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BOB HOPE CLASSIC MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 13, 2009

D.J. Trahan

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone, for being here this afternoon. We are pleased to have defending champion DJ Trahan on the phone. He's going to be taking all of your questions here in a little bit. I'm going to start out and give a little background.
DJ won his second PGA TOUR event last year at the Bob Hope Classic. His first PGA TOUR win came in 2006 at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, and just last week he tied for 6th with a -15 at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawai'i, and he's preparing right now for the Sony and is still out calling us from Hawai'i, so early in the morning out there, and we're pleased that he was so gracious to get on the phone with us.
But as DJ heads into the 50th Bob Hope Classic, which is hosted by Arnold Palmer this year, he's coming off a year in which he was the second player in his 20s to win the Bob Hope since 1988. Last year he was 27 years and one month old. And so DJ, if you could, give us some general comments on your win last year and kind of your thoughts coming into this year.
DJ TRAHAN: Certainly. Obviously thrilled with the win. We play every week to win, and last year was wonderful. Obviously as I said last year in the press conference, it doesn't seem to be too often that I'm going to lead the field in putting, so it was kind of neat to do that, and also to win the golf tournament. Obviously you need to hit some good shots to win. You know, just all around it was a great week. What was really neat was being able to come from four behind on Sunday and catch and pass Justin Leonard. Obviously when you start a Sunday that far behind you know you're going to have to do something special to win, and I was able to do that, and that was certainly a great feeling.
THE MODERATOR: Now, as a player, can you kind of tell the media your feelings on the history of the Bob Hope? This is the 50th anniversary. It's very rich in history. Arnold Palmer won the very first one in 1960. He's coming back this year as the host of the event, and he's going to be there throughout and helping out how he can through the tournament. Can you kind of tell from a player's perspective what it means to come into the Bob Hope and all the tradition with the celebrities and the history of past champions, what it means to you?
DJ TRAHAN: Well, I mean, certainly it's a very neat event. We don't get to play like that very often, just a few times a year. And it's great to play with those guys and have their presence there. I mean, the Bob Hope has always been more of a laid-back event, and I think that's why guys fell in love with it. You went to the desert, you shot a lot of low scores and you got to hang out with some of the biggest celebrities in the country.
It just creates an atmosphere that is unlike anything we typically see week to week. Out on TOUR it seems to be more of a grind on a week-to-week basis; guys do their own thing, and it seems like more of a focused event altogether during the week. And when you go to the Hope things just seem to take a little bit more of a laid-back atmosphere and guys just seem to be a little bit more energetic in a happy sense that week than any other week.
Obviously with Arnold coming in to host it, it is going to be truly special, he having won the first one and this is the 50th. That was very gracious of him to come in and lend his name to the tournament and show his support, and it just goes to show you how highly a guy like Mr. Palmer thought of the Bob Hope to come back and do this.
I'm certainly looking forward to defending. Hopefully I'll have a good week playing, and definitely looking forward to being a part of something as special as the Hope is, especially with Mr. Palmer being a big part of it this year.
THE MODERATOR: One last from me and then we'll open it up. Just kind of your thoughts on your first tournament of the year. Last week at the Mercedes you tied for 6th, and just kind of a comment on where your game is and how you felt about opening the season up.
DJ TRAHAN: Well, right now I feel pretty good about my game. I struck the ball well last week, and obviously those greens are somewhat tough to play on, or to putt on. But I managed to putt pretty well. I would have liked to have seen a few more go in, but I am feeling good about my game, and hopefully I'll have another good week this week. I'm working hard to be as ready as I can to come into the Hope next week and have a good week defending. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with where my game is, especially after a three-and-a-half-month layoff.

Q. You mentioned a three-and-a-half-month layoff after obviously a pretty good 2008 season with a win, a nice run at the Open down at Torrey Pines. What have you been doing for three and a half months, just letting the clubs rust?
DJ TRAHAN: No, man, been just taking it easy. Been hunting with some buddies and just taking it easy. I've never taken that much time off without playing a tournament, whether it was junior golf or college golf, it didn't matter. So it was kind of a new experience for me. I enjoyed every bit of it. We had a lot of fun, and it was great to have some time off.
I still played 27 events last year, so most certainly a full schedule by anyone's standards, and it just worked out that I just -- after the TOUR Championship I just decided I was going to wait to come back until the Mercedes.

