and getting tough with china. they're hoping the quieter level of diplomacy might pay off. >> what they're saying, it doesn't help to beat up on the chinese the way the more aggressive members of congress want. and amazing, one-hour conversation between president obama and president hu from air force one last week. the press pool didn't disembark from the plane. the president stayed on the plane. he was still on the phone coming back thursday night from boston. >> u.s.-chinese relations, unless the president goes to china, is not necessarily a television story, but this is really a big relationship, i think, not only for this administration, but this century. given all the things in play, obviously issues like human rights and so forth, but also underlying the fact that right now, china is our biggest foreign creditor. >> and china of course is the key player right now holding back on any kind of tougher

sanctions on iran. "wall street journal" pointed out today that even the asset freezes so far have not had a great impact according to critics and that without china on board, a watered down version isn't going to go through. >> it's interesting as john noted that this surnsy report was delayed. they'll tell you it had nothing to do with getting china's cooperation. although we have seen times in the past where the obama administration has sidestepped delicate issues. for example, not seeing the daly la ma last november. then things got tense again when they did meet, there was some taiwan arms sales. as you point out, one that's so important. the president has promised tough

iran sanctions in a matter of weeks, not months. >> and of course, the president's shown, mark, that he knows how to be pragmatic when it comes to this relationship. disappointed some of the human rights advocates, but he wanted to make sure that the relationship with china kept on track. >> look, you know, obama has proved to be the great straddler and nowhere i think more than on this china issue is he going to have to strike this balance. showing he can still be tough on issues, but not really risking a break with china. >> i want to see how pragmatic he is about improving his thr throwing motion on this first pitch because when he did it last year at the all-star game, very, very weak. >> i hear he's been practicing. >> savannah, has he been

practicing? >> he has. and more important to me, whether he'll be wearing those dad jeans again. >> do you think he's got skinny jeans on today? >> i don't know. that question was actually asked at a briefing with robert gibbs this morning and he wasn't sure what the choice would be. >> before we get there to the park, i know gibbs was also asked about these disturbing, to say the least, comments, reported from hamid karzai. they're not pleased the ally s has -- troops and treasure going to afghanistan with a leader criticizing the united states. >> clear frustration coming from this white house that karzai has done it again. just last week, he made

extremely antiwest comments. over the weekend, he renewed those comments. >> now, we're seeing the president in a nationals red jacket coming out with a team owner and shaking hands with the kol lor guard there. these are wounded warriors from all of the services who are being honored there today. you can see obviously, these veterans getting special honor and tribute from the washington nationals as the president is coming up. chuck todd is with the pool representing all of the networks. chuck, you're out there in the park. what a great place to be. >> it is a great place to be. mostly cheers, a few boos. they showed highlights -- on screen. probably a few more boos than that. on the mound here, took off his

hat. a white sox hat -- that's going to get some boos. here he is. with the wind-up. >> he's put on a white sox cap. >> here he is with the wind-up. wow. it was a -- had there be a batter. but zimmerman like pujols, bailed him out. >> chuck, the president, as you can see, is out there and he has his white sox cap. but we can understand that. home team loyalty as he's shaking hands with the umpires

and -- how do we think he did, guys? >> well, first of all, looks like he's got khakis on today, but i think he needs to stick to three-point shooting in basketball. we saw him the weekend of the final four. he beat clark kellogg of cbs, who was an all-american. >> there was a big question as to whether he really beat him. >> but at least he looked good doing it. that was not the best throw. >> he was out playing golf saturday. i think he would have been better off putting in more practice time throwing a ball. >> and savannah, your basic take on the president's delivery over the plate? >> i'm totally objective about this. i wouldn't express an opinion one way or the other. how about that? plus, it's so bright i can barely see it, to be honest. i couldn't tell if he was wearing dad jeans or khakis or what. >> khakis, straight from the

easter egg roll. savannah guthrie at nationals park has the absolute best job and savannah and chuck every day at 9:00. and speaking of things that are coming up for the president, supreme court justice john paul stevens hinting he may require, possibly announcing his decision this month. how would that departure, the nominee of president gerald ford, affect divisions in the court. pete williams joining us now. pete, justice stevens holds a unique place in the court, obviously. almost 90 years old. but how much of a major figure is he in the court in terms of the divisions? does he lead the liberal minority on the court and how would any replacement affect that division?

