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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 3, 2014

Chris Kirk

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, COLORADO

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We would like to welcome Chris Kirk to the interview room here at the BMW Championship. Fresh off your win just two days ago at the Deutsche Bank championship, and currently, you're the leader in the FedExCup standings. You control your on destiny. I'm sure that's a great feeling to get your second win of the season. Talk about the golf course you played today here at Cherry Hills, and then just about your playoff so far.

CHRIS KIRK: Thank you. Obviously, very excited to be here at the BMW Championship. As I have been the last few years. Very thankful to be in the position I'm in right now. Being No. 1 on the FedExCup list. Obviously, it's nice to be there and hope that I can have another couple solid weeks and hopefully stay there. But, I saw the golf course for the first time today, and it's a great, classic course that everyone had described it to me. I really enjoyed it. Greens are in unbelievable shape and really quick. So looking forward to the tournament.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'll take some questions.

Q. What's the greater consolation on Tom's call yesterday, the 1.4 million, the trophy, or the not having to burn the Georgia tickets?
CHRIS KIRK: People shouldn't make the more of a big deal about the Georgia game than it is. I was joking, really. I mean I will be going to the Georgia game, obviously. But no, I'm only a little bit bummed that I didn't make the team. I'm mostly just really, really excited that I won the biggest tournament of my career, and I moved to No. 1 in the FedExCup list, like you said. It was slightly disappointing. I watched the replay of the coverage yesterday, and the announcers said that I said that I didn't want a Ryder Cup pick. They said that on the coverage, and that couldn't have been further from the truth, and I definitely never said that. So, I would love to have been on the team, but I'm just really focused on what's in front of me right now, and this playoff race here, and hopefully, I'll be on a bunch of Ryder Cup cups teams to come.

Q. Lastly, about what time did he call you and how did the phone call go?
CHRIS KIRK: Well, I just had a voice mail when I -- I didn't land here in Denver until about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon and had a voice mail from him and called him back and yeah, he was, it was a fine conversation. He was pretty straight to the point, just said, congratulations on great play, but we're going to go in another direction. He kind of started to explain his reasoning, and I wasn't rude at all or anything. But, if you're not one getting picked you don't really -- the reasoning doesn't really matter a whole lot. So, I just kind of told him it was like, hey, don't worry about it, you got to do what you got to do. I just won the biggest tournament of my career. It's going to take a lot more than this to put me in a bad mood.

Q. You said that you're only a little bit disappointed about not making the team, you seem not nonchalant, but like it hasn't affected you a ton. I'm curious where the Ryder Cup was on your preseason goals. Was it kind of on the radar or compared to other wins and places and that kind of thing?
CHRIS KIRK: No, I'm not a really a goal setting person. I don't ever set any goals at all, at the beginning of the year. So, obviously that wasn't one of them, if I don't have any, but. Like I said, if you ask me or if you asked anybody if I thought that I was going to get picked before the tournament last week, you would have said absolutely not. Even though I had a very good year and was kind of in contention for it. I didn't play well enough the last few months to get into that top nine or to -- I was maybe somewhere, somewhat on the radar, but I'm not going to let -- we wouldn't even be talking -- if I hadn't won the tournament, we wouldn't even be talking about this. So, there's no point in me being disappointed at all. I just -- like I said, if I had finished 15th last week, I wouldn't have had a single Ryder Cup question in the last three or four days. So, there's really no reason for me to be disappointed at all.

Q. Did the voicemail message give you any clue as to what the result was going to be?
CHRIS KIRK: No, I had no idea either way. It just was asking me to give him a call.

Q. What was the feeling like as you were trying to get in touch with him or until you knew what the result was?
CHRIS KIRK: I was a little bit anxious, just wanted to know. But, I certainly wasn't expecting -- I didn't feel like, oh, I'm definitely going to get a pick. I felt like there was a very good chance that I would get a pick, but at the same time I wasn't surprised when I didn't.

