Q. Are you feeling good over the putts or are you struggling at times?

TIGER WOODS: I just had a hard time finding my lines, a hard time seeing the putts, seeing the lines, feeling the breaks. I'm having a hard time feeling the slopes in my feet, in my hands, my body. I'm just having a hard time with it.

Q. Is Michael Campbell playing the same golf course as all of you guys?

TIGER WOODS: He's playing beautifully. Obviously this is what he's been doing most of the year. This golf course can be had. Davis today got on a quick run there. If you play well on this golf course, you can take it pretty deep here, and Michael is doing that.

Q. What did you do on the double? I saw your tee shot.

TIGER WOODS: I had an awkward shot and I hit it over the green, tried to flop it, nuked it over the green. Then I had no shot, whiffed it almost. Technically I had a net negative (laughing), down the slope. Then from there I went and three?putted.

Q. When was the last time you did that?

TIGER WOODS: Skins Game, a week ago (laughing). I mean, I've played great and I've played in China and Japan and obviously the Grand Slam, those three weeks, the TOUR Championship, those tournaments.

Q. This is obviously a very difficult week for you because besides playing golf you have to help run the tournament. Does that get you a little bit? Does that get you a little weary?

TIGER WOODS: It has been a long week. I've got a great staff. The staff is obviously loaded to the max.  Obviously I've got a few responsibilities this week, so it's just part of the deal, if you can understand that. Anyone who hosts a tournament, whether it's Byron or Jack or Greg or anyone on Tour, they all understand that you're going to have more responsibilities than you normally do.

Q. Did you enjoy that concert last night, Hootie and the Blowfish?

TIGER WOODS: Always. Darius is one of my best friends, so any time we're in the same city we're always going to hang out, and if he's playing I'm definitely going to see him.

Q. And if you're playing he's going to see you.

TIGER WOODS: That's how it works.

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FRED COUPLES: I had a nice little streak in there. To play this course without a bogey, you've got to get a few breaks. I didn't leave many out there, so I'm thrilled with 4?under and I've got a long way to go. Campbell is lighting it up. It looks like a lot of us are playing for 2nd, 3rd or 4th right now.

Q. What do you think when you look up on that leaderboard and somebody is double digits under par on this golf course?

FRED COUPLES: Well, it's very impressive, first of all, and yesterday's round was phenomenal. I think today he's 3?under or 4?under, so he's very consistent and very good. You can't do anything crazy. It's not like you can start shooting for every one of these flags because that's how you make bogeys. You just try and do it one hole at a time and hopefully catch him here or there. I'm eight or nine behind him; I just don't see how I can physically catch him.

Q. Do you like this golf course?

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, it's beautiful. I've played here a lot of years, played the Shark Shootout here and now Tiger's tournament, so I know it pretty well. It's a pretty place and they sure take care of it, so it's a great spot to be.

Q. You must feel pretty good about this year. A lot of good things could have happened, but you've played well.

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, I'm happy with it. I went to see Butch in October, and he's got me working on one thing, and I feel like I can picking up a little distance and hitting the ball much more solid, so I'm going to go see him again and take it one clinic at a time, as they say. I can't fit too much in this little brain. That was a good thing.

I'm just trying to get through the ball a little better and start to -- as he says, pound it, not steer it. I think next year if I stay healthy and keep playing, I hope to do better, but this was a good year.

Q. There's no slowing down in you, is there?

FRED COUPLES: I don't really want to. I've never really gone crazy with golf, either. There aren't too many years where I've killed myself, and you can never look back, but I certainly wish I would have pushed harder, but at the same time, it's very difficult to do that really since '92 or '93 with my back, so I've kind of taken it easy and played good golf, not great golf but good golf, so if I keep this pace up ?? the goal is to win, and I certainly haven't won much in the last six or seven years.

And Houston was a great time. I worked very hard until that point, and then I seemed like I went right back to relaxing, and you can lose your game pretty quickly, as you know. My game has never really gotten bad, knock on wood, but it's not really, really that good. I'm good enough to play well and Saturday and Sunday have some good rounds, but next year I want to be up there and have some chances of actually having to play well on Saturday and Sunday.

