Would take my skills up against jack any day and im sure he would feel the same way. Rose do you believe you will get 18 pages . To be honest with you, no. Rose you dont . No. Rose youve accepted that . Ive accepted im going to get more. laughter rose an encore presentation of my conversation with tiger woods for the hour, next. Rose funding for charlie rose has been provided by the following and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose tiger woods is here. He is considered one of golfs greatest players, if not at his best the best. In 1997, at age 21, he won his first major tournament at the masters by a record 12 strokes. He was previously the only male to win three straight u. S. Amateur titles with a total of 14 major championships under his belt, he trails only Jack Nicholas who has 18. In recent years, he has been side reasoned by injure including three back surgeries. Tiger delayed his return to competitive golf to this month stating my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be. This year markets the 20t 20th anniversary of the tiger woods foundation, focusing on Youth Education and intends to double the number of students attending college through its scholarship this year. Pleased to have tiger woods at this table for the first time. Thank you, charlie. Rose we have been trying for this for a long time, so i thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Rose this has been an interesting several weeks for you. There was the ryder cup. You were instrumental, according to patrick reed, you were with him on the course and says you were with him in his head. You announced a new company tgr involved in live events, restaurants and golf course management, other things. Right. Rose you celebrated the 20th anniversary of the foundation. You announced you would play in the safeway tournament and then withdrew saying your body was okay, saying that your golf was vulnerable. Mmhmm. Rose what did you mean . Well, charlie, before the ryder cup, i was playing and able to shoot scores and able to play at home, then took time off during the ryder cupp and was focused on that. And i never quite got my scoring around, and i was so excited to play. I wanted to compete. I went out to stanford right before safeway and was practicing out there, we were with the team and hanging out with them, and really working on my game, and its a hard realization knowing that, you know, im not scoring like i should be. My feel for hitting, you know, 150yard 7irons and taking stuff off it or jumping on a 9iron and hitting the correct distance, shaping shots, all that stuff, i kind of lost the feel of that and, trust me, as a competitor, i was ready to go, i wanted to compete, i wanted to compete, but in my heart of hearts, i knew i couldnt shoot 63s and 64s and, trust me, as a competitor, it doesnt feel very good. Rose as the greatest iron player in the history of the game to take a 7iron or to take a wedge and not be able to do what you know you have done before, what you have felt before, what does it feel like . Well, it was more the feel of hitting those shots because i havent done it enough, and i was in a groove playing at home. I took the time off with the ryder cup, and trying to come back after that, i just didnt quite have the same feel. I thought i would pick it up right away. I was ready to compete and go, and, man, its tough knowing that i see a shot and i can kind of feel it but its not quite there yet. If its not quite there yet, youve waited over a year to get back to this point, lets be smart about it and not rush it. Thats from my brain saying that to me, but my heart is saying, tiger, lets play, lets go. Come on, lets get back into it. Rose have you come back before when you think now its too early . Ive done it so many times either through surgeries or injuries, ive played through them, come back early, ive damaged the body to compete at a high level so many times, and this time i took a lot of time off to get it right, and theres no sense in hurrying and injuring myself anymore or shaping the shots and getting the feel for it. I want to do it right at the same time and have it come together. At safeway, i thought i was ready for it, and i wasnt. I thought, take a step back, youve waited this long, theres no sense in the urgency of doing it again, make sure your stuff is ready and when it is, you will know. Rose and you will know. Oh, yeah, ill know. Rose but jasper and others have said, ive played with him and, boy, hes back to being amazing. I mean, have you had those kinds of rounds . As ive said, ive done that at home and knowing that i have to do it in a scoring environment on a pga tour and shooting the same scores once we get home, the mid to low 60s and then doing that again, i wasnt quite ready for it yet. And because this is the longest layoff ive ever had in my career, and ive never had this long a layoff, my plays arent what they should be be. I need more practice, more play time, playing more money games with the guys on tour at home. Rose you live around a lot of golfers. I believe there is 33 pros that play out there. Rose you play with them. I have been playing with them and taking a bit of their money here and there. laughter rose for me, there is a difference between the driving range and the course. Totally, correct. Rose a difference between playing with friends and a tournament. Yes. Being ranger rick is one thing and then playing the tour level is a totally different deal. Beyond the tour level is the major championships, so there is a progression and im not quite at the tour level progression yet. Rose do you believe the talent is there . Oh, yeah. Rose youre sure . Yeah. Rose how do you know . Oh, im hitting the shots, i can feel the shots, i just dont quite have it all yet, and i like having the full repertoire of shots. I really wasnt there yet. Rose let me just analyze your game today. The putting. The putting is what made you great. Right. I can putt. Rose you can putt. I can putt. Rose there is no problem there. Huhuh. Rose the long irons . Not a problem. Rose what is it . Just overall scoring. Rose its not a particular aspect of the game you can fix and then youve got it . No, its just putting it all together. Rose keeping it in the pairway. Keeping it in the fairway, im not quite as long as i used to be. Rose by how much . Ten yards. I can carry the ball over 300 yards but the big