UNCUT OUTTAKES: A condensed version of Dan Patrick's interview with golf superstar Tiger Woods appears in the April 15 edition of ESPN The Magazine.

	Tiger's advice to golfers? "Take a look at the grip and the setup," he says. "Those are the fundamentals."

DP: Do you hate losing more than you love winning?
TW: That's a great question. Losing is definitely part of our game. We lose a lot more than we win; you just come to accept it. But I think the more you play the game, the more appreciation you get for winning.
DP: Do you celebrate a win more than you would obsess about a loss?
TW: It depends how I lost. If I went ahead and blew it, rather than somebody just straight out beat me, then yeah, I'd be pretty upset and it would be tough to swallow.

DP: How many days in your calendar year don't involve golf? Whether it's playing, practicing, talking, thinking?
TW: Oh, I probably have something to do with the game almost every day ... it might be a fleeting thought for a second or it might be a practice that goes all day. It depends. I'm usually involved in the game somehow, unless I'm out there fishing.
DP: So that's your sanctuary? You can go fishing and you're away from everything, no cell phones, no nothing. ... Both golf and fishing are sports where, it seems to me, you have to have patience. Does your personality fit the sports that you like?
TW: Yeah, without a doubt. I thoroughly enjoy getting away from the game and going out fishing because it's so relaxing, so quiet and peaceful. I mean, there's no noise other than nature -- and it's so different from what I do in a tournament situation that it just eases my mind.

DP: Why is it that we're allowed to yell and scream when a batter tries to hit a 95 mph fastball -- which is the toughest thing to do in sports -- but when golfers are putting, I've got to be quiet?
TW: That's a great question. I guess it's tradition.
DP: I know, but the hell with tradition. I think we're moving past that. Could you imagine what the sport would be like if we were allowed to yell and scream and you actually had a Ryder Cup-like atmosphere for each tournament?
TW: Well, it's getting to that way now as it is. People are yelling out things -- the game has changed. Even since I've been on tour, the game has definitely become a lot more vocal in the gallery, and things that are being said aren't part of the golfing history of the game, that's for sure.

DP: All right, be honest. When guys yell out, "Tiger, you the man," what's going through your mind?
TW: How original that sounds.
DP: Do you ever turn around and say, "Get another line?"
TW: It depends ... if you turn around and respond to a lot of these people, then they know they're getting to you, and therefore they will continue to yell out. And probably other people would yell out more frequently as well.

DP: I've heard that when you play with Sergio Garcia, you shouldn't look at his pre-shot routine. Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at anything but that. Do you look at Sergio's pre-shot routine?
TW: Most players I play with, I don't look at their swing when they're over the ball or anything like that. I just like to focus on what I like to do.
DP: See, here we're thinking that playing with a guy like Sergio would bother you. That after a while, you'd want to yell, "Just hit it!"
TW: Well, I can understand that -- I was talking to Zing [Paul Azinger] about this. ... I guess with Sergio, there might be that tendency. There's no doubt about it.

DP: What have you attempted radically to improve your golf game?
TW: I changed my swing plane and the fundamentals of my game back in the middle of '97.

DP: When was the last time you bought a golf ball?
TW: A golf ball? Probably in college.
DP: Because it would have been against NCAA regulations if you let them buy balls for you, right?
TW: No, the school gets golf balls, but I think I ran out one day (I wasn't playing very good).

DP: When is the last time you went to a movie? Like a regular movie that we would go to?
TW: A couple of weeks ago.
DP: Did you walk in? Or did you do an Elvis where you rent out the entire theater?
TW: No, no, no. I go in with everybody else.
DP: Nobody bothered you?
TW: They said hello, that's about it.
DP: The last time you went to a concert?
TW: Janet Jackson in Vegas.
DP: And did you sit where the normal people sit? Or did you have backstage passes?
TW: No, I sat down there in the ruckus.
DP: You did?
TW: Uh-huh.
DP: And people left you alone?
TW: Yeah. People don't really bother me as much as you might think. A lot of times I blend in a little bit easier because I'm not like a basketball player who's going to stand out because of his height.
DP: But you've got the new hair...
TW: Yeah, a little frost.

DP: How much of you is spontaneous and how much of you is predictable, everyday, button-down me?
TW: About 50-50, I guess. I like doing things on the whim every once in a while, but also I like having a game plan.

DP: When do you start thinking about Augusta?
TW: Jan. 1.
DP: When is your game ready for Augusta?
TW: Hopefully that Thursday.
DP: Can you peak too soon before you get to Augusta?
TW: There is a possibility, yes, but if I've played well going into the event -- well, I've won it a couple of times. Then there are times when I haven't been playing very well, and I've also gotten through it.

