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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 4, 2004

John Rollins

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, John, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center. Another good round today out there. I notice you had a lot of short putts on the birdies you had today. Why don't you talk about today's round and compare it to yesterday's round.

JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, I played good today as I did yesterday, but more so today. I hit the ball a little bit closer to the hole it seemed and gave myself some better opportunities for birdies.

You know, really, the story this week so far has been my putting. I putted great the last two days. I just hope it can continue into the weekend, and we'll see where we end up.

Q. Have you been working on your putting recently or did you see this coming?

JOHN ROLLINS: No, I've been working on my putting. It's been a little bit inconsistent, I guess could you say, the last month or so. It's just something my teacher and I have worked on, trying to get everything, get my line better; and just trust my stroke and just kind of stroke it and believe in myself is really what we've been doing. Things have been working out well this week and we'll hope for the best this weekend.

Q. Two days like this, do you get a feeling that this place is really suited to your game?

JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, I mean, I like the golf course. I didn't play here last year, so it's my first time here.

The golf course is in fantastic shape. It's a great layout. It's a fun golf course to play. There are some tee shots and some iron shots that you really have to buckle down and focus on what you're doing. If you take it for granted, it's going to jump up and bite you.

The greens are rolling great and for some reason, you know, the last couple of days I've been able to see the line and the balls are going in.

Q. You mentioned you were working with your teacher. Who is your teacher, and what does it actually take before you feel comfortable, can it be sometimes just one putt that gives you a sense that they are going to go in?

JOHN ROLLINS: My teacher's name is Todd Anderson. He's out of Sea Island. That's really what it is. In this game at this level, it can be a matter of one shot or one swing, or even for this matter, one putt that you hit and it just rolls exactly how you want it to, perfect speed, perfect putt and it goes in. All of a sudden, you're off to the races. It's just one of those deals where you have to kind of keep grinding through it and working on it and knowing that something good is going to come out in the end, and so far, it has.

Q. What's the story with you early in this season?

JOHN ROLLINS: I just didn't have anything going. I was kind of either driving it good, putting bad; putting good, driving it bad; hitting my irons poorly one week and I just had trouble putting everything together.

I didn't play horrible. I was missing cuts by one shot, two shots. I was always right there. The last, I guess, from maybe the Memorial, which is a tournament that I love to play in, from that point on, I started to feel my game come around. I played well there. You know, it's continued on up until now, with the exception of last week.

I've just continued to work on my golf swing to try to get it back to where I felt it was in 2002 and 2003. You know, like I say, my teacher and I, we never gave up. I knew I never lost the ability to play. It was just a matter of things were not going my way, and sometimes you go through those stages and you have to play your way through it, and fortunately enough, I have so far.

Q. Have you been at this stage, two rounds and leading, and how much confidence does it give you going into tomorrow?

JOHN ROLLINS: I have been in this position before. Obviously have won a tournament, the Canadian Open, two years ago. Yes, I have been in this position.

You know, it's just, I don't know, it's just something that you want to be in every week. I'm just going to try to stay patient out there and I've got two more days ahead of me. They are going to be two, I'm sure, grinding and grueling days. Tiger is obviously playing well. He's going to be right on you. So, you've got to just keep going and keep pressing and try to make as many birdies as you can.

Q. When you talk about working on your putting, just give us an idea of how long those sessions are; an hour a day, do you do it in the morning and then come back at it?

JOHN ROLLINS: I'm not one that has a set time and amount of balls I have to hit or anything like that. I'm more or less the kind of player that if I'm working on something and I feel that I've gotten what I want out of my practice, I'm done. I don't sit there and have to hit, you know, like sometimes Vijay, you'll hear he hits thousands of balls a day or whatever it may be.

If I'm working on something like my putting, for example, if I feel like I'm rolling the ball well and doing what I want to do, then I see the results I want, then I'll call it a day and I've had enough.

Q. Tiger just birdied 18 to tie you. Have you played with him before?

JOHN ROLLINS: I've only played with him once; that was this year in the Match Play, the first round. That was the first time and the only time. So, you know, maybe I'll get a chance to play with him on Saturday and we'll see what happens this time.

Q. Will you at all be intimidated by the crowds or anything?

JOHN ROLLINS: I feel like I've played in front of his crowds already. I've played right in front of him the last two days. Everybody is running ahead to see Tiger so I feel like I've basically been in his group last two rounds anyway.

Playing with him that one time is going to help, if I do get paired with him. You know, it's always fun to play in front of a bunch of people. It gets you going and it makes you enjoy yourself out there a little bit more, especially when you make some birdies and you get them yelling and screaming.

Q. This is only a second-year tournament, how does it compare with some of the more established ones?

JOHN ROLLINS: Every tournament out here is good. Everybody treats us great. You know, the hospitality by all of the volunteers and all of the staff at all of the courses, it's hard to really say one is better than another. Sure, there's perks from certain tournaments that they have for us, but this tournament is run fantastic. It's a great facility and the people here have been nothing but nice to me so far, so I'm sure that will continue through the weekend.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Let's go through your round real quick.

JOHN ROLLINS: 1, I hit a pitching wedge probably to about four feet or so. Made that.

2, I knocked it on the green in two with a 3-iron and 2-putted that.

7, I actually hit it from the fairway bunker with an 8-iron to about maybe six feet or so.

12, 7-iron in there about three or four feet and made that.

13, bogey. I hit it in the right rough, and then left rough out of the green and didn't get it up-and-down.

15, I hit a 9-iron from about 145 yards to basically a foot.

16, I hit a 6-iron and made that putt from about 18 feet.

Q. When you played that round at The Match Play with Tiger, do you have any specific recollections of it, just how it was playing with him?

JOHN ROLLINS: It was a great experience.

How it was, I feel like I let him off the hook. I had him 2-down, late, but he did what he always does, he birdied 17 and 18 to get me 1-down.

But that's what a champion like that does. He's always faced with those tough situations and he comes through every time, it seems like. It was a great experience for me. I would love to play with him again in a stroke-play tournament rather than a head-to-head match-play.

So I'm hoping that it happens, and I'll look forward to it if it does.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, John for joining us. Appreciate it.

End of FastScripts.

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