Why He's No. 1

Charley Walters: There's a Reason Tiger Woods Looks Buff
Pioneer Press
Updated: 08/15/2009 11:11:05 PM CDT

Justin Conzemius has been around athletes for most of his life. He was captain of the 1995 Gophers football team as a linebacker and strong safety. It takes something special to impress him.
He saw something special Thursday. Conzemius, 36, a physical fitness nut who works in marketing for General Mills, stopped by his suburban Minneapolis health club for his daily 5:10 a.m. workout. There was another guy already working out before Conzemius arrived.
It was Tiger Woods, the No. 1 sports figure in the world.
"He was working on an exercise ball by himself, first doing some hard core stretching," Conzemius said. "Then he did some super high-repetition wrist curls, sets of 25 to 30 reps. He was just ripping them off really fast. It was like he was activating his muscles for his day of golf."
Conzemius said Woods, 33, finished his workout at 6 a.m. At 8:35 a.m., he teed off at Hazeltine National, then, in the sun and heat and humidity, shot a 5-under-par 67 to take the first-round lead in the PGA Championship. He has kept the lead going into today's final round.
"He was wearing a Stanford baseball cap and sleeveless shirt with his Nike gear while working out," Conzemius said. "There were TVs in the small room, and guys on ESPN were talking about the possibility of him having a bad back and maybe not playing. But he never even looked at the TVs, just kept on working out. I don't think he even knew they were talking about him."
Conzemius never bothered to say hello to Woods. He didn't want to interrupt him.
"He was getting ready for a big day," Conzemius said. "He's in there at 5 a.m. It was pretty neat seeing him there. You see him working out like that and you quickly understand why he's No. 1."