DP: You've said the new layout at Augusta is not because of you, it's because of the kids coming up after you. Why not just take credit for it? Jack Nicklaus takes credit for changes made there in the past. ... I think you had a drive at Doral that was, what, 367 yards?
TW: But the changes aren't made for me. I mean, I hit the ball a little longer than normal guys on the tour, but the kids that are coming out after me in the next 10 years or so, those are the kids that are really hitting it -- and they're bigger, they're stronger, they're longer than I'll ever think of being. And that's why a lot of these golf courses are changing the length, just for protection in the future.
DP: It sounds like you don't want that put on you ... that it isn't credit, it's almost blame, and you don't want that.
TW: Hey, if they change it, they change it. Augusta changes its golf course every year. They change fairways, they change little things every year that the public really doesn't see because the golf course is so manicured, it looks like it's been here for 100 years, like nothing has changed. But tees are lowered a couple feet from year to year and moved over a couple of yards here or there. You don't really notice these changes because everything is so perfect on that course.

DP: Jack also said, why not spend a million dollars to change the golf ball as opposed to spending millions of dollars changing these prized possessions, these golf courses around the world? Your thoughts on that? Where do you stand on new technology?
TW: Well, they canceled on the golf ball. They have the ability to do that, but I think the public overwhelmingly wants to hit the ball farther. It's like any golfer, you want to hit the ball farther. It makes the game easier. Because of public demand, I don't think that will ever happen. Granted, you could put in a tournament golf ball just for the governing bodies around the world that have tour events, professional events. But you know, I think the public wants to play with the same golf balls and the same clubs that the PGA Tour players play with.

DP: OK, speed round: Who would you stop to watch putt?
TW: Ben Crenshaw.
DP: Drive?
TW: Ben Hogan.
DP: Short irons?
TW: Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.
DP: Long irons?
TW: Jack Nicklaus.
DP: Whose demeanor could you learn from?
TW: Nicklaus.

DP: We saw a 12-year-old girl playing on the LPGA Tour this year. We already have 17-year-old, Ty Tryon, on the PGA Tour. In your opinion, when is it too young to be on tour? And if you were the governing body, would you treat age like the NBA does, where you have to be at least 18 or have a high school diploma?
TW: I think they're trying to do that to protect not only the integrity of their sport but also to give these kids a chance to mature mentally as well as physically. ... A lot of these kids are good enough to play at an earlier age than they have been in the past, but are they mentally ready for dealing with all the responsibilities that come with playing on the tour and traveling around the world? And it's all of a sudden a full-time job. You do it all year around, and there are a lot more demands on your time. And a lot of these kids haven't gone through the maturation process to develop time-management skills.

I was fortunate because I went to college for a couple of years where I learned a lot of these things which definitely helped me when I turned professional in '96. And I think if these kids would just go to college for a little bit just to understand and grow and have a chance to experience life -- even in my case, I wanted to get one more year out of college, but it was a perfect time for me to go from the golf standpoint that, you know, I couldn't really turn that down.

	Tiger Woods' annual income is estimated at $54 million.

DP: What kind of player and person would you be if you were one of three kids or four kids? If you weren't an only child, do you think you would be different in your sport, in your temperament, in your life?
TW: Knowing how I am, I'd probably be more competitive.
DP: So you'd be fighting with your brothers and sisters?
TW: Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt. Especially if I had a brother who played golf, I bet you we would be going at it a lot.

DP: Is it good or bad or a mixed bag that your father isn't as involved in your game as he used to be? Are there times when you're ready to turn and you think he's there, and he's not there?
TW: There are times when, yeah, I wish he was there more often. But my father knows my game so well, all I have to do is pick up the phone and call him and explain to him what I'm going through, and he'll offer suggestions that have worked in the past -- you know, remember what you did back there at the Savannah? Oh yeah, I'll try that. And generally it works. I mean, he knows my game. He knows things I'm working on, we still talk all the time about things like that.

DP: When's the last time you got an autograph?
TW: That I got an autograph?
DP: Yeah.
TW: I probably was about 5 or 8, something like that.
DP: And was it a golfer?
TW: To be honest with you, an autograph has never meant much to me. What has meant more to me is to be able to shake the person's hand and look them in the eye. Now, that to me is a lot more gratifying than getting some ink on a piece of paper.
DP: Tell me somebody non-golf related who you were able to meet that meant a lot to you.
TW: Muhammad Ali.
DP: Did you meet him recently or was this a while ago?
TW: A while ago, about three years ago.
DP: Were you unsure of what to do or say? Do you kind of know what it's like for these kids when they come up to you and say, "Hello, Mr. Woods?"
TW: No, it was just an absolute honor to meet a person who has done so much for sport and society in general -- it was such a neat experience for me to be able to shake the hand of a person like that.