Q. What more do you think you could have done?
CHRIS KIRK: I don't know. I don't know if my nonchalant attitude about the Ryder Cup had any affect on what Tom thinks, I certainly hope not. I hope that I haven't sort of sent the wrong message. I would love nothing more than to play on the Ryder Cup. But, maybe I don't live and die by it like some guys do. But, it would be a huge honor, and I would love to play on one and I hope to play on a lot of teams. But I doubt that my attitude towards it had anything to do with what Tom decided.

Q. Rory was just in here talking about what was -- what the course might give up this week and what kind of numbers it might give up. What did you hit, what have you been hitting, I guess you only played it once, but what did you hit on 1 and 3 off the tee, and how deep do you guys think -- how deep do you think guys will go this week?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I hit an iron off the tee on 1 and I hit a driver on 3, today. But, I think there's a very good chance that I'll probably hit driver on both of them. But, I really have no clue what kind of scores to expect from this week. I've never really been a very good judge of that going into new courses. I think it all kind of depends on how firm the greens are. If they get the greens really firm, and they can definitely put some really tough pin placements out there, with how much slope there is, in these greens, that will definitely be the defense. If the greens are receptive, then you'll see some pretty low scores.

Q. You talked a little bit about kind of a nonchalant attitude, which I think, I get the impression that it carries over into how you approach the game in some ways. Do you find yourself in an interesting position, first time in your career leading the FedExCup, this late in the game. Is it easy to carry that forward, that kind of relaxed state, or is it in the back of your mind going, hey, I'm at a course that I haven't played, and it's got a lot of history to it, and I've got Rory chasing me. Does any of that figure into how you go about your way this week?
CHRIS KIRK: For me, yeah, it is pretty easy to stay nonchalant about it. I know that obviously I'm in a good position right now, but I know with the volatility of the way that they have the points set up, I mean, I know that chances are that I'll have to win next week to win the FedExCup. That's -- I think it's been, how many years in a row has it been whoever has won the TOUR Championship has won the FedExCup? I mean that's just the way that they -- I guess that's how they want it to be. That's how it's -- the points with the way they restructure going into the last tournament. It adds excitement to the event, and it makes it where anybody who makes the TOUR Championship has a great chance to win that 10 million. So, obviously, I'm very happy to be in the position that I'm in, but it's not like I can really cruise to the finish line here. So, I know that I'll be very fortunate if I'm able to play well enough to win it.

Q. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?
CHRIS KIRK: Craziest thing I've ever done? I don't know. Nothing too -- bungee jumping or something. I remember going bungee jumping when I was like 11 years old or something like that. And they had to -- I had to, we went and tried -- my older brother and I wanted to do it and went to go try to do it and I didn't weigh a hundred pounds, so they wouldn't let me. And the guy, but the guy running the thing, was about as nonchalant as I am and so he was like, go have some lunch and put some rocks in your pockets and come back. And so I did, and we, and my older brother and my dad and I went and it was a blast. I don't -- I haven't done it since then. I would love to.

Q. Did you scream on the way down?
CHRIS KIRK: No.

Q. Nothing?
CHRIS KIRK: Would you expect me to scream on the way down?

Q. Oh. Yeah. Give me something, Chris.
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, no, I mean, I don't know. I think the more and more people get to know me, the more and more you realize that this is just really actually -- I'm not making this up, this is just really actually how I am. I'm very thankful, and I'm so blessed to be in the situation that I'm in, but I just am not that excitable of a person and so I mean -- I guess I don't show it anyway. I could not possibly be more excited to have won the Deutsche Bank championship last week and to be No. 1 on the FedExCup. I mean that's something that, starting the year, starting my career on the PGA TOUR, starting when I turned pro, starting when I went to play college golf, I would have never, never dreamed or expected to do something like this.

Q. In terms of showing it, you and Dufner. Who wins?
CHRIS KIRK: I don't know. I did fist pump once. I fist pumped once the final round and once on the third round. So, two in one week is a new record. New personal record for me.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you very much.

CHRIS KIRK: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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