When you point to your head, you're
not talking about your temper, are you?
If I was so bad temper-wise I'd get mad every hole, every single day. I don't. I'm just one of the most nervous people you'll ever meet. When I get mad it's because of the nervousness. Let's say I'm worried I'm going to hit it in the water, and I hit it three miles the other way. Or I hit it in the water. Then I'm going to be mad.
And there's a good mad, what sports psychologist Bob Rotella has called "maddecisive." Can Angry Woody play good golf?
I think he can at times. He played pretty good those last three holes at the Presidents Cup.
You were angry?
Sure! I was embarrassed. There isn't a soul around who wouldn't have been. Everybody was laughing at me for the next two and a half days, on every hole. "Don't fall in!" "Stay dry!" "Watch out for the water!" You don't think that would have gotten to you?
What's the nervousness about? Have you sat on the couch to talk about it?
I've sat all over the place. Two hypnotists, one sports psychologist ... I don't know. It's just who I am.
Are you seeing a therapist now?
No. I've just got a brain that won't shut off. I'm just a very, very nervous person. When I go and bowl on Sundays I'm nervous. I don't know if it's a fear of embarrassment or a fear of failure. Maybe I don't want to mess up for my kids or myself or whatever. I don't know.
A lot of players on Tour could probably talk about that nervousness.
Yeah, but I've been nervous over every shot I've ever hit in my entire life.
But you're good at riding a streak. You blew away the field with a final-round 62 at the '07 St. Jude.
When I'm on I can play with anybody, but I think that's the same with a lot of athletes. Tiger's the best player in the world because he stays at his level. I can play at that level, but he's there all the time. The media says, "Oh, he's in another world, they can't touch him." But we can. We just can't stay up there.
It sounds like you have a beef with the media.
Well, the media has a beef with me, so why shouldn't I?
Why does the media have a beef with you? Because all anybody talks about is the putter-over-the-head incident?
Yeah, and that was 10 years ago! Tiger's got a bigger temper than I do, but who's the hothead? He gets mad every single round, but who's the loose cannon that everybody talks about? At the Tour Championship, how many shots did he win by? Eight? Did you see me throw a club that week? Did you see him? He didn't throw his club on the 15th hole, a par-5, on Saturday? It's okay for him because he's that competitive. If someone like myself does it, it's: "Oh, he's losing it."
Did you think your career would be easier than it has been when you won the '95 Buick Open and won Rookie of the Year honors over David Duval?
I was just happy to get out there, to show that I belonged. I'd played golf against Lee Janzen and Rocco Mediate and watched Lee win two U.S. Opens, and I was thinking, "Gosh, I beat those guys in college." And yet I was on my couch. Talk about a motivator. And I got off to a great start — I had my card sewn up by Doral, with three-quarters of the year to go. The Buick was more a validation that all the hard work was going to pay off.
We have to ask about the guy who bashed his putter over his head at Hilton Head. Where is that putter?
I'm sure it's in my golf closet. I keep all that stuff except for clubs I give away to kids' charities. Hilton Head was the lowest of the lows. I had just come off of Rookie of the Year in '95 and 32nd on the money list in '96 to losing my job in '97, and we couldn't figure out what the problem was. A month after Hilton Head we figured out it was my eyes. I'd worn glasses since I was 15, and when I'd had my eyes checked at the beginning of that year they'd put the wrong prescription in both my eyes. I missed 13 cuts in a row, didn't break 77. I still had my prescription from my optometrist in Florida and I went to somebody in Kansas City, and she said, "That's not right." I said, "Check it again, please." I was off two clicks in the left eye and one click in the right eye. Wrong prescription.
How long did it take to get it back?
A long time. To be that shaky, nervous person to begin with and see yourself hitting shots you never imagined hitting. It was a bad situation, but in '98, even with no confidence, I finished 7th on the Nationwide and got my card back. David Duval's going through it now with the vertigo, hitting shots he never thought he'd hit.
