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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 15, 2018

Stateline, Nevada

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Tony Romo, our champion, and third-place finisher, Joe Pavelski, and Mark Mulder. Congratulations, Tony.

TONY ROMO: Thank you. Yeah, it's a special win. It's a privilege to play in this event. I think I'll always feel lucky. It's one of our favorite weeks of the year.

And, you know, the day felt really good for a lot of reasons. I played a good round of golf, but also because I played with two guys who were outstanding. Mark and Joe have a ton of game.

You really never know until you play with people. But you can't just show up and just say, hey, I'm going to hit fairways and greens and shoot even par and win. That's not going to get it done here.

So it was a great day of golf with three guys. Anybody could have won this tournament. It came down to a shot or putt, and I happened to be the lucky one and win today. But all three players played well today, I thought.

THE MODERATOR: Joe, congratulations on a great round. You stayed in the hunt the entire time even when things were going south on you. You got it back and hung in there.

That was one of the best finishes we've had out here with so many players, like Tony said, still in the hunt. You had Ray Allen that took the lead for a while. You had Mulder in the hunt. You guys were going back and forth. This was heavy wait stuff. A lot of hooks running out there, but you played great.

JOE PAVELSKI: It was awesome. The course was great. The crowd was great. Like Tony said, the group was a lot of fun today. You know where you stand going in. And birdies are going in at times. The standings were switching here and there. You knew it was just a putt or two away. And for me today it was probably I think I only made a couple birdies at the end of it. And left some out there.

And I almost feel like I hit the ball as good if not the best I hit it all week. And I didn't feel like I putted bad either. Just nothing went in for me. And I kind of hit a few putts through the break, and I couldn't have asked for more on 18 to have a shot at making eagle and forcing a playoff there.

It didn't go in. But it was fun. I had a blast. Learned a ton about my golf game and this kind of situation and just really enjoyed the whole week.

THE MODERATOR: Looks like you've got a tough break on 16, that ball got up against the lip of that bunker where you could barely get a foot in, that looked like it was a real awkward stance for you.

JOE PAVELSKI: I was trying to figure it out a little bit. I think it was maybe a little bit of a tough break. I had a perfect number in there. Hit a 5-iron. Where it landed in the bunker, I would have been happy with it on the green. Would have had a good look there.

Caught a little bit. Ended up making bogey on that hole. Hit a putt just a little bit better speed, maybe it goes in.

But they -- it went by the hole with the chance, most of them, down the stretch and had some mucks and that's golf. You just miss a shot just barely by a little bit. And it's the difference sometimes. That's how it goes.

THE MODERATOR: Mark Mulder, three-time defending champion. Again defended well with 68 points and in second place. Really good round until the end. What happened toward the end?

MARK MULDER: 16 got me again. It's disappointing considering what I did the first 15 holes on Friday. I put myself given a chance to win, put myself there, and 16 has just always been a tough tee shot for me.

I end up in that left rough a lot. It was nothing new. I didn't have a great lie. I probably tried to make too much out of that shot rather than looking back at it. Should have just tried to lay something up and try to hit something close, give myself a birdie putt, but that's not the way it goes.

THE MODERATOR: All three of you looked like you had a great time out there. There was a lot of back and forth and birdies and whatnot. But it looked like you guys were enjoying each other's company and rooting each other on to a degree, we all know. But it came across that way anyway. Was that the take?

TONY ROMO: From my perspective, look, the most enjoyable aspect is when you can compete, but like the people you're competing against. And today was no question one of those days.

Like I said before Mark got in here, anybody could have won that tournament of the three of us today. It was just a putt or a shot here. And I was fortunate enough to be the one at the end of it.

But I think you'll find these are the two of the better golfers who are also really enjoyable to play with that you would hope to get a chance to play with down the stretch in these type of tournaments. These are two great players and two good guys.

THE MODERATOR: All three of you made it fun for everybody out there and everybody watching on TV. Questions.

Q. Tony, you played as an amateur. So all of your winnings will go to charity. Thank you.
TONY ROMO: Absolutely. That's an honor to be someone who can do that. Appreciate you saying that.

Q. I asked a question yesterday about management. I noticed on 18, you were the only one that did not use a driver to tee off. Can you explain your thought process there for the hole?
TONY ROMO: Yeah. So just looking at the numbers on the board, we had a five-point lead. So someone had to make eagle.