Q. Is that one of the reasons you're starting the year with three straight tournaments, that you're just ready to go now?
DJ TRAHAN: Well, I mean, it doesn't make much sense for me to fly all the way to Hawai'i and then fly all the way back to the East Coast and then fly all the way back to the West Coast for the Hope. I figured I'm already over here. It's a 20-minute flight from Maui to Honolulu. I enjoy playing the Sony Open, as well. I've played it every year since I've been a pro. I haven't particularly had the greatest success here, but all that can change in a week's time. I just figured I'm here, I might as well just come over and play.

Q. You'll be coming over Sunday night?
DJ TRAHAN: Yeah, I'm flying the red eye Sunday night, so I'll be in Monday.

Q. Congratulations on 2008 and playing well last week. The way you played in '08 and the numbers that you put up, both in terms of made cuts and money and everything else, would it be fair to say that you are playing at your peak right now, and what kind of expectations does that give you for 2009?
DJ TRAHAN: I don't feel like I'm playing at my peak. I feel like I've still got plenty of room to improve. I'm just pleased that it seems that my game is improving. Each and every day of every week that you play golf, you're always trying to get better. You're doing whatever you can to get better, and that's certainly what I'm doing.
You know, I feel like it needs to be a continual process, and I feel like right now I'm moving in the right direction. I definitely don't think I've peaked. I think players peak when they start winning majors or they become consistent winners, and I'm not certainly there yet. I'm still trying to get there, and certainly my game, I'm pleased with where it's at and hopefully where it's going. I'm going to keep doing what I feel like I need to do from my end to get better, but I'm certainly pleased with last year.
I improved in some places that I really needed to improve, and I need to continue to improve in those places. And if I can do that, hopefully it will just be another successful year this year. Hopefully we'll get at least another win.

Q. If I could ask a quick follow-up. I know that you were in the running for the Ryder Cup team last year and I know you were disappointed not to. Do you re-gear yourself off of that disappointment, and are you making The Presidents Cup team this year?
DJ TRAHAN: Absolutely. Not making that team was very frustrating. You know, there was a big part of me that felt like I should have been on the team. Obviously there's nothing I can do about it simply because I didn't make the team on points, and you cannot rely on a captain's pick. Obviously I put that behind me. I certainly know I was in the running and I was very close to making the team. I was told by Captain Azinger himself that I was very close to making the team. It just didn't work out, and that's fine.
As I said, you can't sit back in your recliner and rely on a captain's pick. If you want to make that team for sure, you need to go ahead and make the team.
With that said, I'm looking forward to this year, and one of my biggest goals is to make The Presidents Cup team. It's one of my top three goals. With that said, obviously that's what I'm going to be gearing my year towards is playing well enough to get on that team. And as I said, obviously hopefully winning a golf tournament again would be nice. That would be a good way to do it.

Q. You talked a little bit about the off-season. What are some things that you worked on in your game? And also, didn't you have a pretty special hunting trip during this past off-season?
DJ TRAHAN: Yeah, I didn't work on anything on my game. I played golf about three times in three months.

Q. Really?
DJ TRAHAN: Yeah. But when I did work, I worked -- I got back to practicing about probably a week and a half before I went to Mercedes and just worked on all the same things I've always worked on. My dad came down. He's been my coach since I could walk, so with his tremendous support -- it was great. We spent three good days together, and that's really all we need.
I think we've worked so hard on a golf swing that's so low maintenance that to knock the rust off of it doesn't take very long at all, and I think that really, truly showed for me last week because I've never taken a break that long in my life, as I said earlier, from the game, whether it be playing competitively or just playing at all.
I mean, I came back with no problem. I worked hard last week obviously when I got to Hawai'i, and obviously I'll continue to work hard this week, but I pretty much put the clubs away for several months, and as you said, I was enjoying spending time with my friends, and I did a lot of hunting. I've got my own piece of property that I hunt on, and we actually went to Canada and did some moose hunting. That was really neat. It was some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen up in Newfoundland.
We just really enjoyed it. We were up there five days, and it's pretty neat to be out in the middle of nowhere doing something like that. It's kind of a humbling experience.
It was a lot of fun. As I said, it was kind of weird for me to take that much time off because I had never done it before. But looking back on it now, now that it's done, I really enjoyed it. I doubt I'll ever take that much time off again, but I'll certainly cherish the time off when I do get it at the end of the season, because it was quite enjoyable.

