During his pomp, Tiger Woods rarely revealed too much of what was going on inside his head, and interviews, aside from tournament press conferences, tended to be few and far between.
These days, certainly since his infamous fall from grace in 2009, golf's greatest ever player has tended to be a little more open.
Sometimes he’s answered questions with a straight bat; on other occasions he’s given us something really juicy.
Whenever he speaks, everyones listens. Here are some of his best quotes...
1. 'I guess, hello world, huh?'
Woods greets the media for the first time as a professional, opening with these now-famous five words. It was 1996 and Woods was teeing it up at the Greater Milwaukee Open.
2. Joining The Hall Of Fame
“If you don’t go out there and put in the work, if you don’t go out there and put in the effort, one – you’re not going to get the results, and two, you don’t deserve them.”
Woods delivered an emotional speech at his Golf Hall of Fame induction, and spoke about the life lessons his parents taught him from a young age.
3. His Pet Peeve
“I just don’t like the fact that he stares at his phone all the time. Put your phone away and just look around. That’s one of the things that I think all parents struggle with is most kids don’t look up anymore. Everyone is looking down.”
After playing in the 2023 PNC Championship with his 14-year-old son, Woods reveals his pet peeve about Charlie. We hear you, Tiger.
4. Playing the ball on the ground
“It takes art to play the ball on the ground and create shots. When the ball is plugging, it’s pot-luck, everyone’s going low.”
In an exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, Woods tells us why he enjoys playing on brown golf courses, adding, “You want it brown, you want it fast, you want it hard because it tends to separate the guys.”
5. 'They Will Never Outwork Me'
“Other golfers may outplay me from time to time, but they will never outwork me.”
Here’s one for any aspiring young pro. There are two messages here: firstly it’s Okay to be beaten – you can’t control how well others player; and secondly, you’ve got to work hard if you want to succeed. Something like that, anyway.
6. Winning Major Number 15
“To see what it's like to have their dad win a Major Championship, I hope that's something they will never forget.”
Woods ended an 11-year wait for another Major Championship in 2019. He’d been written off by most people, but claimed a fifteenth Major title at Augusta National in front of his two children, Charlie and Sam.
7. 'A shot’s a shot'
“A shot’s a shot and that’s the way I’ve always treated it. There really aren’t difficult ones or easy ones because they all count as a shot. That’s the mindset that you have to have.”
In an exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, Woods offers a glimpse of the mental side of his game and a fascinating insight into how he views each golf shot.
8. 'This Would Have Brought A Smile To His Face'
“I just miss my dad so much. I wish he could have been here to witness this. He enjoyed watching me grind out Major wins, and this would have brought a smile to his face.”
Woods, after winning The Open at Hoylake in 2006, his first Major Championship title after the death of his father, Earl.
9. '9&8'
Stephen Ames was feeling optimistic about his chances of beating Woods at the WGC-Accenture Match Play. Asked about his prospects, the outspoken Ames replies, “Anything can happen. Especially where he's hitting it.”
Woods won every hole on the front nine and squared the tenth to end the match rather swiftly. Here’s how the press conference played out afterwards.
Were you aware of Stephen's comments yesterday? Woods: Yes. I assumed you were. Woods: Yes. What was your reaction when you saw that? Woods: 9 & 8.
10. 'I Was Never The Most Talented'
“People don't understand that when I grew up, I was never the most talented. I was never the biggest. I was never the fastest. I certainly was never the strongest. The only thing I had was my work ethic, and that's been what has gotten me this far.”
More from Woods on the importance of hard work. Obviously the American has a fair amount of natural talent, too, but he’s always spoken about how much grinding he’s had to do to get the most out of his game.
11. That Winning Mentality
“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.”
Eyebrows have sometime been raised when Woods has pitched up at a tournament and said he’s there for the “W”, but only when he’s been making his return from one of his many layoffs after injury.
However, who are we to doubt one of the greatest athletes of all time? When he plays, he plays to win. It’s an approach that has served him rather well over the years.