>> before i get to that, i have to note that justice stevens threw out, is a person who has thrown out the first pitch before at white sox games. he just did it a year or so ago and you know, you could look at the tape and compare his pitch with president obama's. i'll leave that up to you. >> and one other fact about justice stevens, he, at age 12, watched babe ruth hit that home run where he pointed to the stands and that's part of the lure of justice stevens. >> yes. he does very much lead the liberal wing of the court and the way it works at the supreme court, the chief justice assigns the person to write the opinion assuming the chief justice is voting with the majority. if not, the court's senior person on the other side makes that assignment. that's usually typically justice stevens. he's become very much a shrewd

tactician of putting together coalitions, deciding who will write the opinion of the court. so that will very much be missed, but in terms of the actual vote lineup, a replacement by someone appointed by president obama probably would not change the overall court make-up. >> i want to run through some names with you. -- are they the top picks? >> i think we have to assume so because they at least they were the ones the president talked to last time. you'd have to include janet napolitano, secretary of homeland security. the president said he wants someone with political experience and she went through the last round of political interviews as well. >> pete williams, thank you very much. still to come this hour,

white house pay czar ken fineburg, plus a pay official for president obama. steve hillbrand will be joining us. and tiger woods ready to tee off with the press in augusta. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. >> i like green eggs and ham. i do, i like them, sam i am. i would eat them in a boat. i would eat them with a goat. >> i would. >> i will eat them in the rain, i will eat them in the dark, on a train, in a car and in a tree. they're so good, so good you see. only try... and try...and try. [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios tastes great and can help lower cholesterol. bee happy. bee healthy. ♪ mayo's always saying how real it is.

we agree. it's real... boring. ♪ are you up for some sandwich-kicking flavor? are you miracle whip? are you up for some sandwich-kicking flavor? geico's been saving people money and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it?

umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

president obama won the nomination partly because of the skills of our next guest. steve hildebrand organized an ar my of volunteers. great to see you again. let's talk about the president's big challenges coming up now and how you feel he's doing so far. we've been talking about him as someone who manages to straddle a lot of fences. d disappointing one side and then the other. how would you rate him so far? >> well, i think he's doing a terrific job. he's the first president in history to get this health care reform completed and that's a major, major accomplishment and it's going to benefit millions of americans. that's deeply personal. it affects people in their every day lives and i think that's going to be important going into

the future. >> how do you reassure fellow liberals who feel that they made all the compromises and that you know, once again, going through a lot of these policy decisions that he keeps disappointing the liberal wing of the party, decisions that help him to govern. >> he's got to do what he believes is right and certainly not walk away from his principl principles. i don't believe he does that. he's not going please everybody. george bush didn't. ronald reagan didn't. bill clinton certainly didn't. there's a tough job that he's got ahead of himself. if he stays very focused on job creation and puts people back to work and gets this economy going, if he's advancing health care reform which is vitally

important, if he's working on education reform, which i think everybody believes the really important and stays focused as well on foreign policy and tries to come to a resolution bringing the troops home from iraq, it's a big agenda. it's a huge agenda. no president has had it before him and i believe if he stays focused on solving these problems, then he will be fine for re-election in 2012, but i also think democrats will fa fair well this fall. >> a lot of people don't apparently want him to be campaigning for him. he has only campaigned for a handful of people. he's you know gone to maine campaigning for anyone up there. he was in boston for an old friend. why do you think that he, that his own popularity, 50% in a