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JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Padraig, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Target World Challenge presented by Countrywide.
Everybody was under par today. Did it play a little bit easier today? It was par or under par.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: The pin positions were easier today than yesterday. Yesterday's pins were very difficult for a first day out. Today the golf course was windier but the pin positions were easier, more front pins. I would have expected the scoring to be better today.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You've had kind of a difficult year off the course, successful on it. Are you ready to move on to '06, or have you already done it?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I am looking forward big?time to my winter break, yes. I kind of started out two weeks ago. This week has been ?? to try to come up and play golf after kind of finishing the year two weeks, three weeks ago now, that's been difficult. But definitely the nine weeks are very important to me. I've got a lot of things planned for that time, and I think that's the only way I'm going to ?? not that I want closure, but get closure on those sort of things and come out strong next year.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Why did you come here?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I think because I know the guys well here. It's a good tournament. It's been very good to me. It's run for good reasons. Not that I know Tiger that well, but I think because the tournament and the Tiger Woods Foundation has been so good at running this event, I came here for that reason. I've had a good time at this event in the past. I think that's another good reason for being here.

I honestly don't think I'm here for the golfing reasons I'd say. I think I could have done with 13 weeks off (laughter). But, you know, it's a good place for me, so yes, it's a good reason to come here. There's more to it than just a golf event this week.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: If you don't mind me asking, you return then for Riviera? Is that going to be your first tournament?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Possibly, yeah. I played Riviera Monday and really enjoyed it, and secondly, it's a course that I liked a lot.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER:  Had you not played there before?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Never played it before. First time on Monday.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: It's terrible in February, though. Sorry.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, but it's beautiful now, so that's encouraging. It was encouraging in that sense.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You anticipate your very first golf tournament of the year being Qatar, Dubai or possibly Riviera?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Watching you on the range last night, it looked like you were grinding harder than ever.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I'm all set to work hard for the winter. I've got loads to work on.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: I would have thought it was June watching you last night.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I'm not putting the clubs away; I have a couple of holidays booked. But to be honest, the nine weeks is the only period that I can do some serious physical training and some serious golf work. It's a different sort of -- it's a more enjoyable sort of nine weeks when you feel like you can get so much done without a tournament around the corner to put you off practicing let's say, put you off working on things. That's why I've said this week it's tough coming out here after shutting down three weeks ago. It's tough to come out here and have to concentrate on getting on chipping and putting right, the pace of the greens. That kind of stuff is hard to do when you shut down.

Working on the range, I like that, so that's not something that's difficult for me to do. I quite enjoy that end of the practice, and I do plenty of that for the nine weeks.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Your physical work, your physio stuff, is that a new thing?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No, not new. But at the end of the day you can't do -- it's very hard to do development work when you've got a tournament next week. You can't do serious gym work when you've got to play golf competitively. It's very hard for -- most seasons for a lot of sports people, they might get -- the way it's gone now, very few people are getting long breaks, but a lot of athletes would get nine months training and three months of a season. We get -- I get ten months playing and two months of a rest to do some work. Obviously other golfers don't even take that.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Can you go through your birdies?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I can't remember (laughing). I hit a driver, 5?iron to five feet at the 2nd for eagle. 3rd, I hit 4?iron, just hit it too well. It's not a great hole. You go and be aggressive, it went long and left and you're taking 4 from there. 4th, got the wind wrong, dunked it in the bunker, bogey. I hit drive and 3-iron with a hybrid up the 5th hole and hit a nice chip and putt. Then 11 I hit 3-wood, 4-iron into the bunker, hit a nice bunker shot stone dead. 16, I hit a hybrid off the tee, got a gust of wind, laid up with an 8-iron, hit wedge to six feet, holed the putt. 18, hit 3-wood, 6?iron just off the right edge, kicked down into the bunker, played a reasonable bunker shot six feet but it was an awkward putt, missed it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: What's the longest break you've had since the Open?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Two weeks. I go three weeks, one week, three weeks, two weeks kind of thing during the season. Obviously this is the big break. I think I had three weeks off during that period at the Open.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: . What I think I'm hearing you saying is you just really haven't had time to reflect or ??

