that's it for tonight's show. i'm drew griffin. >> i'm randi kaye. thanks for joining us. tonight, the families in the trayvon martin tragedy. i'll talk to both sides. trayvon's parents and george zimmerman's brother. and, truly, the one and only lionel richie. "dancing on the ceiling," to "hello." the songs, the sensational collaborations, the fame, his daughter nicole, and his surprising reinvention as a country singer. my exclusive with a music icon. plus tiger woods' tell all. he's back to his winning ways. he's not the only one talking. tonight my primetime exclusive

with his former coach about the firestorm surrounding his book. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. the shooting death of trayvon martin has touched a nerve across america. trayvon was killed by george zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in florida. he's not talking, but lots of people are. this week they're talking to me. i spoke to zimmerman's brother, robert, in a primetime exclusive. here's what he said about the explosive case. what did george tell you trayvon martin allegedly did to him? >> what has come out that i can talk about today is that trayvon martin somehow snuck up on him and according to mr. crump, the attorney, we don't know if this is verifiable information, but he was on the phone with his girlfriend.

i don't know if that's a police source, but i know his attorney at least holds up the girlfriend as a source and says trayvon told him, no, i'm not running. i'm going to walk real slow. and trayvon went up to george and said the first thing to george. there's some discussion about did he say do you have a problem? do you have a problem? are you following me? why are you following me? >> what did george tell you he said. >> one of those things. do you have a problem with me? following me, why are you following me? something like that. my brother drew back to grab his phone in retreat to call 911 and say this person whom i lost sight of and was not pursuing has now confronted me. that's what he did. he never got to make that call because he was attacked by mr. martin. >> that, of course, is just one side of this tragedy. there's also trayvon's family. can't imagine what they're going through now. i did speak a few days ago to trayvon's mother and father and asked them what they would say to george zimmerman. tracy, if you had the chance to speak to george zimmerman right now, what would you say to him? >> i'd ask him why did he, in

fact, pick out my son. what was going through his mind that night. do he realize he's destroyed an innocent child's life. my son had a future. my son was not one of these thugs in the night. he was loved. i just want -- i would just ask him why did he, in fact, take my son's life. and how does he feel about taking my son's life. >> sabrina, many believe that you are suffering perhaps even more now since losing your son by the attempt by some people to assassinate his character, to bring up all this stuff about his behaior at school and so on which portrays him in a very damaging light. what do you say to that? >> it bothers me as a mother to

hear all of those negative things about my son. i knew trayvon. i lived with trayvon. i know what he's capable of doing. and i know what he's capable of not doing. and it just hurts just to know that people are trying to damage his name. they murdered him. they're trying to murder his reputation. and i've said that before. and it's just painful to me as a mother. >> as i said, many people have very strong opinions about what happened to trayvon and why. including my guest, lionel richie. he's a pop icon. sold more than 100 million albums. his latest a country record. he's also a father. we covered a lot of ground in a wide ranging interview. i began by asking him about trayvon. as you'll hear, he has some very important things to say about it. before we come on to your remarkable twist now, the country music, and your incredible career, i just wanted to get your reaction to the interview i just conducted with trayvon martin's parents. what did you make of what they were saying? >> you know, i'm a parent. how i approach this is just

everyone take the race card out for a moment. if you received a phone call saying your child was shot and killed, because he looked suspicious, armed with a cell phone and the other guy has a gun, the next thing is did he have any kind of markings on him that said security? so your kid thinks someone's chasing him. this is just how i feel. and then you can't really get an explanation as to what really happened. don't put a color on that. just imagine. now the outrage that's happening is if this were just a one off situation, it would be wonderful. it would be something you could investigate. this is a common occurrence in the black community. and so i understand now the outrage of trying to find out, it looks so obvious what it is. we just can't get it -- we can't get them to say that. >> there were several issues at play here. one is the apparent race issue

which i think may be slightly miscued way of approaching this. >> right. >> because, you know, george zimmerman is not a white guy. it's not a white man killing a black man. in the conventional sort of incident that sparked this outrage before, that doesn't quite work. what you have is an extraordinary law in florida. stand your ground. which entitles anybody if they feel their life's in danger to shoot somebody. >> yeah. but do they have a stalking law? what i'm saying to you, the kid felt, i'm sure. i don't know who this guy is following me. we don't know if he identified himself as a security guard. we don't know this. and so i can only say that if it were my son, i would be -- i would be terrified to think of what he went through. you know, i don't know the circumstance. we don't know. it's just one of those situations where every parent in america, in the world, would say what happened?

