Woods Says He’s Focused on His Game

Tiger Woods wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Just because he is more balanced in life doesn’t mean he’s getting soft.

Woods revealed Tuesday that his life was more “harmonic” since getting engaged, but said Wednesday that his competitive drive had not suffered.

“I’m just happier,” he said. “I still work hard on my game, if not harder. I’m excited about some of the things that I’m working on now.”

Woods routinely scuba dives and will sometimes go a week or more without golf, something he didn’t do in his early days as a pro.

“Mark [O’Meara] introduced me to that back in ‘97,” Woods said. “I really enjoyed being away from the game of golf and being with my buddies.... It just provides more of a balance.”

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Wednesday’s rain probably won’t affect the first round of play today, according to PGA Tour Tournament director Mark Russell.

The course had been dry, creating hard and fast fairways, but those conditions enabled the course to take more water.

“I was very impressed with how the golf course held up,” Russell said. “It soaked it up pretty good. We didn’t have any problem with any greens. It was never a situation where it rained hard enough where we couldn’t play.”

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The Ben Hogan statue beside the practice green near the Riviera clubhouse is missing this year.

The statue has a cracked base and had to be returned to the artist for repairs, according to Riviera head pro Todd Yoshitake. It will be replaced later this month.

The statue was presented to the club during the 1998 U.S. Senior Open as a tribute to Hogan’s success on the course. He won at Riviera in 1942, ’47 and ’48. He also won the 1948 U.S. Open there and the course later earned the nickname “Hogan’s Alley.”

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The altered 18th hole at Riviera has gotten mixed reviews.

The tee box on the famed par-four hole, considered one of the best finishing holes on tour, was lowered 4.5 feet and lengthened 24 yards, creating a possible 475-yard uphill setup.

Some players applauded the new design, saying it offered a better angle to the fairway, a slight dogleg right. But on a wet day, it could cause problems for short hitters.

“On a day like [Wednesday], I don’t like it,” Woods said. “Some of the shorter guys will be struggling to get it to the top of the hill and that shouldn’t be the case. Some guys might have lumber to the hole and some of the guys might have long irons.”

Hal Sutton suggested that Riviera had been altered too much in recent years.

“I miss Riviera,” he said. “The thing I miss the most in the game of golf is, we used to have to think. We used to have to make a decision whether it was a driver, a three-wood or a two-iron. I miss the decision-making, and Riviera was one of those courses that required you to think about what you were doing.”

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U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk will not play in the $7-million Accenture Match Play Championship next week in Carlsbad because he re-injured his wrist while practicing near his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Furyk missed parts of the 2000 and ’01 seasons after hurting the wrist playing football in a parking lot after an NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.