12. ‘It's Going To Take An Entire Career'
“It's going to take an entire career to do it and that's something I knew starting out. It didn't take Jack overnight to get to 18.”
No prizes for guessing what Woods is talking about here. It is of course his quest to beat Jack Nicklaus’ Major Championship record haul of 18.
These words were taken from a press conference in 2012. Following the career-threatening injuries that he sustained in a car crash in 2021, it seems unlikely that Woods will reach that goal, but it’s been rather entertaining watching him try.
13. 'He's The Greatest Champion That's Ever Lived'
Woods has always had the greatest of respect for the one player he’s spent an entire career trying to beat – Jack Nicklaus.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Nicklaus said goodbye to The Open at Andrews in 2005, where Woods made these comments.
“First of all, he's the greatest champion that's ever lived. There's nobody that's been as consistent for as long a period of time as Jack.
“From the time when he won his first Major to his last, no one's ever been that consistent. Just look at this championship alone, 15 years and the top six right in a row.
“It's hard to imagine being that consistent, because you can always get the bad end of the draw one time, you figure. But he played right through it and was always in contention.”
14. Remembering Arnold Palmer
“He invited me over here to play in his Monday shoot-out and I did and I didn't like it very much because he took my money.”
Ahead of the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods tells us about one of his first meetings with ‘Arnie’.
Woods was playing in one of his favorite tournaments for the first time since 2013, and with Palmer having passed away in 2016, it gave Woods an opportunity to talk about his friendship with ‘The King’.
15. Locking Horns With A Young Rory
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy may well be good friends now, but prior to the 2010 Ryder Cup the latter was just a little whippersnapper looking to pick a scrap.
And the Northern Irishman added a bit of extra spice to the contest when he said he’d very much like to play Woods.
Here's an extract from one of the press conferences that preceded that Ryder Cup in Wales.
What was your reaction when you heard Rory McIlroy say that he very much would like to play against you in this Ryder Cup? Woods: Me too. Care to elaborate? Woods: No.
16. 'Train hard. Fight easy'
“Train hard. Fight easy.” It's a military mantra that Earl Woods, who served in Vietnam as a Green Beret, passed to his son, Tiger. Now, Tiger uses it to inspire his children in their own athletic endeavors.
In short, it emphasizes the importance of training rigorously and preparing well to make combat situations easier to handle. You might say Woods has applied this mantra to his own golf game.
17. Parting Company With Steve Williams
“I felt that Stevie and I have had just an amazing run. Steve is a hell of a caddie, there's no denying that. He's helped my career, and I think I've helped his, as well.”
Woods made the decision to split with Steve Williams in 2011, after which the Kiwi caddie said he felt Woods “wasted the last two years of my life”.
In response to that, Woods added, “Well, that's what he says and what he feels.”
18. 'I Couldn't Believe How Stupidly Hard This Place Is'
“This has meant so much to me. This is where I completed the career grand slam. At the time I had the record in scoring in all four major championships. So it meant a lot to me. This venue has meant a lot.
“I remember coming around here, my very first practise round, I couldn't believe how stupidly hard this place is because I played every hole into the wind. I happened to have the tide change, and I played every hole into the wind.”
Woods could talk for ages about his favorite golf course – St Andrews.
These quotes are taken from his press conference prior to the 150th Open Championship at the Home of Golf in 2022.
19. 'You Had To Be Twice As Good To Be Given Half A Chance'
“One of the things that Dad had instilled in me is that he grew up in an era, same era as Charlie Sifford [the first Black golfer to play on the PGA Tour] and why my son is named after Charlie, is that you had to be twice as good to be given half a chance.”
More from Woods' emotional speech at the 2022 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction, where he struggled to hold back the tears in front of his family.
20. 'I Still Have Game'
“I still have game. It's whether or not the body can do it.”
This was Woods after making another comeback from injury, at the 2023 Hero World Challenge in December, where he played his first competitive rounds since limping away from the Masters in April.
For as long as Woods plays the game, he can never been ruled out of the running. This is a player, who despite suffering more than one career-threatening injury, has proved people wrong several times.
