2007 Buick Invitational Interview

A JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

TOM WILSON: Good morning, everyone. My name is Tom Wilson. This year we have a sponsor for this conference, and that's our good friends at Barona Creek Golf Club. For those of you that don't know, Barona Creek and the Century Club are working together this year to produce the 2007 Nationwide Tour Championship. We're very proud to do that.
In fact, the tribal council is here, and I'll introduce them shortly, they had Notah Begay come out and indoctrinate that golf course back in 2001 when it opened. It's a great test of golf, and I think when you come out to cover it in November, October, actually the dates are October 27th through November 4th, that you'll see that it really is going to be a good test for these great players.
I would like to introduce some of the tribal council, starting with Beaver Curo, our vice-chairman; Councilman Joe Banegas; Councilman "Thorpe" Romero; Councilman Tony Rodriguez; Councilman Beth Galasco and Councilman Adam Reyes, so thank you, Barona, for being a great partner in us, and now I'd like to introduce the golf marketing manager from Buick, Larry Patton.
LARRY PATTON: We'll just be a minute here. Great to be back for our 16th Buick Invitational. To start I'd like to congratulate Tiger on a phenomenal year in 2006 on the course that started right here at Torrey Pines. Before I turn it over to Joan for Tiger's briefing, I just wanted to thank Tiger for being the host of what we think is going to be a tremendous new program for Buick this year. It's called the Buick Clubhouse. It's a brand new owner benefit program offering new Buick owners access to exclusive golf events and once-in-a-lifetime golf opportunities in golf; for instance, the opportunity to play with Tiger with a Pro-Am, attend a fantasy weekend with Tiger Woods or VIP access to Buick tournaments and the PGA Championship. So a lot of great things.
We have a press release for you about the Clubhouse program. It'll give you more details on that.
And to conclude, we're going to show you two TV commercials here that are going to air for the first time this week, give you a sneak peek. The last one you're going to see, if I just might add, in typical Tiger style he was just supposed to chase this guy, and you'll see what he decided to do. Congratulations on a great season and we wish you well in 2007.
(TV commercials played.)
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Tiger for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Buick Invitational. First of all, congratulations on being a father. It's exciting news for you and your family. Once again, you're back at Torrey Pines starting your season, defending your title, and kind of a new era or definitely a new era in golf at the PGA TOUR, some changes with the FedEx Cup. Talk about your off season and where you are with your game and we'll go into questions.
TIGER WOODS: Well, off season was really nice. We went skiing up in Colorado and just basically hung out. Yeah, burned a few calories up there, which is nice. I started by practicing a few weeks ago and started getting ready, and I've been very pleased with the progress I've been making with Hank and some of the things that we were working on towards the end of last year. I'm just really excited to get back in competition again. I kind of missed it, missed teeing up and competing against the boys, and obviously I'm a little behind on FedEx Cup points, so hopefully I can get on the board this week.

Q. Could you talk about your impressions about the expansion of golf outside of the United States? I know you care much about that, and are you satisfied about that situation, especially in countries that are not very powerful, how you see golf growing, with the impact of your success and of Lorena Ochoa in the LPGA and the Player of the Year?
TIGER WOODS: Wow (laughter). First question right out of the box. First of all, I've played all around the world and have seen obviously golf grow tremendously around the world. It's great to see. It's great to see younger galleries out here. Wherever you go around the world you see a lot of kids following and watching. Obviously they're getting introduced at a younger age to the game of golf, so it could only be a positive thing.
Obviously Lorena had a fantastic year. You're looking forward to seeing her progress throughout her career because obviously she's an amazing talent, and what she did at U of A, she just transcended that into the professional ranks, and it's just a matter of time before she starts winning multiple major championships.

Q. Congratulations on the news about your first child.
TIGER WOODS: Thank you.

Q. I know this is not comparing apples with apples, but could you talk about the difference in emotion when you heard you were about to come a father compared to say your first major victory, the '97 Masters?
TIGER WOODS: Two totally different things. You know, it's an amazing thing to hear news like that and then to obviously go through the process of it. It's been eye-opening because you only hear about it and you only -- some of my best friends have gone through it, and to be a part of it yourself and just to watch the whole process unfold, and you look so much forward to the future, usually with golf you're just preparing for the here and now, andal of a sudden you look a little bit further out in the future.
Stevie has been obviously -- he just had his child basically about 16 months ago, and I went through that with him and Kirsty, and just to see him light up and to see how changed, I'm sure I'll change quite a bit. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. There's a streak at stake here this week. I'm just wondering whether you think in your mind there's an asterisk on that. How do you think that should be addressed? And could you sort of address your play over the last six months since the MC Hammer at the U.S. Open, where that ranks in your career?
TIGER WOODS: Well, as far as the streaks, it's a PGA TOUR streak, it's not really a win streak because obviously I lost at the Match Play, I lost at the Ryder Cup, I finished second in China, I finished second in Japan. I was on the losing streak there for a bit.
You know, the last few tournaments I've played well. I'm looking forward to this year and get off to a good start. This is one of my favorite golf courses on the whole Tour, so to come back here and play, I've got six in a row on our Tour, but looking for seven in a row on our Tour, I guess that's exciting because I've played all around the world.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: It's a good little streak there, yeah, ever since the Western Open. Stroke play events, worst finish has been second, so it's been pretty good for about six months.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: Of course it is. It is meaningful because it's not easy to do. Even though I've done it before, it's very similar circumstances. I crossed over last time I did it in '99 and 2000. It's very similar to that.

Q. Those of us who have children know how children change your commitment and your priorities. Have you thought about that, about your commitment to golf and your priorities? It's going to make it tougher because the way you do your business? Do you think having a child is going to change that?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, of course it's going to change. Our priorities do change. You're bringing a new life into this world, and it's 100 percent dependent on you for survival. So yeah, it does change. I don't sleep a whole lot to begin with, so that will be easy. I think it'll be interesting to try and figure out your tournament schedule, preparations, my commitments that I have to my sponsors, to try and balance that as well as with adding a new family member. I think that's going to be a challenge for not only myself but for Elin, as well, to try and balance everything out together.

Q. Two questions on that. Nicklaus has won 18 majors having kids. Do you think you can match that?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I've got to start with one, don't I? You know, it'll be interesting to see what happens with it all.

Q. Secondly, on another streak, you're probably the only guy who can remotely have a chance at 146 consecutive major starts, and a lot of that depends on this summer. Can you say exactly when the due date is and have you thought about what might happen if it crossed into a major?
TIGER WOODS: It's in July sometime, and if it happens, it happens. If it crosses over, it crosses over. That's the most important thing, not another golf tournament. I just wouldn't go.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: Just don't go. If she's going to have it during the week of The Open, I just don't go. That's the most important thing, not a golf tournament.

Q. There's some talk out there that THE INTERNATIONAL may be in trouble. There are obviously other tournaments that have been lost. One of the common themes is their tournament director is saying they can't get you there. Obviously you can't be everywhere, but is there a sense of regret, or what are your thoughts about that?
TIGER WOODS: Well, you can't play all tournaments. I played THE INTERNATIONAL a couple times, and I think it's a fantastic event and a great course, and what Jack Vickers does up there has been tremendous. He's been very creative to create the whole Stableford system and how he created THE INTERNATIONAL.
I think we would like to play all over the place, but generally if you ask most of the guys, what they end up doing is playing golf courses that fit their schedule but also golf courses that cater to their style of play. Playing out here enough on TOUR, you kind of see certain guys play certain golf courses all the time. It's just because they have a lot of success on those golf courses or like the style of play there. Unfortunately we can't play them all.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: I don't know. We'll see.

Q. At this point in your career obviously you're chasing Jack. What else motivates you right now?
TIGER WOODS: Well, golf-wise?

Q. Yeah.
TIGER WOODS: Ws.

Q. Your emotions have really run the gamut here in the last 12 months. When you were here a year ago you were worried about your father, and now the exciting news about your first child. Can you just talk about your emotional frame of mind going into this season as opposed to going into last year when in spite of everything you had quite a successful year?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah. One, this year I'm looking forward to the year and what's going to transpire. Last year I was not looking forward to the year that was going to transpire. Two totally different mindsets. One is just praying and hoping and the other is just pure excitement and enjoyment, so it's two totally different opposite ends.

Q. Does that affect you when you get out on the course?
TIGER WOODS: When I get on the golf course, I mean, that's the place where you can get some freedom from all the stuff and just compete and just delve into a concentrative atmosphere out there and try and beat these boys. That to me was my outlet last year. That was my way of just trying to -- wanting to give my dad a chance to see me on TV, something for him to look forward to on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something that he unfortunately wasn't able to do towards the end.

Q. When you see Stevie with his kids and other friends with their kids and you see the joys of it and the hardships and all that, when you envision yourself as a father, what do you envision at this point, what kind of father you'll be? And also, will you still do skydiving once the baby arrives and all these other semi-dangerous sports?
TIGER WOODS: Well, as far as seeing my friends change, yeah, they do change because now all of a sudden they have a responsibility, a tremendous responsibility, to raise a person that is going to be obviously a good person and have high morals and values and obviously be a great citizen, and that's what you're trying to do. I'm going to try to do the same thing.
As far as my other activities, I don't see that ever stopping because that to me is fun. That's my way of getting away from things, and that's a way for me to enjoy doing things that are outside the realm of golf.

Q. Can you talk about what it was like for you the first time you saw or you went through the ultrasound and saw that picture, and then also your preparation for golf tournaments and things that you do is second to none. Can you talk about your preparation for this? Are you reading books? What kinds of things are you doing to prepare for becoming a father?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I got kicked out of school after two years, so I don't read very well (laughter).
No, as far as the ultrasound, it was pretty cool. There's one photo I'm trying to put in my office. I know it's my kid because it looked like he was telling me he was number one in my heart. It was a cool photo, so I've got to have that one in my office. Some of you guys know what I mean.

Q. Have you hit the Sumo(tm) and any chance you'll put it in your bag?
TIGER WOODS: I've hit the Sumo(tm) and I've hit the Sumo Square(tm), as well, and I have not put them in the bag, either one of them. I've found that I just could not get enough spin on the golf ball. I was hitting it farther, yeah, but I just could not hit a ball with enough spin on it. It was frustrating in the sense that I was hitting it farther but because I was just obviously carrying it and running, and I don't like roll. I want my ball to kind of land a little soft. I hit it far enough, and as the fairways on TOUR have gotten narrower and they're pinching fairways in. I don't want that ball running anywhere.

Q. I just happened to bump into your niece Cheyenne. What are your impressions of her golf game and what's been your advice to her over the years?
TIGER WOODS: Cheyenne has been great. What she's done this year, winning the State and obviously shooting just some unbelievable numbers, she's started to come into her own now. She's starting to understand the game. It's fun to see. Occasionally we'll talk about it, and it's neat for me to see her progress from -- I remember the day she first started. She started in the garage where I started. I'll never forget that day. And then all of a sudden to see her go out there and win State and shoot 29. She's just a great kid, too. She's super-great, super-nice, extremely intelligent. What Sue, her mom, has done has been tremendous.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: We talk about just random things. It doesn't always have to be golf.

Q. You said he, when you referred to the ultrasound. Is it a boy, and if so, what does that mean to you to have a son?
TIGER WOODS: I don't know what it is yet. We won't know for another, I guess, few weeks. It'll be one of the two, 50/50.