Q. You said you went moose hunting. Did you harvest a moose?
DJ TRAHAN: Yeah, I did. I actually did. I shot a nice big bull moose probably 850 pounds. I've got a lot of moose meat in my freezer right now, about 350 pounds' worth -- maybe 300 now because I've given some away. But it was about 350 pounds' worth of meat. It was a sight to see. It was unbelievable, especially after -- obviously when I shot the animal I saw the "ginormous" size of it. It was amazing to walk up on an animal that big, and then obviously when all the meat came, I was like holey-moley. It was unreal.
It's actually quite good to eat, which is even better. Obviously I don't just hunt to kill. I like to -- I enjoy deer hunting and doing things like that as much to harvest the meat as I do enjoying the hunt.

Q. You mentioned you have your own property for hunting. I remember at last year's Hope you mentioned that you might use some of your winnings there to buy some property to hunt. Is this the same property?
DJ TRAHAN: It is. That was my reason for buying it in the first place. I try to make myself have to earn my kind of off-the-golf-course pleasures. I used my win at the Bob Hope last year as a good reason to actually make that whole thing happen. It's been wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed it all year last year, and it's a place for me to go, and it's some peace and quiet and some rest, and it's a place that I enjoy going out and just relaxing.
It was my little reward to myself for my good play at the Hope, and obviously those are the kind of standards I try and set for myself. If I do well and I feel like I've earned it, then I'll do something like that.
It was exciting for me because I had been looking to -- I had been wanting to buy a piece of property for a little while, and I hadn't done it because I told myself I needed to earn it, so that was quite pleasing for me after winning the Hope last year.

Q. Where is it?
DJ TRAHAN: It's near my house. It's about an hour from my house.

Q. Real quick, also, any idea whether you'll be in the celebrity rotation this year? I imagine you might.
DJ TRAHAN: I don't know. To be honest with you, I don't really care either way. It wouldn't bother me if I wasn't. I don't know, nobody has contacted me about that or I haven't heard, so I couldn't answer that.

Q. Would you prefer not to be?
DJ TRAHAN: To be honest with you, I'd rather prefer not to be because I enjoy playing with Kevin Costner at AT&T, and we've become good friends. But when you play in that celebrity rotation, it's wild and crazy. I mean, obviously the fans are out there to see the celebrities. The celebrities all -- they entertain the fans, and as much as I don't mind that, I'm really intent on trying to defend my title, and it's kind of hard to do that because it is a little bit of a distraction playing with those guys. I typically deal with that fairly well, I think, but it would be kind of nice to fly under the radar a little bit and be serious during the week.
But again, if I did get paired with a celebrity, it wouldn't bother me at all. Either-or would be fine with me, but as I said, those guys are there to entertain; that's what they do for a living, and that's why the tournament is so popular. We're still out there trying to work and play some good golf.
As I said, if I did play with celebrities, it certainly wouldn't bother me at all.

Q. Will there be much of a difference with your mindset going in as a defending champion as opposed to not being the defending champion?
DJ TRAHAN: You know, I think it probably will be a little bit different. But at the same time, my objectives don't change. I'm obviously playing to win as you do every week. And certainly there will probably be that little bit of added pressure because you know you played so well there last year and you know you want to go back and play extremely well again. But I'm really just going to try and take the same mindset I did last year.
We know it's a major grinding week with 90 holes to play, and it seems like such a long week. You really just have to grind it out, stay focused and just realize, okay, there's one more day. It just seems like it's never going to end sometimes when you have five rounds.
So I just want to go in and have the same mindset I did last year, one day, one shot at a time, and that worked out well last year, and obviously hopefully if my game is in good form coming in, we'll be able to have a good week this week; maybe a run at it again would be really awesome.