number of of the polls? >> i think it's similar to how we're seeing the polling numbers related to health care reform. you don't see a lot of members of the democratic caucus in the house and senate going home and campaigning on health care reform and i think that's in large part because they've been afraid of it instead of imbracing it. they have not done a good job of going to their districts and states and selling what's in this health care reform. when i talk to farmers in middle america and tell them what this reform is about, they're excited about it. they are naturally scared and republicans have done a good job of scaring them, but if democrats would embrace this, they would convince the american people that this is a great thing. if they would embrace president obama as they should, these politicians have got to stop

being afraid of their own shadow. they should go and be who they are, promote a democratic philosophy, be on the offense instead of the defense and we'll be fine this fall. >> thank you very much. good to see you. michael steele speaking of someone who has a lot of depending to do. he's been defending his spending habits, but it's what the republican chairman is saying today about race. and i don't mean political race, that's drawing new attention. john harris up next with the latest. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ screaming ] hey. pbht! [ luke ] unless, of course, you've got at&t, the nation's fastest 3g network, which means you can surf the web and download videos in a snap. there you go, dad. hey. ♪ thanks. [ chuckles ] this is good. [ male announcer ] at&t. a better 3g experience. get 50% off all messaging phones

after mail-in rebate, like the pantech reveal. only from at&t. but we've got the ammunition she needs: omnaris. (troops) omnaris! to the nose. (general) omnaris works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris fights nasal allergy symptoms that occur from allergic inflammation... relieve those symptoms with omnaris. side effects may include headache, nosebleed and sore throat. her nose is at ease. we have lift off. (general) remember omnaris! ask your doctor. in the battle against nasal allergy symptoms, omnaris combats the cause. it's like hardwiring the market right into my desktop. launch my watchlist -- a popping stock catches my eye. pull up the price chart. see what the analysts say. as i jump back, cnbc confirms what i thought. pull the trigger -- done. i can even do most of this on my smartphone. really, it's incredible. like nothing i've ever experienced. trade free for 60 days on redesigned power e-trade pro.

michael steele responded to critics of his leadership of the republican national committee saying on good morning america he has no intention of stepping down. his comments on race, both about himself and barack obama, that is creating a buzz today.

john harris joins us now. welcome, john. great to see you. let's talk about this. stephanopoulos asking michael steele if his race is a factor. >> do you feel that as an african-american, you have a slimmer margin off error than another chairman? >> the honest answer is yes. >> why is na? >> barack obama has a slimmer margin. a lot of folks do. it's a different role for me to play and others to play. and that's just the reality of it. i mean, but you take that as part of, part of the nature of it. >> now, john, some people would suggest that in fact, it's exactly the opposite. that michael steele has been able to hang on to his job because the republican

reason he was select. and here is michael steele that presents a diverse face and more effective outreach, so the republicans have learned as steele has had missteps that cuts both ways.

>> you know, we've covered this on the program all last week. i covered it on nightly news last week. >> when you sneak in bondage, andrea, i know you're all over it. >> but the bottom line is i did not mention race, but now that he has brought it up or put it in this context, it does seem a little bizarre. another part of the interview here, steele addressing the basic scandal bringing us back to bondage. let's watch. >> the employee was similarly dismissed for going against our internal policies and finance. we have been putting great controls in place for the last few months as a matter of fact on some of our financing. those numbers they talked about, i'm not staying in fancy hotels and the four seasons and flying around in corporate jets. >> he may not be now, but there

was that number that jumped out at people. yes, the republicans pointed out democrats had a lot of similar items on their financial reports regarding fancy hotels and catering because that's the way you raise money with fat cat donors, but nobody had ever seen that. the jets that weren't at least -- >> at the white house had a good life and steele's problem is not the race card, it's the credit card and in fact, donors are upset with a amount of expenditures of the republican -- national committee's had and also with what seems to them a pension for distracting, diverting controversies of big donor, somebody who had been a volunteer, unpaid fund-raiser for the republican national committee has announced he's

taking off. >> that's exactly why a lot of them are beginning to give their money to the republican governor's association, to other new groups. >> that's right. and so the republicans feel look, this should be a great republican year. they can take advantage of the trends in their direction in the polling. the last thing they want is the republican national committee chairman to be the story himself. unfortunately, that's what's happened for him over the past week. >> thank you very much. we have been all over this bondage story. long before anybody else came up with it. coming up, meet the government official who thinks ceos should pay golf dues out of their own pockets. plus, war aftershocks where the earthquake is blamed for at least two deaths.

