home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP

August 25, 2005

Michael Putnam

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Michael Putnam, playing this week at the Buick Championship on a sponsor exemption. Congratulations on a great first round. Had a busy summer playing in the NCAAs, the Palmer Cup, US Open, Walker Cup, now this week at the Buick Championship. Talk a little bit about your round today and also touch on how you received your sponsor exemption this week.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Perfect. Yeah, it was a pretty busy summer. It's just like out on TOUR, going every week, playing at great golf courses everywhere we go. But I had a couple days off before this, three or four days at home. I got to rest up a little bit and practice. It worked, it seemed like, today.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about maybe the high points of your round today, making your professional debut. Right now there's a lot of players on the course, but at the end of the day you're going to be somewhat near the top of the leaderboard.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah. I got off to a good start. Hit a wedge into the 1st hole to five or six feet and made a birdie. You know, 2nd hole, I wasn't feeling too good with my driver. 1st hole I actually hit in the rough. 2nd hole I put in the fairway bunker. I was a little nervous. But managed to get some good shots, get out of trouble. 3rd hole of the day, made about a six inch birdie. Bogeyed 4. Hit a really bad tee shot.

I think that bogey is really what calmed me down to get the rest of the round going because I finally did everything in the golf course. Made birdie, made par, there was a bogey. After that, I was pretty calm and ready to go.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your sponsor exemption this week, how you found out, maybe some of the details about that.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, I was flying out to Philadelphia to play in the US Amateur, thinking I was playing in the Amateur. I got a call Friday night saying I got a sponsor's invite to this week. You know, it wasn't a hundred percent till Saturday morning. Saturday morning, woke up, played a practice round at Marion, like I was playing in the US Am. Found out for sure I was in. Took a train ride up here. It's about three and a half hour train ride from Marion, so wasn't too bad. Got up here in plenty of time Sunday night. Good practice round Monday and Tuesday, I was ready to go.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: A lot of people have a misconception on turning professional. There's no big step. You basically declare you're going to play as a professional, that's about it, right?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, pretty much. Especially, I guess I did mine in the airport. Didn't really have a media room to do it in, a big deal. But turned pro in the airport, I guess. Said, "Here we go."

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'll take some questions.

Q. Philly airport?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Philadelphia airport.

Q. Who called you?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: My agent Ralph Cross called me and said I'd received a sponsor's invite, you know, pretty much 95% sure we received it. I was excited. I waited all summer to turn pro until after the Walker Cup. That was my whole goal this summer, was to play in the Walker Cup, get the Cup back for the United States. After we did that, it was an easy decision to turn pro and not play in the amateur.

Q. You went to Pepperdine?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Pepperdine. Went there four years. Graduated last spring.

Q. (Indiscernible) met on the putting green?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Jason Allred and Jason Gore, two of my friends. Played a practice round with Jason Gore at The Open and also here Tuesday morning. Having a good time.

Q. Pepperdine guys on a roll?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: We're trying to be. Our coach is loving it back at home. You know, just one round. We got three rounds to go. Hopefully we'll be on a roll after that.

Q. You say you anticipated this happening after the Walker Cup. But has it been a whirlwind with the schedule last week, getting the call, your success in Round 1? Surprise you a little bit?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Doesn't really surprise me. It was kind of whirlwind because we got into Philly Friday night late, woke up Saturday morning and knew for sure that we were playing at Hartford. I played a practice round at Marion, which was fun. Got a little work in at the course. Spent a pretty relaxing day Saturday. Got on a train Sunday. It was about a four hour train ride up here, figuring out where to get the car, where to register. Wouldn't let me in the gates because they didn't think I was playing in the pro, thought I was playing in the ProAm Monday morning. A little bit of a whirlwind. I've had a couple days to settle down, so it's been fun.

Q. Got here and they didn't think you were a golfer?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I came in Monday morning. They have the little ProAm. Since I was so young, they didn't know if I was playing as a pro or as an amateur. They were sending me over to not the players' parking lot. I was asking where registration was. They didn't really know. It was fun, though. I had to explain to about three security guards what I was doing.

Q. How old are you? How tall are you? How much do you weigh?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I am 22. I'm 6'4", 220.

Q. You played Monday in the ProAm, then Jason on Tuesday. Did you have any feeling maybe this was your kind of course?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, I felt pretty comfortable in the practice round. I called my dad last night and told him that this course sets up well for me. Tight holes. I feel good on the tight holes. The holes that are wide open, obviously they're wide open. It sets up good to my eye. I've been hitting the ball well, playing well.

I didn't come to expect a 65. I told one of my buddies last night on the phone that I was going to shoot 3 under or 4 under, just kind of joking around. He's probably laughing that I shot better than that.

Q. One of your old teammates?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: One of my roommates from college. His name is Michael Farrington (phonetic).

Q. You shot 65 in your first round as a pro.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Well, I haven't had time to think about it yet. Sending me here, there, all over the place. Yeah, it was a good round I guess, real good round.

Q. You're in the media room after your first round.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: This chair is comfortable. I could do this more often.

Q. Where is your dad? What is his name?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: My dad is Dan Putnam. He's back home in Washington State. He usually doesn't miss golf tournaments too much. But since it was such a late notice, he had a couple meetings planned. He's a structural engineer. He can't come out. He couldn't come out to watch the first tee shot, which he's probably killing himself right now.

Q. Do you think he'll get out?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: He said he'd probably be out for the weekend if I made the weekend. I'm sure he's looking for flights right now. Some red eyes Friday night.

Q. Seattle?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Seattle, yeah.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Right now, just this. A couple Monday qualifiers on the Nationwide Tour. I'm in the Boise Open, the Nationwide event in Boise. We were hoping this week could change a few things. It seems like the sponsor's invitations are always coming down the last couple days, the Friday before the tournament. We're hoping to get in a couple more PGA events, go from there.