Q. Will you be taking mental notes on the South Course in preparation for the '08 Open, or is it too soon for that?
TIGER WOODS: I'm looking at possibly them changing a couple holes to par 4s from what I hear, and it's going to be an interesting golf course at about 7,450 or 7,400 yards par 70. That could be really interesting. But I've played here enough times, and the guys who have played here since they made the changes, the first year they made the changes were probably very similar to that green-wise. We couldn't hold sand wedges on the green that year. I'm sure the USGA will do the same for us, but the rough will probably be a little higher.

Q. You've obviously been very open with the influence your dad had on your life. I'm curious if there's any one or two things, lessons you learned from watching him as a father that you envision applying to your fatherhood?
TIGER WOODS: Well, he was always there. I don't mean physically. He was always there if I wanted to talk to him about anything and everything. He would stop what he was doing -- if he brought home a bunch of work and he had to get it done that night, he didn't care. He would stop and talk to me about whatever I wanted to talk about for however long, sometimes it would be hours, and then he'd go back to his work and work until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and get it done. But I was the priority.
That to me is something that I will certainly do.

Q. You mentioned your two years at Stanford. I'm curious of a synopsis of how those sort of two years at Stanford shaped you as a person. You obviously weren't there for four, but you've talked fondly of those times.
TIGER WOODS: I look at those as probably two of the greatest years I've ever had, being away from home for the first time and trying to learn how to cope with things, how to learn, how to grow. We're all in the same boat together. We're all in the freshmen dorms, coed dorms, so we're all away from home. We try and get through it together.
Just the intelligence that people had and their perspectives on so many different subjects and the things I was exposed to I will never forget. It certainly did shape me, there's no doubt about it.
I mean, one of my mentors, obviously he's sick right now, is Bill Walsh, and to see -- I would be in the gym lifting, go to the training room and then go up to his office, and I'd just -- not too often you get to rap with Bill Walsh about anything. That's something that I'll never forget.
You have moments like that. Some of the classes I was able to take and some of the people I was able to meet, an experience that I wish that everyone would end up having one time.

Q. Look back at the work you've done with Hank. At what point during the early stages of that process did you feel like you were equipped enough to do what you wanted to do? What was the turning point?
TIGER WOODS: There was really no turning point. It was just more of an evolution of understanding ball flight and how to fix it, what caused it and some of the things that I had to fix in my game. We had a long-term plan of things that I needed to change, but we couldn't change everything at once. You had to take things in stages.
Understanding the whole process, yeah, was I frustrated through that process, no doubt about it because obviously I wanted to get better. Those things I had to do in stages. I think that's what allowed me to have the success that I've had out here is learning my golf swing and learning how to fix it throughout the stages that I've progressed with Hank.

Q. Can you look at a turning point, though?
TIGER WOODS: There really wasn't a turning point, though. There wasn't one dramatic moment. It was more, okay, if you hit this shot, it could be a number of different things with you what causes it, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, and understanding it and fixing it while you're out there playing, and that's not the easiest thing to do when you're on the 4th hole and you've had three bad shots, what were those three shots and how can I fix it.

Q. What's your thought on the FedEx Cup and leading up to the Playoffs, how many tournaments in a row you think you'll start playing?
TIGER WOODS: It'll mainly depend on what the guys do. It's going to be a very busy end of the summer for a lot of us. We're going to be playing a lot of golf. I'm sure our bodies will be taking a pretty good pounding towards the end of the year. But at the end of it you get to have some time off. So that's a plus.
Obviously we have the major championships, we have the World Golf Championships, we have the Playoff events and then you have the Presidents Cup, as well, so that's a lot of events right in a row. As I said, it'll be interesting to see if some of the guys, if their bodies are able to hold up through all that.

Q. With everything that's happened to you since this time last year, both on and off the golf course, would this off season be the most relaxing you've had since you turned pro?
TIGER WOODS: No doubt about it. No doubt about it.

Q. I'm just wondering since you're back atop the world in your World Rankings a mile ahead of everybody else and riding high, the stories are all being written and everything, whether when you're going that good, whether you have measured in your mail or things that you might hear sort of the anti-Tiger element because there's always the pulling for the underdog thing in this country or rooting against the Yankees just because they're Yankees. When you play good, do you get more of the other, as well? Do you sense that or do you block that out?
TIGER WOODS: It happens, and that's part of it. The whole idea for me is not listening to either. As I said earlier, it's a process of always trying to get better, and that's what I focus on. Am I able to continue to get better and continue to get the Ws throughout the year, then yes, that's what I focus on.
There's a lot of different things that can be written or said, and if you start getting caught up in that, you start going down the wrong path, and that doesn't allow you to have the wherewithal to keep progressing, keep moving forward with your game.

Q. We've heard the best way to make sure you do something is to tell you you can't do it.
TIGER WOODS: True. That doesn't mean I'm always going to do that. But if I'm able to do it, yeah, I'll take him down.

Q. Can you talk about that second commercial they shot, and were they holding their collective breaths when you went and tackled the guy?
TIGER WOODS: It was interesting because the director -- I had an idea because we did the first one throwing the golf ball, and I just think that that wasn't me. If someone took my bag, I would do something a little bit more than just throw a golf ball at him, okay. You guys know my personality. I would have obviously handled it a little differently.
So I told the director, "I have an idea; what do you think if I went out there and tried to grab the bag away from him." He said, "Well, I think it's a great idea." I told the actor there, "You know what, I think I'm going to come up from behind you and I'm going to get you." He said, "All right, I'll be ready for it, no worries."
Well, as I got closer to him I got into it a little bit, probably too much, and I got a little excited, and yeah, he had a little scratch on his forehead (laughter). It was just a little scratch. He toweled off and he was fine.

Q. You mentioned the garage where you grew up and where you learned. What are your fond memories of that garage and can you describe it?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it wasn't very big. My dad had a net in there and these lines on there on the carpet, and I would hit balls and then putt on the carpet there and listen to my rap music, and dad would think that I was nuts. He was strictly a jazz guy, and he thought I was filling my brain with a bunch of stuff I shouldn't be filling it up with.
It was just a great time looking back. My dad and I during El Niño years when it would be raining pretty hard and couldn't go out to the golf course would work inside there, and he'd watch me hit golf balls and we'd just listen for contact, obviously look at my swing and things I needed to work on. There were many times when we had to redo the net because I would hit to a certain spot where he wouldn't all the time. His trajectories weren't as consistent. I'd make him well aware of that, too.

Q. Can you just talk about playing in Pro-Ams and what you like about always playing with these different guys that are fans of you and watch you and are probably really, really nervous when they're out there with you?
TIGER WOODS: Well, we had a great time today. The guys were good players. We played quick. We told jokes and told lives and stories and had a great time. That's the whole idea.
My responsibility in a Pro-Am is obviously to make them feel comfortable and make sure that they have a great experience out there playing and being a part of our Tour. Hopefully I was able to do that, and that's what we all as professionals, that's what our obligation is.

Q. Riley yesterday was talking about how he's got a separate room in his house in Vegas of all his Ryder Cup stuff from '04 which may or may not include a pillow (laughter). With your trophies, how do you display them? What have you done with them all? Do you break them down into majors? Do you have anything for Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup? How do you arrange that?
TIGER WOODS: On the mantle, it would be my majors, and at the bottom of the fireplace, the Player of the Years.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: A lot of it is actually at the Nike building, our conference center up there, and displaying a lot of the stuff that I have.
My mom has quite a bit in her house, and I've got some scattered throughout the house. I gave my dad a bunch of stuff, especially towards the end of his life, make sure that he understood that without his help I wouldn't have had these things, so I tried to make sure that I put a lot of the major championships into his house.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: No, they've all been auctioned off.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Tiger, for joining us.

CNN Living Golf Interview

Tiger Woods Interview Transcript

(PART ONE)

LORRAINE: This is Talk Asia, I'm Lorraine Hahn. This week a sports legend who took the fairways by storm before the age of 25. Tiger Woods has made golf his obsession since he was barely as tall as a seven iron. His intensity took him to a grand slam victory, all four major golf tournaments just four years after turning pro. I got a chance to catch up with Tiger during his recent visit to Mission Hill, Shenzhen, China. I'll be sharing some of our conversation with you this half hour. Now Tiger has a fair amount of Asian blood in him, his mother is half Thai, and his father is one quarter Chinese so naturally I asked him how it felt to be back in Asia.

WOODS: Well it's awfully nice coming back to Asia, obviously my mum's, its the kind of household I grew up in so it is pretty neat always coming back to Asia but particularly China, I've never been to China. This is my first time and I'm really excited about it.

LORRAINE: You have some Chinese blood in you, you have some Thai blood, just how Asian is Tiger Woods?

WOODS: Predominantly Asian actually. The majority of my blood is Asian.

LORRAINE: So you feel Asia?

WOODS: I do and when I come back here I feel, I feel at peace because this is the culture I was raised under really. My mum was basically the one I saw at home all the time and that's the discipline I received.

LORRAINE: Just out of curiosity, how much Thai did your mum speak to you when you were growing up?

WOODS: There was a lot of sorting out and then I had a tough time learning the language so she quit and spoke English

LORRAINE: Can you speak any words of Thai?

WOODS: A little bit, not much.

LORRAINE: What is the relationship with your father these days?

WOODS: You know we're still great friends, still father-son but we don't get much time to spend with each other because I'm so busy traveling round the world playing doing my own thing, he's doing his thing but when we do get together it's like there's never any time lost. We're still the same, which is pretty neat.

LORRAINE: Michael Jordan is a buddy of yours, why are you guys so close?

WOODS: I think we have a mutual understanding of what it takes and what we've had to go through to get to what we're at now in our sport and in life in general and I think that's one of the reasons we seem to have, I guess, a natural bond.

LORRAINE: Like a brotherly sort of communication?

WOODS: Yeah well without even having to speak because we know, we've both been there. I'm living it, he's living it, he's living it now, he's back into it now so I think it's that natural bond of knowing what it takes.

LORRAINE: What as the best advice Michael Jordan ever gave you?

WOODS: He's given me a lot of different advice on a lot of different things. I can't say that one really stands out because we've had so many conversations and some things are pretty pertinent to how my life, especially getting accustomed to whole new lifestyle, leaving college then turning pro.

LORRIANE: Did you give him any advice on his comeback?

WOODS: I really wanted to make sure he was in the right place mentally. Physically he's going to be the best judge of that but mentally you're making a commitment to go ahead and see this through. If you don't you're making the wrong decision because at such a late age, 38, coming back, you have to make that mental commitment to achieve what your body can give you and it's not going to be easy. And to make sure he was in the right place mentally was what I kept harping on and he kept reassuring me that he was ready to do it.

LORRAINE: Talk Asia is an interactive show and we would like to take viewer e-mails. This one e-mail is from Pagio in Manila: "What was the most important thing your parents taught you when you were growing up?

WOODS: Ermm, so many things you know? So many things that I do naturally and so many things that I say that they've always said. I think, one thing that I've really come to appreciate about my parents as I've got older is you know, how wise they really were. As a kid when I was growing up, as any kid, you think you know every thing and I was no different to that. I had different opinions on a lot of different things then them but the way they raised me, in hindsight, they were right.

LORRAINE: On a more serious note, how did the events of September the eleventh affect your life?

WOODS: It changed it petty dramatically, not in the sense, I didn't loose any friends or anything like that I think it's just a shame that it takes a tragedy like that to wake people up, to understand there's more to life then the little petty things we get upset at, and the things that frustrate us, the things that we think are important and it really is a shame that it takes such an event like that to wake us all up. You know, I was on a golf course in Saint Louis when I found out about the news and played the entire back line with information coming in and what it really was and it was a tough thing to go through for all of us.