If I was so bad temper-wise I'd get mad every hole, every single day. I don't. I'm just one of the most nervous people you'll ever meet. When I get mad it's because of the nervousness. Let's say I'm worried I'm going to hit it in the water, and I hit it three miles the other way. Or I hit it in the water. Then I'm going to be mad.
And there's a good mad, what sports psychologist Bob Rotella has called "maddecisive." Can Angry Woody play good golf?
I think he can at times. He played pretty good those last three holes at the Presidents Cup.
You were angry?
Sure! I was embarrassed. There isn't a soul around who wouldn't have been. Everybody was laughing at me for the next two and a half days, on every hole. "Don't fall in!" "Stay dry!" "Watch out for the water!" You don't think that would have gotten to you?
What's the nervousness about? Have you sat on the couch to talk about it?
I've sat all over the place. Two hypnotists, one sports psychologist ... I don't know. It's just who I am.
Are you seeing a therapist now?
No. I've just got a brain that won't shut off. I'm just a very, very nervous person. When I go and bowl on Sundays I'm nervous. I don't know if it's a fear of embarrassment or a fear of failure. Maybe I don't want to mess up for my kids or myself or whatever. I don't know.
A lot of players on Tour could probably talk about that nervousness.
Yeah, but I've been nervous over every shot I've ever hit in my entire life.
But you're good at riding a streak. You blew away the field with a final-round 62 at the '07 St. Jude.
When I'm on I can play with anybody, but I think that's the same with a lot of athletes. Tiger's the best player in the world because he stays at his level. I can play at that level, but he's there all the time. The media says, "Oh, he's in another world, they can't touch him." But we can. We just can't stay up there.
It sounds like you have a beef with the media.
Well, the media has a beef with me, so why shouldn't I?
Why does the media have a beef with you? Because all anybody talks about is the putter-over-the-head incident?
Yeah, and that was 10 years ago! Tiger's got a bigger temper than I do, but who's the hothead? He gets mad every single round, but who's the loose cannon that everybody talks about? At the Tour Championship, how many shots did he win by? Eight? Did you see me throw a club that week? Did you see him? He didn't throw his club on the 15th hole, a par-5, on Saturday? It's okay for him because he's that competitive. If someone like myself does it, it's: "Oh, he's losing it."
Did you think your career would be easier than it has been when you won the '95 Buick Open and won Rookie of the Year honors over David Duval?
I was just happy to get out there, to show that I belonged. I'd played golf against Lee Janzen and Rocco Mediate and watched Lee win two U.S. Opens, and I was thinking, "Gosh, I beat those guys in college." And yet I was on my couch. Talk about a motivator. And I got off to a great start — I had my card sewn up by Doral, with three-quarters of the year to go. The Buick was more a validation that all the hard work was going to pay off.
We have to ask about the guy who bashed his putter over his head at Hilton Head. Where is that putter?
I'm sure it's in my golf closet. I keep all that stuff except for clubs I give away to kids' charities. Hilton Head was the lowest of the lows. I had just come off of Rookie of the Year in '95 and 32nd on the money list in '96 to losing my job in '97, and we couldn't figure out what the problem was. A month after Hilton Head we figured out it was my eyes. I'd worn glasses since I was 15, and when I'd had my eyes checked at the beginning of that year they'd put the wrong prescription in both my eyes. I missed 13 cuts in a row, didn't break 77. I still had my prescription from my optometrist in Florida and I went to somebody in Kansas City, and she said, "That's not right." I said, "Check it again, please." I was off two clicks in the left eye and one click in the right eye. Wrong prescription.
How long did it take to get it back?
A long time. To be that shaky, nervous person to begin with and see yourself hitting shots you never imagined hitting. It was a bad situation, but in '98, even with no confidence, I finished 7th on the Nationwide and got my card back. David Duval's going through it now with the vertigo, hitting shots he never thought he'd hit.
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