Q. What did you take away from the U.S. Open last year?
DJ TRAHAN: You know, it's hard to say specifically, but I think like anybody would tell you, when you contend in a major you kind of prove to yourself that you've got the ability to win one. I think a lot of guys, you need to contend before you really think you can win one. I had my chances on the back nine Sunday, and it just didn't -- obviously it just didn't work out for me, but I was right there. A few putts here and there, and literally I had my chances. I could have easily made up those three shots and been in that playoff on that back nine on Sunday, and it just didn't happen.
Obviously I took a lifetime's worth of experience away from it. Now, each and every major that I play in I'll tee it up knowing I've been in the hunt and that I'm good enough to win that tournament. It's a tremendous experience, especially -- as anyone will tell you, that major championship atmosphere is -- man, it's something else. It's totally different from each and every week that we play on TOUR. It was really cool, it was really neat, and obviously San Diego was a fantastic spot for a U.S. Open. The fans were -- there were so many fans and everybody was just crazy. It was a lot of fun.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about what is the biggest difference between the major championship playing as opposed to another week? Can you talk a little bit more about that?
DJ TRAHAN: I'd say it would be like a mountain climber climbing the Appalachians or climbing Mount Everest, major championship obviously being Mount Everest. It's the pinnacle of the game. We have four of them a year. There's no more important tournament in golf than a major championship.
Just knowing that going in, and then it's amazing just the whole setup when you get there. I mean, they have these 100,000-square-foot merchandise tents. Everywhere you look, it seems like you're just amazed by everything you see.
Obviously the golf course setups are going to be the most difficult. You know, now with Augusta being so long, there's no 12- or 15-unders winning the Masters anymore, or at least nobody thinks there will be, and U.S. Open obviously with its par is typically a score that you go into the week thinking, okay, if I shoot par I'm going to have a chance to win this thing.
And the PGA last year, I mean, the golf courses are -- you know they're going to play tougher, and then the added pressure on top of that, major championship pressure, it's amazing. It's like -- I tell people it's like a vacuum of pressure; you just get sucked in. There's no way to avoid it.
But it's a lot of fun. I actually enjoy being under that kind of heat. It's neat to have that feeling. And certainly it's what we play for four times a year.
I think that's part of the reason why there is so much more pressure, because you only get four chances a year, and that's if you qualify to play in all the majors. It's a special thing, you know?

Q. I wanted to ask you, you often hear in the conversations about young golfers, Anthony Kim and people like that, but with your year that you had last year and your good start so far this year, do you feel like this is the year that you can join that conversation of young and upcoming golfers?
DJ TRAHAN: You know, I hope so. That certainly is a big goal of mine. I don't want to be left out of that category, as would anybody else who is still in their 20s and trying to make a name for themselves out here. I feel like I can play with those guys, I feel like I can compete with those guys, and I certainly feel like I can beat those guys. It's just one of those things with me, like I said, I just need to continue to try and work on the things that I've been working on. My game I feel like has been going in the correct direction, and if it'll keep going that way, I feel like, yeah, I'll be in that little group that they've got going with these young guns, with Camilo and Anthony and some of these other young guys that they can't get enough of and have played so well.
It would be great to be in that group. I'd certainly be honored to be in there because it's like anybody else says, if you're mentioned with the guys that are highly ranked in the world, best players in the game, you're certainly doing something right.

Q. Last year you set a course record on a new course in the rotation, the 65 you shot at Silver Rock --
DJ TRAHAN: It was 64, come on now.

Q. 64, you're right.
DJ TRAHAN: Thank you. It's not too often we shoot those low scores.

Q. Well, you have a chance to set another course record this year because another new course comes into the rotation. That's always one of the tough things about the Hope is you never play the same rotation you played the previous year. How do you approach a new course? I'm sure you haven't seen it, right?
DJ TRAHAN: How do I approach it? I'll play a practice round there on Monday or Tuesday and try to get ready. I think that probably one of the more important things that they could do at the Hope would be to get a solid rotation. I think that that's part of the reason that maybe some guys don't come back. I think it would be a tremendous draw if they could set a good rotation of four courses and keep it going. It's just really hard when you have guys that need to play four different courses and they only have a couple days to prepare, especially guys that are coming over from Hawai'i. But with a new course in the rotation, I'm certainly going to play a practice round there and try to get to know it as best as I possibly can and then just go from there.
And obviously with the other three courses we played last year or haven't played in previous years -- I guess Bermuda Dunes is back in the rotation?

Q. Right, Bermuda is back.
DJ TRAHAN: I've played there before anyways, but it's one of those things. Everybody is facing the same thing. Nobody has played there before, so everybody is going to have to try and get a practice round there and figure it out to the best of their ability, and certainly only having to play it once I guess helps a little bit in the sense that the whole tournament is not on that one course.
Again, all you can do is play a practice round and hopefully get it know it as best as possible.

