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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAYMay 5, 2008Chris BermanAndy BessetteNathan GrubeHunter MahanMike SmilesBetsy UdalNATHAN GRUBE: Wanted to thank Bill Whaley and Jack Hunter from TPC for being our host this morning, thank you very much. The new facility, you're in a new tent, have you haven't noticed, built yesterday, you don't have to have four drinks anymore to think you're standing on a level area anymore. This is a great investment, the clubhouse, I'm sure you've seen, and they spent a lot of money there. The cart path, we actually rerouted the cart path at the front of the clubhouse. A lot of changes here aesthetically and from a functionality standpoint from the tournament and you guys will get to see a new field here. We've continued to kind of push the envelope, what we're changing and upgrading. Hunter is very gracious with his time, he finished 12th at Wachovia Sunday night, jumped here and got here at 11:00 last night and I picked him up at 7:00 this morning and is flying to THE PLAYERS this afternoon. We are very fortunate to have a defending champion who is willing to give us that much of his time. It's not a given that your depending champion will be here. We are very appreciative for Hunter. 2007, obviously we are here to talk about Media Day for 2008, but really what we are doing is building off of a vision that we really launched in 2007. When we sat down at the end of '06, we sat down with Travelers, and said what do we want the inaugural year to be like. And we had a list of 500 things that everybody wanted to do, and said this is what we are going to in '07 and '08, and here some things for '09 and '10 and what you're going to see in 2008 really part of our long-term vision. The practice facility we knew was going to open up in 2008. We are also bringing in a lot of new things this year from the standpoint of what's going to be new for the fans. We really are going after the general ticketholder this year to take that experience and elevate it. We introduced some new stuff last year with corporate hospitality clients, prime experience. This year the general ticketholder is going to see things that they have never seen before. We are going to have Golf Fest on Saturday and Sunday leading into the tournament which is open to the public, free lessons. Golf Week is sponsoring an event Saturday and Sunday, free lessons to any of the crowd that wants to come down. First time of the crowd has actually going to be able to get down on to the facility, hit balls right next to the pros. Play Golf America Day with the Connecticut section PGA, free lessons, that's going to be a great experience. We'll have a new Expo out in front with a very interactive type of feel to it, rock walls and different things like that. It's going to be exciting for fans and things to do out here. The old practice facility, we are going to have a new type of dining experience, the concession viewing area, really trying to capitalize on that land there. A lot of things you're going to see different and we are going to continue to push the envelope with this event. '07 was our first year, and we'll push it in 2008, and you'll see new stuff again in '09. Really, internally, this is the new era and what we mean by "this is the new era," what "this" is, is we are not sitting back. We are going to continually push the envelope about how to grow dollars for charity, how to make the experience better for the players, the wives, the caddies. And just a little side note we are giving away a Buick Enclave this year. We are selling tickets to raise money for charity and giving away tickets, and Andy from Travelers said, you know, let's make the first 150 tickets go to the caddies; so all the caddies are going to get a ticket and may have the winning ticket for the car. Doing things like that and trying to think outside the box for all our constituents; the charter from San Diego, the guys look at you and the wives call and you say thank you, and it is a very, very sincere thank you that we are taking care of what's important to them. We are excited about that. A few people I will introduce here, I'm thrilled to have the Greater Hartford Jaycees. And what they do in the community, how they serve children. But at the end of the day, when you went to a Red Sox game or a Yankees game, I promise you what they did not announce at the end of the game is: Thank you for coming out and buying tickets and concessions, we just donated X amount of dollars to charity. It doesn't happen. We are a unique, unique sport in that everything you do goes towards what we are able to raise for charity. It doesn't happen in any other sport, I promise you. The Celtics game last night; great that they won, and guess what? They did not announce at the end of that playoff event or will announce at the end of the playoff series. It's something that's unique and part of the fabric of who we are as a PGA TOUR event. So we are here to raise money for charity and put on a world-class TOUR event. So thank you very much to everybody for your involvement in that. I went over a couple of the things that are going to be new this year. I am going to introduce someone who has the tireless, thankless job, I'm sure she wishes she probably maybe had thought about this a little harder before she signed on to be the chairman; but the tournament chairman each year, they volunteer so much of their time, there is no way that I could do it. There is no way I could hold a job and do what Betsy does. This is a thankless job of a lot of hours and again, I promise you, the people that sold you