>> it's really important, it seems to me, that you have to allow the legal process to take its course. >> i know. >> george zimmerman may well have been attacked. we just don't know. the video, it doesn't help his cause. people are watching that video tonight as i did and as you did, i'm sure, saying where are these injuries that caused him to believe he was being -- apparently his nose broken, his head thrown on the floor. it doesn't look like that has happened. >> is it attacked or is it fighting for his life? we can skew it the other way. if someone pulls out a gun and you're not sure whether you're being mugged or whether you're being apprehended, we don't know this. so i'm sure without the proper, you know, investigation, we will never really know what those few seconds were. >> doesn't the nature of stand your ground as a law just frighten you as an american? doesn't it make you think this can't be right, this law? because it's so vague. the idea that george zimmerman wasn't even arrested on the

night is what appalls people. he shot a guy who's unarmed. even if they had a fight, that doesn't give you the right to pull out a gun and shoot him in the street, does it? >> we're bringing back the wild west. in other words, we have enough going on right now to where fear, people don't trust, and all of a sudden now you can stand your ground. >> there are gang leaders now, apparently, who are using this as a legal excuse to get off killing other gang members. this is ridiculous. >> it's ridiculous. i think what we have to do is take nine steps back and go back to human. we have to use common sense here, piers. i'm telling you as a parent you've got to look at this. i wouldn't want my kid on the

street anymore. what suspicious, what classification -- is that racial profiling? suspicious. what does that really mean? every kid i know in the world has a hoodie. we walk in beverly hills every day. excuse me. every kid in beverly hills has a hoodie. are they going to be deemed suspicious? what is that going to really mean for this world that we live in? of course, in florida i think that law should be thrown out without a shadow of a doubt. >> you grew up in the south. >> yeah. >> you have spoken before that your parents protected you from racism. tell me about that. >> it was interesting. i was born and raised on tuskegee university or tuskegee campus. if the clan marched any night they would put us to bed early. so we didn't really know what that felt like. at least in my generation. you know, when you have people like the tuskegee airmen that were brought up on -- that's

where they were stationed. that's where they were from. p. hds, doctors, lawyers. it was a different world. and so they trained us basically that everything was available to you. i did not know that we had a problem with where can we go to get a job? everything was available. everybody was a doctor, a lawyer, they were all there. because segregation made tuskegee so powerful. and every other university, morehouse, fisk. they were all meccas of very intelligent people because segregation was in, no jobs were available outside of those little townships. >> when was the first time you realized there was racism? >> i experienced it for the first time with the come dors. the first time i knew about it was certainly on the march on washington. i was old enough now to understand that. the march on montgomery. because we had a college student that was living with us that actually went to that. i was too young to participate.

but he would come back and tell me all about it. of course, when you see these huge policemen with the dogs and the spray and the horses and everyone is there, you know, unarmed, you know, it was quite -- it was impactful to me. i remember as a kid i kept thinking, where are we going with this? then i think when it really hit home for me was i had a chance to hear malcolm x speak on the campus. he dealt with the issue in a very philosophical way. i thought it was brilliant. he said, don't you think times are getting better? and the answer was, if you stick a knife in a man's side and you pull it out halfway, is it better? only until you pull the knife all the way out, and the wound heals, is it better. i kept that as my mantra throughout my growing up that all we are doing right now is rehashing exactly what my mom and dad went through, my mom and dad's parents went through. and now here we are in the next, next, next generation talking

about the same issues of insensitivity, racial profiling. it's the same. it's the same identical story, just a new generation. lest take a break. i want to come back and talk a bit more about this. i want to see whether you think america is more or less racist since it's got its first black president. and also talk about whitney houston, your great friend who tragically died recently. and the song "hello." skip to "hello." believe the mayan calenda ont polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space. which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd, and you still need to retire. td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans?

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♪ i sometimes see you pass outside my door ♪ ♪ hello, is it me you're looking for ♪ ♪ i can see it in your eyes >> lionel, sing to me, baby. >> just stop there. >> sing to me! i'm feeling it! >> security. security. >> it's me you're looking for! it's me. somebody just tweeted. red devil 234. if lionel starts singing, for god's sake, don't join in. >> save yourself. save yourself.