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: There's always been another tournament. Nine weeks off means there's no tournament. This is why I don't go to Hawaii. If I was going to Hawaii, I'd be finishing up this week and thinking, okay, I'd like to work on my game but I've got to spend some time hitting wedges and hitting bunker shots because I've got to play competitive golf in two weeks' time.

Now I'm thinking nine weeks off, I can hit the gym hard, work on my swing and I don't have to worry about the nitty?gritty stuff. I don't have to worry about that until about two weeks before I come back out. It's very hard to do everything.
I honestly couldn't understand sitting down to Christmas dinner having to think about my golf because I'd be playing golf in a week's time, something like that. That would be very hard. But having nine weeks, it means I can get up on a day and if I don't want to practice I don't have to practice, whereas if I took a week or two off, I'd be edging, I've got to go and do work and get ready.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Do you also need this nine weeks as a mental kind of break?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: That's why I take it. Ultimately that's why I take it. It's the mental rest from competition is why I take the break.

This year it's more important than ever. I've been constantly -- a couple of highs of winning and with some very big lows afterwards has made it even more stressful. The two wins have made the year more stressful than anything else because I obviously got quite high when I won, and to be taken down so quickly, it's a bigger knock?back for the body than anything. So this nine weeks is more important than ever, yes.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You've been on the road so much, I just wonder, we asked you this a couple of times in the last few years. Are you aware of what your distant cousin is doing with the Detroit Lions?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I follow the football now, yeah, big?time.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: He's been under stress, too, lately.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I find myself watching the games, Monday Night Football. I'm getting into it. I like to watch the highlights more than the games. I follow what Joey is doing all the time. I'm getting into it. It's a nice interest. I'm starting -- I'm actually enjoying it. I'm enjoying watching.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: I think you're enjoying it more than he is lately.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, he's under pressure, but I spent a little bit of time with him at the start of the year. He's a real solid individual. He can handle an awful lot. He's as good as can be when it comes to where his head is at. I'm sure he's being patient and waiting to take the opportunities. That's all he can do, be patient.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You mentioned a couple years ago when you won and of course every time you come in here you're flying in from someplace. You said basically you can sleep on airplanes.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I can sleep anywhere (laughter).

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You're still worn out mentally, huh?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It's not that. It's just good discipline, go to sleep anywhere. I particularly like the jet lag when I come to the States. It's just difficult when you go home. I'm wide awake here early in the morning, and I'm tired at night, which is ideal.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER:  If I heard you correctly, it almost sounded as though the sadness that you dealt with in July was even more so through winning.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No. It affected me more because of the fact of the wins, as in if you're on a high ?? if you're at this level and you got knocked back to here, you've got that much of a drop in your system, but if you're up here and you get knocked down here, it takes a hell of a lot longer to come back up. From a golfing point of view, it physically and mentally really knocked the socks out of me. But obviously that's really not an issue. Golf is not an issue compared to obviously the other thing.

Just in terms of why I need a break, my central nervous system has been down, down, down all year. I have transferred that out onto the golf course; I've probably lost 20 yards on the golf course, 15 yards on the golf course because I've been flat all year. That's why I need the break, to recover. My body is stressed out.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Do you think it was good to keep your normal schedule of playing?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: You've just got to ?? I couldn't recover it. People would say, well, you just can't recover. It's one of those things. I have to wait until I stop. I could have stopped in the middle of the year, but what good would that do? I'm missing the tournaments I want to play in. It's just one of those things, you have to grit your teeth and go with it and hope it comes back.

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JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Michael, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center. I know things didn't work out there at the end of that round, but you're still in great position going into the weekend. Just talk about the day a little bit.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Ever see that movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"? Clint Eastwood. I saw that today. I hit some quality shots and some crap and some average shots.

It was a different day today, different day than yesterday. I had it going quite nicely after 12 holes, I was 4 under, and then the wheels came off. And the wheels came off very, very quickly.