boys are now 330. Its a different ball game. The game has gotten a lot bigger. I was out there at the ryder cup watching some of the guys hit golf balls. It was 52 degrees out and theyre using the track band. Im looking at the numbers, 52 degrees out, and im going, i just carried 308. Its 52 degrees and were looking at each other going, can you hit one out that far . Rose do you feed to make any adjustments to your swing . Thats ebbing and flowing. Im making slight tweaks here and there, and that is something that ive always done. Its just making a little bit of tweets. Rose thats the search for perfection . Not perfection but professional excellence. Were not perfect. So ive converted the word into professional excellence. Rose you were thinking perfect . I was trying to get better. Rose but youve always done that . Ive always done that. Rose thats the search to different swing coaches, and what can i do, because im as good as i am, when you were experimenting with your game, winning every tournament you can see. I was doing that when office kid, always trying to get better. Rose mindset, will to win, clearheadedness, thats there, sure. Mmhmm. Rose those who suggest vulnerable means not just the game but vulnerableness somehow about not having the same sense of rightness that you had at the best of your game. Well, when i played my best, that was 16 years ago. Rose yeah. So most guys arent jumping and doing 360 dunks at the age of 40, okay . Most guys arent taking off on the foul line and doing dunks at age 40. So we have to make adjustments as we get older, and ive done that throughout the years. And throughout different injuries, ive played around them, and this is no different. Rose i do get the sense, though, that you dont want any more surgeries. Oh, god, no. Rose well, no, for a different reason. You want to play with your kids and all that stuff. Youve suggested youve had it with surgeries. Seven is enough. Rose seven is enough. Seven is enough. Rose and part of the reason is you want to play with the kids and all these other things and you dont want to be in pain. I love playing soccer with my kids and being able to toss the golf around, playing ball with charlie. I love doing that. For us to do soccer drills and just to have fun. To me, when i was hurt after the last surgery and i couldnt do any of that stuff for months at a time, that was brutal. That was hard to take because daddy, lets go play. Daddy cant move. Rose but do i get the sense, i mean, if terms of what youre doing, announcing the company, that you are prepared, if golf is over, to have another life. Well, charlie, its basically, the tgr branding is bringing all our businesses under one umbrella. They have been existing. Rose right. But im setting up chapter two of my life. Chapter one was the golfer, only the golfer, playing golf, winning tournaments. Here im setting up chapter two without hitting a golf ball and trying to create a Business Empire and different business entities and growing that so i dont have to hit a golf ball is that to be a happy person . To do other things that are of my interest. The golfer can still be there, i can still play, i can still do those things, but its not mandatory for my business to grow and for me to help kids with my foundation or with the restaurant or the tgr design or all that stuff. I dont have to hit a golf ball. I can eventually transition into being strictly an entrepreneur. Rose and involved with the foundation and other things. 100 . Rose okay. Heres whats interesting about you more than any athlete i know. Its not just you, its us. We cant let you go. There is a sense that oh, you care . laughter rose yes. But there is a sense that we never understood how it was to be so brilliant on a golf course. We didnt get how one could be so dominant in a sport. We didnt understand how you could lose that, either, you know, and we desperately, and i think this is everybody, because of the mystique and because of where it was and because of how it was lost is to understand and to want you to come back. They want to see it, that kind of dominance. Its reflected in television ratings. They want to see it one more time. Youve thought about that. Of course, charlie. I miss being out there. I miss competing and mixing it up with the boys and coming down the stretch. Rose you like being tiger woods . I like beating those guys. Thats why i practice all those hours and trained all those hours in the gym, ran all those miles is to be ready to take on those guys down the stretch, and do i miss it . Absolutely, a hundred percent. And to be at my age now at 40 years old and to have gone through the things ive gone through, you know, physically, you know, hey, im the first one to admit i cant do the things i used to be able to do. Most people cant at my age versus when they were younger. I have to find different ways to go about it. Rose you have to find other ways to win . Yes, i do. But because of my mindset, im naturally a tactician. Even when i was hitting the ball long and blowing off the top of bunkers, that was the strategy. So i used my mind, and eventually the method i used allowed me to match my craft. Rose thats why the mind is so important. You used your mind. Youve learned that from your father, i assume. Correct. Rose you learned mental toughness. You learned how to win. You still have that, dont you . That part hasnt left me. I know how to get it done. I just need to get into a position to get it done. Rose but you have to do this yourself. Theres no coach, no psychologist can tell you that. As an individual athlete, youre actually out there by yourself. I know joeys with me on the bag, but no ones pulling the trigger, no ones bailing you out. The manager is not coming in and bringing the righty in when youre struggling. Youre by yourself. Theres no timeouts, no im not feeling good and well play the guy off the bench and fill your role, ire by yourself out there. Rose thats part of what you liked about the game. I liked the grind of it and the ownership of it. What i really loved and still love is getting out there and figuring out a way to get it done, just figuring out a way. Rose you love figuring out a way. Whatever you have, trying to figure out a way, digging down deep in myself to try to find a way to get it done. It may not be pretty, but finding a way to get it done. Because ive won Golf Tournaments, as you know, hitting