Woods another step closer to normal, at least on course

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Playing in only his sixth tournament this year, Tiger Woods will look to repeat as the AT&T National champion.

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- Every day, Tiger Woods moves one step closer to normal -- at least in relative terms.

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"Outside the ropes there are certainly still distractions," Woods said Tuesday from the AT&T National. "It is what it is. I think everyone has had distractions in their lives."

Inside the ropes, things are starting to return to normal, too. Well, almost.

Woods is still searching for his first win since returning to golf in April after a five-month hiatus.

"I think that my life out here on TOUR is becoming more normalized, getting out here and talking to you guys about the game of golf and why I haven't won a tournament yet this year or why I hit that shot or this shot," Woods said. "It wasn't like that at the beginning of the year. But now that certainly has changed, and for the good."

Since his return at the Masters, Woods has played 15 ½ rounds, which included the great (a back-nine 31 during the third round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach), the good (ties for fourth at the U.S. Open and the Masters without his best stuff), the bad (a second-round 79 and missed cut at Quail Hollow) and the ugly (a WD during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship for a neck injury).

During the U.S. Open, Woods also raised eyebrows with his comments about making three mental mistakes in what was an apparent disagreement with caddie Steve Williams over club selection.

"There's no tension there, not at all," Woods said. "You guys are reading way too much into it.

"I was asked what happened out there, and I made three mental mistakes out there, three mistakes I don't normally make. Do Stevie and I make mistakes on the golf course? Of course we do. We're not perfect. We made mistakes at the wrong time. It happens."

So where exactly does all this put the world's top-ranked player as he tries to defend his title this week, on a new golf course (Aronimink) and with a new swing coach (video camera)?

"I thought I played pretty good at the U.S. Open," Woods said. "Saturday in particular was nice because I had had stretches like that this year, but I haven't done it for at least nine holes.

"To do it at a U.S. Open when I needed to get back in the event, that felt really good. I needed to make a run, and I was able to make that run and give myself a really good chance to win. That was a nice feeling to have and something I hadn't had this year yet."

Yet is the key word in that sentence.

A year ago at the AT&T National, Woods shot a final-round 67 to lap playing partner Anthony Kim and hold off Hunter Mahan, who had a course-record tying 62 at Congressional, for his then third victory of the season.

A lot has obviously changed in the past year -- one of the more recent and notable things being Woods' coach, or lack thereof, after Hank Haney resigned last month.

Asked how Tiger the instructor and Tiger the player are getting along, Woods said, "Video does a lot. If you can get the proper angles, it's pretty simple whether the club is on plane or not."

Was it on plane in his most recent tournament? "For about 12 holes, yeah," Woods said.

Now it's just a question of how many holes it will be before Woods wins again.

"I am certainly trying to get my rounds in and put myself there in contention to win events," Woods said. "It's just a matter of just getting more and more consistent with what I'm working on and putting together better rounds.

"The last event I played in, I was close. I was right there and just didn't put it together for the final day. Things are starting to come around."