Q. How did you get a sponsor's exemption to this point? How does that work?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: My agent kept calling the tournament director and working 'em. Played well in the Walker Cup. Kind of got my name out there. They decided to give me an exemption. They gave Jeff Overton an exemption, who is also from the Walker Cup. I think that probably had something to do with it.

Q. Your agent, where is he based out of?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Ralph Cross, based out of San Francisco.

Q. Did the train ride feel different as a professional? Does it feel the same?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: It was a little different. The train was pretty full when we got on. I sat next to this guy. He was from somewhere in Connecticut. We started small talking. He's like, "What are you doing? Where are you going?" I told him I was going up to Hartford. He said, "That's 15 minutes from my house." He's like, "What are you doing up there? Ever been up there?" "No, going up to play some golf." He was trying to think. He didn't really know about the tournament. I told him I was playing in the tournament. He's like, "Oh, that's cool." Kind of just joking. He didn't really know what was going on. But then I told him I was playing as a professional. It was kind of different sitting there, explaining to somebody what I'm doing.

Q. Never went to a tournament before on a train?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: That is only the second train ride of my life. Didn't really know what I was doing in the train station. Just making sure I was going to catch it because it was the last train of the day.

Q. Out of Philly?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Out of Philly. That's a huge train station. I think it's huge. It's the only one I've been in. Might not be big, I don't know. Looked big to me.

Q. Did you joke about turning pro in the airport?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: About the train?

Q. That you were going to turn pro.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I tried to explain to it my friends back home. They're like, "So you turned pro. What does that mean?" I said, "I turned pro. Didn't really mean anything. I'm playing in the tournament as a pro."

It's funny to try to explain to people that don't know too much about golf.

Q. You have a Cleveland endorsement deal for two days?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: No, not yet. We're working on that. Selling out for them. We're working on it. Hopefully they step up to the plate and come to the deal.

Q. Was the Walker Cup experience what you expected?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: It was more than I expected. It was awesome. We had seven thousand, eight thousand fans out there with flags around their heads, cheering for the United States. Playing for something more than just yourself, playing for your country, it was awesome. It came down to the last putt, the last hole, just how you'd like to win. We won by one point. It was awesome.

Q. One of your teammates on that team, Brian Harmon, couldn't be more different from you physically. He played here last year and made the cut. Did you talk about having a chance to play up here?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I actually didn't know he played here. He didn't tell us. We weren't really focused on professional golf at that time. We were focused on one thing, that was to get the Cup back for the United States.

Brian and I joked around how it would be funny if we were paired together, he's so small, I'm so big. It would be like a little peanut with me. It would be funny. We weren't paired together. We joked around about it a little bit.

Q. What time did you get the phone call Friday? What time was your train ride on Saturday?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I got the phone call pretty much while I was flying in the air coming from Seattle to Philly. I had a nightmare getting here. I flew Northwest. They had the strike. We had a couple planes canceled. I was supposed to get in Philly about 6:00 at night. I didn't get in till midnight. I was just worried about trying to get here more than turning pro.

But the train ride was Sunday afternoon.

Q. You said it was the last train.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I think it was the 3:30 train out of Philly.

Q. Somewhere over in the central United States you got a phone call?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Probably over Iowa maybe.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I don't know. Probably 5 central time, 3 my time, 6 East Coast time.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL PUTNAM: I was recruited by four or five schools. I just found out Pepperdine was a great fit for me. It was a small school. I went to a small Christian private high school. It was just a good fit. It was great campus, great academics. I had Jason Allred who is out here as a senior at the time show me around. Really got along well with him, wanted to be on his team. It's a great program. Just the right fit.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Probably my ball striking, my iron play. I hit probably more than the average greens in regulation. If my putter gets going, it's been going the last month, 65s aren't too hard. It was an easy round today really. I only made one putt of 20 feet, and that was for par. Everything else was 10, 12 feet. Pretty easy round.

Q. Who are you looking forward most to talking to on the phone?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Wow, I don't know. Probably my dad, see what his reaction is. I want to see if he's going to fly out tonight or tomorrow night, when he's going to get here. He's probably just killing himself right now, not being here. He told himself he wasn't going to sign follow up that tour shot link thing so he didn't have to sweat over the computer for every shot. He'd rather be here in person.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL PUTNAM: No. I'm going to tell him not to fly Northwest either. No knock on Northwest.

Q. 1 under after four holes, then what?

MICHAEL PUTNAM: 1 under after four. Hit a great driver on 6. Hit a 4 iron into the green, which I had 3 wood in the practice round, just bombed the drive. That was my first really good swing of the day with my driver, kind of got me going. 2 putt birdie.

Made about a 12 footer on 7 for a 2 putt par.

Parred 8.

Missed about a 10 footer on 9 just above the hole. Left it about half an inch short right in the middle of the hole.

Made about a 7 footer on 10 for birdie.

Got up and down on 11, making a 7 , 8 footer.

12, hit two good shots there to three feet, missed the 3 footer for birdie on 12.

13, the par 5, hit driver, 6 iron just short of the green. Got up and down for birdie. Made about a 2 foot putt.

14, par.

15, hit my drive in the water. I was going for the green. Hit it left in the water. Took a drop. Hit a chip. Hit a pretty bad chip to about 20 feet. That's where I made the one 20 footer all day. Earlier in the week, I told my caddie we're going for 15, we can get up and down for par if we go in the water. It was nice make that putt.

16, had about 15 feet, missed it.

17, made about a 12 footer for birdie.

18, had about a 20 footer, hit a good putt, just didn't go in.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Michael, thank you.

MICHAEL PUTNAM: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297