. I'm sure I'll be more comfortable tomorrow than I would be if I was in the last group on Sunday at Kapalua for some weird reason probably. It's just because there's an asterisk next to the win maybe. I don't know, you just want to win a golf tournament. I'll tell you tomorrow afternoon how I felt on the first tee.

DAVE SENKO: Chris, another 68 today, and you've got to be very pleased with the finish, three straight birdies to finish 10 going into tomorrow.

CHRIS DiMARCO: Yeah, it was nice to birdie I guess five of the last ten holes was nice. You know, the course was tough early. It was one of those kind of just hang in there with the rain. You could have really let it get away from you. You could have maybe have been three or four over par and then struggling to get back, and I managed to stick around and then the rain stopped and I was able to make some birdies.
DAVE SENKO: If you can go through your last three birdies, what was the shot sequence?

CHRIS DiMARCO: I hit a 3 wood and a 6 iron, and then I had a 98 yard sand wedge, hit a good shot, landed it about to about four feet, made a good four footer there.
17, I hit a 7 iron on the front right part of the green and made like a 35 footer, great putt, kind of down the slope, up the slope and just perfect speed.

Then 18, I hit a 3 wood and a 7 iron to about eight feet behind the hole and made a really good putt there.

DAVE SENKO: A couple of the guys talked about the weather and it changed so dramatically. Did the rain itself affect you, or did the course itself get so wet you couldn't play in the rough?

CHRIS DiMARCO: No, it wasn't the rough or anything. What it is, the golf balls and the club heads now because of the lack of spin that you get with your ball and also with the club face, if you get a little moisture on there it's really easy for the ball to knuckle off. It happened to me on No. 2. It squirted right on me. I was still able to make birdie. But 4 is a really difficult tee ball. I started teeing it low and tried to hit low tee shots into the wind and was fortunate to hit four really good drives on 4, 5, 6 and 7 pretty much right in the heat of the rain.

If you can play from the middle of the fairway out here, again, it's raining so hard, I think on 7 yesterday I hit driver, wedge. Today I hit driver, 4 iron.
It was just kind of survive out there.

DAVE SENKO: Did the rain also make the greens a little bit easier to putt on, slow them down a little bit?

CHRIS DiMARCO: They were still fast. You know, obviously the uphillers were a little slower, but the downhillers out here, you get some downhillers and they are smokin' fast. You just try not to leave yourself too many of those. The other thing is if you're feeling really good, you have to hit those downhillers a little bit aggressive. If you don't hit them aggressive you're not going to hold the line. If you try to die them around the hole you're not going to make them. I've been fortunate I made a lot of good eight footers this week.

I had another three putt today, so I've had four three putts for the week, and all of them from 60, 65 feet. It's going to happen on these greens especially.

Overall I'm extremely happy with the way I played. I think I hit a lot of greens and fairways this week, and that's the key, and I putted pretty good.

DAVE SENKO: You guys play obviously so many courses Lytham St. Annes was a par 3 to open at the '97 Open and a par 3 to close. This is sort of a funky course with five 3s and five 5s. Does that affect guys like you? Do you like a more standard course, or does it matter?

CHRIS DiMARCO: You know, it really helps me because I pride myself on my iron play, so the more par 3s we have is good for me. And then for the most part, obviously today was a little bit different, but for the most part all the par 5s are reachable for me. So that's a huge advantage for me. So I'm getting to most of the par 5s and I have a lot of par 3s to play with.

If you can do that, for me, I feel like I can compete. The other holes are not obviously long. It's not like there's any 495 yard par 4s out here. There's some good ones. No. 4 is a great par 4 but I don't try to do much with that hole. I try to put it if the fairway, put it on the green, get my 4 and get out of there. Same thing with No. 14. 14 has probably been the key for me this week. Today I got up and down from 137 from under the trees out of the rough. I hit a great shot in there to about eight feet and was able to make par.

Yesterday I hit it in the bunker left, made an eight footer, and the first day I got it left of the green and got up and down from about eight feet. I've made three really good eight footers for par on that hole.

DAVE SENKO: (Inaudible.)

CHRIS DiMARCO: I'm very happy. I've been excited that I only have one more night here, and tomorrow night I'm going to be skiing or tomorrow night I'm going to be at Monday I'm going to be skiing. I'm looking forward to it.

I have traveled a lot in the last month going from I went to China and then two days after China I went to Hong Kong and then I came back and I went to South Africa, so China and Hong Kong was 13 hours ahead and South Africa was seven hours ahead, then I came back for six days and came here. I'm ready for some time off, put the clubs up for a little bit, and I'm going to be ready to I'm really looking forward to next year. Next year I'm going to kind of dedicate myself to really playing good consistent golf again.

DAVE SENKO: You've obviously put yourself in position to try to win this thing. How much would a win mean to you, to get that feeling that it's your best?

CHRIS DiMARCO: It would be awesome. I started the year with a win overseas in Abu Dhabi, and to come here and end the year and to be able to put that trophy over my head at the end of the year would be awesome. It would be nothing but a confidence boost for me going into '07.

There's a lot of great players here. I don't know what Tiger is doing, but there's a good chance I'm going to play with Geoff again in the final group, and that will be a lot of fun. Tiger doesn't really want to give his trophy up too easily here, so you know he's going to be gunning for it; Henrik is a great player. As long as we play good, I think that we put ourselves ahead of the other guys, unless it's a poor day. If the conditions are poor, anybody can win.

Four guys being four shots ahead or so, it's hard for somebody four or five shots back to come and win this thing.

DAVE SENKO: Are you one of those guys that looks at the weather report right before you go to bed? Do you actually like playing in different 

CHRIS DiMARCO: Today was a perfect example. It really doesn't matter. If you're worried about the weather the night before, then you're not going to sleep well, you're not going to put yourself you wake up and see what it's like. I wish I was a weather man because they've got the best job in the world, 30 percent right all the time, and it's great.

It was supposed to rain this afternoon and then not rain this morning, and yet it rained this morning and hasn't rained yet. Hopefully it'll blow through and we'll have a nice day. It was beautiful the back nine, and we'll have a good day for this tournament. It deserves it. They do a great job here, and it'll be a lot of fun tomorrow.