over fairways left and right, missing greens and chipping in. Rose and when it was almost dark, they didnt know how you could possibly see the hole. Im a tiger. Im a cat. Im a night owl. Rose goes without saying. You said people dont understand when i was growing up i was not the most talented biggest or the fastest and certainly not the strongest, the only thing i had was my work ethic and thats whats gotten me this far. Thats one thing you cant take away. You can take away all my physical attributes but you cant touch my mind, and that part of it is being mentally prepared and having the mindset of preparing and digging in and doing the work. Ive never been afraid of that. Rose some have said, to be tiger woods was both a gift and a burden. How is it a sphwhurd burden . Well, its a burden in the sense that the amount of obligations i have at a tournament, the anonymity that was lost, you know, if you look back, the only regret i have in life is not spending another year at stanford, and i wish i had that year. Rose thats the only regret . The only regret. Rose audit of all the things that happened . All the things. Rose everything . Ive learned all the things i have been through have been tough, but great for me but i wish i had gone one more year at stanford. Rose why do you say that . The amount of brilliant people who were there, the things i was learning at the time was i ready to turn pro . Physically, yes. I won a bunch of tournaments and the college slam, no ones done that, the College Region also and nationals, three amateurs in a row, but i was ready to go. I wish i had spent one more year learning from everyone who was there people designing their own computers, working on the accelerator. Rose there are stories about you reading physics books and being fascinated by things like that. You can always do that. But being around those people at that age, you dont likely get a chance to do that again and have two great years at stanford, it shaped me more than the years as, you know, subsequent. Those two years really did shape me because the amount of people and plus going away from home for the very first time and for me to feel at home and comfortable around some of the greatest athletes on the planet, some of the brightest minds on the planet, and were all so young and doing it together, and this is before the internet, so having the communication and trying to get through study groups, you know, thats one thing i do miss. Rose in the 90s. In the 90s, yeah. Rose i want to talk about, one, how you became tiger, how you lost it and how you can regain it. Well talk a little bit about that. Why golf in the first place . Well thats a great question. I have played it basically all pi life. I played baseball, i was a pitcher, i ran track and cross country. I liked doing those sports but i didnt love it. I kept coming back to golf. I kept finding myself running the miles in track and especially cross country, getting all that mileage in to get ready to play golf. When i was on the mound throwing, im thinking, okay, this is, like, number one, ive got to position my shot on the right side to have the fairway, this ball has to be outside. My mind kept coming back to golf. Whatever i was doing, it kept coming back to golf. Rose you watched your father hit balls in the garage up against a net . I did. It was one of those el nino years, so pops wasnt allowed to go out there and hit the amount of range balls because it was hosen down rain, storm after storm kept coming in southern cal, and i just happened to be born december of the next year, you know, el nino hits and, you know, here i am. Rose talk about him and your relationship with him. Well, being my dad, hes a person i miss dealer. I think about him every day. He was more than just my dad. He was a person i could always turn, to a friend, a mentor, a leader, and then eventually a follower and, you know, he put on so many different hats and was comfortable playing different roles, and thats something that, you know, i thoroughly miss. Rose and what did he give you . My dad . He gave me so much. He gave me his heart, his soul, and the fact that we were able to have the conversations we were able to have through all my childhood and when i turned pro and even when he was sick and he was battling Prostate Cancer three times, he would always find time and somehow find a way to be able to talk to me. Even if he wasnt feeling well, he would sit up and we would have a great conversation. Rose let me ask about a couple of things, number one i guess the time you jumped out of a plane at fort bragg or somewhere, and your dad said, now you know what my life is like, correct . Yeah, jumped with the Golden Knights at fort bragg. Rose and what did he mean . Well, it was i had grown up playing at a military golf course and been around the military and been around active duty and retired servicemen my entire life, but i hadnt experienced what he had to do, you know, for his job. Rose as a green beret . As a green beret, and as transportation to get your job. Taking a car for me to go to the golf course. His was jumping out of an airplane. Rose right. But he said to you, now you know what i do. It was, like, ive watched you as a golfer, and now you can see what made me. Correct, and the amount of physical work it took for those guys to do what they do, the operators operating in the past around currently, it is physically demanding, its brutal on the body and even tougher on the mind. So getting over fear and relying on others not only to basically save your life, thats something i never experienced, never understood. Rose he helped you understand fearlessness . Not necessarily understand it because i was always kind of an adrenaline junky to begin with, but i understand where he was coming from now. Rose look at this video, sitting at this table tigers pop, earl. Imax mize his opportunity with his own assets and his own skills. I brought this out in him. He already had toughness, i might add. Then i brought more to the table, taught him how to refine it and develop additional toughness in him through experiential things. Since that time, since he graduated from what i call woods finishing school, he has exponentially gone even higher on the toughness scale, past even what i thought, and its surprising him. He has called me and he says, pop, i am getting to tough, and every time i see him and i ha