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Tiger still eyeing the ‘18th’

He won’t consider it a great year, because it’s missing one essential ingredient — a major victory — but he’s becoming more confident that 2013 can be.

Tiger Woods lines up his putt on the 14th green during the 39th Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Golf Club on September 29, 2012. — AFP

“I’ve always said winning one major championship turns a good year into a great year,” he said on Wednesday ahead of the CIMB Classic, his first event in Malaysia in 13 years. “We place so much emphasis on them. It’s very similar to what tennis has with the Grand Slam events. Guys can have seven, eight, nine-win seasons, but if they don’t win a Slam, it’s not a great year. I remember playing back in ‘99; I had a really good run there, won a bunch of tournaments, but didn’t win a major championship until the last one, the PGA. That all of a sudden changed the whole year.”

Asked about the doping scandal involving Lance Armstrong, Woods said golf couldn’t be compared with cycling, not just because it was more individual but also because of a deeper ingrained code of honour. “This is a sport where we turn ourselves in on mistakes,” he said. “A ball moves in the trees, the guys call penalties on themselves. I think that’s one of the neat things about our game, and I think with the (anti-doping) testing, it’s only enhanced that respectability throughout all of sport.”

Woods is back at the Mines Resort and Golf Club in Malaysia for the first time since he won the individual and team titles at the 1999 World Cup.

That, by his standards, was one of many great years until his life and career spiraled out of control in 2009 because of a string of infidelities that led to the breakdown of his marriage.

He’s now more circumspect.

His three wins on the US PGA Tour this season have restored the confidence that was missing during his long title drought — 27 starts in official tournaments — and he says he’s ‘absolutely’ targeting more major titles to overhaul Jack Nicklaus’ record. He’s also got Sam Snead’s record for most wins on the tour still in his sights. He moved into second place this year with his 74th win, eight shy of Snead.

“There are things that are certainly more important, and fatherhood is No. 1,” he said. “Golf has always been a high priority in my life, but family has always been No. 1. So that hasn’t changed. So, for me, I certainly want to break Jack’s record and catch Snead’s record. Those are all things that I would love to do ... but being the best father I can possibly be to my two great kids, that certainly is No. 1 in my life.”

There’s not a lot riding on the CIMB Classic for Woods, apart from the $6.1 million prize money — $1.3 million for the winner — and the chance to keep refining his game. It’s a 48-man, no-cut tournament on the par 71, 6,917-yard course at The Mines which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour but doesn’t count for world ranking points. He said his return to southeast Asia feels like a trip home.

“It’s great to be back. I’ve got some great memories from playing here,” Woods said. “People sometimes forget my mom was born (in Asia) ... coming to Asia does feel like home.”

Woods played in a pro-am with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in humid conditions on Wednesday, with hundreds of people following them.

Jason Dufner, who lost to 2011 CIMB Classic champion Bo Van Pelt at the Perth International last week by two strokes, was scheduled for interviews after Woods in the media conference room Wednesday and could already feel the impact of just having him in the tournament.

“There is no doubt about it when Tiger is in the field, it just makes the event better overall,” he said. “You get a lot more attention.”

Both were part of the U.S. team’s Ryder Cup meltdown, and both are trying to put it behind them.

“There are some things that I’d like to accomplish this year — I had a close call last week in Perth (and) about a month ago, lost in the Ryder Cup,” Dufner said. “So I’ve still got some things that I feel that I could turn around this season a little bit, and maybe feel a little bit better about my game.”

After Malaysia, Woods will duel with Rory McIlroy in China on Monday before finishing his season in the exhibition World Challenge next month.

He said he had been improving with his driver but still needed to work on that and other parts of his game.

“I’m excited about turning some of my weaknesses into strengths,” he said. “I haven’t driven very well in a very long time, and this year is probably the best I’ve driven in my entire career,” he said. “But my iron game wasn’t as sharp, and neither was my short game.

“Certainly I need to get my iron game back to where it used to be.”