My year is winding down, although I still have four events left. I fly to Shanghai, China this week to compete in the HSBC Champions Tournament; Japan for the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament; Hawaii for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf; then finish my season Dec. 14-17 by hosting the Target World Challenge presented by Countrywide at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Ca.
Needless to say, it has been a long, challenging year, especially off the golf course. Nothing could make up for losing my father, but I know he would have been proud of the way I rebounded after missing the cut at the U.S. Open by winning six-straight PGA Tour tournaments, including two majors. Dad taught me to never give up, and although it has been difficult at times to concentrate on golf, I have continued to work and fight and good things happened. Hopefully, I can finish the year strong.
As far as the streak is concerned, in my mind it ended when I lost to Shaun Micheel at the HSBC World Match Play Championship. As a PGA Tour stat, yea, a streak is a streak. It really doesn't mean that much to me right now, other than I'm looking forward to getting off to a positive start in 2007 and hoping to build momentum for April.
I will say this: My overall game is stronger heading into 2007 than it was in 2000, just because I have a lot more knowledge and know how to get more out of my rounds. When I first turned pro in 1996, I lost to Ed Fiori at Quad Cities because I didn't know what to do. I took some bad risks but learned from my mistakes. I've won many times since 2000 and I've done it different ways. Like Jack Nicklaus said, `Winning breeds winning.'
Overall, my swing is getting closer to where I want it. It might sound old, but I just need more repetitions and consistency. The game is fluid and always changing. Am I more consistent? Yes. In my opinion, only two players have ever owned their swings: Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. Will I ever own my swing? We'll see. I'm still somewhat young in my career. Hogan wasn't great until his late 30s.
I've taken some time off since the Ryder Cup and WGC-American Express Championship. I played seven of nine weeks, which is a lot of golf for me. I've made some appearances for my sponsors and hosted our annual Block Party in Anaheim, Ca., where we raised more than $1 million for the Tiger Woods Learning Center. A special thanks to all who made the event a great success, especially Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Friends, and our emcee, Kevin James. I enjoyed meeting Will Ferrell and his wife, Viveca, who was our auctioneer. I also enjoyed seeing Greg Grunberg of the television series `Heroes' again. He promised to teach acting to the kids at our Learning Center and has already made one visit.
I also appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Ellen DeGeneres Show. On Ellen's show, I hit a Bullseye with two drivers, which wasn't too bad. I had to hit the ball a little higher than normal and kind of toned it down, but hey, that's my job. I just didn't want the ball to go flying through the tarp and hurt anybody backstage. Ellen also hit a Bullseye - high and right - with one of the more amazing shots I've ever seen. The crowd went crazy.
I've been playing a little tennis with my wife, working out, practicing and goofing around with my dogs.
I'm really looking forward to my trip to Asia and Hawaii. It will be three weeks on the road, but I've had good success at all three sites.
The hardest thing on trips like this is trying to get your diet organized. I'm pretty picky about what I eat. There's a great barbecue restaurant where I stay in Japan, and in China I'll stay in a house with a cook. I just can't afford to get sick.
We're getting ready to re-launch our website. I'm excited about the new look and hope you enjoy it. As always, I welcome your feedback.
I also want to let you know that I have started a new company called Tiger Woods Design. I have always wanted to create my own golf courses around the world and am thrilled to embark on this new opportunity. I've played golf in more than 20 countries and look forward to sharing my first-hand knowledge and experience by designing fun, interesting and playable courses for golfers of all abilities. I'll keep you posted on our progress.
That's it for now. Hope you had a great Halloween - Elin and I handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. Talk to you next month.