The Old Tiger Woods Is Back Smiling And Making Reporters Laugh
May 10 2010, Published 4:48 a.m. ET
It looked like the old Tiger Woods. He was smiling, the reporters were laughing and most of the talk was about golf. RadarOnline.com streamed his news conference live from Aronimink Golf Club in Delaware County.
The embattled golfer talked very little about his marital problems; instead he spoke about his neck injury that made him pull out of the Players Championship in Florida Sunday.
"For me not to play all 18 holes --that made me as angry and frustrated as I've been," he said. Woods still needs to get an MRI. He says the neck pain has been bugging him since two weeks before the Masters. "I thought it was just sore...as I kept playing and kept practicing, it just kept getting worse." He said, "Once it locked up, I couldn't turn."
Tiger made reporters laugh when asked if he would change anything about his swing. He joked: "Don't hit left, don't hit right. I'd like to change that. Make more putts and shoot lower scores!"
When asked when he last felt competitive, he made the audience laugh by saying "December when I was 11."
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Not only is Tiger's golfing game off course, but he's also struggling with his mental game. "It's certainly not where I would like it to be," he said. "There are a lot of things going on in my life."
He never mentioned his estranged wife Elin Nordegren by name, but alluded to the press attention since his cheating scandal. "I'm also trying to make life changes and trying to do it under the microscope." Asked if his family would join him at the National tournament at the Aronimink Golf Club in July, Tiger said "it's too early to say."
Woods, who spent some time in sex rehab, used typical recovery talk in some of his responses, "I've dealt with other things in my life where people said that I was pretty much done and came back. All I can do is fight today." Most 12-step programs encourage people to take one day at a time.
Tiger is frustrated that he's just recovered from injuries to his knee and Achilles heel; and now his neck is sore. But his competitive spirit hasn't diminished," If I enter an event, I expect to win, I try to win... that hasn't changed nor will that ever change." But the 34-year-old joked, "I'm getting old man."