LORRAINE: Tiger's first impression of September 11th. Now Tiger has another legacy of besides his parent's heritage. His famous nickname "Tiger" comes from a South Vietnamese soldier. Tiger's father got very close to him as an army colonel in Vietnam. Here's how Earl Woods described his friend in a CNN interview:

EARL WOODS (Tiger's Father): He was very very good in combat. So much so that I nicknamed him Tiger. And when "Nam" fell I didn't know if he got out. And I lost touch with him and I said if I have another child I'll nickname him Tiger. If it had been a girl, she would have been Tiger too.

LORRAINE: When we come back I'll share a little more of my conversation with Tiger Woods and a little later we'll meet some young people who are finding inspiration and maybe a life direction from Tiger's example.

(PART TWO)

LORRAINE: Welcome back to Talk Asia. I want to share with you some more of my conversation with golf legend Tiger woods. Besides being a great golfer Tiger's also a pretty good teacher. One of the reasons Tiger came to China this time around was to hold clinics to teach people about the fundamentals of golf. Giving them skills and self-esteem is at the heart of the foundation Tiger launched five years ago. Well I asked Tiger about that foundation and why working with kids was so important to him.

WOODS: I just wanted to inspire them, not necessarily from a golf standpoint, we're not here as a foundation to produce better golfers, we're here to produce better citizens and better kids who will become better citizens in the end and that's what we are here to do and we just think that golf is a vehicle that they can do a lot of things from if they chose to do it but you that's their choice. We want to provide them an opportunity to go ahead and use golf as a vehicle but that's, ultimately it's their decision we just want them provide them with a chance to go ahead and participate.

LORRAINE: Do you have any plans for these clinics in Asia?

WOODS: Not yet, no we're definitely trying to get things kicked off, in like a year or two coming to Asia and doing a big clinic.

LORRAINE: Considering your passion for kids, any plans to have children?

WOODS: Oh I would love to, I would love to have kids one day.

LORRAINE: Timeframe?

WOODS: I really don't know, whenever the time's right. I've always wanted to have a family and look forward to the day when it does happen.

QUESTION: Are you anywhere close to the date, are you dating?

WOODS: Yeah I am. It's just one of those things, when the time's right

LORRAINE: Now a lot of ladies have asked me to ask you this question so I'm going to do that. Is Tiger a romantic?

WOODS: I really don't think so, you know, I enjoy doing things that are so called romantic but I just enjoy just hanging out and enjoying their company and when it clicks it's great and I think that's ultimately what you want to have

LORRAINE: Here's another e-mail question, this time from Walter in Hong Kong, "What advice do you have for little Asian Tigers and their parents?"

WOODS: Well I think one of the things as far as golf, one of the things my dad kept instilling in me was the joy of the game. He made it fun for me. A lot of the times I see a lot of the kids, they don't enjoy being out there and that's a shame, you're supposed to enjoy the game, it's a game ultimately and the kids go out there and enjoy it while you're doing it. I think that's one of the things I've learnt from my father and what I try to instill in all my clinics is yes go out there and give it all you have but more importantly enjoy what you're doing because it is something that, it is a game for everybody.

LORRAINE: And now the email question from Asghari in Malaysia, "How do you stay so calm?"

WOODS: That's a great question because that's who I am, I'm not a person who ranges in emotions from high to low, I've always been more or less pretty mellow. I've always had that knack for staying pretty even keel and the more the situation gets tense the more I see things clearly and I think that's just a knack that I've always had.

LORRAINE: Are you a spiritual person?

WOODS: Not necessarily. I've just kind of, I know what works best for me, lets put it that way. I know that balance that I need to have in my life.

QUESTION: How's your back feeling?

WOODS: It's all right now.

LORRAINE: How did you do it?

WOODS: How did I hurt it? I hurt it in the trailer trying to get my hips worked on and something happened.

LORRAINE: Playing so much golf as a kid how much did you miss out?

WOODS: You know, I pretty much did everything, that's the thing. I got in trouble just like anybody else did. I've done just about everything that a kid could do but just that I love playing golf.

LORRAINE: If you could never play golf again, touch wood, what would you be doing?

WOODS: I'd have to be doing something within the arena of golf, whether it was business wise or whether it was teaching, no matter what is was involved in it would have to be in the golfing arena.

LORRAINE: How would you like to be remembered as?

WOODS: Be remembered, I think Carol Whipkin says it all, just being remembered is enough.

LORRIANE: And Tiger is definitely remembered by the young people who get a chance to meet him. We'll talk to some of them and see what they thought of the master when Talk Asia returns.

(PART THREE)

LORRAINE: Your watching Talk Asia and we're talking about golf superstar, Tiger Woods and his following in Asia. In just a moment we'll be talking to 3 young people who were lucky enough to get some personal coaching form Tiger during his recent visit to China. But first, John Raidler has this report from Thailand where Tiger's family roots make him especially popular:

RAIDLER: Not a bad drive, especially for a four and a half year old. Ameron is one of thousands of Thai kids caught up in a golf craze inspired by one man. " I want to be like Tiger", he says. When we ask him why he answers, "Because he drives very long". And so does Ameron, for his age. He competed in his first competition for golf tots last month and won. His father says, when Ameron is not playing golf, he is watching it. American born Tony Maichi runs golf schools in Thailand and encounters "Tigermania" everyday. "It makes my job so much easier when I say, "Ok, anyone know Tiger Woods? Boom. Anyone want to be Tiger Woods? Boom". Pound for pound the best golfer in Tony's school might be Urin, 2 years and 11 months. They say he has a natural swing and when he hits the ball it strays hit. We ask him what he knows about Tiger, " He hits" he tell us. "He hits a pig" and to Urin, that's a great joke. 8 Year old Pom Prepan works on his short game. He too, inspired by one man, "Tiger Woods". All these Thai tykes practicing to be the next Tiger. John Raidler, CNN, Bangkok.

LORRAINE: Joining us now are three aspiring golfers who Tiger coached during his first clinic during his visit to Mission Hills golf resort in Shen Zhun, China. They are Lennord Chung, Michael Troy and Akshay Berrai, we'd like to welcome them all to the show. Thank you very much for coming on Talk Asia, appreciate it. Now tell me, Lennord, let me start with you, what did you think of Tiger?

LENNORD: Well he is the best golfer I've ever seen. He's just so amazing that it seems effortless how he hits the ball.

LORRAINE: Michael, what did you think? Was he everything you thought he would be?

MICHAEL: Yeah, and more.

LORRAINE: Akshay what about you?

AKSHAY: Erm, I liked they way he did tricks with his wooden iron. He's the best golfer I've ever seen

LORRAINE: Now he taught you right, he gave you a personal show. In fact you've got the picture on your lap. What did he teach you about you swing?

AKSHAY: He was holding my head and telling me not to go so far back. And my dad taught me not to bend my legs

LORRAINE: And you've been practicing that all, since then, since you met Tiger?

AKSHAY: Yeah.

LORRAINE: Has your game improved? Have you hit further?

AKSHAY: I've only practiced when I was only five.

LORRAINE: But after you met Tigerr did you practice what he taught you?

AKSHAY: Yeah.

LORRAINE: Was it better? Your game is better?

AKSHAY: Um hum!

LORRAINE: Michael, did he teach you anything special?

MICHAEL: Yeah, he worked on my alignment so I could hi the ball like at my specific target instead of just hitting at a wild target.

LORRAINE: And you've been practicing that? That's helped you?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

LORRAINE: What about you Lennord?

LENNORD: He went through his, how he practices before tournaments like he goes through his golf clubs, they go through odds numbers all the way up for his irons to his woods and comes wall the way back down and finishes with the club he's about to tee off with on the first hole. So I thought that was quite good strategy and I'll try to use that.

LORRAINE: Now you parents play golf, right? Akshay?

AKSHAY: Yeah

LORRAINE: Michael?

MICHAEL: Yeah

LORRAINE: Lennord?

LENNORD: Yeah.

LORRAINE: After the game with Tiger do you think you could beat your parents?

AKSHAY and MICHAEL: No.

LORRAINE: Not yet? Do you guys want to compete when you get a bit older?

LENNORD: Well, but probably I'm not looking at Golf as a career until I get older and I start playing with my boss.

LORRAINE: And beat him, right?

LENNORD: No! You don't do that!

LORRAINE: Oh, politically correct. Very smart Lennord. How did you hear about he clinic?

LENNORD: I kind of read on the paper. It said something about Tiger coming to China into Mission Hills. And one day my instructor, Joanne Hardwick for the Hong Kong Golf Club called me and told me you're invited to, yeah, to meet Tiger.

LORRAINE: You must have been excited.

LENNORD: Yeah, I was.

LORRAINE: Did you get an autograph off him at all?

LENNORD: No

LORRAINE: He didn't give autographs to you all?

LENNORD: I guess one of the problems is he's afraid of people mass-producing his autograph.

LORRAINE: That's true. Michael, how did you get to know about the clinic?

MICHAEL: My dad told me about it and he got me to go.

LORRAINE: And were you very excited? To go?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

LORRAINE: How about you Ashkay?

ASHKAY: My dad also told me.

LORRAINE: Did you want to go or were you forced to go?

ASHKAY: Forced.

LORRAINE: Forced? How did he force you? Tell me?

ASHKAY: He shouted at me. He said "why don't you go to Tiger Wood's clinic?"

LORRAINE: And what did you say? Did you cry?

ASHKAY: No. I said "OK"

LORRAINE: How often do you guys play?

ASHKAY: Once a week

MICHAEL: Yeah probably once a week in Hong Kong. In the Summer when I'm in the U.S. I play it as much as I can.

LORRAINE: In the United States right?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

ASHKAY: Me too.

LORRAINE: What about you Lennord?

LENNORD: I would play more in the Summer but during school it's jus, Hong Kong is such an isolated place away from all the golf courses so it's hard to find the opportunity when you have enough time to go and play because it takes four hours just to play 18 holes.

LORRAINE: Ok, just a quick question to you guys. Who wants to be Tiger Woods when he grows up?

LENNORD: That would be nice!

LORRAINE: Ok, all three of you. I wish you luck. Listen, I know you guys were at the clinic but also had just a wee bit of time wit him as well to show me a few things. Want to take a look?

LENNORD: Sure.

LORRAINE: Ok, let's have a look. It's on the telly.

(Shows video of Lorraine practicing her swing and getting tips from Tiger)

TIGER: A little flat but hat's ok.

LORRAINE: ok, ok, ok. I can still play right?

TIGER: Oh without a doubt, without a doubt.

LORRAINE: What sort of tip would you give me?

TIGER: First of all I think you need to get your left arm, playing up a little higher, a little mo0re upright. It's a little flat. It wrapped around you and that's one of the reasons you hit flat. You need to get your arms up a little higher.

LORRAINE: Now I've got this seven iron here. What about my grip? Am I alright?

TIGER: Yeah, your grips fine.

LORRAINE: It's good right?

TIGER: Yeah. You want to strengthen that left hand a little bit.

LORRAINE: Ok, there we go. I appreciate it, thank you very much.

TIGER: You got it. Enjoyed it, thank you.

(End of video)

LORRAINE: Alright guys, what do you think? Not bad?

ASHKAY: Not that bad.

LORRAINE: Not that bad? What was wrong with it? What was good?

ASHKAY: The follow through

LORRAINE: Ok Michael, what did you think?

MICHAEL: Pretty good

LORRAINE: Pretty good hey, for a girl. Lennord, what do you think?

LENNORD: How long have you played?

LORRAINE: I'm no telling you that! A few years.

LENNORD: I'd say very graceful

LORRAINE: Thank you. That's very sweet of you. So maybe we can have a game one time, what do you think?

