CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 23, 2003

Tom Watson

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Two eagles on the back side gets to you minus four and a decent start.

TOM WATSON: I had a very good round today, really. I didn't make any putts. I holed a wedge shot for an eagle at No. 11, but I had the ball close to the hole a lot today and I couldn't read the putts. And when I read them, they didn't break the way I was -- if I read them right, I didn't it right. And if I hit a pretty good putt, it didn't break or didn't break the way I thought it was going to break.

So I had trouble reading the putts. Maybe I'm talking myself into it because yesterday I said these greens have subtle breaks to them and they are hard to read. Both Bruce and I made mistakes out there today. It's just -- I just didn't -- we're not reading them very well. Had a lot of opportunities.

I left a lot out there on the golf course.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Real quickly take us through your round.

TOM WATSON: I 3-putted 6. I 3-putted the other par 3 on the back side, which is 14. 14 I 3-putted.

I started off -- I birdied the first hole, knocked it in with a 9-iron about eight feet and made the putt. Read it right.

Bogeyed 6 3-putting.

Bogeyed 8 by hitting the ball in the fairway, in the right rough, left rough, left trap, short about 15 feet and 2-putting for bogey. That was the only green I missed all day.

Birdied 9. I hit a driver and sand wedge in about ten feet and made that.

11 was a surprise. I pushed my drive in the right rough had a pretty good angle pin was at the top, and I was hoping to get the right distance. Hit the shot right at the hole and landed about, oh, six feet short and slam dunk. I didn't see it go about but it didn't take long for it to go in.

Q. How far were you in total?

TOM WATSON: 111 is what my distance was.

13, I hit a beautiful drive and hit a 7-iron on the green, the par 5 and putted from about 35 feet.

Next hole, I hit a good shot on the green and knocked it by about five feet and missed the putt. First putt was probably around 30 feet.

16, I hit a good drive, I had 194 to the hole. I hit a 6-iron, hit it about three feet from the hole.

Had a good birdie putt at 17 and another good birdie put at 18. The one at 17 I hit where I was aiming. And the one at 18, it broke more than I thought. I need to go back to school to learn how to read.

Q. Were you surprised that Thorpe shot a 63 today?

TOM WATSON: No, I'm not. I thought the golf course would give up some low scores. In fact, I thought it would give up lower scores than it gave up today.

The pins were in tough positions. Some of the pins were hard to get to. 14, the par 3, that was a hard pin to get to.

No. 2 the par 5, that was a hard pin to get to. 9 was a hard pin to get to. So they were tucked right in there but the other -- you don't have them on every green.

Q. 11, same deal --

TOM WATSON: 11 was easier to get to honestly than those three I mentioned. The three I mentioned you're hitting onto downslopes and the pin is right over the downslope where could play a couple different shots -- or Rodger Davis, he hit it right there, swung right back. I want to say there were three pins like that today that were really hard to get to. But the rest of the pins, 15 of them, you could get to.

Q. What did you hit on No. 7?

TOM WATSON: The par 3 there, I had a 6-iron. I was going to nuke a 7 and I said, well, I hit an easy six and I hit an easy 6, hit it right at it. I was kind of laughing and came up short. Why did I take two steps back? But it was more than that. It was about six steps short.

Q. Is the trend continuing to go low all week here?

TOM WATSON: If the wind is like this and the pins are tucked about the same, yeah, I think the scores would be very low. I thought the wind was going to blow today. That's what I was told.

Q. Stadler said the exact same thing today; he couldn't read them for the life of him.

TOM WATSON: I had a hard time reading the greens. I said that after the first two rounds. They are hard to read. And the reason they are is that they are very -- they are very flat. They are flat. There's enough slope on the greens for it to come off, but you don't have the big slopes that you really know which way it's going to go. All of the local members here said, "Yeah, everything breaks down towards Sonoma here, they go this way." (Speaking in slight drawl). Well, okay.

Q. Inaudible?

TOM WATSON: No, I'm just saying that I'll take any advice. The way I'm putting, I'll take any advice.

End of FastScripts.