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BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 6, 2005

Jon Mills

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Jon Mills. Thanks for joining us today. Jon makes his fifth appearance at the Bell Canadian Open. He won this year the 2005 Canadian PGA Championship on the Nationwide Tour. He currently stands fifth on the Nationwide Tour Money List, virtually guaranteeing himself a PGA TOUR card for the 2006 season. He's also a member of Canada's winning team at the 2001 Four Nations Team Championships.

Q. What helped turn you around, was it the short game specifically, and if so, was there anything specifically that you did in terms of work you did on the greens to get you up to where you are this year?

JON MILLS: You know, I guess an overall consistency with the putter, definitely helped. But I think a lot of it, too, came from just kind of improving, every year just gradually improving all aspects of my game. And the beginning of the year I worked with my coach, Dave Woods, and kind of worked on some of the problem areas that I had and kind of focused on some of those, which was putting and accuracy. It's come along.

Q. Just wondering if you could comment on the difference between trying to get your card on the Nationwide Tour and having clinched it so far this year and coming through the Q School, do you think it's a little bit more, I don't want to say legit, but more rewarding process?

JON MILLS: It feels pretty rewarding just for the fact that I don't have to go to Q School and not have to go through it. You know, this will be the first time that I'll be able to do that. So that definitely, you know, it's just a nice feeling to be able to do that.

Q. Less pressure than there would be than having to go to Q School?

JON MILLS: Yeah, and you have a full year to get to that point. You know, I guess it's just a consistency level, just kind of throughout the year playing well and trying to get up there. It's definitely kind of a nice feeling to be able to do that and not worry about preparing for Q School and just kind of deal with this tour.

Q. Not to look too far ahead or past this week, but have you plotted out the rest of this year and the start of next year, do you know how your time is going to be spent between now, and you know, when you start playing on the PGA TOUR?

JON MILLS: This year it's going to be just playing my normal schedule on the Nationwide. I'm going to take off a few events here and there, but that's something that hasn't changed after I kind of got to this point where I kind of sealed it up.

But you know, my goal is to try to get up there as high as I can on the Money List so that I can get into more events for next year. As of next year, I haven't thought that far ahead. I'm totally focused on this year and the events I have left.

Q. Any way of trying to get a higher number

JON MILLS: I would imagine you could, but there's no way I'm going to. I'm going to stick with this way.

Q. How does your game fit Shaughnessy, what are the strengths, and you said some problem areas, what are the weaknesses?

JON MILLS: When it comes to this golf course, it really comments down to hitting fairways and greens. We were kind of talking out there with my coach and some of the other players I played with, it was definitely a focus on getting it in the fairway and you know, you could hit to the middle of the greens on just about every hole and have a decent chance at birdie.

So you know, I guess when it comes to my strengths with this golf course, I can get some of the mid range par 4s, I can get medium iron in or so. And where I guess maybe some people might be having a longer iron, so I can maybe get a little aggressive that way. For the most part, it's just trying to keep the course ahead of you and kind of plug away and stay patient.

Q. Obviously there's been a lot of talk the last few weeks with a lot of the young amateurs coming up, and Richard and James Lepp, and wondering is there any advice that you can give to these kids that has sort of helped get you to this point?

JON MILLS: Yeah, I played with those guys yesterday with Mike, and had a good time playing with them. It's been a while. I played with those guys last year. I played with them at Hamilton. I guess from where they are now going into their I think final year in college to where I am now, there's definitely some when it comes to that point, I was really focused on probably the wrong things when it came to hitting it far and all of that kind of stuff.

I guess since then, I've really kind of toned it down and worked hard on ball control and distances, knowing my distances, and especially when it comes to wedges, because that's really where it comes down to and that's what kind of gets you those low numbers.

Q. Starting to think in those terms inaudible?

JON MILLS: It's kind of tough, I really only played with them yesterday. Obviously they have a lot of talent and they can definitely get there.

Q. We were talking with Mike last week kind of about this, and he said, well, most of these kids, they have to basically fall down on their own and get back up and kind of get back on the horse again. Have you experienced that as a pro?

JON MILLS: Yes, right out of college I made the Nationwide Tour and didn't have a good year. Off the top of my head, I may be made around five or six cuts, something like that, and didn't make much money.

But, you know, I guess it's how you deal with that. I looked at it as a learning process, and try to take as many positives out of the situation as possible. Came back the next year and had a good year on the Canadian Tour, so that's just I guess that's something you're going to have to guys are going to go through, and that's how you deal with those situations and improve from that. That's what makes you a great player and that's what kind of gets you over the edge.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you know now that you didn't know then that you wish you knew then?

JON MILLS: Yeah, you know, just patience when it comes to the golf game and don't try to go out there thinking that you have to do something different to succeed. You've just got to trust your game and trust what you've worked on and apply it to the golf course. I could see in my game that that's really, with this year is a big reason for my success this year that I trust my swing and that I trust the shot I'm trying to hit. Works out most of the time.

End of FastScripts.

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