LENNORD: Anytime.

LORRAINE: Ok, it's on television, you promised me! Ok thanks guys I appreciate your time. Lennord, thank you very much, Michael, thank you and Ashkay, thank you very much. Save that picture huh? Well thank you all very much we've been talking with three aspiring golfers in the studio and, of course, you heard earlier our interview with Tiger Woods. Next week Pakistani poop group, Junoon so lets talk again, next week.

Fergie Interviews Tiger

Larry King Live
Sarah Ferguson Interviews Tiger Woods
Aired February 23, 2001 - 9:00 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You da man!

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you serious?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH FERGUSON, GUEST HOST: Thank you for joining us. I'm Sarah Ferguson. And I'm honored to be sitting in for Larry King.

I know you recognize the extraordinary young who is man with me: Tiger Woods.

So glad you are sitting here, Tiger. And I can't believe it, because I spoke to your mom yesterday. And she said -- I said, "Oh, I'm going to see your son." She goes: "No, you're not. He is going to go to Las Vegas." I said, "Yes, he is doing the LARRY KING for me in the morning."

TIGER WOODS, PGA GOLF PLAYER: That's right.

FERGUSON: And she goes: "No, no, no, he doesn't do any interviews. He won't be there."

I mean, it's just extraordinary.

WOODS: Only for you.

FERGUSON: Thank you. It's so kind of you.

Now, could you please explain to me a bit about golf, you know, that thing do you, you know?

WOODS: You mean chase a little white ball and work on my farmer's tan?

FERGUSON: Yes.

(LAUGHTER) WOODS: That thing? All right.

FERGUSON: Yes. I mean, I'm very interested about all -- they are talking about the Grand Slam.

WOODS: Right.

FERGUSON: And they're saying if you win the Masters this year, then will it count as the Grand Slam.

WOODS: Will it count or won't it? In my opinion, I think it would count. To be able to hold all four majors -- the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, PGA -- all concurrently I think is the Grand Slam. But a lot of people have a different opinions on that. People think you have to win it in the same calendar year.

Mine would not encompass that. It would encompass two years. But if you hold all four same at the time, I think that's the Grand Slam. But that is just my opinion.

FERGUSON: But, Tiger, isn't it the most extraordinary achievement? I mean, to win what you have won is -- I mean, it's not been done since the 1950s, is that right?

WOODS: Right. You know, Hogan won three in one year. Could I do that again? I don't know. Hopefully, I can get my game ready for Augusta. And that's what I'm trying to peak for right now. I'm trying to get everything situated so that my game will rise to a level that I would like to he see it at by April.

And it is just pretty neat. I'm working on a few things right now. I'm seeing some new exciting things in my game come along. And I can't wait for all this to gel. And hopefully it will gel by April.

FERGUSON: So you -- so you are really sort of playing it down at the moment, just playing the game, doing the best job you can at the moment, and then suddenly going to just confront everything and it...

WOODS: Well, I'm trying to win every tournament I play in. And that is one of the things that I truly believe in. There's no sense in going to a tournament if you don't believe that you can win it. And that is the belief I have always had. And that is not going to change. But I do have certain goals and certain things I try and strive for every year. And that is to try to have my game peak for the four majors.

That is not saying that other tournaments are not significant. They are. And they do me a lot in my life. But I'm -- in back of my mind, I always want to win the bigger tournaments. And those are the four majors.

FERGUSON: But you know what is extraordinary, is you said to me that when you watch a video of your match -- your last match -- you look at the positive side of it, not the negative.

WOODS: Right. Right. FERGUSON: Would you explain that?

WOODS: Well, you know, a lot of people look at the negative things, the things that they did wrong and -- which I do. But I like to stress on the things I did right, because there are certain things that I like to look at from a positive standpoint that are just positive reinforcement.

It just makes you feel like, when your out there in the competition, you are competing coming down the stretch, that you, you know, you have watched the videotape. You know you can do it. Why not do it again? I have proved to myself -- in practice, I have proved to myself -- in tournaments. And that is one of the reasons why, when I look back in hindsight over videotapes the things I did right, just to have that positive reinforcement so that down the road in another tournament that I will be able to draw upon that.

FERGUSON: And when you are walking do the last final tee -- the 18th tee, and fans are shouting at you and you are being mobbed, how do you deal with it, when you don't -- you can't shake?

WOODS: Well, sometimes it is a little loud. I mean, they hurt your eardrums sometimes. And that is the honest-to-God truth, is that sometimes they yell so loud that your eardrums are ringing by the time you tee off. But, you know, you got to put all that aside. You've got to...

FERGUSON: How do you put it aside, Tiger, because...

WOODS: You know, I stay in the present, focus on what I need to accomplish right now. One of the great things that Harvey Penick -- one of the late teachers -- what he said that is when you are over a golf shot, that should be most important thing in your life at that moment in time. And that is the kind of concentration you need have and the discipline you need to have.

So with that being said, everything else is shunned away and put aside. You focus on what you want to accomplish right here and now. After you do that, then you go ahead and let your mind wander if you want.

FERGUSON: But that is a golf tip -- that is a major golf tip for anyone watching. You are really saying; Go to the ball. Look at it.

WOODS: Correct.

FERGUSON: And just completely shut out any other form of emotion or anything else.

WOODS: Well, you focus on what want you to accomplish with that shot. That is it. Whether it is you want to place ball here or place there, you've got to stay away from that trouble, you've got to focus on what you want to accomplish right here and now. And if you don't do that, you don't have that type of concentration or attention, then you are not going to hit the shot you want to hit. FERGUSON: And once you are standing over the ball and you say, "Right," you have cleared the way and you are going towards victory, how does it actually feel?

WOODS: Very rewarding to be able to walk up -- to be able to walk up the last hole and knowing the fact that you've beat everybody in the field that week -- and especially in a major championship, walking up the last hole, knowing the fact that you have already won the tournament, all you need to do is stay alive.

FERGUSON: Yes.

WOODS: That is a great feeling, because you worked, you know, all your life to get to this moment. Like, for instance, the last year at the British Open, to complete the Slam, I had to win at St. Andrews, the home of golf. And then going up the last hole, I had an eight-shot lead. And all I needed was just stay alive and just keep my heart beating and I could win the tournament.

And to walk up that last hole at the home of golf, and seeing the amphitheater and all great the champions that have walked up there, it just sent chills down my spine. And I said: You know what? I have a -- this is very special. And this is something that all kids should dream about.

And I was actually able to make a childhood dream come true.

FERGUSON: But I remember you saying that you had some -- a long time ago, many years ago, you said: Oh, listen, I'm really going to get to work on my British -- on the links courses.

WOODS: That is right.

FERGUSON: And I remember you saying that to me.

WOODS: That is right.

FERGUSON: And so when you walked up last year, it was just like, I was watching the telly going: Yes, he did it! He did it!

But it's such an example because you say you can improve every year.

WOODS: You know, it's something that I try to do. You know, December 31, if I can say that I'm a better player now than I was January 1 of the same year, then it was a successful year, because, in the end, if you keep doing that each and every year, you are going to have one heck of a career.

FERGUSON: More next: legacy and golf tips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's looking dangerous unless it carries -- carries. Oh, it did. How about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

Oh, well done. Well done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE JANZEN, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I'm just marveled by his drive, you know, where he gets that from. You know, I know he wants to be the No. 1 player in the world. I just don't know why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED FUNK, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Two weeks ago in Phoenix, I saw on the computer he was beating me in driving accuracy, and I said, hey, Tiger you're beating me in driving accuracy so far with one round to go. And he's just kind of shaking his head and he's walking away, and I say, "Feel pretty good about yourself, don't you?" And he says, "Yeah, I do."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK O'MEARA, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER/FISHERMAN: Thing is, you know, he can beat be on the golf course pretty bad like he beats all the other guys. But I'm definitely beating him in fishing and fly- fishing. He needs to go a little bit to catch me on the river.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: I love that. I mean, that is just like so cool.

WOODS: That is.

FERGUSON: You know, just shows that every -- off the course, you're all great friends.

WOODS: Yes, we all are. We compete against each other, try and beat each other's brains in when we're playing. But off the golf course, everything is put aside.

FERGUSON: And your mom didn't -- I don't know -- please say if I'm wrong. But didn't she say that, Tiger, when you're on the golf course, you just go for it and you just go out there to win, and when you're off, after the game, that's when the sportsmanship comes about?

WOODS: That's exactly it. You carry yourself in a competitive atmosphere. You compete as hard as you possibly can while you're playing, and you give it absolutely everything you have. You have nothing left in the tank. When it's done, hey, shake hands, let's be friends. Let's go out, have dinner, go hang out.

FERGUSON: Go fishing.

WOODS: Go fishing.

FERGUSON: Try to beat him at fishing.

WOODS: I try and beat him at fishing, but you know...

(LAUGHTER)

... he's so much better than I am. I'm probably about an -- probably an eight to 10 handicap in fishing, in fly-fishing.

FERGUSON: Well, that's good.

WOODS: That's not bad, but you know, he's a scratch. Marco's a scratch. He's pretty good.

WOODS: Now, I want to get onto the Ryder Cup controversy. Do you think there's going to be some controversy this year with the Ryder Cup?

WOODS: I don't think so. I hope not. I hope that the Ryder Cup is conducted in the atmosphere that it was meant to be conducted in. And unfortunately, people at Brookline the last Ryder Cup, they got out-of-control. I mean, a lot of it because of the fact that they have too many of the beverages of their choice.

And you know, when we play in the morning, the morning was pretty subdued and pretty quiet. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people wore rooting for Europeans and people were rooting for us, which is supposed to be that way. But by the afternoon after lunch, they're having a few, it's already starting to kick in, then it started becoming more vocal and that's when it started getting out-of-hand.

FERGUSON: Yeah. Because you don't drink actually, do you, or do you drink very little?

WOODS: Very little.

FERGUSON: Well, not when you're on the course. Of course not.

WOODS: Not when I'm playing, no.

FERGUSON: No. But I mean, I just wondered, you know, when you were sort of -- New Year's Day, was it, when you dyed your hair blond?

WOODS: I did it actually -- I did it the 23rd of December.

FERGUSON: Did you?

WOODS: I did.

FERGUSON: I was just really upset you didn't dye it red, you know. That like really upset me. WOODS: I'm sorry, Fergie.

(LAUGHTER)

No, but I -- I've always wanted to dye my hair blond. I grew up in Southern Cal, and a lot of the surfers and the people I've hung out with have always died their hair, and I just kind of hung around that crowd. So I've always wanted to do it, and so I finally decided to do it. And I saw my mom Christmas Day.

FERGUSON: And she liked it -- did she like it?

WOODS: I think my mom -- I was almost expelled from the house.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: I bet. And dad?

WOODS: Dad just looked at me and says -- and just shook his head, and he says, oh, my god, what did you do now?

FERGUSON: Well, it didn't stop your game, so that's the main thing.

WOODS: No, and it was just a lot of fun, something I've always wanted to do. And I'll do it again just to have a little fun.

FERGUSON: OK. Well, you can put a little red henna in it, OK, too, just to keep me happy.

WOODS: A little highlight there. All right, you got it.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: Now, the best endorsement -- you've been doing so well with the endorsements, and I think that's really great. I mean, you've done extraordinary things and you're moving forward. Have you ever had really strange, someone like -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Tiger, we want you to endorse this product. What's the most strangest one?

WOODS: I've had some very interesting ones, probably nothing I can share with the audience, because they're a little on the far side. You know, but I get asked, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) IMG, my management group, gets asked just about every day about endorsing some type of product. And it ranges from your normal household goods toward anything golf- related.