>> when you look at "hello" it's such an iconic song. for men of my age, lionel, i have to be honest. we owe you a great debt of thanks and gratitude. >> i'm here to help you. >> you did more for your efforts to help us seduce women than any singer in my lifetime. >> i'm going to tell you a fact. i get more compliments from men than i do women. by the way, they don't talk. women will walk in and tell me i was engaged. i fell in love. we had children. we got married. guys have one signal they give me. they go lionel. you understand. that says it all. you understand me? >> oh, i understand. >> i tell them all the time when they come to the show, listen, i know. i know this has been over your head. lean over to your girlfriend and say, "isn't he amazing?" i'm going to sing to her. you're going to take her home. did i get that right?

>> you're moving me even now, lionel. >> i was going to retire as a commadore. you go on to a solo career. i remain grateful. >> yes, yes, yes. surprisingly enough, i was thinking of the catalog with the commadores, i'm pretty good. good to go. then along came kenny rogers. "lady." the doors blew off with "all night long," "hello," and all that. >> you've got five minutes left to live, you can sing one of those songs, which one would it be? >> i would want to go out in a happy mood. "hello" would not be it.

"all night long." from the commadore side it would be "easy." or "all night long." >> mine would be penny lover. >> kenny chesney's favorite song is "penny lover." i would not equate "penny lover." >> when i heard that song, the whole body started to shake. bump and grind. >> one of the disk jockeys said this is lionel's cheap song. penny. >> what is the secret of singing love music? >> you know what happens? i lucked out and found a topic that will never, ever go out of style. love. the entire world is looking for three corny words. "i love you." >> it's true. >> believe me, in 35, 40 years of writing i have tried to find another way. they don't want to hear, i like you. let's hang out. let's shack up just for the night.

doesn't work like that. i love you is forever. so if you go i love you, i want you, i need you forever, you have just sold a record. the next thing is that they're trying to find guys who are -- what's that word now? compassionate. they want guys who are sensitive. >> in touch with their sensitive side. >> i have one dear friend of mine who just finally gave her husband truly and said copy the words down and just say it to me. he just had to sensitivity whatsoever. >> are you for real a sensitive, romantic, loving kind of guy. >> i am a hopeless romantic. my problem is, get this now, i was diagnosed, i love this, when i was a kid. there was no add. i was lionel's overly sensitive. is the word they used. and my mother was crying. oh, my god, what do we do about this overly sensitive kid? i would have made a terrible lawyer. terrible lawyer.

but then once i started writing these songs, then automatically it made sense to me. because i kind of go in simplicity. the simplest way to say it is the only way people want to hear it. >> how many times have you been properly in love in your life? >> god, you would ask that question. probably -- probably three times. probably three times. in my -- in my preschool class i -- >> do you remember? >> i do remember. >> what was her name? >> do i have to say it out loud? >> yes. >> anda pass. >> how old was she? >> one more. dariel watts. i'm now going to get phone calms. >> these are your first loves? >> these are the ones where you go, oh, my god, you know. why? she just said hello to me. you know? then from there, of course, i married the second one. you know, that was brenda. i married the third. that was diane. >> you married two of the three people you've been properly in love with. >> yeah. but you have to understand, it takes a lot for me to jump the

broom. of course, now that i've been in hollywood for a minute, i must tell you that it's gotten out of hand here a little bit. >> well said. >> you think a little bit more before you say i love you. or, as i say to people every day, every time i say i love you, i lose a house. but then -- but now, you know, that cinderella love is going to be absolutely something that -- that comes along that you're looking for. you really are looking for it. >> what have you really learned about love? >> that you have to throw yourself into it. i love that word, "fall" in love. if you're not falling in love, it means you let go. you have to let go. you can't control it. if you're not out of control and you know you're out of control when all of your friends will tell you, i wouldn't do that if i were you and you go, i don't care. i don't care is the keyword to falling in love. you don't really mind what people say. >> how do you keep love alive? how do you do it in your

marriage? >> mine's easy. all you have to do is have kids. then i -- i celebrate the mother of my kids. so i'm a different kind of guy. instead of celebrating the last three months that was the complete disaster of the marriage, i celebrate the time, what was it when it was special? you follow me? once you become the mother of the kids, you will always be on that pedestal forever. so with me, i have a love affair with my family. and it took me 20 years for the first wife to speak to the second wife. >> do they get on now? >> oh, no, it's perfect. it's actually quite unusual that we are a tribe now. you know, but i love it so much because our kids get to experience the family. the tribe. >> that's quite special. >> i love it. i must tell you. it's great for them to see us all interact. >> do you sing at these little