concessions at Fenway were not volunteering. They are getting paid. Betsy and her team, she rallies over 4,500 volunteers to put this on. There is no way we could give money back to charity or operate a PGA TOUR he went without Betsy and what she does being the lead volunteer for the tournament. I'd like to introduce our 2008 tournament chairman, Betsy Udal. BETSY UDAL: Thank you. It is truly an honor to be here. Leading the Greater Hartford Jaycee volunteers as we build upon the new area that began last year and continue to develop this tournament to be one of best on the PGA TOUR. The Greater Hartford Jaycees is a membership organization for young professionals with a mission of leadership development through community service and an organization that has served this community for more than 60 years. Proceeds from the Travelers Championship allows the Jaycees to give back to the community while developing the leadership and professional skills of their members. Some service projects of the Jaycees do include the delivery of Thanksgiving dinners to families in need, the building of playgrounds, and mentoring to local high school students. In addition to supporting the community and leadership development projects, tournament revenue is returned to the community through the Greater Hartford Jaycees Foundation, which distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars every year back to the community. As tournament chairman, I am proud to lead the Jaycees, who have been the volunteer team behind this event for over 50 years. Thanks to countless hours of volunteer support the tournament has been able to contribute more than $25 million back to the community. The tireless work of our volunteers makes this a true community event from which the entire region benefits. It takes 4,500 volunteers to put this tournament on, and they work in roles ranging from gallery control to concessions. In addition to the volunteers that are needed during tournament week, there are many people that lend their time in the months leading up to the tournament, and I extend our sincere appreciation to those people. I would like to point out that there are still volunteer opportunities available. Volunteering for the Championship is a great way to come out and have some fun, and at the same time you get to support the local community. Information can be found on Travelerschampionship.com. On behalf of the Jaycees we sincerely thank Travelers for all they do also. This event could never be possible without them, and I thank all of you in the media who share in the excitement with us each summer as we lead up to this Travelers Championship. The Greater Hartford Jaycees have a mission, and that is to give back to the community. We are proud to partner with the Travelers Championship to support The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, an organization that helps so many people in their time of need. At this time I would like to introduce Mike Smiles, who is the director of development at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. MIKE SMILES: The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp was founded in 1998 by Paul Newman to serve children with serious illnesses and conditions, fighting cancer, fighting HIV/AIDS and fighting in many cases for their life, battling their illnesses. What we provide just 20 miles from here in Ashford, Connecticut, is a completely free-of-charge experience to give them an experience of home, joy, safety, respect and love to get them out of their box and to give them the confidence to go forward fighting throughout the year. It's that one week of camp that can make the difference in the life of a seriously ill child, whether they be from Connecticut, New England or around the world that we serve. The partnership that we have with Travelers Championship has meant so much to us. I want to thank Andy Bessette and Jay Fishman for naming The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp as one of the beneficiaries. I want to thank the Jaycees for an incredible partnership that they have enabled to take place by having their volunteers support the volunteer work that we conduct at our camp. We depend on 400 volunteers every single year to make possible our one-week experience for these children in the summer and with the proceeds from this tournament, we are able to do new programming to support the out reach of having workers, the best counselors that we have from a summer to get into the hospitals to bring the joy, the care, the creativity and the love of camp into a creative workplace to have these children experience the joy of camp in their hospital setting. These are the children who are actually too sick to come to our camp, but it's again, through these proceeds from the tournament and other ways that we are able to bring the joy of camp to new audiences. Another new audience that we are serving are children from 15 years old to 18 years old; we have a new program called Hero's Journey. We are launching it this summer to give children who have adolescent issues to deal with their community-building spirit where they are going to be camping outdoors for first time and experiencing training to be a medical technician. Those are the types of new programming that this tournament provides. I also want to make sure that to thank the celebrities who supported the camp throughout the years, Paul Newman has invited celebrities to participate in the tournament to share this joy through the media that is provided as an outlet for the camp. We are absolutely delighted with this relationship, and I want to thank Nathan for his leadership and his team for