Q. We've been talking so much about last year, and if you look at your first three years, you were solid through the first three years, you had a win, but it's almost like last year was a quantum leap for you. What changed the most from those first three years to 2008? Was it experience? You mentioned putting. I know you've made some changes in your putting. What do you think has enabled you in the last 12 months to make this jump?
DJ TRAHAN: I think a little bit has to do with experience. I think the more you play out here, the more comfortable you get, and I think that just has been referenced -- getting to know some of the golf courses. It's amazing how just playing golf courses, some of these courses a little bit more, you can really start to get comfortable with each particular golf course, as opposed to maybe the first couple times you play it.
And certainly the other most important thing is my improved putting. As I said, it's a continual process for me. I'm still continuing to work on it, and last week was a great start to the year. I didn't have a good putting week but I had a very solid putting week, and it really just goes to show you the importance of just getting the ball in the hole.
You know, my quantum leap, as you put it, last year was because I for the first time in my four-year career on TOUR was to the point where I teed it up and I felt like I could actually rely on my putter instead of wondering if my putter was going to show up or not. That's kind of a lonely feeling when you're never really sure if you're going to have a good putting day or a bad putting day, and I felt like every day that I teed it up that I was ready to have a good putting day last year.
I've continued that feeling on in this year with the work that I've done with my putting, and it's been tremendous. It's a big difference feeling like you can make putts or wondering if you're going to make putts.
All you have to do is look at the No. 1 player in the world right now, and he'll prove to you how important putting is. There's probably never been a better clutch putter, and he's won as many tournaments as he has because he makes putt after putt after putt after putt. All that great golf that Tiger played wouldn't mean -- he'd have half the wins if he wasn't making the putts, and that shows you how important it is to get the ball in the hole. That's something that I improved on greatly last year and certainly hopefully will continue to do this year, and I think if I can continue to move in the right direction with the putter, hopefully I'll have another great year.

Q. Are you still doing any work with Jack, your guy up there?
DJ TRAHAN: Yeah, I do. Jack is a really good friend of my dad's and a good friend of mine, and he's one of those guys who's just a tremendous putter. He's one of those guys who struggled from tee to green his whole life and he had to get it up-and-down his whole life to save par, and he's had to do that, and he's a phenomenal putter. He's helped me out tremendously with my putter. Now that he's been going to see my dad for lessons he's finally starting to hit the ball well. But it's been a tremendous help. He's instilled some confidence back in me and my stroke, and I've done the same. Obviously you can have somebody lead you in the right direction -- the old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. I still have to jump over that little hill and figure things out for myself. But he's been a tremendous guidance, and it's been good to have him around because he's more -- it's not like a work-work relationship between us. He's a friend, and when he and my dad come down to see me or I go to see them, we have a lot of fun, and that keeps it -- that makes it so much more -- it makes it better for me because we get together, and even though we're doing work, it seems like we're just having fun.

Q. Just a quick question on I see you made an equipment change from Wilson to Titleist. Any particular reason there? Did you think you'd ever be playing Titleist?
DJ TRAHAN: You know, I grew up playing Titleist equipment from the time I was -- before I was even -- I mean, a little kid. When I didn't sign with Titleist coming out of college, it was a little disappointing to me because I really kind of did want to go with Titleist coming out of college, and it just didn't work out.
You know, I didn't switch from Wilson because I didn't like the equipment. The equipment at Wilson was fine. I switched to Titleist because of the brand, because I grew up with the brand, I know the brand, I know it's a fantastic brand, and it feels like a homecoming for me. You know, they sent me a set of irons two months ago, and it didn't take any time to get them in the bag. I mean, they specked them out perfect. Everything feels great, and obviously a great start to the year last week with a 6th in Maui just goes to show you hopefully that -- that's proving to me that the transition won't be even a remote problem because the clubs were great lost week. The irons were fantastic. I didn't feel like I had any loose shots due to the equipment. I mean, they were spot-on the whole week, and that being the first tournament I played with them, that was a very nice feeling knowing they were right where they needed to be.
As I said, more than anything else, it just kind of feels like a homecoming for me. I grew up playing the ball, I grew up wearing the shoes, I grew up playing the clubs. So I kind of feel like I'm back at home.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone, for being here, and especially DJ, thank you for this early-morning call-in, and we look forward to seeing you at the Bob Hope.

End of FastScripts

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