you can find me on twitter at mitchell reports. of athletic fabrics in mind, stayfree® with thermocontrol™ quickly wicks moisture away for exceptional dryness. so you stay incredibly comfortable no matter where your day takes you. stay dry. stay cool. with thermocontrol™ only from stayfree®.

somewhere in america... there's a home by the sea powered by the wind on the plains. there's a hospital where technology has a healing touch. there's a factory giving old industries new life. and there's a train that got a whole city moving again. somewhere in america, the toughest questions are answered every day. because somewhere in america, more than sixty thousand people spend every day answering them. siemens. answers.

topping the headlines right now, in 30 minutes, tiger woods will finally answer questions from reporters at augusta national. this is woods' first news conference since crashing his car the day after thanksgiving and unleashing the scandal about h his personal life. and the space shuttle "discovery" is safely in orbit. it is one of the final missions before the shuttle the retired. and aftershocks continue today following the 7.2 quake that hit the south of the u.s.-mexico border. two people killed. 20 million people from las vegas to tijuana felt the tremors. it was the largest quake in almost 20 years. clean-up is just beginning. miguel almaguer is in calexico. first, let's talk about what is

felt. there have been some aftershocks down there. what are you feeling down there right now? >> reporter: we haven't felt an aftershock for a couple of hours, but this morning here in southern california, we actually felt aftershocks while on the air and they have been rolling through ever since that earthquake at 3:40 yesterday. the brunt of the damage is just on the other side of the border. we have video taken in mexicali, a short drive from where we are at. that is where the majority of the damage is. george lewis was there and reports that some homes have collapsed, roofs fallen on to the ground. they are dealing with a serious situation on that side of the border. here in calexico, they've shut down about six blocks. the main, downtown area. these buildings are not structurally sound. this area remains closed for the

most part to pedestrians, but in the background, you'll hear some clean-up going on. building inspectors have left some folks back on their property, but most are not safe. >> miguel, thanks so much for that report. we're obviously following that very closely. what an -- a large 7.2 magnitude shock down there and we'll be following all of that. executive pay, speaking of shocks. it's down 15% among top earners of the banks and firms who took the most government bailout money. that includes a 33% cut in cash salaries. here with us now, ken fineberg. who can be monitored, regulated and who can't and where we go from here. you are in charge of those firms that took the t.a.r.p. money,

but not those still in bankruptcy. that's why gm is exempt from it? >> no, no, gm is included. i have jurisdiction over the five companies, gm and chrysler. gmac, chrysler financial and aig. bank of america and citigroup repaid their entire obligation. under the law, they are out from under my jurisdiction. >> can you have any moral suasion with them? >> i can try to convince them it's wise and sensible and on the merritts makes a lot of sense, but to get the real regulation you need on these banks and wall street, you need some of these other administration initiatives, regulatory reform, corporate

governance reform. i have a very small jurisdiction. >> when we talk about regulatory reform and that is the next big thing to occur, in the final version of the job bill and what was passed the house, how would that restrict executive pay? >> i have enough trouble dealing with the banks and calculating pay -- >> from my understanding though, shareholders can have a say, but not man dating. >> that's right. >> to get shareholders involved in anything is a very big challenge. >> that's right. it is a challenge, but when you look at what i'm doing with five companies actually calculating their pay for the t.a.r.p. officials and you add to that regulatory reform, the g-20 principles of secretary geithner to make sure that foreign companies don't have an