(CROSSTALK)

You name it. It's been absolutely unbelievable some of the things. But the good ones I really can't share with all of the viewers, unfortunately.

FERGUSON: The real juicy ones.

WOODS: The real good ones, yeah. FERGUSON: OK. Well, just for that, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). OK. Then we'll get into another subject.

How -- do you find -- has golf -- golf ever become a pressure on you?

WOODS: I don't think golf has ever been any pressure as far as having to succeed. Have I -- is there a pressure out there when you're playing? Oh, yeah. I mean, we're all nervous out there, we're all trying our best. But as far as a burden on my life, no, golf has never been that way, and never will, because I absolutely love golf. I love to play.

When I was kid, I loved to play and I loved to compete. I never thought I actually would love it more than I did when I was a kid, and actually, as I've gotten older, I actually love it more now than I did when I was a kid. And that to me is absolutely extraordinary, because I -- golf is me. Golf has made me and shaped me into the person I am here today.

FERGUSON: And anybody who is with you knows that golf is the most important thing at this moment, apart from your own humanitarian issues, but that's going to take you to those issues.

WOODS: Correct. Golf is probably the second priority in my life right now, No. 1 being my family.

FERGUSON: Of course.

WOODS: And eventually, you know, golf and family will change, as it all will, when it evolves, when I...

FERGUSON: When you have your own children.

WOODS: When I have my own family. It'll evolve to that. And that'll be the most important thing in my life. But golf is part of me. I'm always thinking about it, always trying to figure out how to get better. It is just -- I try to do things that are creative, and I enjoy trying to manufacture things in tournaments.

FERGUSON: More coming up next on how Tiger Woods can make himself better.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tiger Woods taking the outright lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FERGUSON: Hello. We're back again. It's Sarah Ferguson with Tiger Woods.

Tiger, now another question. The longest, straightest drive?

WOODS: The longest, straightest drive. I'm still trying to figure that out.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't know how to hit one. I don't know how to get there. If I hit one -- I've hit a few long ones that have been straight, but to actually do it consistently, I'll let you know when I figure that out.

FERGUSON: Really? What driver do you use to do that?

WOODS: Titleist Titanium right now.

FERGUSON: Right.

WOODS: Basically whatever gets -- gets my ball in the fairway.

FERGUSON: OK. Now, tell me about the ERC driver. Do you know anything about this?

WOODS: The ERC, yeah, yeah.

FERGUSON: And all the sort of situation about whether they...

WOODS: Yeah. The controversy of having the wall thickness too thin, the spring effect.

FERGUSON: Yeah.

WOODS: The problem is with -- there's a limitation in their guidelines that our -- our governing body has set, yes, and the Royal and Ancient, which is part of the rest of the world, they believe tat the spring effect is a different standard. So the ERC -- is it legal in all tournaments? No, it's not in all tournaments. But you know, for the average -- for the average player, do I think that's great for them? I think that every player who plays the game of golf wants to abide by the rules. Do we want an advantage to hit the ball further? Yes, but I think every golfer, because of the nature of our game, is different than everybody else, every other sport. We abide by the rules. If we do something that is wrong, we will call it upon ourselves. We police ourselves, which is different.

And that is why I think the viewing public and the golfing public finds ERC extremely controversial.

FERGUSON: Yes. Now, when you want to sort of take advice and go and chat with someone about that, do you go to your -- to Mr. Nicklaus or not?

WOODS: Not really, no. You know, Jack and I have had numerous conversations about a lot of different subjects. And it has been great to be able to pick his brain. We see eye to eye. We have this weird connection that we can -- we understand each other pretty well.

FERGUSON: And do you often play with him?

WOODS: I try to. I try as much as I possibly can to play as many rounds as I possibly can. I was very fortunate to play with him in his last PGA at Valhalla last year in the first two rounds. I mean, that was a dream come true to be able to play and compete against him, you know, eye to eye, even though he had a -- just an amazing tragedy the day before.

His mother passed away. And he played anyways, which I don't know how he did. He went out there and he tried as hard as he could. I mean, it was traditional. It was just the epitome of what you had always thought of what Jack does in competition: He blocks everything out and competes. And that is exactly what he did. I mean, it was weird to see it face to face, because I had never seen it before.

FERGUSON: That is exactly what you have been saying in this hour today. You have been saying: Listen, you have just got to focus and just get out there and do it.

WOODS: I mean, you have a certain amount of time to hit a shot. And you focus on that shot. And that is it. It was just...

FERGUSON: That's the amazing achievement.

WOODS: It was absolutely extraordinary to see in person.

FERGUSON: Both of you together must have been really an extraordinary moment.

WOODS: Yes, we had a lot of fun. To be able to walk up -- we were walking off the 18th tee on Friday afternoon. And it -- we saw the board on 17. And it looked like he had to make birdie to make the cut. And so I walked off the tee with him. And I said: "You know, Jack, why don't we finish this off in the correct way?"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOODS: Come on, let's finish it off the right way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODS: And he and I both knew that means birdie on the last hole. And he says, "All right, let's go do it."

So I get up there, I hit my ball in the bunker. I blast it out, make birdie. He hits it, spins it back, almost makes eagle, makes birdie. So we both made birdie on the last hole. And that is one of the greatest stories of all time. And...

FERGUSON: I love that story.

WOODS: I was actually -- it was so neat to be a part of it and to experience it and just watch it.

FERGUSON: You know what's amazing about that, is that you both were determined to achieve that. You both said: Right, come on. Let's do birdie on this.

WOODS: That is right. And we didn't want to let other one show the other person up. And so, you know, you had to accomplish your end of the bargain.

FERGUSON: But, for people watching who do play golf, they would say: Right, look, they focused. They said they are going for birdie. And they did it.

WOODS: Yes. And it was a cool thing to be able to be a part of.

FERGUSON: And that's like, if they want to reduce their handicap -- if you want to reduce your handicap, get out there, disciplined practice...

WOODS: That's right.

FERGUSON: And go for it.

WOODS: That's right. You get out of it what you put into it. And if you have the discipline, the work ethic, it's amazing how the things will just unfold naturally.

FERGUSON: Who else has been -- who is the next person you would like to play with and to have that kind of challenge with?

WOODS: There are so many great players in the world right now, so many good young players.

FERGUSON: Who do you think is hot on your heels?

WOODS: There's a lot of players, actually. I mean, there are a lot of great young players that are right there, who are in their 20s and early 30s, that golf is going to be in for a great treat over the next 20 years in this generation that we are competing in. And we are going to go head to head. There's probably about 10 of us. We're going to head to head for the next 10, 15, 20 years.

FERGUSON: Coming up; You've got to listen who else he is going to have a round of golf with.

(LAUGHTER)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK NICKLAUS, PGA GOLF PLAYER: If I'm still passing the baton -- which I think it's been passed long before this -- it is, you know, I couldn't pass it to a -- I think a nicer young man who is a better -- who obviously is the cream of the crop right now -- by a mile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out, it could go in.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks good. Right in the middle.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm telling you what. This is absolutely brilliant, Johnny. Wow! Brilliant play there.

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And yet more history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He caught that awfully good, John.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this. Look at this!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Tiger Woods is the 100th U.S. Open champion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FERGUSON: I have got to ask you some, like, straightforward questions, because the viewers out there are going: Ask him this question!

OK, your worst course.

WOODS: Worst course I've ever played.

FERGUSON: Ever played.

WOODS: I have played a few in my life that are the best of its kind. That's probably the best way to explain it.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: That is the tactful way of saying it. But, I mean, OK: the most challenging course, then.

WOODS: The most challenging: probably any U.S. Open course we have played. The U.S. Open is probably one of the hardest tests because of -- obviously, you have narrow fairways, high rough, hard and fast greens. And usually, it's played under some extreme conditions. I would probably have to say some of those events.

FERGUSON: Last weekend, we watched you at the Buick International. What did it feel like to come fourth?

WOODS: What did it feel like? Not very good.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODS: No, because, you know, I want to win. And I came close. But then again, in reality, I did the best I possibly could, because I didn't really have the game I needed to have in order to win that tournament. But I gave myself a chance. And a lot of times, that is what you need to do. You need to gut it out. Sometimes you are not going to have your best stuff. FERGUSON: When Tiger Woods walks into the competition and all the players go, "Ah, Tiger is there," do you feel that sense that they are all intimidated by you -- or not?

WOODS: Not really, because, one, a lot of them are my friends. And we hang out together. But, you know, when you are playing, it is a different story, though. I block all that out. Whether I am intimidating or not, I don't know because I'm not in their heads. I do the best I can.

The only thing I can focus on is what I can. And that is: Hit my own golf ball. I can't control what they do.

FERGUSON: Tiger, you have rebuilt your swing, right? Now, you are saying to me that you are going to rebuild -- well, not rebuild, but you're going to work even more on your game. What on Earth area can you improve?

WOODS: The thing is, though, I changed my swing pretty dramatically from '97 to where you see it present day. And when I say I'm changing my swing a little bit, it is just a little. It's just fine-tuning. I have done all the major reconstruction of my golf swing.

Right now, I'm just kind of working on a couple little things here and there, which I'm going to do for the rest of my life, because golf is one of those fickle games in which you are going to -- it's going to come and go. And you are going to have to try and keep track of it and always trying to fix it -- little things here and there. But the major construction work that I have done on my game is pretty much over. And I just need to just fine-tune it.

FERGUSON: Do you think that a lot of your game has changed due to your fitness?

WOODS: Yes, actually, a lot of it. I could not get in the positions that I am now without getting stronger and hit a lot of the shots that I hit now because I am stronger. I was not exactly the strongest person when I was a little boy. And I had to work pretty diligently to get to where I am at now.

I wasn't blessed with having enormous size and strength. I did it through a different way of just kind of whipping it out there somehow. It was timing and everything. But timing only goes so far. You need to actually have some good fundamentals.

FERGUSON: You must have inspiration apart from your dad. Is there anyone else that you aspire -- that inspires you to go on and keep going?

WOODS: You know what, that's a great question because I have never met a person in which I felt this kind of aura before, when I was meeting Nelson Mandela. I've never felt an aura like that before.

To be able to meet him at his home and be able sit down and talk to him for -- we were down there for close to an hour -- it was just an absolutely incredible experience for me because I've never felt that kind of warmth and tranquility and that humbleness that he just -- he just exudes. Something about him, that he just -- when you leave being in his presence, you just -- you know you've left. There's not too many people you can say that about. But you know you're not there anymore. And that's pretty impressive.

FERGUSON: And you came away with one thought? Did he say one thing to you which you've always remembered?

WOODS: No, not really. I think it's just the whole experience of how he -- I mean, he told us the whole story about being in the mines and, you know, how he basically orchestrated the whole thing, and why he had the mentality that he did when he came out.

And that, to me, is mind-boggling. And to be able to be that humble and to have that type of focus on what he wanted to accomplish down the road, it just blew my mind.

FERGUSON: But I think a lot of people of feel that with you, though, Tiger, even at 25.

WOODS: Hey, I just chase a little white ball around.

FERGUSON: Yes, you're right. Yes, sure.

But the thing is, is that -- and coming up next, I'm going to ask you about who you'd like to -- six people you'd like to have dinner with. More from Tiger Woods: six people he'd like to have dinner with -- coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WOODS: How about that one, huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make it exciting.

WOODS: Oh, baby, gotta love it. Whoo!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY MILLER, COMMENTATOR: Good looking golf swing there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy, it has launched a mile in the air. And it is right at the flag.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) FIRST UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost an ace!

