From other players to Tiger Woods himself, everyone had thoughts on the 14-time major champ’s return to the PGA Tour in this edition of Quotes of the Week.
“Walking off the tee talking to each other. Are you kidding me? Talking at all?” – on Twitter, regarding the friendly banter between Jon Rahm and Andrew Landry in the CareerBuilder Challenge playoff.
“I didn’t know Andrew – I think it was a pretty good time to get to know him. We had at least 10 minutes to ourselves. It’s not like we were supporting each other, right? We were both in it together, we were both nervous together, and I felt like talking about it might have eased the tension out of both of us.” – on his friendly playoff talk with Andrew Landry that Curtis Strange didn’t appreciate.
“He’s going to play in a Tour event. I’m not going to make that announcement for him right now, but he’s going to get an exemption in the next, let’s just say two months. So he’s going to put it out there on the line.” – Jim Nantz, on CBS analyst and former NFL quarterback Tony Romo.
“No one’s had a spinal fusion at that level and been able to hit the ball as hard as I do. No one understands that. So I have to rely on my own feels and play around with what my body can and cannot do.” – on his health after splitting with coach Chris Como.
“The issue is complex. It’s important, and it’s one that we need to, and we will, face straight on. I think on the topic of distance, we’ve been steadfast to say that we do not think increased distance is necessarily good for the game.” – The USGA executive, reiterating his opinion that increased distance has had a negative impact on the game of golf.
“Unfortunately my caddy was involved with a ruling on the 18th that caused me to fall from t2 to 3rd. My actions were less then professional and I apologize to my caddy and those that took offense to my behaviors.” – the Web.com Tour pro on Twitter, apologizing for throwing a putter cover at his caddie in disgust after the looper picked up Gibson’s ball out of the hazard on the final hole, costing him a one-stroke penalty and a tie for second place.
“Being healthy, staying healthy, it’s my No. 1 priority. I hired private physios at the end of last year, to work on my body. I’ve been working with my doctors in New York, and they’ve been doing a great job of getting me to a place where I’m pain free.” – on her goals for 2018 after dealing with injuries for most of the last few years.
“We legitimately want to see him do well, 100 percent. Why wouldn’t you? It’s such a unique experience that we never got to get. We want that challenge. We want to see how great his mental game actually is.” – speaking for most of his PGA Tour family about Tiger Woods’ return to competition.
“It was just a full 6-iron, just tried to throw it up in the air as high as I could because these greens are really springy and it felt good, looked good, and then we listened for some noise.” – on coming within inches of ending his 20-year ace drought on Day 1 at Torrey Pines.
“A lot of us dreamt about having the opportunity to walk the back nine with Tiger in contention and have a battle, head to head. It would be something amazing for any of us.” – on the return of a healthy Tiger Woods.
“I’m just trying to build towards April.” – on his game plan for this season on Tour.
‘All I had was my short game and my heart’ - on his third-round 70 at the Farmers Insurance Open where he hit only three fairways.