advantage over american companies when it comes to pay, these are a whole list, a menu, that together, i think, effectively reigns in excessive pay. >> ken, they get around it by instead of cash, dealing with stock. how do they find ways to get around even whatever controls that you have? >> well, clearly, the companies that are still in my jurisdiction can't get around it because we are monitoring everything they do. so the few -- >> stock as well as cash. >> correct. especially stock. don't forget, under my prescriptions, if you pay these corporate officials in stock, they must hold that stock for up to four or five years in order to prevent short-term swings, excessive risks. they've got to hold that stock this their individual compensation is tied to the overall success of the company. that's critical in my approach. >> what do you say to those who made the argument that by

holding down executive pay, we would lose executives to foreign companies or competing companies? >> i hear that all the time, but statistics show that if you look at the individuals whose pay was set by me last year, 85% of those same individuals are still at their desks this year. i think this argument that if you don't pay us more, we're going to leave, is simply false and i'm very dubious about it. >> false most likely because they don't have those kinds of options. this isn't that kind of economy. >> if you're at a firm for many years, you don't want to leave and go somewhere new. there are a lot of reasons, but the bottom line is, they're staying at their desks. >> ken fineberg, who's got a lot to say. thank you very much. coming up, fresh violence today in pakistan, raising questions about what is stirring the recent rise in extremist

violence. and tiger woods set to speak to reporters at the top of the hour. stay with us for live coverage right here only on msnbc. my doctor said most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. also available in small, easy-to-swallow petites. citracal.  i own a small law firm and i'm a much better lawyer than i am an accountant. so, when i wasn't getting paid as quickly as i would like, i did what came naturally. i threatened to sue. turns out, that's not the best way to keep clients. so i went looking for answers online at openforum.com it's a place where i can talk with other small business owners

like thomas and connie and learn about tools like acceptpay. it's a new way to bill online that can help me get paid much faster, without the need for any legal intimidation, which gives me a warm fuzzy feeling... sort of like these super comfortable socks made from the soft, supple wool of alpacas. looking good. thank you. owners are asking questions. owners are getting answers. and american express open is building the tools they need. tools like acceptpay, which lets owners take their accounts receivable online. acceptpay. invoice digitally. get paid faster. only from american express open. i was just in town for a few days and i was wondering if i could say hi to the doctor. - is he in? - he's in copenhagen. - oh, well, that's nice. - but you can still see him. - you just said he was in-- - copenhagen. - come on. - that's pretty far. - doc, look who's in town. - ellen! - copenhagen? - cool, right? vacation. - but still seeing patients. ( whispers ) workaholic. - i heard that. - she said it. - i--

cisco-- introducing healthpresence.

the pakistani taliban claiming responsibility today for a coordinated suicide attack in peshawar. three car bombs exploded as militants used guns and grenades. two pakistani security guards and civilian were killed in the attack. a taliban spokesman warned more such attacks were coming. the assault comes just hours after 41 people were killed by a suicide bomber in northwest pakistan. the attacks come as the united states steps up its drone attacks. michael isakoff is a senior investigative reporter for news

week. do you think there's a connection between the increased drone attacks and what we're seeing as a drum beat of suicide attacks? >> absolutely. in fact, the statement from the pakistani taliban said just that. this is a response to the escalation in attacks. the escalation began after that attack on the cia base in afghanistan at the end of the last year. so, all this underscores just how ferocious that has become. the drones are continuely pounding taliban and military holdou holdouts. the cia has picked off quite a few taliban leaders, but this

what happened today just understo underscores there's quite a few militants who can launch the attacks. >> we just had a successful diplomatic engagement with officials getting most of what they wanted in terms of promises of more action on both military and civilian aid, but this is a sensitive issue. the drone attacks, the fact that the united states is involved militarily. all sorts of issues of pride and the anti-american sentiment in pakistan, which makes this very troubling for pakistan's government. when you see something happen in peshawar, it makes it that much more difficult for them to take it. >> one of the statements said they had something like 2600 to 3,000 more suicide bombers who are prepared to launch these kind of attacks, so the pakistanis are clearly engaged