And the easy thing -- the number one thing I had to do was make par. You can't lose the tournament if you make par, no matter what.

So how do you 100 percent make sure you're going to make par to me was a no-brainer, hit a iron off the tee makes a par. The other one, we can be as aggressive as we need to be on the third shot if someone stuffs it in there on their second.

And you've got to make someone make eagle to tie you. It would be silly for me to get up there and hit driver and all of a sudden, it went out of bounds or something, bring everybody back into the tournament.

So you can lose the tournament that way. The only way I could lose the tournament was hitting a drive off that hole. So I could win it multiple ways the other way. But I couldn't lose it with an iron off the tee. That's the decision we made.

Obviously, if I take driver and hit the fairway it might have ended without having so much on that. But gotta give it to Joe he hit the flag stick on 18 when he needed eagle. Pretty impressive. I think he found out a lot about his game today.

Q. Tony, the putt on 15, we got a nice fist pump out of you. How great did that feel and how much did that kind of propel you the rest of the way?
TONY ROMO: 15 was big. Mark stuffed it in there to almost give me range. And I was up there by the hole trying to figure out where I wanted the ball to be for a putt. And I see his ball come in.

And at that time I think I'm trailing by one. And it was like if you're going into the final three holes against him down four, it's asking a lot, because one drive out of him on 16 that hits the fairway and it's almost out of reach. Or one drive that hits the fairway on 18.

So I gave that one a little extra time, but I also -- I was pretty aggressive with the stroke and the speed, because it just felt like that was -- you just can't get behind four with three to play. I just didn't feel I could.

When that went in, it felt like I had to make it. When it went in it was a surge of adrenaline and that was the biggest putt I made all day.

Q. Tony, when Joe and Trent Dilfer were in the press room with us yesterday they said that 75 would be the number today. You got 71. You won the event. Did you have a number in mind going into the fourth round today?
TONY ROMO: Yeah, the thing that I tried to do is not get into the Stableford game. I like to keep it into the golf world for my brain.

But no, I know what you're saying. So mine was 5-under, but without any bogeys. That was the goal. I said if I shoot 5-under, shoot 67 and Mark comes out, shoots 66 or 67. Okay. Joe comes out, I think he had a 4-point lead. 68 or so. You could only do so much.

And it's hard to make putts on this golf course. It's really hard to shoot anything lower, because even if you hit it close you're going to miss some because the reads are so difficult. It's just tough to make a lot of putts out here.

So for me I felt like forget about what happens around you for 15 holes. We'll get to 16 then we'll see what the scores are. But I said let's get to 3-under getting to 16 and we'll go from there. And that actually weirdly played out like that. I had four birdies and one bogey going into 16. I looked over at Nick after I made it told you I needed to be 3-under going into 16. We got lucky there. And 18, I obviously didn't make the birdie.

Q. Mark, previous champion of the event, did you have a number going into today's round?
MARK MULDER: The greens were fast in the practice rounds. The way that ball was moving on the greens and the poa annua grass, I just figured 70-something was going to win. I didn't think it was going to be a high 70s.

I didn't think -- what did you have 71.

TONY ROMO: Yeah.

MARK MULDER: I didn't think it was going to be quite that low. I didn't think it was going to be 75 or higher. I really didn't. It was too hard to make putts. It was hard to hit it real close. And even some of the, say, eight to 15-footers we made today, they were hard putts. Nothing was straight. The ball was bouncing a little bit late in the day.

And so you had to have some pace in order to make those putts. And the ones that kind of fell at the hole, a lot of us, we missed those putts because they break too much.

So I'm not surprised that low 70s won this.

Q. Tony, this is the second tournament in a row you've won. We understand you have one more tomorrow; is that right?
TONY ROMO: Yeah, I'm looking forward to 36 holes tomorrow. (Laughter). I have the U.S. Am qualifier up in Wisconsin. We'll go down play soon and have a real early morning.

Q. Joe, we noticed hard-charging hockey player, you didn't come up short on hardly any putts going after it especially in the last few holes?
JOE PAVELSKI: I knew my position. I think looking back on 15 I hit driver. Hit driver there all week. And we talked about it after -- we talked about it before. Just where the pin is when it's in that back kind of coming down that slope it's tough to hole anything.

I hit a decent shot in. It just took a bad hop. I found a way to make a par there. I knew coming down the stretch, I probably -- you know, I don't want to say lost the tournament, because there are a lot of guys that played good golf.

