Tiger with Greenbrier owner Jim Justice during Wednesday's pro-am.

World No4 Tiger Woods marked his debut appearance at the Greenbrier Classic yesterday by fulfilling a series of tiresome, likely contractual, obligations, including a round in the company of resort patron Jim Justice and, yes, a brief appearance at the tournament media centre.

Fresh from his third victory of the 2012 season, the fourteen-time major champion proved remarkaby willing to field questions on everything from “The Process” (FYI: it remains what it is) to his freshman roommate’s West Virginian upbringing.

Highlights included:

• On visiting West Virginia: “Yeah, this is my first time here, in West Virginia, so I’m excited about being here.  You know, the only connection I’ve really had to West Virginia has probably been probably either Sam Snead or my college roommate.  Other than that, that’s about it.”

• On finally getting to grips with Sean Foley: “I finally have an understanding of everything he wants me to do, so I know what to do to do it right.  Sometimes it’s not quite there, but I know the fixes.  And warming up, it is what it is, it’s a warm‑up.  I’m going to get out there and warm up and then go play… Sometimes it’s, hey, everything’s good, if you want go hit some balls, go hit some balls; if you want to go putt, go putt, everything’s dialed in.  Or other times, hey, I saw a couple things out there that you just want to be aware of.  We may work a little bit or I may just go home and just think about it, but it’s nice having his opinion afterwards.”

• On the US Open: “Well, I did a lot of things right and that’s one of the positives I took out of it.  Did I do a few things wrong?  Of course, but it just didn’t ‑‑ I didn’t get anything out of my rounds.  I felt that Friday was a big day.  I ended up being tied for the lead, but I felt I was just a fraction off from birdieing the last three holes.  Sometimes you need those kind of momentum shifts and it didn’t work out.”

• On haterz (who often be hating): “Well, it’s just like answering your question.  I have to do it in every single press conference and I do press conferences at every tournament except for one or two now.  So that’s something that it’s ‑‑ I have to answer it after post-rounds [sic], whether it’s in front of you guys or live, a live shot.  You do that for a couple years, sometimes you guys can be a little annoying.”

• On Sam Snead: “You know, I met Sam when I was five.  He was playing at Calabasas out in L.A… doing that outing where he would play with a new group every two holes. So he had nine groups, and I was this little snot‑nosed kid at five years old that he had to play the last two holes with.  I remember it was a par 3.  You know, I’m five, I can’t carry it very far.  I hit it into the water and he tells me to go pick it up out of the water, and even my ‑‑ when my dad was alive, he would tell me that I was slightly competitive even at that age and I didn’t like him telling me to pick the ball up, because my dad always taught me you play it as it is, there’s no such thing as winter rules.  So I went in and played it and I made bogey on that hole, the par 3, and I made bogey on the last hole.  I still have the card at home, he signed it and he went par‑par and I lost by two.”

Conor Nagle