in a much greater degree in assisting the u.s. on this, but politically, the more these drones attacks there are, the more civilians are killed, the more precarious the political situation is, so it's a very delicate balancing act. >> and more comments from hamid karzai. clearly, the white house is not at all happy about karzai taking these shots at us when we are escalating a war, surging troops and putting american lives on the line for him. >> down the road, this is -- one of the white house's worst nightmares because you know, president made that really difficult decision to -- for a surge in afghanistan to send more troops and make a bigger u.s. commitment and yet on behalf of the government whose

leader is openly dissing the united states. if there are not turnarounds in afghanistan down the road, the president's going to have to make more difficult decisions. >> thank you so much. logon to newsweek.com for more. and tomorrow, have intelligence reforms made the country any safer? we'll talk to congresswoman jane harmon, joins us at 1:00. and developing now on msnbc, tiger woods set to speak just minutes from now from augusta, georgia. it's the first press conference since the sex scandal put his career on hold.

and we're just minutes away from woods' first open

question-and-answer press conference since of course the explosion of all the publicity over his extra marital affairs. nbc's kerry sanders live in augusta for us. kerry, let's talk about what we're going to see because this is, i mean, he had that statement and we're watching now pictures of tiger in his practice round today, this is the first time that he will answer questions but the reporters who will be there are reporters who were credentialed for the masters. is that correct? >> indeed, it's the reporters, andrea. >> reporter: it's the reporters who are credentialed for the masters before tiger even announced this is where he was going to do his comeback. so that means it's primarily sports reporters. it doesn't mean that they're not going to ask him some tough questions. there may be upwards of maybe 200 people in that room there. no idea how long the actual news conference will go. that may be up to tiger's discretion. but it does mean that most of the reporters in there are going to focus on, perhaps, more

sports-related questions rather than the questions about his extra marital affair. as you noted, he has given a statement and he has done two interviews previously. they were limited, five-minute interviews with a reporter from espn and a reporter from the golf channel and after a question was asked here if he sort of says, well, that's been asked and answered, and a couple times like that, i think we'll see this digress quickly into more of a sports question of how does he think and the antics will impact his performance here? several hundred people were following him as he was practicing. some people shouting out to him. welcome back, tiger. a real sense of enduring crowd here. there were no outbursts or any strange moments that would defy the normal gentility of the crowd that gathers here for the masters. it's a beautiful day. if tiger woods is feeling any pressure, as he was out there today, just hours before he was going to give this news

conference, there was little sign of it. he even stopped and signed some autographs and shook some hands of some of the fans who are here, andrea. >> well, of course, it's that controlled setting which could likely be one of the reasons why he chose the masters for his return. chick hernandez, anchor sports for comcast sports net joins us now on the phone from the masters where he watched tiger practicing this morning. thanks so much for joining us. did you see any sign of the strain, the stress, the pressure, and the time off in watching the practice round today? >> reporter: andrea, absolutely not. i think this is where tiger is most comfortable is between those ropes playing the game that he's so very good at and is very passionate about. so he looked like the same old guy. i will say that he probably acknowledged the crowd a little bit more than i have seen him in the past when a fan on the eighth tee box said welcome back, his head was down, he looked up, looked that person right in the eye and said, thank

you very much. so he's definitely acknowledging the crowd a little bit more. he knows that this is a different situation than any he's been involved with before. but i didn't see any rushed -- he just looked like the same old guy practicing shots and i know he's been here for the better part of two weeks on and off. i don't think he came here to just show up. i think he came here to do what he's done throughout his career and that's shock the world. >> of course, there is the fact that the masters is such a special place and has such a restrictive policy not only toward the gallery but the reporters you have the credentialing that took place before the whole scandal broke, so only those who had been credentialed i believe before the whole mess happened can be part of the coverage there. and the people have to give up their cell phones. there's no cameras. there's no way that that crowd isn't being actively screened by a lot of security.