MILLER: Look at this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FERGUSON: Welcome back. I'm Sarah Ferguson, sitting in for Larry.

With us for the hour: the amazing Tiger Woods.

This dinner plan -- this dinner table we are doing, right? There's me and Larry, of course, because you'd love to invite us.

WOODS: OK, that's two out of the way.

FERGUSON: Yes, that's two. And there's you. That's three. You've got another five -- no, four.

WOODS: You can't count, can you?

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: Three.

WOODS: No -- let's see. Who would I love to have dinner again with? With Mr. Mandela. I would have to say, I'd like to go back in time and actually be able to meet Martin Luther King, to see, you know, what kind of person he was. I heard he was actually extraordinary. I wasn't around during that era.

But to do some of the things that he was able to do to change the whole view of, not only our of our country, but the entire world was absolutely extraordinary. And I'd like to just pick his brain for a little bit.

FERGUSON: But it would actually be quite good your dad and him getting together, wouldn't it? Because you dad really had a hard time, didn't he?

WOODS: My dad did experience a lot of that. Segregation practices were definitely in full effect when he grew up. When he played at Kansas State University in baseball, he wasn't allowed to stay with the team when they went up and played Oklahoma. He had to go down to Oklahoma City and stay in a black hotel. You know, little things like that, it was just very tough growing up for him.

FERGUSON: Because he always says that he sometimes had -- was made to go in the back door in through the kitchen, and never

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: ... in the front door.

WOODS: Yes, yes. Yes, that's exactly what it was.

FERGUSON: And do you -- do you sometimes have these problems too, or not?

WOODS: I did when I was growing up a little bit. I went through a little bit of that, not to extent that my father or that generation had to put up with. But I did have to experience a little bit of it.

FERGUSON: But I guess that is what really helps you now, because you have such an understanding of it.

WOODS: Well, in order to fully understand something, it is probably best to go through that experience yourself. You know, fortunately, but unfortunately, I shouldn't have had to experience. I don't want any kid to ever experience that. It wasn't a good feeling then. And when I recollect on it, it's not a good feeling now.

FERGUSON: Well, thanks to you, hopefully more children will be able to have strength and go forward, will not have to experience...

WOODS: Thank you. Thanks, Fergie.

FERGUSON: Not at all.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: The other thing people want to know is, right -- viewing -- the golfing viewers, please -- will you ever wake up one morning and say: Right, that is it; I don't want to play anymore?

WOODS: Yes, right now.

FERGUSON: Right now.

WOODS: Right now. I'm done.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODS: No, there are times when, yes, I don't want to play. I don't want to touch a club. And that's not during tournament week. During tournament weeks, I obviously want to play. I want to grind it out I want to win a tournament. But there are stretches where, yes, I don't pick up a club. The longest stretch I have ever gone through, I think is close to three weeks.

I never touched a club -- never even touched a club. So if my caddy would have put a banana in my bag, oh my goodness.

FERGUSON: That's really useful always to play with banana, yes. But what's the longest drive, then? Come on. Got to ask these viewers these questions.

WOODS: Ah, longest drive I ever hit? I remember hitting one, I remember in a practice round at Royal Birkdale at the British Open in '98, it was howling downwind. And I hit it as hard I as possibly could, just for heck of it. And I hit it 412 yards.

FERGUSON: OK. So you had taken your (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that morning. WOODS: That was a good one.

FERGUSON: And have you ever done it since?

WOODS: Hit something that far?

FERGUSON: Yes.

WOODS: No, not even close

FERGUSON: But, I mean, that was in the wind and everything.

WOODS: That was in the wind. The ball rolled forever. But to be able -- I normally hit the ball, I would say, about 280, 290.

FERGUSON: My dad said that there is a course in this country called "The Howling Bitch." Is that right?

WOODS: I don't know. It would definitely be interesting to play.

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: But if it's not, we better...

(LAUGHTER)

WOODS: It's a great name.

FERGUSON: It's good, isn't it?

WOODS: Oh, my goodness.

FERGUSON: You never played that, Tiger?

WOODS: I've never played there. But that would be an interesting course to play.

FERGUSON: Well, I'll tell you something: After this show, if he has got that wrong, I'm going to get him.

Now, tips: Come on. Come on. We've got the great Tiger Woods here.

WOODS: Tips. I think the best tip I have received is from my father. And that is: You get out of it what you put into it. If you work hard and you bust your butt, and you go out there and you try as hard as you possibly can, try to get better, you will get better. If you don't put in any effort at all, you don't deserve it.

FERGUSON: You are a great believer in discipline, aren't you?

WOODS: I get that -- you know, people think I get that from my dad. But I don't. I get that from my mom. My mom was the tough one. My dad was always the one who was more lenient. My mom was -- obviously, she's from an Asian heritage. And that heritage and that culture is a lot different than it is here.

FERGUSON: Well, I love your mom. She is always saying to me when I speak to her -- she always goes: "Now, come on. Come on. What are you up to? Get on with it. How did it go?"

WOODS: That's exactly how she is.

FERGUSON: She moves me along.

WOODS: Well, she -- she has got more energy. Oh, my goodness. She never stops.

FERGUSON: And she chases you around the golf course, doesn't she?

WOODS: It is so funny. She has had a bum knee. She has had knee surgery. But she is still out there. She will endure the pain and walk. I remember as a kid, growing up:, in every single junior golf tournament she took me to -- every single one, from the time I can remember all the way up through when I was done when I was 17 -- she always kept score at every single one.

FERGUSON: I remember when I came to one and I was watching you, and I had blisters on my feet. And I -- I went: "You know, Tida, I have got such blisters." She says: "It doesn't matter. Come on. Come on. Tiger is over at the next -- come on. Hurry up with it."

WOODS: Yes, that's exactly...

FERGUSON: And you see me, like, hobbling along behind.

WOODS: That's how she is, though. I mean, she has had, as I said, knee surgery. She has had all different ailments. It doesn't stop her from supporting her son.

FERGUSON: Oh, I see. That is what more people should do, what more people should hear.

WOODS: I love her to death for that. She has always been there for me. Any time I have ever needed my mom, she is always there.

FERGUSON: And because she didn't believe in babysitters, did she?

WOODS: No, I have never had a babysitter. I've never had one. If something came up, then they would either stay home or they would take me with them. And I would just kind of go along for the ride.

FERGUSON: More coming up with Tiger Woods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in the hole!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FERGUSON: What's the future? What is the future for Tiger Woods?

WOODS: The future for Tiger Woods: well, hopefully to continue to play at a high level within my sport, but more importantly, within -- I think within the next five years easily I would like to be able to do more humanitarian activities, not just here in the United States, which we're doing now. But I'd like to go global and spread that. I'd like to go one -- I'd like to go to Thailand, my mom's home country. I'd like to start there.

FERGUSON: Your mom said that she thought that you were a universal child really.

WOODS: Well, I -- she can think whatever she wants to think. That's my mom. But you know, I -- for some reason, I just want to go out there and just help others, and to do something in Thailand, my mom's home country, I think it would be very special.

FERGUSON: Yeah. Well, I was sort of saying like you're doing over here with the -- with the Tiger Woods Foundation and...

WOODS: Yeah, exactly something like that, with the Start Something Program, and maybe I'll add little creative things that we'll probably think about. That's what our board is here to do, and trying to figure out what's best, and how we can impact people's lives in a positive way.

FERGUSON: Goodness, you're doing so much. It's just like so exciting, but I don't know how you get the energy for life. So you must do something. You must -- yeah, and we know you work out and we're not going there. Don't worry. We won't give your game away.

(LAUGHTER)

But how -- I mean, humor's very important to you, right?

WOODS: You know, I -- I tell -- obviously, I tell a lot of jokes and I like to laugh and have a great time. That's part of life. There's no -- there's no reason to go through life with your head down, and I always want to keep my chin up and enjoy life, because you only live once.

FERGUSON: And I often want to know what to say to my girls. You've been in the public life all your life, right? What advice would you give to me to help me bring up my girls in the public eye?

WOODS: I think one of the best things my dad's ever, ever given me is just to, what I just said earlier, enjoy life. Understand that there are responsibilities you have for being in the public limelight and that you can't -- you can't ignore that. That is a fact of reality. And today's day and age, it is becoming worse. But that should not in any way, shape or form stop you from enjoying life and doing the things you want to do, because, you know, life is just too quick and it's too short. And you should always have a good time. Be around people you want to be around. And just put a smile on your face at all times.

FERGUSON: You're celebrity status, you walk down the street, OK, and people come up to you, and they just go, oh, Tiger, I've got to tell you, yesterday I played a really bad game.

WOODS: Ummm...

FERGUSON: What do you do?

WOODS: I usually say I'm sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, but what else are you going to say to them? And they - it's amazing how people just want to tell you their life experiences, some of the things they've gone through. And unfortunately I don't have as much time as I'd like to have and spend with them. But they seem to want to tell me, and it's -- sometimes I hear great stories. Other times, they're interesting.

FERGUSON: Coming up next, charity and Tiger Woods.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'MEARA: I think Tiger basically is just a regular guy, you know, and he's trying to be a regular guy, but he can't be a regular guy, because he is so popular. And really when you look in sports today, he's probably the most recognized athlete in the world. And who would have ever dreamed that a golfer would have achieved something like that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM FURYK, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: And I enjoy playing rounds with him. It gets to be a little bit of a circus around his group. There's a lot of people out there. But you know, if you're playing with him, especially on the weekend, you know you're doing pretty well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FUNK: You know, it's amazing to me, with no private life and what he has to put up with, you know, he's bigger than the game of golf and I think he's handling that great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FERGUSON: That's really nice, Tiger. That is just so moving, isn't it?

WOODS: Well, those are my friends, and...

FERGUSON: You bribed them.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODS: I did.

FERGUSON: That was just like so great, because, in fact, people watching and young people watching, they really want to sort of like -- you're their role model, you're their inspiration. And it's a lot to live up to. It's a big burden, do you think or not?

WOODS: You know, I -- I don't really think it is. It's something that I'm -- I think is -- I'm very blessed, I'm very fortunate to be put in this position, to be able to have the life that I want to have always lived -- to be professional golfer competing against the best players in the world -- and on top of that be able to touch kids' lives and people's lives in a positive way. What more do you want in life.

FERGUSON: But Tiger, what is it in you that has that? What is that? You're so compassionate. Where does that come from?

WOODS: I think it all boils down to two people in my life, my mom and my dad. Those are the -- that's how they raised me to be. They raised me to care and share. If I care about something, I'll share what I have. And that's something that -- my dad's always been that way. He's always stressed to be on the compassionate side, you know, don't be such a hard-nosed grinder. You know, enjoy life, but just enjoy being who you are.

FERGUSON: Do you ever beat yourself up?

WOODS: You know, I do at times, yes.

FERGUSON: You do?

WOODS: I have to be honest.

FERGUSON: So you're human.

WOODS: I have to be honest. I do. But you know, you also have to step back and take a look at it, and say, you know what, I've -- I try as hard as I possibly can no matter what I do. And as long as I can continue to do that, then whatever the outcome is that's what the outcome is. I give it everything I have. If I have nothing left, then I have nothing left.

FERGUSON: But you sound you have the wisdom of a much older person. You're 25 years old. I mean, it's kind of extraordinary to listen to you speaking.

WOODS: Well, I think it's -- to be honest with you, it's just something that -- what you're seeing is who I am. I'm always relaxed. I'm not really stressed out about a whole lot. The only thing stresses me out is when I have a 250-yard shot over water and I've got to hit it in there tight. And that -- that's stressful.

