Tiger: 'I was just a fraction off'

Tiger Woods conducted his annual news conference on Monday at Congressional Country Club outside Washington, D.C., to promote the AT&T National of which he serves as host, and he reiterated his post-Masters analysis that he was only marginally misfiring at Augusta National.

"I was just a fraction off," he said. "Like Stevie (Williams, his caddie) and I were talking about: 'How many times would you hit a shot that was one yard off?' And one yard is 30 or 40 feet at Augusta. Just takes the wrong side of the slope. And it just seemed to be happening all week.

"It was just one of those weeks I was just that much away from posting some really good numbers. Unfortunately it didn't happen, and consequently, I didn't win. Hopefully the next tournament I play in, I'll be a little bit sharper than that, and we'll get a W."

Woods addressed several topics, including one of the elements of his golf course design philosophy, the ground game.

"Actually, the desert golf course (in Dubai), the first one is going to be more linksy just because we have the ability to actually design that, because it is basically a blank canvas out in the middle of the desert, and it will be more that way. I enjoy playing links golf where you can use run-up areas. And my golf course in Dubai and the one in Asheville (N.C.) is similar to that. You can run the ball up and use the ground as an ally.

"The one in Mexico, there are a few forced carries, and that's because they are beautiful holes and you are hitting out over the ocean. But other than that, I enjoy using the ground as an eye line. I think that most modern golf courses take that away from the players and I don't think that's right. Not everyone can hit the ball straight up in the air and stop it on a dime. What's wrong with giving a player an opportunity to run the ball up and use that as an ally? That's part of the game and how it was originally played, and I think that's how the game of golf should be played."

The entire transcript can be read here.

-- John Strege