DP: Mark McGwire told me once that he finds it hard to date women because he doesn't know if they like him for being himself or because he's Mark McGwire the ballplayer. Are you running into the same problems -- that you don't know if a woman likes you because you're Tiger Woods or because of your personality? And is there a difference between those two?
TW: I think there is a difference, yes.
DP: Does that concern you?
TW: Yeah, it is, it's definitely a concern. But in any relationship you get yourself involved in, there's always an inherent risk, and you've got to go ahead and take that risk in order to find the reward.
DP: You're also meeting women because you're Tiger Woods, too.
TW: That's true. But then again, it's also the good and the bad of it, just as you said, because you don't really know what their true intentions are until you get to know them.

DP: I have your video game, EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002, and I think that mine has a defect because my Tiger only...
TW: He's not very good.
DP: Well, he brings his B game and that's a problem. Should I send it back? Is there a company recall on this?
TW: I think that's one of those player situations you've got to take a look at.
DP: So I have to look at myself?
TW: Yeah, a very hard look, because I think you'll find that you're just not very good.
DP: So, who do you play if you can't play you? Because you're tired of playing you.
TW: Big Mo, the Samoan guy with the big, old afro-mohawk. Just pounds the golf ball. I love that.

DP: What movie do you quote lines from?
TW: I think we all quote "Caddyshack."
DP: Which lines do you use?
TW: Oh, it's probably the whole movie.
DP: Do you ever do that in tournament play? Or is it just during pro-ams or practicing?
TW: Well, when you're out there for five-and-a-half hours, you've got to talk about something besides a shot hitting right to left.
DP: What's the strangest conversation you've had during a round?
TW: That's a good question. I don't know. That's a hard one to answer, Dan. We definitely have talked some off-the-wall stuff that is not rated PG-13.

DP: Do you feel that you're on display too much? I know you try to protect your privacy, but how much can you protect?
TW: I think the public has become accustomed to who I am. And, yes, they are inherently curious, but they pretty much leave me alone now. I mean, at first they wanted to find out everything about me, but now people just know what I like to do and they leave me alone.

DP: Are you an athlete?
TW: I think I am.
DP: Because some people say golfers aren't really athletes. What other sports have you played that would show you're an athlete?
TW: I run a lot.
DP: No, my wife runs.
TW: What? I used to run track and cross-country.
DP: Anything else? Basketball? Baseball?
TW: I played baseball as a kid. Basketball I liked, but I was always afraid I would turn an ankle.
DP: Were you any good at those?
TW: I was pretty good in baseball.
DP: Position?
TW: Pitcher.
DP: Were you a crafty right-hander? Or were you bringing cheese?
TW: I just threw as hard as I could.
DP: That doesn't mean you threw it hard.
TW: Actually, I've got my dad's arm, which is pretty neat -- because my dad was the first black to ever play in the Big Eight -- actually, the Big Seven at the time -- for Kansas State as a catcher. And he had a strong arm. Still does. I mean, still when he throws the ball, even now at 69, he still throws it pretty hard.

DP: Everything you do has to do with power, doesn't it?
TW: Not necessarily.
DP: Hitting the ball, throwing the ball, throw it hard, hit it far?
TW: Well, if you watch me in practice, I really don't practice my driving that much. It's mainly my short game, it's all touch and feel.
DP: Did you play into the part that we wanted to see you hit it 350 yards?
TW: No. Hell, no.
DP: You didn't care?
TW: No, because when you're playing for a score, it's not how far you hit it. You're trying to shoot the lowest number you possibly can to win a tournament, and hitting the ball 210 yards off the tee versus 410 yards, as long as you win the tournament it doesn't really matter. So I've dialed it back, yes, because I've tried to get the ball more in play to give myself a better opportunity of shooting lower scores.

DP: What's the best advice you can give? Are you a good teacher? Some guys, like John McEnroe, could never teach, because he said, "I just do." Can you teach? And what is the first piece of advice you give?
TW: The first piece of advice you would have to give every golfer is that you've got to take a look at the grip and the setup. Those are the fundamentals. That's where it all starts.
DP: But can you teach? Do you have the patience to teach?
TW: Yes, I do, definitely.
DP: How much do you charge for an hour, if I were interested?
TW: For you?
DP: Yeah.
TW: You couldn't afford me.
DP: Anybody else, they get a cut rate?
TW: Oh, they get lessons for free.
DP: I figure if this golf thing doesn't work out, if you have another one of those so-called slumps, you could be a great teacher.
TW: I appreciate that.
DP: Don't you love it when they use the word "slump"?
TW: Oh, it's interesting, isn't it?