Woods relaxed before return to PGA Tour
By Brad Townsend / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas - Tiger Woods looked and sounded more relaxed
Tuesday than anytime since he turned professional last August.
He attributed it to his one-month break from the PGA Tour.
But there seemed to be more to Woods' calmness than rest. It
was an afterglow. A month to the day after his historic Masters
victory, Woods emerged from virtual seclusion and held a 57-minute
news conference at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas.
Tiger spoke. The world tuned in. What it saw and heard was
an already-confident 21-year-old seemingly at ease, almost playful
amid the Tiger-mania his Masters victory created - and with his
place atop the professional golf world.
Woods returns to PGA Tour play Thursday, when he will be paired
with Nick Price and Tom Kite in the first round of the GTE Byron
Nelson Classic. But on Tuesday, the tournament itself was all
but swallowed by Woods' shadow. He was asked about topics ranging
from President Clinton and Fuzzy Zoeller to Tiger-mania and his
place in golf history.
"I'm comfortable being Tiger Woods," Woods said.
"I have no problems with people taking shots at me, or people
writing good stuff about me. I'm just happy to wake up every day
and do something I love to do - which is go out there and play
golf."
Woods played a practice round Tuesday at Cottonwood Valley,
the course he will play during Friday's second round. He said
he was surprised by how well he hit the ball, but admitted his
layoff probably will mean some rusty moments this week.
"I wanted to come back a little earlier," Woods said.
"But my body kept telling me no. I needed some more time
off; I needed to rest - and, more than anything, get my mind and
body ready to go."
Woods' time away from golf hasn't kept him out of the headlines,
or out of the public's consciousness.
A few days after Woods' April 13 Masters victory, comments
made by Zoeller during the Masters - jokingly asking Woods not
to select fried chicken and collard greens for next year's Masters
champions dinner - exploded into a controversy. Until Tuesday,
Woods' only response had been a typewritten release.
Woods said he would like to meet with Zoeller during next week's
MasterCard Colonial in Fort Worth, a tournament Woods and Zoeller
are scheduled to play.
"I would just like to ask him what he meant exactly by
it," Woods said. "I would just have a heart-to-heart
talk with him. Nothing tough or anything like that, not grind(ing)
on him or him grind(ing) on me. I just want some true emotion
and see what's going on. After that, it's over with."
Then there was Clinton, who, the day after Woods' Masters victory,
invited Woods to New York to participate in the April 15 Jackie
Robinson tribute ceremony. When Woods declined, some viewed it
as a snub of Clinton.
Woods sounded anything but apologetic about that on Tuesday,
explaining he already had planned a post-Masters vacation. Then
he wondered: "Why didn't Clinton invite me before the Masters?
That didn't happen. As soon as I won, he invited me. If he wanted
me in there, I think it would have been nice if he had asked me
with all the athletes involved."
Eventually, Tuesday's news conference did get back to golf.
Specifically, the Nelson's two courses, TPC and Cottonwood Valley.
Tuesday marked the first time Woods has played Cottonwood Valley.
Some have projected Woods' prodigious hitting ability will render
6,846-yard Cottonwood Valley a par-three course.
But Woods said the course's dog-legs and bottlenecks will prevent
him from hitting many drivers off the tee.
"I'll be playing more two-irons and three-woods off the
tees and be perfectly happy because I'll hit more fairways with
those clubs."
As for TPC, Woods played it as a 17-year-old amateur in the
'93 Nelson. He also played it during a 1992 junior national tournament,
shooting 65 en route to a victory.
"You know, I remember every hole," he said with a
smile. "My only problem is, I was a lot shorter (in terms
of distance) then. I've gotten a little bit longer since then."
At least this week, media and fans might, for a change, focus
on Woods' golf instead of his personal life. But that won't stop
projections about his place in golf history, including and especially
comparisons to Jack Nicklaus.
"You've got to give me a little more time," Woods
said. "I've only been out here nine months. And it's awfully
difficult to compare nine months over his (Nicklaus') entire career
... Look back when I'm 50 or so and I'm going to the senior tour;
then you can make the evaluation."
(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.
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