Quotes of the Week: Tiger’s back, and talking!

Published December 4, 2016 05:14 PM

The top quotes from Tiger Woods as he returned to competition at the 2016 Hero World Challenge.

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel like I can play at the highest level. I have too much pride.” – when asked Saturday if he still believed he can break Jack Nicklaus’ major record

“The day that we (Nike) were no longer a part of the hard goods side.” - when asked when he put his old Scotty Cameron putter back in his bag

“Charlie knows there are two putters that he can’t touch. There’s that black one I won with the trillium insert, I won the Masters in ’97, and this one. They sit next to each other. Touch any other putter, do anything you want with any other putter. These putters are off limits. These two … only Daddy.” – going over the ground rules at home

“We have our little spurts. I have to also have time to get ready and spend time with the kids and do all those things. We have kind of more like training camps. … We’ll have small little windows where we’ll practice when I have time to do it. Then I’ll shut it down, I’ll work on my short game in the backyard, chip and putt, and then we’ll have another training camp a week or two later.” – on his work with swing coach Chris Como

“It felt good to have that adrenaline surging through the system again. It’s been a long time. To get up there on that first hole and feel it again and then dumb it down to be able to control it and get into my feel where I play my best, that was nice. I got it pretty quick.” – on his first competitive round, a 1-over 73, after a 15-month layoff

“I’m trying to learn the new terminology, meanwhile trying to implement some of my old feels and some of the things that has made me successful at the same time, you know, throughout the years. And hopefully I can have some kind of amalgamation of all of that together and put together a nice little run here.” – using Tiger language to explain his experiments with adjustable equipment

“How can I expect to come out here and swing a golf club at 120 miles an hour and be ballistic when I can’t even get out of bed. So, yeah, there was a lot of trepidation at times where I thought … was it realistic.” – on his mindset one year ago and the then-possibility of retirement

“I’m very pleased to be back and to be able to compete at this level again. It’s been a very, very difficult road. I was really, really struggling, and I struggled for a very long time. Worked with my physios and had to be very patient, and was finally able to start building, and here we are.” – on his 15-month absence and return to competitive play