supporting The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Thank you. NATHAN GRUBE: Thank you, Mike. The next gentlemen I am going to introduce, Andy Bessette, I don't know how to say this any more clearly than this: We would not have a tournament today without Travelers. People talk about it sometimes saying, we had a rough spot on the calendar, there's a challenge on the schedule. I said this yesterday; we weren't on the schedule. We did not have a place on the calendar. We did not know where we were going to be or what we were going to do as an event. Travelers stepped in, had a vision for me vent, worked with the PGA TOUR. Everything we are celebrating today, the renovations, the new facility out there, that does not happen without Travelers being involved, and not just involved. Andy and I have the pleasure of being able to go around and talk to players and recruit players, and Andy is very involved and it quite simply just does not happen on TOUR. We had a chance to go down to the TOUR and present; in November of 2007, the PGA TOUR asked us to stand up on a stage and speak to all of the other tournaments in the country and say, here is what we are doing, here is how we are doing it, and here is why we are doing it and why we relaunched this event from where we were to where we are now. The TOUR asked us to come and highlight that relationship because it is just not happening anywhere else on TOUR. It is a unique partnership and it is the foundation that allows us to do anything that we are doing. ANDY BESSETTE: Listening to Nathan talk, it reminded me you can do things in life or you can really do things in this life. And when Travelers took this on, we decided we were really going to do this life, and people around us try and have a passion for it; I can list a thousand names from Ken May and the team and the board that has been a part of this for so long; you look at Chris Berman, and Chris has a passion for this tournament; Brad Faxon has a passion for this tournament. Travelers has a passion for this tournament. So we are here and excited about being here. I have too many years to count back, but we've been here since day one in 1952 when the tournament was first the Insurance City Open and we are excited to be back as a title son sore in 2007 last year. We are glad to be here and we have a passion to be here. The inaugural year was great. We doubled the money to charity and we tripled the attendance, having over 230,000 folks here through the tournament week which was just great. And Travelers was just so proud, listening to Betsy and Mike talk, and having the Greater Hartford Jaycees and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp as our two primary charities; we have great partners. Last year was great, and we are not done yet. We want this to be one of the top stops on the PGA TOUR. Last year was very good, but we have a ways to go and you'll see other great things happening around this tournament. We are going to continually improve the experience for the fans, for the corporate sponsors for the players and their families and the caddie and the media and for everyone. This is going to continue to be better and better each year. As Nathan said, he and I have been out traveling a lot. He's my personal coach. He makes sure that I walk enough each day to get exercise. But we have a great time and we were out at Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines talking to players, very important time early in the season in February. Then we were out at Wachovia Championship this past week talking with players, recruiting players, and we are going down to THE PLAYERS Championship on Tuesday to talk with more of the players. So our goal, and I want to make it very clear to you; our goal is to have nothing but one of the best-quality fields on the PGA TOUR and we are doing everything that we possibly can in our power to make sure that we have that. So all of us at Travelers are very proud to support and help this tournament grow because it's so very important to Connecticut and the entire northeast region and country from both a business and economic development standpoint, and we are looking forward to seeing all of you at the tournament here in June. So thank you very much. NATHAN GRUBE: Our next wave of commitments, Vijay Singh, Stewart Cink, Fred Funk, Boo Weekley, J.B. Holmes, and Bubba Watson are the next wave of commitments. And we'll have another wave next week as guys are really looking at their schedule from post-U.S. Open on, and we are about in the window where they start to officially commit. We have talked to all of them and their caddies and their wives; so we are on their radar. I want to introduce two people that are going to come up and do some interviews here. First of all, again, Hunter, I mentioned this earlier, can't take it for granted that you are going to see your defending champion, and Hunter understands how important this event is locally. He made time out of his very busy schedule to fly in late last night and is on his way to PLAYERS. We are fortunate to have him. Last year, with his first TOUR victory, he had one of the hottest streaks on TOUR last year. We had four Top 10's in row, which led to him being a captain's pick for Nicklaus for The Presidents Cup. When Hunter gets it going, he is better than anybody else out there and he is such a talented golfer and we are excited to have Hunter. Many of you know Chris. Obviously he's been with ESPN since '79 and has been a Sportscaster of the Year six times. If you pin Chris down on what he's most proud of, here he is in Pebble Beach playing in the Pro-Am. There is a five-hole celebrity skin challenge where there is $26,000 at stake to give to charity. So all holes carry over to the last hole and Chris and Kenny Gee are a partner and team, and Chris is an 18 and Kenny is a scratch so they are playing together. There is Chris, so excited. He makes the putt and Kenny Gee maybe weighs 104 pounds soaking wet and Kenny jumps into Chris's arm and Kenny proceeded to actually tumble over the top of Chris; and then the next thing is Chris giving him a WWF move on his back. They didn't fall over but it was a very proud moment for Chris; but he made the putt and was able to give $26,000 back to charity. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Berman and Hunter Mahan. CHRIS BERMAN: Hunter Mahan, ladies and gentlemen. Faxon who won a couple years ago, he said you get used to this colder weather, you're one of us now. HUNTER MAHAN: I don't know about that. Not yet. Not yet. CHRIS BERMAN: So welcome back. I know you just got here last night, etc., but do you play 18 over, both 72nd and 73rd hole in your head, still? HUNTER MAHAN: Pretty much definitely the media stuff, it brings back memories, for sure. CHRIS BERMAN: And you've won tournaments in college, Player of the Year, etc., but your win on TOUR in that style, forcing a playoff -- the only way we could hit a drive that long on the playoff hole is if we carried it down the cart path. That went about 330, whatever. HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, it was definitely just an incredible moment. You know, Jay played great. It was an incredible day, for sure. I played as hard as I could, and you know, to win the tournament, you need to play great and you need some good breaks along the way. It was a great finish for me and for all of the fans and I think everybody had a great time. CHRIS BERMAN: What do you take from that Hunter that you know now -- you always say confidence, but you went right to the British, and were top five or six there, and you were playing well coming in. But did that really motor you on? HUNTER MAHAN: I think so. I think I just learned a lot about myself that week. I figured out how to play, how to play this game on the PGA TOUR level, and it's an entirely different level than amateur golf or college golf. Feeling like a good player but seeing results like that is great. CHRIS BERMAN: Did Jack Nicklaus call you for The Presidents Cup himself, like, "Hey, this is Jack, how's it going"? What was that phone call like? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, it was great. I knew he was going to give me a call. I knew they were until the middle of captain's selections. This was on Sunday evening after the PGA. I just got home and ran, got something to eat, got a number I didn't recognize, so I figured that was him. Yeah, it was him, we had a little quick conversation, and asked me if I wanted to be a part of the team, and I said absolutely. It was great. You know, Jack's an amazing guy, and to get a phone call from him like that was just something I'll always definitely remember. CHRIS BERMAN: How was that experience, representing the country and playing with the best we have? HUNTER MAHAN: It was unbelievable. It was great. You know, you see it on TV and stuff like that, seeing how the players interact and to be a part of that was just amazing. Every player, you see them kind of out of their major, kind of major mode and out of their element and just kind of having a good time, and just kind of playing golf for playing golf and playing for each other and playing for something other than themselves was great. CHRIS BERMAN: You've played golf since you were five, six, eight, ten? HUNTER MAHAN: About nine I started to play. CHRIS BERMAN: When did you start thinking, get on the PGA TOUR and winning, you must have thought about that growing up? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, you know, when you're a kid, just watch it on TV and go, wow, that's just so far away. And then playing in high school, stuff like that, I was trying to play as a junior; and then getting into college and when you get in college, you're playing as an amateur, trying to win the U.S. Amateur and trying to make that next step as a professional. It's not an easy journey, and you don't know what to expect. You know that you can play this game, but at that level of PGA golf, it's just so much higher than any other level. It's such a big jump. Because you're in college, you know, you just -- to responsibility, you're just kind of being a college kid and doing what you want to do. CHRIS BERMAN: It's a good deal, isn't it? HUNTER MAHAN: It's a great deal, a great deal. All of a sudden, in, college, you're playing against the best players in a four-career span and out here it's a 40-year span of great talent. It's a big leap and it's tough but it's a lot of fun, too. CHRIS BERMAN: A lesson of coming on TOUR and shooting 70-70, missed cut; that's a revelation, isn't it? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah. CHRIS BERMAN: We kill ourselves to shoot that; that's quite a lesson. HUNTER MAHAN: Sure. I can't tell you how many weeks I've hit the ball great and just a couple things didn't go my way and I missed the cut. I mean, it just happens that way sometimes. This is definitely a big challenge, week-in and week-out, a lot of great players every week, so many guys can win, and that's an amazing thing now about the game, it seems like all of the guys have a chance to win every week. It's great for the game. CHRIS BERMAN: We are fellow Taureans, 26, May 17. So maybe -- although are you a big historian of the game? Are you starting to hear about things and be interested? HUNTER MAHAN: Definitely. CHRIS BERMAN: Well, have you taken a look at the 50-odd winners over 50-plus years? HUNTER MAHAN: Well, it's a great list of champions, for sure. CHRIS BERMAN: Snead, Palmer, Trevino, Casper, Mickelson, Faxon, Mahan. You do you look at that and go: What list is this? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, when I won the U.S. Junior, it's neat to get a trophy, and I see my name on the trophy and it's a great list, and the Travelers Championship list is good. To know that a tournament has been around that long, really tells it you how Hartford has taken this tournament and made it it's own and wanted to make it as great as possible; and Travelers coming on for, it's just going to take it to another level. CHRIS BERMAN: What did you work on? You've won so you know some things and you've made some changes; how is that going? I know you played well at Wachovia, a tough track. HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, that's the thing, Tiger said it best, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse and that's very true. Some great players are coming up and you always have to keep working and that's what I just try to do. Winning isn't the end; it's the beginning of something new. And that's what I try to take it as, and every day, I try to do something that's going to help me be a better player. CHRIS BERMAN: Anything in particular? HUNTER MAHAN: For me mentally is always getting better, trying to handle the bad shots better. CHRIS BERMAN: What bad shots? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, right, I wish. That's what a lot of golf is, is just how do you handle things. It's easy to handle the good shots, but how do you handle a situation when things are not going well? When you hit a good shot and have a bad result, how do you handle stuff like that. You see great players handle stuff like that very, very well. Always trying to work on that. You can never be -- you can always get better on that, every day. Physically, all parts of my game, short game always need to get better. That takes time but mentally, you can make leaps and bounds in a short amount of time I think. CHRIS BERMAN: You had a 62 here, and you had a few 62s last year. You know on the range, not that you're going to -- do you know like, boy, this feels pretty good here? Do you know that you have a chance today, you're feeling good, or something that you wait three or four holes in to know you have something going? HUNTER MAHAN: At times I feel unbelievable on the range and didn't know where it was going on the course. Just don't know sometimes. The range is just a pure warm up. You can't put too much into that. But once you get on the course, I definitely felt different -- I played great both ways, feeling uncomfortable and played pretty good and felt great and couldn't get much going. I felt like, you know, you can make some birdies on this course at the right time and I felt pretty good about my game coming in. Just go out there trying to play golf and wasn't really worried about too much and weren't focused on too many things which was good. I was just out there playing. CHRIS BERMAN: Your first event on TOUR, you were still an amateur, was here. HUNTER MAHAN: I was still in high school. CHRIS BERMAN: So do you feel something, a kinship here? HUNTER MAHAN: One of the greatest things about being a junior golfer was being Player of the Year is you get invited so this event, which was great back then that the Greater Hartford Open at that time did that, was amazing to give a high schooler a spot like that was great. That was just an amazing reward and an amazing time just to come here, and it's been overwhelming. I had a great time, liked the course immediately, liked the fans, because, you know, this is a very popular venue among fans and players. CHRIS BERMAN: Gave you local knowledge for when you needed it. HUNTER MAHAN: For sure. CHRIS BERMAN: Talk about what the buzz of the Travelers on TOUR, especially among maybe the younger players; is there a vibe out there about this event now? HUNTER MAHAN: I think so. I think this thing has a long history of just great champions and great fields, and I think that they are getting back to that now. I think people are excited about coming here, excited about Travelers being a partner with the PGA TOUR and this event, and really, you know, they are here to make this event great again and you just don't get that feeling sometimes. This is one where totally everyone is truly excited to come here and they are going to make this place as great as they can, and they are going to make it so easy on the players so they don't have to worry about anything and give the fans a great show. CHRIS BERMAN: We're coming to it now, but maybe today was the first day you really thought about being a defending champion. Obviously you knew but here you are; what does it mean to defend, not so much, okay, you've got to shoot 62 or else, but being a defending champ, has it started to hit you? HUNTER MAHAN: Definitely. After I won and people announce you as the 'Champion of the 2007 Travelers' like they did last week, to be associated with this great event like that and to be a part of that is just awesome. I can't wait to come back here and being called defending champion on the first tee there, it's going to be a great feeling. CHRIS BERMAN: You know it's been around over 50 years, and there's only a handful of victories like the one you had. Most of them are not quite that way; good thing you're young, your heart can handle it. HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, definitely. Q. Talk about possibly getting on The