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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 2005

Brett Quigley

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

TODD BUDNICK: Welcome Brett Quigley, a 5 under, 67 through round 1. No bogeys, Brett. Talk about getting a good start off THE PLAYERS Championship.

BRETT QUIGLEY: No bogeys is unbelievable out here, and certainly for me. I didn't drive it great, but it seemed like every time I hit it in the rough I was able to pitch it out and hit a good third shot close to make par. As a said earlier, I just putted well. I felt did good with the putter, I've been struggling with the putter and felt yesterday, Tuesday, got a handle on what I was doing wrong.

TODD BUDNICK: No surprise, you've gotten off to a great start this season, 7 of 8 starts and T5 at Sony. Talk about your good play, and also you had a different approach during the off season.

BRETT QUIGLEY: Yeah, definitely playing more, and I'm more comfortable on the golf course. I didn't spend as much time in the off season practicing, and as a result I'm playing golf, instead of worrying about it mechanically, worrying about hitting great shots. I think today is a good indication. I didn't play great but just managed it well.

Q. Are the conditions such that 4 or 5 under par each day is going to be what it takes to win this week, do you think?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I'd say no way. I think the greens are going to get they're so fast right now, it's just amazing. They don't look like they're that fast, but they've got to be rolling at least 12. But once it dries out a little bit, it will play tougher, if we get any wind. We didn't have any wind at all to speak of this morning. So it not that it plays easy, but you can make some birdies.

Q. You said you played more, practiced less; would that be the influence of any certain family members?

BRETT QUIGLEY: My crazy uncle, for sure. He guilted me or shamed me into playing golf almost every day in November and December. I normally take four weeks off and start practicing, but I played the whole time. I probably only practice two hours in two months, instead I played every day and hit a bunch of shots and learned how to score again. We try to be too perfect out here and take the fun out of it. I certainly had a lot of fun playing my dad and uncle, and we had a lot of good family matches.

Q. Was today almost like a Bear Lakes day, where you're out at 7:00 in the morning and free wheeling it?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I try to take that approach, but I know it's funny, I wake up this morning, gosh, it's TPC, it's THE PLAYERS Championship, it's the biggest tournament of the year. But I felt pretty good on the golf course; once I get out I'm pretty good. When I do well, I have fun, and I had some fun today, and like I said, I didn't have to play great to shoot a good score.

Q. You mentioned something about that early wake up. What are the positives and negatives of having that first time?

BRETT QUIGLEY: You can't go to bed early enough on the 4:30 wake up, but you get a golf course that's in perfect condition. Certainly that outweighs any negatives. There's certainly no negatives. I'm playing the TPC off at 7:00; it's a pretty darn good tee time.

Q. You said out there that you and Luke fed off each other today. What's your assessment of his game?

BRETT QUIGLEY: He's playing well. He hit a couple of bad shots and recovered well. Overall he hit it great, drove it great, and he putted great. It was fun to watch. I just kind of tried to stay close; we just kept making birdies back and forth. And if we got in trouble, we saved par. It was a pretty easy day.

Q. You referred to your crazy uncle; can you talk about how infectious his love of the game might be?

BRETT QUIGLEY: It truly is, I hate to use unbelievable, but it is unbelievable anyone can love to play golf that much. When he plays an off week, he plays more golf than a tournament week. He'll play 36 a day, no problem. And if anyone else is around, he'll play more. He just loves it that much, and he thinks that he learns which he kind of taught me this winter, he learns a lot more by playing golf rather than hitting balls on the range, because you have to hit shots that matter. On the range it's one thing to sit there and say I'm aiming here and hit it there, but when you're under the gun at Bear Lakes, where you've got condos right and water left, where you have to hit a good shot, I've learned more about my game in the last two months than in ten years.

Q. You said he shamed you to get you out there. Was he calling you?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Yeah, calling me every night. 7:30, ball in the air tomorrow. I'm going, geez, I can't do it tomorrow. Your dad is going to be there, come on, let's go. So it was every day.

Q. What do you have to do to get over that last hump and win out here? What is the thing you have to get over?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I think being I hate to say being myself, but being myself four rounds. I think I've done a pretty good job of that this year. The first two rounds, I think I've struggled a little on the weekend. But just letting it go.

I think I'm I feel like I'm pretty close and trying too hard on the weekends this year. And certainly it was something I was working on coming into this week, and just having fun and not being hard on myself.

Q. I was curious if you guys get jazzed when you know you're going to play a course like this. Is there any excitement away from like work, tournament, is it cool we're playing the TPC course today?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Yeah, on a Tuesday or Wednesday to see people out there, and this tournament, it's as good as any major. It's our championship. It's got the best field, I think, of any tournament of the year, and we play a great golf course. It's such a course that if you play it well, you can score it well, but any hole out here can pretty much grab you. You do get juiced. It's a neat atmosphere, it's our tournament, it's an awesome week.

Q. Have you talked to Dana about what it would take to get over that hump, because he did that, and it took him a while to get that first win?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I'd say not really, nothing specific, just Dana just plays, and he goes at every pin. He doesn't even use a pin sheet. He kind of got at me at Doral about that, trying to be too precise. When we play, you go at every pin and you never have any thoughts of what's left or over.

But out here we have a tendency to be too perfect, that, gosh, you can't hit it left, because the pin is only three from the left, instead of having fun and shooting at every pin. I think Dana does a pretty good job of that.

Q. Along the same lines, being that he was able to get you out and play more often, have you cut back, then, in your time on the range and made a switch?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Absolutely. It's hard as heck, because I play a lot of practice rounds early. I played every day this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, first off, 6:30 or 7:00. And it's almost guilt to want to go to the practice range and hit balls. But I'm not Vijay Singh, and hitting balls for ten hours isn't going to make me any better. I need to play and have fun with it.

It's almost guilty not going to practice, but I've done it a lot this year. I've got my work done, go and leave at 1:00 or 2:00, and go work out or go to a movie and get away from it.

Q. Is it getting easier to not feel guilty?

BRETT QUIGLEY: No, I fight it every day, especially this week. We have such a great practice facility, it's easy to fall in love going to the chipping green and practicing or hit balls or tinker with stuff. But it's still hard for me to do.

Q. What do you think would happen to your game if you tried Vijay's schedule for a month?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I'd probably be No. 1 in the world (laughter). I don't know. I couldn't even guess. I wouldn't have a problem hitting balls that long. I love my job. I think that's the hardest thing for me is letting it go. And I don't know, it hasn't crossed my mind yet.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your birdies, Brett. Start with one on No. 12.

BRETT QUIGLEY: Just hit a wedge short of the hole, maybe a 20 footer, just hit a perfect putt.

I missed about a 10 footer on 11, and I was pretty determined not to let that bother me, and it's nice to come right back and make a putt on a nice hole.

TODD BUDNICK: 16.

BRETT QUIGLEY: 16, the rough is just so deep out here, I drove it two steps into the rough and wedged it out 70 yards and knocked a 9 iron on and made a 15 footer.

TODD BUDNICK: 3?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Nice 7 iron, 20 feet left of the hole and hit a perfect putt. My speed is good today. If your speed is good, you're going to make some putts.

TODD BUDNICK: 5.

BRETT QUIGLEY: 5 was a nice 9 iron right of the pin and about a 20 footer, it seems easy, sometimes going in.

TODD BUDNICK: 6.

BRETT QUIGLEY: 6 was a wedge left of the hole, maybe 15 feet, and in the center.

TODD BUDNICK: Made some long putts today.

BRETT QUIGLEY: Nice putts, made two good par putts on 8 and 9, too, so it was nice.

End of FastScripts.

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