FERGUSON: OK, that's major stress. Can I go on to something else here, because I'm fascinated in this book? In fact, this book is going to really help me, too. It's called "Start Something: You Can Make a Difference."

WOODS: That's right.

FERGUSON: And just reading it and looking at it, I was just like really taken by it. It's kind of guidelines and boundaries for young people.

WOODS: That's right. That's right. And my father had a little dream of his, and he was able to make a dream come true. And it's a book in which my dad has put a lot of his life experiences in the book, and also some of the teachings that he's given me, some of the knowledge he's given me over the years, and the expressions, and why he did that, why he did this, some of the things I believe in are in there. And it's basically a role modeling, a guide book for kids to live life at a higher level.

FERGUSON: I mean, this is -- this is really starting something.

WOODS: It is. It's absolutely incredible. My dad had a dream, and he actually put it down on paper, and it's absolutely incredible.

FERGUSON: So in fact, if they read this, we could have lots of Tiger Woodsies around then. We could have hundreds of you.

WOODS: I don't know. I'm sure -- I'm sure there are -- there are going to be kids out there that are so much more gifted than I am in the sport of golf. But you know, that's not what this is all about. This is all about doing something more than just playing a sport. It's about becoming a better person, and from there, sharing what you have. What I told you about: caring and sharing -- sharing what you have with others and spreading the knowledge.

FERGUSON: And that's what the TW Foundation is all about?

WOODS: Well, the foundation has a tremendous amount of involvement within basically three different things: one being what we do for Target House, Saint Judes Children's Hospital in Memphis.

FERGUSON: You gave a donation, a substantial...

WOODS: Yeah, half a -- half a million dollars to the Target House for a pavilion library. So it's for kids with cancer and...

FERGUSON: And it's the Tiger Woods Pavilion, isn't it? And what's going to be in that pavilion? A library and... WOODS: A library, and just so -- where kids can hang out and play and experience being with one another, because I mean, not everyone -- everyone who's there is going through their own individual battle, but to be able to go along with that battle with someone else who's going through the same thing just makes it that much easier.

FERGUSON: But I mean, you must have to fund raise a great deal to do all these wonderful works that you do. How do you do that? Isn't there a Tiger Jam?

WOODS: Yeah, there's a Tiger April 28th.

FERGUSON: And who's playing? We've got to go.

WOODS: We have John Mellencamp playing, and two of the Dixie Chicks. One of them is pregnant, so she can't attend. But...

FERGUSON: Just one Dixie Chick, right?

WOODS: Yeah, so it will be actually extraordinary.

FERGUSON: OK. So where is it?

WOODS: It's in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay, and then I also have my golf tournament at the end of the year.

FERGUSON: And where's that -- where's that golf tournament?

WOODS: It's in Los Angeles at Sherwood Country Club.

FERGUSON: OK. So now, Tiger, just tell me, how do you manager to do all this?

WOODS: Well, you know, that's -- that's the greatest question of all.

FERGUSON: Everybody asks that question.

WOODS: I am very busy, but then again I also have a lot of time for other things, too, which is even more amazing. I take time out to go fishing and go hang out with my buddies and just kind of get away from...

FERGUSON: Fishing, you love fishing.

WOODS: I absolutely love to fish.

FERGUSON: Why do you love fishing?

WOODS: It's something about just going out on a river and just waiting in the river and just hanging out and...

FERGUSON: Can you be on your own there?

WOODS: For some reason it's just the tranquility of it all, and to be able to just relax and let everything go, and you know, you're obviously still competing. You're still trying to land that fish.

FERGUSON: Yeah. So you actually are doing exactly the same thing with the river.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODS: Exactly.

FERGUSON: Beat that river.

WOODS: That's right.

FERGUSON: Well, good for you. And what about -- do you still manage to like go to movies or go...

WOODS: I do, yeah.

FERGUSON: You do?

WOODS: I do everything that everyone else does. The only difference is I have consequences for doing that, and it just depends on what level.

FERGUSON: Like how many autographs do you sign in one night?

WOODS: Um-hmm.

FERGUSON: Do you still get down to Taco Bell?

WOODS: You know, I've kind of...

(LAUGHTER)

I've kind of actually shunned away from fast food, but you know, I've still got to go there every once in a while.

FERGUSON: More coming up with the wonderful Tiger Woods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOODS: There you go. There's your fade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... say.

WOODS: Give me five. Come on. Give me some. All right. All done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FERGUSON: For a young person watching that is caught and trapped in a sad world and doesn't have any hope, what would you say? WOODS: That's the hardest thing, to try and give them some type of hope, some type of inspiration. That's what I'm trying to do now with my foundation, is trying to give these kids a chance.

We have all our things that we do with the inner city in various cities. But when you're trapped in an uncomfortable situation, even a compromising situation, to be able to come out of it and rise above it, and that's the most challenging thing. And can I give advice to that? Yeah, I can. But every person and every situation is individually different and unique.

I think the best way to go about it is to seek help. Go through a teacher or a guardian outside of where you're at now to try to get some help, because there are a lot of people in this world who are willing to help you. You just sometimes -- you need to make initiative, and go out there and do it yourself.

FERGUSON: So you've got ask for help.

WOODS: That's the most -- that's the hardest thing. I'm not one -- all my friends know I don't like asking for help. I'm very stubborn, I have a lot of pride. But you've got to swallow that. You've got to put all that aside.

FERGUSON: Well, I disagree, because I asked you to help me and you're here today, and you've been the bestest friend anyone could wish to have. And I'm getting all emotional, so I better shut up.

We've been speaking to golf great, the greatest friend as well, Tiger Woods. I'm Sarah Ferguson thank you for joining us on LARRY KING LIVE.

Tiger Woods CBS Interview

(CBS) This story originally aired on March 26, 2006.

Two weeks ago, Tiger Woods won the PGA championship, his second major in a row. And if you saw him crying after he won the British Open in July it was clear how much he missed his father who died after a long battle with cancer on May 3rd.

Earl Woods was his friend, coach, and confidant. It was Earl who helped mold Tiger into the kind of athlete who comes along not once in a generation, but perhaps once in the history of a sport. For the last decade, Tiger Woods has dominated professional golf so completely that he has changed the game and come to exemplify the pursuit of excellence.

Tiger has been ranked number one in the world longer than any other golfer. He's the youngest to win 12 major championships and 52 PGA Tour victories.

On his good days, Tiger shows us that the boundaries of sport can be pushed to the edge of perfection - that swinging a golf club and making a ball go into a hole can be one of the most dazzling performances ever.

Last Spring, correspondent Ed Bradley spent some time with this purposeful, complicated athlete who fiercely guards his private life. Bradley found a man who, at 30, is as committed to giving back off the golf course as he is dedicated to his sport. But first, he met the man who has come to personify the pure spirit of a champion.


Tiger Woods has said, "I love to compete. That's the essence of who I am."

Asked what he meant by that, Tiger says, "I love to compete, whatever it is. We could be, you and I could be playing cards right now and - just want to kick your butt."

"You'd want to win," Bradley asked.

"No, I want to kick your butt. There's a difference," Tiger replied.

When he's in a tournament, that's what he's looking to do.

"These guys are the best in the world. I'm very lucky to have that opportunity to try to compete against the best in the world. That's a rush," says Tiger.

For Tiger, the greater the pressure, the bigger the rush. He won three of his first six tournaments this year, all of them on the final hole, two of them in playoffs. No one handles the stress of competition better.

He credits his ability to handle the stress with his powers of concentration. "I mean, your concentration is so high, so keen. Because all this pressure's on you. Your senses are more heightened. Everything seems to flow better. It's a great feeling," he explains.

When he’s in that zone, it can be so unnerving that his opponents sometimes self-destruct.

"You're aware of that intimidation that you have?" Bradley asked.

"I'm aware if I'm playing at my best I'm tough to beat. And I enjoy that," Tiger said.

When he goes out, Tiger says he expects to win, every time. "It's just a belief you have to have. I mean, as an athlete, as a competitor, you have to have that belief in yourself," he explains.

Asked what separates the great golfers from those who are just very good, Tiger says, "Being able to repeat it again and again and again."


For Tiger, practice is the key and his work ethic is legendary. He’s up at dawn and can stay out on the course for as long as 14 hours hitting balls again and again and again off the tee, out of the sand, or on the green. It's a never-ending quest for perfection.

"People say that one of your greatest strengths on the course is your imagination. What do they mean by that?" Bradley asked.

"Well, I enjoy creating. I enjoy creating shots," Tiger answered. "I'm trying to hit a little lower, a little higher, a little right to left, a little left to right. I'm always trying to do something. As a kid, I might have been psycho, I guess, but I used to throw golf balls in the trees and try and somehow make par from them. I thought that was fun. Because sometimes it's boring just hitting a normal golf shot."

Tiger says he does go out sometimes and play just for fun, competing in his imagination against champions. "My favorite time to go out is in the evenings. I still love doing this to this day. Where Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan or Sam Snead, whomever I beat. I have, you know, four, five balls down. And, you know, 'Here's Tiger Woods on the 18th hole. He has a chance to win the U.S. Open,' blah, blah, blah…against these great champions."

"So the way kids would play in basketball, going up against Michael Jordan for the championship, you do that at night on the golf course?" Bradley asked.

"Still do. Always will. Because you never lose that - that fun, that passion to compete and live a dream," Tiger said.

It's almost like it's an obsession. "It is. I'm addicted. I'm addicted to golf," he says.

It's an addiction that started when Tiger was so young, it's become the stuff of legend. He was born Eldrick Woods in Cypress, Calif. in 1975. His father, Earl, said Tiger was swinging a golf club at nine months, before he could walk. By three, his extraordinary talent was featured on "The Mike Douglas Show," where he and Bob Hope had a putting contest. [Editor's Note: Earl Woods passed away on May 3, 2006.]

From the beginning, Earl Woods guided, nurtured, managed and inspired his child prodigy. Earl, who served as a Green Beret in Vietnam, also nicknamed him Tiger, after a buddy, a lieutenant colonel in the South Vietnamese army who Earl said saved his life.


Tiger says his father played a tremendous role in shaping him. "He's my best friend. And you know, having your best friend be your father is a very unique thing," he says.

And when he needed help competing against older, stronger boys, Tiger turned to Earl and his special forces training.

"I came to Dad. I say, 'Dad, can you make me tough?' He says, 'Yeah, and you're not going to like it. Are you willing to go through it?' And I said, 'Yeah,'" Tiger recalls. "And he would get in my grill. He'd really make you feel insignificant. And then he'd get to the point, the line - he'd never cross it, and back off. And then he'd keep pushing the next time, and it wasn't as far. And eventually, I looked at him and smiled, and [said] 'What are you trying to do here?' And he says, 'All right, you're done.'"

If Earl was coach, his mother Kultida was the disciplinarian and "official" scorekeeper. Born in Thailand, raised a Buddhist, she married Earl while working as a secretary in the U.S. Army office in Bangkok.

"My dad, ex-Green Beret, thinks he's this tough guy. My dad’s a softy. Mom was the one I was always afraid of," says Tiger.

"You've said that she gave you that competitive drive, and that she also gave you a killer instinct. What did you mean by that?" Bradley asked.

"Yeah, you have no idea how competitive my mom is. She would watch me compete, and you could see her over there on the side, and she would be living every moment, live - I mean die - on every shot," he explained.

"What about that -- step on their throats, fight till the death, show no mercy?" Bradley asked Kultida Woods.

"That's sport. You have to. No matter how close friend you are, you must kill that person. When it is over, you can shake hand, be friend again," she says.