tribal meetings? >> absolutely not. no. you know what it is? i think you experience the same. we are superstars until we come home. then i'm dad. and i love that. and now i -- >> i'm not even a superstar before i get home. this is where you and i are going to have a slight different starting point. >> what i love most is that -- it's a grounder for me. i actually have kids that miss the commadores. i have kids that miss the '80s. i have grandkids who they don't know at all. i am pop pop. let's take another break. let's come back and talk about whitney. i want to get to whitney and see what you felt about the report that came out recently. i also want to talk to you about the sculpture in the "hello" video. i'm told there's a shocking tale to be revealed. >> yes. >> let's hear it after the break.

♪ i sometimes see you pass outside my door, hello ♪ ♪ hello that was terrible. that was terrible. i should stick to "penny lover."

you are sweating. you've never revealed that first love story. you've been panicking the whole break. >> i was doing fine until you said, and who are they? i've never revealed that. that's preschool. these are preschool days, do you understand? the whole town of tuskegee right now is maing phone calls. >> i've got a great tweet. watching lionel richie. what charisma. fascinating dude. love his staff. not into the ballads. >> as soon as -- >> that is true. >> i could tell you the reviews. >> it's "dancing on the ceiling" until you meet the right girl. >> there was a reviewer for years. reviewers were sappy, slurpy, sticky, gummy. lionel again with another one of those songs. he interviewed me years later. do you have another one of those amazing ballads? you're married now? two kids, lionel. in other words, until you fall in love you know nothing of what i'm talking about. >> have you ever laid love to your own music.

>> you have asked people -- who is this guy? i mean, you mean my first love was not enough? >> no. i need more from you. >> absolutely not. >> no? >> are you kidding me? >> it would be a bit awkward. >> i love it when someone says do you whisper? of course i do. >> who is the biggest, most romantic sexual singer you've ever deployed. >> holy cow. that's pretty interesting. well, marvin gay. >> has to be. >> marvin did it for me, you understand me? >> i think i understand you. >> i'm on national television. i mean, yeah. marvin was -- >> have you ever had a barry white night? >> barry white and smokey robinson. you know what i'm saying? i'm kind of giving it to you. >> candle lit rooms. >> you understand, yes. >> let's get to the sculpture in the "hello."

video. >> i figured you would. first of all, it was a nightmare. everybody thinks it was this wonderful scene. no, no, no. i kept following bob around going, i saw the bust. it doesn't look like me. he said, i'll talk to you later. we'll talk about it. now we're getting closer to the scene. i said, bob, i want to talk to you. the bust does not look like me. and, of course, now we're shooting the scene. i said, bob, he said, lionel, she's blind. you understand? >> i understand. >> immediately, i said, i understand. i had to be sensitive again. but i hated the way it looked. okay? so immediately after -- 20/20 hind sight, i should have saved it and put it in the house pipt would have been a part of the museum. as soon as it was over with, i just attacked it. >> let's turn to whitney houston.

we talked on the night that she died. i was in the studio. you very kindly rang in. you were very emotional. also very eloquent about her. since then, a real picture has come strongly to me. natalie cole said it again this week. the real problem for whitney was when she lost the power of her voice as a singer. have you been through that process? is your voice as good today as it was 20 years ago. do you understand that? >> i understand it. i've been through three surgeries. vocal surgeries. while you are sitting there in silence, the question comes up, who am i? who am i, really? without this voice, without me walking into a room and saying lionel, hello, who are you? i did it that time. you like that? >> better than mine. >> who are you really? as an artist, you are defined by your voice. now, let's look at when you first start. it's a young voice. as you get older, can you hit those same notes from 19 at 45.

no? you take it down a half step. by 50 and 60 you take it down a whole step. in other words, you're not as spot on as you're supposed to be. >> what does the pressure of performance become like when you're going through that deterioration? >> you are going through what we call panic. because we are perfectionists. or as i say, all artists, you know, we're egotistical maniacs with inferiority complexes. we want to take over the world but at the same time, 15 seconds after walking down that elevator to walk off the stage, there's 30,000 people that said we love you. in your head you go, bet i can't do that again until you walk back up those stairs and actually do it. each time you walk out there you have to be perfect. they're looking for you. you have to hit that note like you did on that record. if not, something's wrong. there's something wrong up here, too. it happens to us. i watched it happen with michael. he had two problems. he had to dance as well as hit the notes. you know, it's a perfection thing.