right, chick? you had to go through it. >> reporter: yeah. there are cameras here. you might try to sneak a phone in but those scanners pick up everything and cameras have to be a certain size, very small, so, yeah. they're very tight. i use today work dod to work do years ago and i can't remember it being this tight. it's tiger at augusta national and so as they talked about this course being tiger proofd i think security is tiger proofed as well. it's very tight to get in here. again, they don't call them fans but patrons and monday, tuesday, and wednesday the folks that are here buy tickets. they come in. and they are very well behaved. i don't know what the weekend will look like. but there were no issues today. >> and, kerry sanders, obviously the game has been very negatively affected by tiger's absence these many months so there is a huge interest, isn't there, in terms of professional golf? >> reporter: absolutely.

and towns the impact tiger has had on this sport it's estimated if he can make it into the finals here and is there on sunday, that the ratings will be about half of a super bowl. consider, this is for golf. it's not the type of sport that normally draws that large of an audience. of course it's all because he really transcends the sport and many people who are not duffers themselves on weekends are caught up in every little detail of when tiger woods gets out here and performs on the golf course. >> kerry sanders, thanks so much. we'll all be watching. chick hernandez, thanks for joining us. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall will be taking over from here as we bring you live coverage of tiger woods' first press conference from augusta. [ male announcer ] we make them beautiful. ♪ we make them tougher. ♪ we make them legendary. we make them better... ♪

to make your life better. ♪ and we've never made one... quite like this. the 100% electric nissan leaf. ♪ explorers, great thinkers. they're the future of america, so let's bring them up right and give them our cheese. ♪ kraft singles. the american cheese.

good day, everyone. i'm tamron hall. right now on msnbc news live you can say all eyes are on tiger woods, the golf great will take

questions from reporters at a live news conference from the augusta national golf club in georgia. we're waiting for that to start any minute now. 200 hand selected reporters can ask tiger whatever they want, no restrictions. this news conference will be tiger's first since his personal life erupted into a scandal last thanksgiving weekend. this morning tiger hit the links for a private session, 500 fans watching in silence. good day, again. it's a big day for tiger woods and quite honestly for the world of golf. some of the biggest sports journalists will join us this hour including jimmy roberts from nbc sports from augusta the senior editor of "golf" magazine. also on the ground nbc correspondent kerry sanders live in augusta. thank you, gentlemen, for joining me. i greatly appreciate it. as we wait for tiger to start the news conference let me start with jimmy here in studio of course commentator for nbc sports and author of "breaking the slump." thank you for joining me.

does this really matter when it comes to how tiger will play? >> you know, i think this will be the most nervous moment of his week. i think that it's interesting that he's giving this press conference on monday. he's never done this before at the masters. every time he's spoken it's been on tuesday. i'd imagine and there have been some rumors that augusta national actually mandated that he would speak on monday. they want it out of the way. there's a lot of other news in the world of sports today, opening day in baseball, the national championship basketball game tonight in college so perhaps they felt that, you know, there would be a lot of headlines and it might somehow get buried. that's not going to happen. >> right. >> but i think that once he can get over this hurdle, you have to remember he's played this course a lot. you know, by my estimation over a hundred times. so i don't think it's like he's walking into some kind of world that he's been unfamiliar with. this is his comfort zone and that's why he chose it. the most difficult part will be today. i think competitively this is where it's easy for him. >> let me bring you in on this

as we wait for tiger to speak. these reporters are set to be able to ask anything. might that turn out to be a disaster? if you get one person who starts naming, you know, said porn star, said other woman? >> yes, sure, it could get ugly. i mean, there's been four months now where reporters have been waiting to ask questions. you wonder if it's going to be like a pack of caged animals ready to pounce and go after him with some aggressive questioning. you know, there's a few questions that need to be asked immediately, you know, his connection to dr. gallea, did he provide him with any hgh, tiger hasn't touched it yet, a doctor not accredit to practice in the united states and under a federal probe right now. i expect a dozen questions along those lines. still don't know why alan was in therapy. >> we want to point out to our audience, tiger is coming in now. he has a smile briefly on h