Woods looks to improve short game

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June 27, 2012

Tiger Woods is looking to improve his short game at the AT&T National, where he is looking to win his third title of the season.

Former world number one Tiger Woods is looking to improve his short game at the upcoming AT&T National, where he is looking to win his third title of the season.

This weekend’s event will be Woods’s first since the US Open, where he shot into a tie for the lead after two rounds, but faded away as the tournament progressed to end on seven over par and tied for 21st place.

“I didn’t particularly chip or putt well that week, something that I had done at Memorial. I didn’t make anything from 15-20 feet,” the 14-time Major champion said during his AT&T National pre-tournament press conference.

“I made a bunch of putts from eight to 10 feet and in, but I didn’t make any other putts.

“That week I played very conservative. My game plan worked for the first couple days. I need to hit the ball a little bit closer than I did that week.”

The 36-year-old Woods also dismissed suggestions that he should use a different putter, claiming that a longer putter makes his stroke “infinitely worse”.

“It’s just not good. I like the flow of my stroke. I like how I putt. I think I’ve done all right with mine, and I think I’m going to stick with it.”

Woods won the AT&T National the previous time it took place at Congressional in 2009 and is looking to add to his victories at Bay Hill and Muirfield this year.

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s great to be back here at Congressional, everyone knows I missed the Open last year and we haven’t been back here in a couple of years,” Woods added.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and taking a look at some of the changes they’ve made.

“Absolutely I want to win.”

A victory in Maryland this week would give Woods his 74th career win, one more than Jack Nicklaus, but still some way off Sam Snead’s record of 82. However he will face stiff competition from among others KJ Choi, Jim Furyk, Ryan Palmer and Hunter Mahan.

Compatriot Furyk finished fourth at the US Open, while Palmer has finished in the top ten on four occassions in his last five tournaments. Mahan has already won two PGA titles this year, while Choi is a former AT&T National winner and was runner-up in 2011.

South Africans Rory Sabbatini and Trevor Immelman, English pair Brian Davis and Greg Owen, Fijian Vijay Singh, and Scotland’s Martin Laird are some of the other competitors at the Congressional this week.

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