>> you get to 50 like he did, whitney was only 50, your body and your voice will not be able to perform at the level of when you were 25. >> exactly right. but we expect it. and the audience expects it. if you can just -- let me say this right -- if you can make friends with yourself, that's what i had to do. i had to finally figure out one day, let me make friends with myself here. otherwise i'll drive myself crazy. it's called i'll sing it a different way. or what i do on stage sometimes when i really don't think i can hit that note, i go, come on. and everybody sings the song for me. think god, i've got karaoke going. but it really is a compliment to an artist if you realize the audience is singing with you. >> the other way you can do it is just to be as i have proven tonight always a terrible singer. therefore there can be no room for deterioration. >> that applies to you. that does not apply to me. you know, it's really something where we're a business of

amazing talent and amazing tragedy. what we have to understand sometimes is that the pressure that we put on each other, on ourselves, and then -- if you can imagine, we are watching little vignettes of reality that we call entertainment. that's the tragedy of life. to watch whitney go the way she did, to watch michael go the way he did, we're enjoying the entertainment of it instead of saying we're watching a tragedy happen right before our eyes. >> very true. let's take a final break. we'll come back and talk country music. you have become, ironically, the new kenny rogers. >> hello. hello.

♪ say you, say me, say it together, naturally ♪ >> you did that one proper, i like that. >> i could sing your stuff all night like cassandra has sent me a twitter great interview, i walked down the aisle to "truly," there wasn't a dry eye. >> i can actually say this to you that we have 3 million

copies of sheet music sold before we had the internet, i could sell sheet music so you know we took over "endless love," hello. >> let's turn to country music this is a brilliant idea to take your greatest hits and do songs with the greatest country stars like shaniya twain, kenny rogers, tim mcgraw. >> come on. >> what a line-up. >> what made it so wonderful, someone said o me are you going country? i said, no, no, no i was born in the country and country radio was radio when i was growing up. >> mm-hmm. >> you know what's brilliant about this? we filmed every session so we have every artist explaining where they were. >> mm-hmm. >> what they were doing at the time they fell in love with these songs. >> now, i want everyone to hear this "tuskegee". >> tuskegee.

>> you just did a brilliant impression in the break there from the "we are the world" video where all these big stars got to sing one line and i said who sang the best line? >> the one i love the best was "there's a choice we're making!" >> you know what's come to me? right at the death of this interview i rescued the situation because your bob dylan impression is worse than my lionel richie. >> i'll take that as a compliment. >> lionel, this has been one of my favorite interviews i've done at cnn, and please come back before too long. >> thank you. >> i love the country twist. >> thank you. >> i feel swathed with love. ♪ i sometimes see you pass outside my door ♪

♪ hello, is it me you're looking for ♪ >> it is me! >> come on, come on, man! >> lionel, thank you so much. >> pleasure, my friend i'm

don lemon live in the cnn world >> they continue to ask for neighborhood watch captain george zimmerman to be arrested zimmerman says he shot the teen in self-defense. and smashed by waves. at least three people were hurt.

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>> back in the game. "big miss," hank haney joins me exclusively. you've been getting flak for the book what was the purpose in writing it? >> any time you're around greatness like i was for six years and you see it at close quarters, you're asked about it. i'm asked about tiger all the time, anywhere i go. people want to know what it was like to work with tiger? what did you work on? what was he like as a golfer? you're asked about that and i wanted to share it. and i knew that i'd catch some flak but i also, you know, really came to the conclusion that, you know, these were my memories, too. they weren't just tiger's memories, and i wanted to talk about them and wanted to share them. >> you were with tiger 110 days a year, you talked to him 200 days a year. as far as coach and player goes,

it doesn't get much closer than that, does it? >> that's a lot of time to spend with a player. of all the players i've worked with on the tour that's the most time i've ever spent with a player. >> what did you think of him? what do you make of him as a man? >> very complex. very, very complex. he's an incredible champion. you know, he's different. but i expected that. when you see somebody that's as great as tiger woods, there's probably a reason for it. you wouldn't expect him to be the same as everyone else. >> criticism you've been getting says that, look, the whole point of a relationship to a coach and a professional sportsman is very similar, not in law, but in ethics if you like, between that of a doctor and a patient. and that you have breached that by going public with a pretty intimate book about your relationship with tiger. how do you respond to that?