You know, I was just cruising along there. I was playing the 15th hole, hit a nice little 7-iron there, and I couldn't tell myself to hit 8-iron there because it was just too far to hit 8-iron for me. Hit 7-iron, back of the green, and missed the putt for par.

Then missed a real short one on 17 there from about two feet. That was a bit of a surprise, bit of a shock.

The last hole I was in between clubs, in between a 6-iron and a 5-iron, and it was sitting down a little bit so I tried to dig out a little 5-iron that came out left on me, and just with the breeze from right to left, it just magnified the shot to be an ugly shot.
But hey, you know ??

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Where did you end up?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: In the hazard.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Did you drop?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: In the drop zone there, hit it to probably six feet for my fourth shot and missed the putt. But, you know, I'm going to stand on the tee tomorrow three shots ahead, I've actually increased my lead by one shot.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: That's thinking positive there, isn't it?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Absolutely (laughter).

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: I'm sorry to say this, but we've been sitting in here with Padraig and did not see what you finished on.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: 9-under. I bogeyed 15, bogeyed 17, double bogeyed the last hole, just for your information.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You got to 13 at one point, right?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You must have birdied the par 5 then?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: 13.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Was it a case of the course playing tougher today?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: A lot tougher today. The breeze came up probably the last nine holes for us, for me and Darren Clarke. It played difficult into the breeze. 16, the par 5 there, was a lot longer than it had been the day before, so it played a little bit tougher.

13, the par 5 was it, played into the breeze today for us, and it was two good knocks to get onto the green, so it was a different golf course today.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Were you on the green on 15, or was it just a three?putt from the fringe? It's very quick around that hole.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: No, back of the green because the pin was cut in a little corner on the left?hand side there, and I hit a nice little cutty 7?iron and just flew it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: So you had to chip out?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Chipped out to ten feet.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You've played golf for years obviously, and you've won we know the Open. I've heard golfers over many years say anything can happen, it's like catching lightning in a bottle. You were talking yesterday the fairways were wide, the cups were like bucket, and you got as low as 13?under. Is it just one swing that turns things around? What happens mentally, or is it physical?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I made one bad swing, that was on the last hole, probably two bad swings all day, really. That's pretty good for 50?odd swings.

It does really keep you in check, I think. Just to say, hey, this game is pretty hard to play. It's not as easy as you'd think.

It's been an interesting day. I think when I'm out there playing, I was playing great, I think I just got too ahead of myself. I was, I think, maybe five or six ahead at one stage, and I was just cruising along, and I got too ahead of myself and it cost me a few shots towards the end.

It's just the nature of the beast. You just go out there and play, and your mind just keeps on ticking along, and all of a sudden you get a wake?up call and you start panicking.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: What was your other bad swing?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: 17.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Did you miss the green there?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: On the right?hand side, yeah.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You had a three-putt?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, well, I was on the fringe. I three?putted from about 30 feet.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Do you feel you had any bad shots in the first round?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: No. Well, I missed the green on 15 with a 7-iron. The pin was cut way back right. You just have to go for middle of the green and hope for the best. I hit it too strong and missed the green by a yard or so. It wasn't really a bad shot, just didn't catch the green.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Just to clarify, how far away were you on 18, your putt?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: 191 yards, and it was into the breeze, a long way. Darren Clarke, I think, had 185 yards, so it was playing pretty tough the last hole.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: And the chip out of the hazard?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I hit it like six foot for a 5. I hit like a 75?yard pitch shot, and I hit it to about six foot.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Some guys make a bogey on 18 or double bogey, they're miserable; they stomp off. You seem to have handled it pretty well.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It's only a game. Big deal.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: When did you finally learn that, though?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: This year.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: When you won the Open?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, to be honest, a very good friend of mine, Heather Clarke, Darren's wife, was on her death bed, and I'm thinking, "What's the big deal, it's only a golf tournament here." Put life in perspective or put golf in perspective very quickly. Ever since that day, hit a bad shot, so what, who cares. I mean, that's one thing that you learn a lot about this game is it's only a game, and the less importance you put on it, I think the better you perform. If you go out there and try to perform, you just, I think, put too much pressure on yourself and you create this overwhelming pressure on performing well. But it's just a game.

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