Ryder Cup Team and how many points you have and what you think about that honor and if it happens. HUNTER MAHAN: Playing in last year's Presidents Cup and knowing what it's like to be a part of a team like that, it's a great accomplishment, great feeling, and definitely trying to make The Ryder Cup team, for sure. Honestly I don't know how many points I have or anything. I'm not concerned about that right now. I'm just concerned about playing THE PLAYERS and just try to play the best I can for the rest of the year. And if I make it, I make it and if I don't, I don't. It's a little different format with only eight guys getting exempt and four captain's picks, so you don't know what Captain Azinger is thinking about picks. I assume and I think he just want the 12 best players at that time to give himself the best chance to win. But that's a long way from now, and I'm just going to try to keep playing the best I can till then. Q. You said you liked the course right away, but what is it that you really like about it that you liked right away? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, some courses just fit your eye better than others. This course it's just a well-designed course. You've got a lot of right-to-left, left-to-right shots, a lot of variations on the par 3s. The finish here is what makes it so great, 15, reachable par 4, really exciting hole, great hole, a lot of things can happen. 16 is a great par 3 with water short, and long is no better. 17 with the water right is a difficult hole. And 18 is a great finishing hole, and they are holes where just so much can happen. Like last year, I think I was 2-up with four to go and I was 1-down going into 18, and just so much can happen. That's what's so great about this theater and this type of golf course; it's not over until it's over. Q. Is 15 usually a go? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, I think I laid up a couple years ago, but it's usually a go. The green has got a couple tiers to it, so that makes it exciting and makes it interesting trying to figure out where the pin is and where you want to land the ball. But the with water up left, it's just a perfectly designed hole. Q. An aside here, I know you only need one shot or two shots, last year a double-eagle at THE PLAYERS where you're going tonight; come on. HUNTER MAHAN: Up with one of the luckiest shots I've ever hit. The first shot was fine, it was in the fairway and we were looking at this pin and just thinking there's no way I was going to hit it close. From where I was, the wind was down, and I hit it short in the bunker and just hit to a hill and popped over. We just heard an eruption from the crowd, so it was just one of those shots. Q. Did you see it go in? HUNTER MAHAN: No, it was on the front, kind of that front bunker and was raised up above it. We thought it kind of skidded over the bunker but then after that, it was just -- I saw it later on TV but that was about it. Q. By the eruption, could you tell it was definitely in or might have hit? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah. Q. You weren't even sure it was in then? HUNTER MAHAN: Not exactly sure. We knew it was close but once you were up there and you realized it was in the hole, it was nice. Q. The finish was really neat, I think you and your caddie had a great interaction, can you walk us through that, was the 72nd or 73rd hole? HUNTER MAHAN: It was the last hole, 18 in regulation, and I think we had like 147 was the yardage and I think it was just kind of the wind was funny at the time. We wanted to hit a good 9 and didn't want to try to hit a soft 8 because Jay had already hit it and we thought 9 was going to give us the best chance to hit a really, really good shot. I put the club in the bag and it seemed like immediately everything just went exactly the way we wanted it. As soon as we saw it, I just pulled the club again, and just went through my routine again and hit it. Q. Glad to see the place? HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, this is a little different time of year for it. You can see the changing in the trees and everything, it's a beautiful golf course, actually, this time of year. It looks amazing. Q. And you've got to go walk along 18 when you see it, right? HUNTER MAHAN: Definitely just seeing it, gives you, you know, back memories and everything, the moment. I saw it later, and it was pretty neat because when you're a part of it, it's not nearly as big as when you're watching it on TV for sure. Q. I'll tell you what you did; you and Jay, a lot of golf fans and people that are watching and coming for the first time or two, you made a lot of people fans of you and golf. HUNTER MAHAN: I think people think that golf doesn't exist unless Tiger is playing in it, so it's kind of neat to have a showcase of other golfers abilities and to show that this game is pretty exciting when you have two players trying for one common goal, their winning their first TOUR event. I think Jay being from around this area added something extra to it, and I'm just glad to be a part of that and it was just an amazing, amazing day, and an amazing week. CHRIS BERMAN: Well, like I said, you made memories of a lifetime and there have been 50-plus of these and very, very few of these like that. Very nice of Hunter to come up. Not all the champs do come, and you know that this will mean a lot to him forever and, we are happy to have you as the champ. Welcome home. HUNTER MAHAN: Thanks for having me. CHRIS BERMAN: Hunter Mahan, our champion. NATHAN GRUBE: Thank you both very much for your time. End of FastScripts |
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