>> i'm certainly not the first coach that's ever written a book. there's a long list of coaches that have written books. you know, i just felt, like i said, that the bottom line was is that these weren't just his memories. he didn't have an exclusive on those memories. i thought, they're my memories, too, and i wanted to talk about my experiences. i wanted to talk about my observations. i wanted to talk about the greatness that is tiger woods. and how i went about coaching him. i thought it would be interesting. i'm asked about it all the time. i wanted to write about it. >> rick smith who coached phil mickelson said of your book, i'd rather be broke and not have a penny to my name before i violate the code of player/teacher confidentiality. for all the guys who committed their lives to teaching this should be very upsetting

>> i mean, in the book you reveal a number of text messages that you sent tiger woods. i wanted to read one to you in the context of what you just said. you say to him i feel like i've been a great friend to you. i don't feel like i've gotten that in return. i mean, obviously writing this kind of book has angered tiger woods enormously. it's not really the behavior of a friend to do that. did you just think, you know what in the guy let me down. he wasn't a proper friend to me so i'm going to make money out of his intimate life and the way that you have done. >> no, not in any way, shape or form.

the text you just read was the text that i sent to tiger when i was resigning after six years of working with him. you know, we had a great time together. i mean, tiger won a lot of tournaments. he won 45% of his tournaments the last three years i worked with him, but i feel like it was just time to go, and my -- my text there was -- really had to do with the fact that the rest of the text said or the one prior to that said that, you know, in all instances what i was asked about tiger woods i always gave an answer that was in the best interest of tiger woods. i didn't feel like that had, you know, had happened in return, but by the same token there wasn't any one thing that made me think it was time to go. it was just six years coaching. a world class athlete and the most recognizable, and scrutinized athlete probably in history. it was just a long time, and it was just time for me to go, but, you know, i had a great time. it was the greatest opportunity

a coach or teacher could ever have, and i'm very thankful for it. >> let's take a short break. i want to come back and talk more about the controversy surrounding the book and also what your view was of the enormous global sex scandal that nearly ended tiger's career.

i want to say to each of you simply and directly i am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior i engaged in. >> tiger woods saying sorry for the scandal that nearly wrecked his career. i'm here with hank haney. the scandal of tiger pretty well took over everything. could you quite believe what you were hearing when all these stories began to come out? >> no, i couldn't, because the first, you know, inkling that

there might be a problem that mark steinberg, tiger's agent called me, and told me that there was going to be an article coming out in the "national enquirer" but that it wasn't true. it was about tiger and a girl and it wasn't true and that everything was going to be okay, and then, you know, it was probably a week or so or two weeks after that that, you know, tiger hit the fire hydrant, and then all of a sudden everything started spilling out, and obviously it was true, and there was a lot more to follow, but i didn't know anything. steve williams, his caddy didn't know anything, and obviously elin, tiger's wife at the time didn't know anything. >> i mean, if you, as his coach, is it your place to say anything to a champion athlete like tiger woods? would you have done if you had known? >> i don't think it would be my place necessarily as a coach, but it would be my place i feel like as a friend, and i certainly would have said something, and i know steve williams would have said something, too. >> given the way that tiger

treated i guess both you, by which you say in your book and steve williams, he seems to have a cold side which, you know, many sporting champions i guess feel they need to have. do you feel that he's changed at all since the scandal? >> you know, i think he's probably softened some. i felt a change, you know, after that. and like you said, i think that the cold side is part of what makes up, you know, tiger as an incredible champion. i never really, you know, judged him on that. i looked and i thought that all the things that make up tiger woods are what makes up him being a champion, and those are things that i go at great length in detailing in the book, "the big miss," but, you know, it is part of the package, and i know tiger is an incredible champion, the likes of which the game of golf has never seen. >> from what you saw from arnold palmer, he just won his first

victory in three years from. a technical point of view given that you were so close to him technically for so long. is he back to his best? could he win the masters this year, do you think? >> well, he's definitely striking the ball well. he finished first in greens regulation which for the years i worked with tiger that was a key statistic. he was always first in greens regulation or near the top, so he's back up there again. i think he's 14th for the year, and he's right up there near the top. the great thing about bay hill to me was that his putting was good. he finished fourth in putting as a key statistic. every player that's won on the pga tour this year has finished top ten in putting, and going to augusta, that's the most important thing. tiger would have won, you know, five or six green jackets in a row if he would have had fewer than, you know, two three putts for the 72 holes, so if he can avoid three putts at augusta, he'll be very difficult to beat.