BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Two usually dominant
athletes who crashed and burned in their most recent competition got together in
Florida Wednesday where tennis great Roger Federer sneaked inside the gallery
ropes to join Tiger Woods during a practice round for the WGC-CA Championship at
the Doral Resort.
Woods "underperformed" finishing tied for 22nd Sunday
in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, while the Swede lost in the second round of
the Pacific Life Open, ending his winning streak at 41 matches. Both expect to
be back at the top of their game this week when Woods seeks a warmup win before
the Masters and Federer starts a new win streak at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key
Biscayne.
"I've definitely fixed it," Woods said of the swing
flaws that plagued him last week. "You look back at the finish (double bogey,
triple bogey on the last two holes), and I hit bad shots."
In the 33 times Woods has finished out of the top 20
in Tour events, he has won the next tournament 11 times.
"I had over 12 days" to get ready, said Federer.
The two dined on Woods' yacht Tuesday night, and
Wednesday morning Federer watched Woods play a practice round at Doral's Blue
Monster. Woods fixed it so Federer could walk inside the ropes, avoiding the
crush of fans but in violation of PGA Tour rules.
"I'm sure I'll get fined," said Woods, who intends to
watch Federer's match this weekend.
"It's pretty neat when you have probably the most
dominant athlete on the planet out there in your gallery," Woods said. "What he
has done over the last three years is pretty good."
Federer says he and Woods aren't concerned about who
is more dominant in their sport.
"We're the last two guys to care about that," Federer
said.
Woods knows one thing: He gets more recognition in
the USA.
"I don't know if you would call that an advantage or
a disadvantage," he said.
(Agencies)
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