Woods, not favored at Colonial, says he's still
improving his game
By MIKE COCHRAN / Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Despite consecutive, record-breaking
victories and a lofty perch atop the PGA money-winning list, Tiger
Woods says he's still wrestling with a flawed golf swing.
"I'm going to be doing a lot of work on the range,"
he said before his first tour of "Hogan's Alley," scene
of the 51st Colonial Thursday through Sunday.
"I'm trying to find my game. I'm trying to get it back
where it once was."
Knowing the 21-year-old sensation is less than perfect may
be of some comfort to the competition, but the bad news is his
mental approach appears in mint condition.
"I think my mind is as sharp or sharper than it was at
Augusta," he said. That's where he stripped 18 shots from
par and won the Masters by a record 12 strokes.
Decidedly less dominant last week, Woods still won the GTE
Byron Nelson Classic by two shots, boosting his earnings this
year to $1,290,350.
It was his third championship in eight appearances and second
in a row.
"Winning last week, in a weird way, meant a little more
to me than the way I did at Augusta," he confided. "When
you're not playing well and you're all over the place and somehow
you scrape it around and gut it out and win, that means a lot.
"It's not that hard to win a tournament when you're playing
well, when all cylinders are pumping correctly, when everything's
firing correctly."
The Tiger made it perfectly clear that being the best is not
good enough.
"My whole goal and objective is to be getting better,"
he says without a trace of immodesty. "I nit-pick my game
every day to see what part I can improve on.
"And there are lots of parts I can improve on quite dramatically."
Woods conceded that there will be setbacks, but he said his
approach is not without rewards.
" 'That's one of the reasons why I've been able to play
well," he pointed out. "I keep looking for ways to improve.
... I'm working on it."
Woods indicated he was hardly overwhelmed to be playing the
course immortalized by Ben Hogan, a five-time Colonial champion
and very much a legend here in his hometown.
"But it's a pretty good test and I'm looking forward to
it," he said after Tuesday's meeting with Fuzzy Zoeller to
discuss racially insensitive remarks Zoeller made at Augusta.
Zoeller told reporters he apologized and Woods said, "Now
it's done, it's over."
Still, there was an undercurrent suggesting that Woods did
not condone Zoeller's comments.
Strangely, in light of current events, Woods is not favored
in a media poll to win the Colonial. That's mostly because the
course rarely surrenders its charms to long hitters, demanding
accuracy over power.
Tom Lehman, the 1995 Colonial champion and the reigning British
Open king, looms as the favorite, and he sounds up to the challenge
after a four-week hiatus from the Tour.
"I've generally played well after a break," he said
Wednesday.
"It's more important to be fresh mentally. You can overcome
swing problems easier. ... I'm swinging well and I feel fresh
and ready to play. Watching other guys play good golf for four
weeks, I've got the itch."
Among the other favorites in the field are Paul Stankowski,
Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Tom Kite, Steve Elkington, Mark
Brooks, Tom Watson and Davis Love III.
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