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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2005

Ben Roethlisberger

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

JOEL LAMP: Ben, we appreciate you spending time with us. You played in the Pro-Am today. Just your thoughts on being on the course and hitting the ball around

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: It was fun. It's my first time playing golf in about a month or so, and obviously it's great to get into this kind of weather, outside of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh weather is not exactly great right now. Came out and had a lot of fun, and that's what it's all about.

JOEL LAMP: Are you an avid golfer in the off-season?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, I love to play golf. I play as much as I can. A lot of the guys on the team play, a lot of football players play. I try to get to as many of these as I can get to and play as much as I can.

Q. What's your handicap?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Today, or what is it normally?

Q. Normally?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Normally it's about a 6 or 7.

Q. And who is the best player on the team?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Probably Tommy Maddox. He's a pretty good player that I know of. Some of the coaches might get mad about that.

Q. Like Ken Whisenhunt.

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Oh, yeah, like I said, there might be some coaches that can argue a little bit. I played with Tommy a couple of times at some of these events and stuff and he's a pretty good player.

Q. At this time last year, you're going into the season and nobody knows what to expect from you being a rookie, and now you've had a successful year. Do you find all of these celebrity events come at you, such as this?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, if you ask my agent, he's bombarded. Every day he gets 30 to 40 requests for me, not just golf things, but other appearances and whatnot.

It's hard to pick and choose things and then try to do as many as you can but try not to get overwhelmed. This is the off-season and you want to relax a little bit. Usually when golf is involved I'll do it because it's fun and a chance for me to relax and get out and do something I love to do and takes away the stress from the on-the-field stuff.

Q. What specifically about this tournament drew you out here?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: It was an opportunity to come out, obviously the tournament this week, Kraft, invited me out and it's a big thing to come out and enjoy the festivities. Obviously it's my first time here and hopefully this isn't my last time. It's a great event and hopefully look forward to coming to it in years to come.

Q. Do you get nervous playing in front of people or does your football experience take care of that?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Golf isn't exactly what I'm the best at. I still get nervous out there. I hit a pretty bad one out there in front of the crowd. Too many people and too much pressure, I'm not good in font of people. I know this is not what I do professionally for a living, so if I hit a bad shot I just laugh about it.

Q. A week from now, you'll be in the Middle East with that tour going on. Has that sunk in yet? What are your thoughts on that coming up?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: It's crazy to think about, coming here obviously and playing golf the week before and next week being in another desert, Iraq, and all that stuff. Obviously it's something I'm looking forward to and a good opportunity.

Q. What's your schedule there? What exactly do they have in store for you?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: They actually asked me not to talk about it because they don't want to publish too much that I'm going over there for obviously safety reasons. Try not to talk about it too much. Not exactly sure what we're going to do yet.

Q. I know you said you don't play a lot of golf, but is there anything that you can take from playing golf that you can use on the football field, concentration, something like that?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Well, like you said concentration is big. I think focus, being able to -- because golf is such a mental sport. You have to be able to tune a lot of things out when you're putting hitting shots. So many things can go wrong in the course of a swing. Just being able to stay focused and mentally strong. It's like anything else in other sports; you can carry over and use it in other areas of athletics.

Q. You've been romantically linked with one of the players out here.

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Really?

Q. You probably heard about that. Is that part of the draw here?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Being romantically linked with somebody? I didn't know I was.

Q. You haven't heard those reports?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: No, I haven't heard that. I just wanted to come out, play some golf, have a good time and enjoy myself here.

Q. Have you beaten her on the golf course, Natalie?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: We were partnered up today in the scramble, so no winner or loser. She's hitting the ball pretty well.

Q. How is Hines Ward in golf?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: It depends out if you ask him or if you ask someone else. (Laughter.) I've seen Hines play once. He's an athlete, so he can get away with hitting it pretty good. I tell him to stick to catching the ball rather than hitting the ball but he's a pretty good athlete.

Q. Plaxico Burress is with the Giants obviously, and people would say he's your go-to receiver. What are your thoughts on that? Are you worried at all, happy for him? Have you talked to him?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I'm extremely happy for him. I talk to him quite a bit. He's a good friend of mine and he was a neighbor. I'm sad to see him leave, as a friend, not just teammate. He was a good asset to the team, but he'll go up and be a good asset to the Giants. I wish him nothing but the best. I love him as a friend and brother.

Q. Now that you are the No. 1 guy, how will that change your preparation?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: You know, it's how you prepare now, because before I'm just preparing to play football. It's preparing to learn the offense, be ready in case something happens, and now I go in I have to know the offense. I have to be the leader, and guys are looking at me, obviously the added pressure because of last year I didn't help myself out any. It's something that's an athlete and as a promotional you love, you love the pressure and you want to go out and have all the pressure on you and all the eyes on you. I'm ready for this off-season to really get kicking and get started and get back to enjoying the guys.

Q. The biggest switch from Miami to Pittsburgh is probably the speed of the game, but as far as your life personally, what's been the biggest change for you off the field since you got out much college?

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: The recognition, obviously. It happened a little bit at Miami, but it was a smaller school so it was obviously a much smaller scale. Now, no matter where I go in the country there's going to be somebody that's going to recognize me. You know, I'll come to a golf course like this, I played this tournaments before the season last year, and there might be one or two people that actually recognized me and don't think I'm a caddie for something. And now you come out here and it's just like, there's people all over the place and I'm coming up here and sitting in front of you guys and things I would never do. Just the off-the-field stuff, like I said, the recognition and all the stuff that all comes, it's part of the territory.

JOEL LAMP: Thank you, Ben.

End of FastScripts.

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