But 16 and 18, I think I bogeyed 16, two or three times and 18, I made one birdie on the week.

I hit my two best drives on those holes today. Had great numbers in. Had a 5-iron in, perfect yard for me. And then on 18, I had like 154, hit a pitching wedge, hit it right where I wanted with the wind and everything. Took a big hop, hit the stick, staring at the putt I wanted.

I knew on the tee if I can hit a good drive, give myself a chance that's all I could ask for. And had the luck. And like they were talking about with the putts, you get those downhill sliders, it's tricky, because first thought was kind of ball out. As we looked, it was crept a little bit closer to the hole. I think I played it just outside of the right.

Because there's times you play it out to the right and it just stays there. And then you play it in, sometimes it cuts across. And it just kept going. It was a quick putt.

I thought I hit a pretty good putt as well. I liked it. I thought I had a chance and it kept going. That's how it is.

Q. Joe, last week, June 1st, Thursday, did you expect to be contending?
JOE PAVELSKI: I mean, yeah, I did, I guess. That's why -- I mean, everyone that comes here enjoys it. I really love it because it's tournament golf. It's a tournament I think I can play in and I think I could win one day.

I thought going in today I could win. And I played a great round out here last year on the first day and was kind of in that same position of 23 points.

And, yeah, I did think I had a chance. And the thing that gave me the most, probably, confidence is I was starting to make some putts on the first day. I didn't let up. I made five birdies the second day. And today I just made a couple.

It wasn't lack of chances; it was just a couple -- they weren't easy putts at times. And you've got to be a little bit defensive. And just at the end of the day I didn't make enough quality strokes, I guess.

Q. Tony, first thing you said was it's a special win. Why is that?
TONY ROMO: Just the people that are involved. I think once you've been here as long as a few of us have you meet a lot of people. You start to get to know obviously the people who run the tournament, but you're in this room. You're outside, you see the people that come in and help all week. And you get to know everybody. So it feels like you're playing a tournament back home because it's the people that you know over and over again.

So, to me, that's the specialness of it. And then having your family out, my wife here, my parents. My sister just had a baby last night.

I guess it would be this morning now. But in the middle of the night. So it's a special day for that reason, too, and all that fun stuff.

Q. Mark, we know three-time champion. You've been on top. We know you're disappointed with the finish today. But you really represented yourself well. How did it feel out there fourth time in a row going hard at it?
MARK MULDER: Well, this game is hard. And people don't realize how hard it is playing in this tournament, especially when you're in one of those last few groups.

So I don't take it for granted. I loved every second of it. And Tony played better than the two of us today. And he deserved to win. And you guys asked about earlier -- I think it was hole 14, maybe, I don't know, somewhere I looked at the walking score it was 63, 63, whatever it was, I don't know.

I turned to my buddy, Kenny, who is caddying for me. I said, "How awesome is this?" Just that all three of us were there neck and neck. And that's why I love this tournament so much. It's an incredible feeling.

I personally don't get this anywhere else. So that's why this is my favorite week of the year. And, sure, I came out on the short end of the stick today, but I still had a great time out there.

Q. Tony, you said earlier in the week you were feeling more confident, and we heard Jonathan Thomas at American Century mention something a little earlier that you were pretty confident going into the tournament. What gave you that confidence and how accurate was that statement?
TONY ROMO: You're not going to come in more confident. And it had been a while since I've been playing really good in tournaments. In the years that I was off, I didn't obviously play.

Over the last month that's kind of shifted. And really you start to understand your game. And once you feel like you're the same guy, most days, you know, then it's like, okay, I feel like I can compete and play well.

And that was why you have confidence coming in. At the same time, you gotta go do it. Golf is hard, like you said. Friday I wasn't really in the contending mode there and I just did a great job, almost like him, not as well as Mark at the end.

But he played more consistent throughout all three days [referring to Joe] I just, you know, played well the last 38, 39 holes. And that's golf sometimes. I think you need some breaks to go your way to win a tournament like this.

I got a couple of those. A couple of his balls up in that corner in the bunker, it's a much more difficult shot than if he was right in the rough right there.

Mark hits a tree in the second shot. If he doesn't hit that, he's right up on the green. It can be that simple. So that's why you feel fortunate, feel confident. Confidence doesn't give you a win, you gotta go do it and get some breaks, too.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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