Tiger says his mother could be tough on him, at times. "She was very strict. She said that if I ever crossed the boundaries that she set, there was always consequences."

Asked if he crossed those boundaries, Tiger says, "Oh, yeah. You always got to test it, you know, any kid. You always got to see what the boundaries are." What were the consequences? "I wouldn't be able to sit for a while," says Tiger.

Kultida was a stickler about Tiger’s education; she used to take away his golf clubs until his homework was done. But there was another lesson to teach.

"Did you experience prejudice when you came to this country?" Bradley asked her. "Yes," Kutilda Woods replied. "Where especially when I take him from the tournament to the country club. Some of them reject us."

Kutilda says they rejected both her and her son. What did she tell Tiger? "I said 'Tiger, it's their problem, it's their ignorance. You cannot control other people action or control their mind. You only control your own, and be proud of who you are.'"

"So how did you handle that, when somebody would give you that kind of look? They’d say, 'Hey man, you don’t belong here,'" Bradley asked.

"My parents always taught me never to waste any energy on that," Tiger replied. "Just go about your business, put the ball on the fairway, put the ball on the green and try to make a putt."


Tiger’s talent was undeniable. He won every national amateur championship for six years running, a first in the history of golf. At age 20, he dropped out of Stanford University to turn pro and Nike immediately signed the rookie to an unprecedented $40 million endorsement deal.

The Nike deal generated resentment and jealousy on the tour, but Tiger in his rookie year proved with spectacular shots that he was more than the frontman for an ad campaign.

With his passion for the game, Tiger drew huge crowds who couldn’t get enough of his star power, a phenomenon that became known as "Tigermania." Having won two tournaments, he rode a wave of excitement into Augusta, Georgia in 1997, to his first major championship, the fabled Masters.

"You still remember that day?" Bradley asked.

"Nine years, golly. Time flies, goes by quick, doesn't it?" Tiger replied. "That was a great moment in my life."

At age 21, with the lowest score ever, Tiger became the first African-American and the first Asian-American to win a Major.

"Your perspective on that win, has it changed over the years?" Bradley asked.

"I guess the whole win was bigger than I thought, because I thought it was just winning a golf tournament, but it ended up being more than that," says Tiger. "You know, socially, Augusta denied access to minorities. You know Charlie Sifford had to qualify and they kept changing the rules on him. Lee Elder was the first one to break that barrier. And [to] have him there on Sunday, saying 'good luck,' it meant a lot. These guys sacrificed so much. And I end up winning the tournament that some of them couldn’t play."

But for Tiger, the win had personal significance. "Yeah, I won, and it was by a big margin. But there's more to it than that. Dad shouldn't have been there."

But Earl Woods was there, against doctor's orders. He was supposed to be home recovering from bypass surgery after a serious heart attack. Instead, he went to the tournament to be there for his son.

"I went to see Dad, and I say, 'Dad, hey Pops, I'm struggling here. I'm hitting it good. I just can't shake it in.' So he sat up and he said, 'Why don't you try to do this?' So I said, 'All right, I'll try.' 'How's that feel?' And, 'It looks pretty good,'" Tiger recalls.

Earl Woods told his son, 'Let the legend grow,' and Tiger has. Between the 2000 and 2001 seasons he won all four of golf’s major championships in a row, something no one else has ever done. It ranks as one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history.

"Any time you can do something that no one's ever done in your sport and it's sitting right on your mantle, it's pretty cool," says Tiger.

Asked if he takes issue with those people who say it wasn't really a grand slam because the wins weren't all in the same year, Tiger says, "They can say whatever they want. They didn't have all four trophies sitting on the mantle, did they?"

As much as Tiger savors his victories, he's willing to risk losing to improve his game. He has changed his swing twice to make it more consistent. After the last time, in 2002, he went more than two years without winning a major and lost his number one ranking. All of a sudden, Tiger looked vulnerable.


Tiger took a lot of criticism from some of the golf press for changing his golf swing twice.

Woods says he changed the swing to become better. "You can always become better," he says.

"Is it difficult to be under the microscope as you are?" Bradley asked.

"It's tough at times when you have to justify each and every round. 'Well, why can't you shoot 67 every day?' I'm building something here, and it takes time," Tiger explained.

The changes have paid off. Last year he won the Masters for the fourth time, putting him on top again.

"The shot on the 16th hole that put you up in the Masters last year, some say that was one of the greatest shots of your career," Bradley remarked. "You could see it pause right on the lip. ...You didn't expect to hole that, you were just trying to get it close."

"No, no, you're trying to get the ball in, in on an area. Trying to read it somewhat correctly. And it came off like a dream," responded Woods.

Hang out with Tiger on the driving range, as Bradley and the 60 Minutes crew did one windy day, and you begin to appreciate the grace and fluidity of his swing and the athleticism he brings to the game. He has sculpted his body, putting on 25 pounds of muscle since turning pro.

Asked why a golf swing is so difficult when Tiger makes it look so easy, he replied, "So many moving parts. Your whole body's moving, and this ball is not moving. It's standing still, laughing at you."

One of the fun things Tiger can do with a golf ball -- bouncing a golf ball on the club face -- became famous in a Nike commercial.

"Some people said that that was done with computers," Bradley said.

"Yeah, it’s actually pretty funny," Tiger said. "I saw Andre Agassi catch a ball on a tennis racket, and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. Can I do that with a golf ball? So I tried it and finally learned how to do it."

Tiger is now more than halfway toward his childhood dream of beating Jack Nicklaus' career record of 18 major championships. He recently turned 30, and many people says golfers peak in their 30s.

Asked how long he would play competitively, Tiger says the answer is easy. "When my best isn't good enough to win anymore, I'm gone. I'm racking the cue and I'm going home."

"I could never deal with the fact that, as hard as I've prepared, as hard as I concentrate and as hard as I play, I played my best and it's not good enough any more," says Tiger. "Accept reality and move on."


As devoted as Tiger is to the game of golf, he says he gets more satisfaction from another part of his life.

Tiger Woods' power and skill on the golf course is unrivaled, but at the age of 30, he says he's ready to make as big an impact off the course, just as his father Earl had predicted before he died in May. This February, Tiger opened the first Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif., close to where he grew up.

The center gives fourth to 12th graders from different backgrounds learning experiences they don't get in their own schools, experiences that help prepare them for college and careers. On the golf course, in front of millions of people, Tiger is cool under pressure. But last February he wasn't so cool when Bradley was with him the first time he saw kids in his learning center.

"God, I'm nervous about this," he admitted, as kids streamed into the center. "I am. It's a dream come true to finally have kids in here."

For their part, the kids seemed to take meeting a living legend in stride.

It's been more than four years from dream to reality.

How cool was it?

"It was really cool," says Tiger. "I mean, to see those kids, those smiles on their faces. And they’re totally into it. It’s more than I ever expected."

What the kids are into is a curriculum and a facility that’s nothing like their own schools. The 35,000-square-foot center is more like an educational funhouse filled with computers, flat screens, and video and music production facilities, and of course, a driving range and putting green. Kids can take robotics, forensic science, creative writing and rocketry, courses the kids themselves said they wanted. And all of it’s free.

"We built this for them. If they want to learn and grow, we’re going to provide an atmosphere that’s going to be exciting for them. So, we decided to let them be the bosses," says Woods.

Tiger says he came up with the idea from scratch. "I just thought we weren’t doing enough. I wanted something substantial, something bricks and mortar, something that kids could feel and touch and call their own," he says.

"Why are kids so important to you? Where does that come from?" Bradley asked.

"I guess because I had so many people influencing my life. I wanted to cater this foundation to mentoring and guiding. Because that’s ultimately, how I got here," Tiger replied.


Besides the support he got developing his golf talent, Tiger remembers when he was a shy grade-schooler who needed help coping with a devastating stutter.

"The words got lost somewhere between the brain and the mouth," he remembers, "and it was very difficult but I fought through it. I went to a school to try and get over that, and I just would work my tail off. And I would talk to my dog. He would sit there and listen, and he’d fall asleep. And that’s fine, just lay there. I finally learned how to do that without stuttering all over myself."

Experiences like that one drive Tiger. He put more than $5 million into the Anaheim center, a prototype for facilities he wants to build all over the country, and around the world.

"Because this is so near and dear to my heart. This is more important than any golf shot that I can possibly hit," says Tiger.

"But wait a minute. You make a living playing golf. I mean, golf gives you the wherewithal to do all of this," Bradley said.

"Golf’s a platform," Tiger replied. "Golf is what I do. It’s definitely not who I am. I hit high draws. I hit high fades. I make putts occasionally. But I don’t get the satisfaction that I get from building this and helping kids and putting a smile on their face and giving them hope."

At the dedication ceremony in February, Tiger recognized the two people who raised him and taught him to give back. "There are a few people I want to thank who have made all this possible – Mom and Dad," he said. "My father’s not here today. He’s been a little bit sick, been battling a few things. He did want me to deliver one message: 'Thank you.'"

"Man, it’s hard, I mean it really is. It really is. It’s really hard not to have him there, because he’s meant so much in my life, and you want to share these things with your parents. I got to share it with Mom today," says Tiger.

"I am so proud of him, more than anything," says Kultilda Woods.

More than anything he does in golf?

"Yes. He help other kids. Nobody give Tiger anything. He have to earn it. He have to do it. So the kids, when you give them a chance, opportunity, they can do it," she says.


He’s made more than $70 million on the golf course alone, and his outside income is estimated at $85 million a year.

Bottom line: Tiger is reported to be on the verge of becoming golf's first billion dollar athlete. But he keeps his money in two different piles.

Lately he’s bought an estate on the Florida coastline and a yacht that’s bigger than most houses. So success has changed some of his spending habits – but not all of them.

"I’m a little cheap," he admits. "I’m tight. I mean, because I never had a whole lot growing up as a kid. I always had to save. Then I’d buy like one big thing, like a pair of basketball shoes or something like that. But I had to save up my allowances."

So now the allowances are bigger, and the big things are bigger, including his boat and house, which Tiger admits cost "a lot."

For someone with such a high profile on the golf course, Tiger keeps his personal life under wraps. Asked what the name of his boat is, Tiger says "Privacy," and he says the name was his idea.

Tiger wouldn’t let 60 Minutes visit him on his boat or at home, and we didn’t get to talk to his wife Elin, a Swedish model and au pair whom he married 18 months ago.

But he did open a door to his married life just a little.

"I have found a life partner, a best friend. You know, Elin’s been incredible for me," says Tiger. "She’s brought joy and balance in my life. We love doing the same things. You think I’m competitive? She’s way more than me."

Tiger says he wants kids, without a doubt.

"How do you think that would affect your day job?" Bradley asked.

"Family always comes first. It always has been in my life, and always will. I may sleep a little bit less, and we have to work on that as a team," Tiger replied.

"Can you see yourself giving the kind of time to your kids that your parents gave to you?" Bradley asked.

"As best I can," Tiger said, "I always want my kids to know their father."

Even though he wants to be best known for his work with kids, we know him best for his work on the golf course.

"I love to play golf, and that’s my arena. And you can characterize it and describe it however you want, but I have a love and a passion for getting that ball in the hole and beating those guys," says Tiger.

"And if we were to play ping-pong, your goal would be to…." Bradley asked.

"I’d beat you," Tiger said.

"And if you didn’t, you’d really be…" Bradley continued.

"We’d do it again," Tiger said.

"So it would become, okay, ‘two out of three, okay, three out of five,’" Bradley asked.

"Yeah. We’d keep playing," Tiger said.