For Woods, the Biggest Change Would Be Winning This Week

He begins the PGA Championship ranked No. 1 for the 331st consecutive week, but there is another number on Tiger Woods’ mind right now -- nine, which is the number of majors he has played since he won his last one.

Woods has won once this year, and that was in February, but he said Tuesday that the swing changes he’s going through remind him of another period when he wasn’t doing as well as everyone expected.

“This is very similar to what I went through in 1998,” he said. “It feels very similar to that. And the things that are starting to come together, it’s very exciting, just like it was back in 1999 where they were starting to jell.”

Woods has been working on reshaping the plane of his swing for a more rounded swing around his body.

“Have I ever second-guessed it? No, because I knew that this is the direction I wanted to go in order to become better,” he said.

Woods won the BellSouth Classic in 1998 when he worked on his swing for greater control. It paid off in 1999 when he won the Buick Invitational, the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open on the European Tour, the Memorial, the Western Open, the PGA Championship (his second major title and first since the 1997 Masters), the NEC Invitational, the Disney, the Tour Championship, the American Express and the World Cup.

After playing 27 holes of practice to get ready to face Whistling Straits’ tough crosswinds, Woods said he’s prepared for the 7,514-yard layout. He said he is at last comfortable with his graphite-shafted driver that he first used at the Western Open, where he tied for seventh.

Woods also tied for ninth at the British Open and was third at the Buick Open.

Four of the 10 par-fours at Whistling Straits measure at least 493 yards and three of the four par-fives are long-distance numbers -- the 593-yard No. 2, the 598-yard No. 5 and the 618-yard 11th -- so Woods figures to be using his driver more than a few times.

“I might use it on a couple of par threes as well,” Woods joked. “But, yeah, the golf course is set up so you can use the driver quite a bit.”

Woods said he feels comfortable with his driver now.

“I’m finally able to get the ball out of my shadow and get it out there now and keep up with the boys,” he said.