Great Throughts Treasury

"The harder you work, the luckier you get."

"We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts."

"A good golfer has the determination to win and the patience to wait for the breaks."

"All in all, ... it doesn't matter whether you're a Masters champion teeing off this week, or you haven't played well recently; it's what you do this week. It's a brand new week."

"All they have to do is spend a little bit of money and change the mold (of the ball) and let the ball go back 30 yards. There are no such things as par-5s now really in professional golf, unless they move the tees back."

"Arnie played 50 years and quit, so maybe I'll play 51 and hang it up."

"Ernie is as tough as can be, and I think his performance in the last two majors left him highly motivated. I wouldn't be surprised if he won at St. Andrews."

"As we all know... golf is a puzzle without an answer."

"As President Eisenhower once said to me, America is a global society. I think that everybody in the world should be thinking about it as a global society. The Presidents Cup is played in different parts of the world, not just America and Europe. It's going around the world gradually and fostering the game of golf, which we all love and want to see happen."

"Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I've played the game for 40 years and I still haven't the slightest idea how to play."

"Being up one point is irrelevant. It's like a mile race and you're 50 yards ahead. There's such a long way to go."

"Golf benefited from today. Congratulations to the U.S.A. That putt that Chris holed on the last, I really take my hat off to him. They played better."

"Each shot is important."

"Golf is such a humbling game."

"Golf is a puzzle without an answer. You end up knowing a lot about nothing."

"Guys, when you get to 70, you're allowed a mulligan."

"He's recovering very quickly but his doctors advised him not to come at this stage so he can recoup and get playing again,"

"I am a South African, a nation which is the result of an African graft on European stock and which is the product of its instinct and ability to maintain civilized values and standards amongst the aliens'."

"I never was really concerned about that. The soil is the same here as it is back in South Africa or Australia."

"I just hate to see what's happening today with golf clubs that I consider to be illegal, ... I'd stop the grooves being so deep (on the ball), and I'd stop the trampoline effect in the wood."

"I got so strong I felt like a giant... When I stood on the tee with Arnold and Jack, I was tiny compared to them. But I never believed they were bigger than me. So the mind is so fascinating."

"He is some competitor,"

"I play in this part of the world because I love it. I think it's a paradise. It's got to be the most beautiful part of the U.S."

"I thought when I get to 70, I would be sitting on the ranch and doing less, and I'm doing more. I would say, with all things equal, five more years."

"I try to work with God as a partner."

"I see it going right down the line again."

"I was so brainwashed about how abnormal this was going to be with all the changes. It's not that abnormal. Even if the course is unbelievably tough, look at the beautiful trees and the flowers. It's a paradise."

"I was grinding like I was winning the tournament."

"I want to play one more than Arnie. I want to get to 51."

"I understand. He has got to do it for his knee. He has to get it right. He said he has never been so bored. Having to sit in one place when he has been so active is driving him nuts."

"If anybody in the world can play two guys, it's Tiger."

"If there's a golf course in heaven, I hope it's like Augusta National. I just don't want an early tee time."

"If it did end up in a tie, it has been phenomenal golf. It could happen. If it did, so be it."

"I'd never seen rain like that... It was just pouring. I'll never forget it: As they would squeegee the green, you would put your ball down and putt it."

"If there's a golf course in heaven, it's like this. I'm in no hurry to tee off but I hope I'm the head pro some day."

"If you don't hit it far enough, go pump some iron."

"If there's one man in the world who could play two men, it would be Tiger. In my mind, Furyk is going to play."

"I'm using exactly the same clubs, other than No. 4. I was brainwashed into believing it would be abnormal with all the changes. But we're hitting the same club Jack Nicklaus did. I remember Jack hitting 5-iron on No. 11. The greens weren't as fast, but the fairways were lousy."

"If you can get ahead, it's definitely a psychological advantage."

"I'm a believer, the first day, if it's possible, if you can get up on the board and you can create a bit of shock [you do it]. I mean, you're talking about the best player in the world. . . . If a guy on our team can look up and say, 'Wow, this guy [Woods] is getting beat, our guys are doing well,' subconsciously it can encourage them."

"I'm 70. I hit a drive 280 yards the other day. I never hit a ball 280 in my life. I don't know where we're going. They're going to hit balls over 400 yards. We are only 20 or 30 years out."

"It just shows you that when you take the best players in the world, that kind of thing can happen. They are all pumped up."

"It was a massive blow to lose your No. 2 player. We've got to do the best we can."

"Isn't that amazing? He took heed of my advice, and I think it's fantastic. He looks great, he's strong and he's swinging the club much smoother."

"It doesn't matter what happened in the past or what happens in the present, when we tee up tomorrow, it's a new day. It's a brand new game."

"It's exactly the same. You wait until the tournament starts. You'll hear the cheers. It will be great."

"It was calling for a real good match."

"It's a good idea for future Presidents Cups to have a reserve ready to play. The people want to see the match played as scheduled."

"It's a strange game... Today you shoot 66. Tomorrow you shoot 73. It changes within hours."

"It's like a mile race and you're 50 yards ahead. This is as close as it can be without being a tie."