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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

January 30, 2019

Gary Woodland

Scottsdale, Arizona

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome the defending champion to the interview room here, Gary Woodland. Gary, welcome back. Some thoughts on defending your title this week.

GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, it's great to be back. Obviously I had a great week here last year, great emotions being back, nice to see a lot of the same people. But the golf course is in great shape, it's firm, weather's a little different this year it looks like than it was last year so that will be a little different. But I'm excited about where my game is, I've been playing well now for awhile and excited to be back here to defend.

JOHN BUSH: Before we open up for questions I would like to get your comments on yesterday's out on No. 16 with Amy from the Special Olympics. I know that's one of the coolest things that you've taken part in.

GARY WOODLAND: I've been blessed to do lot of cool things on the golf course but that is by far the coolest thing I've ever experienced. She was phenomenal. And then to step up in front of all the people and the crowd and everything and to hit the shots that she hit and made par, I never rooted so hard for somebody on a golf course and it was an emotional, emotional really cool experience.

JOHN BUSH: Open it up to questions.

Q. She has a scholarship to play at a local community college and I believe she's the first athlete with Downs Syndrome to be given a scholarship. What are your thoughts on just kind of the progress that's being made and the opportunity for someone?
GARY WOODLAND: It's phenomenal. I told her yesterday she was an inspiration to all of us and we can all learn from her. She was dealt with some serious issues and she's overcome them and she is phenomenal. She was so sweet yesterday, she was so excited and happy and that's something that we can all learn from. When things aren't going our way we can definitely look back at her. And I told her she was a hero and to keep doing what she's doing because we're all going to be following her.

Q. Seems like we all wanted to ask you about the same thing. How did that get set up, how far in advance did you know you were going to play with her?
GARY WOODLAND: I knew for a little over a week now. I got an e-mail about it, I got her story sent to me, I was excited to do it. But like I said, we get to do a lot of cool things, I've done a lot of stuff being the defending champ, but that was by far the coolest thing that I got asked to do and something I'll never forget.

Q. Have you watched the little video that's making the rounds on Twitter?
GARY WOODLAND: I have not seen that, no, I haven't. I saw Scott Van Pelt, he texted me last night and said he was going to put it on Sportscenter last night, he was going to open with it. So I saw that part, but I haven't seen social media today.

Q. Have you ever gone viral like that before?
GARY WOODLAND: Not like that. Obviously not. It's all about her. It was really cool.

Q. Johnny Miller's retiring after this event, what kind of legacy does he leave behind in the sportscasting world?
GARY WOODLAND: He's been the face of sports or golf broadcasting for a long time. You always know with Johnny what you're going to get, he's going to be critical and he's going to be honest, he's going to say what he thinks. I think that's, whether you like to hear it or not, it's a good thing. So the game will miss Johnny from that standpoint. He was obviously a phenomenal player, but he's been a huge voice in this game for a long time so he will definitely be missed.

Q. Obviously last year went pretty well, where are you with your game at this exact moment compared to 365 days ago?
GARY WOODLAND: I'm in a lot better place. There I was just fighting to kind of break through again. It had been five years since I won, I had been in and out of contention a lot, not consistently enough and right now I'm just really knocking on the door consistently. I played well now for the last five or six four or five, six months, had a lot of chances to win, which is nice, obviously I had a really good chance there in Maui. Last week was a big week for me just because the last couple weeks when I have been out of contention I kind of just haven't done much, and to fight -- I made the cut on the number last week and to kind of back door a top-10, which was nice. So obviously I played better last week coming into this tournament than I did the year before. So I'm excited about this golf course, the par-5s setup good for me, it's a golf course I feel like I can be aggressive, the greens are really firm which I think sets up better for me as well. So if we get a little bit of rain maybe Saturday will soften it up which I think lengthens the golf course, which helps me as well. So I'm excited about this week.

Q. So looking at it you obviously finished strong last week and looking to try to repeat here. How does the early, these early tournaments try to set yourself up for the rest of the year and season?
GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, our schedule's just so front loaded right now than it used to be. So you got to feel like you kind of got to play in the fall. I got in four tournaments and played well in three of them. And then I got off to a nice start in Hawaii. So it's nice to get off to a good start, especially with three playoff events now it puts a lot more emphasis on the regular season, which I think is a good thing. There won't be as much movement I think. So it's nice to get off to that good start. Obviously we have the regular season bonus now in Greensboro so there's a lot to go into playing well early in the year to try get yourself up in that top-10 in the FedExCup and then have a chance to win at the end.

Q. Was there one thing that stood out in the putting changes you made with your coach that made the difference that maybe you can help other people with?
GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, we obviously we made a lot of changes and now it's -- some things got -- like last week I was really struggling, I had six 3-putts last week, I was struggling early in the week. And I went back to the videos when we started in the playoffs when we started working together and kind of realized I had overdone something and just made little changes. So now we're not searching, redoing the whole wheel again. Now it's just literally little tweaks here and there which can get me back on track really quick. I went from thinking I didn't have a chance to shoot 80 and then all of a sudden I made it on the weekend and end up making some putts late and I finished with strokes gained putting positive which was pretty good with six 3-putts early in the week.

Q. Were they are the important things, are they posture and setup related?
GARY WOODLAND: It's all posture. It's all posture, all setup, it's all grip. My stroke's always been pretty good but I've kind of been out of -- setup's been bad and put me in some bad situations. So it's simple, it's something my caddie can see, which is a huge deal and I don't have to call Phil all the way over in Manchester and get him to get over here and help me, it's something I can do on my own, which is good.

Q. Do you guys trade phone calls or e-mails or videos?
GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, we talk every day. Especially leading up to a tournament. I'll send him videos. Obviously with time difference I usually get them in the morning when I wake up and then review and send him more. So he's coming over -- I'm off the next two weeks and he's coming over and spending time at my house so we'll get some work in face-to-face there, but the last couple months it's been more over the phone.

Q. Is Amy going to start helping you with your swing?
GARY WOODLAND: Who? Yes, I told her, I told her I needed to get lessons from her. That shot she hit -- I was hoping she got it off the tee box. I figured she would be a little nervous with a couple thousand people there watching her. And when it was in the bunker I asked her if she wanted me to take it out. I didn't know if she wanted to go in. She said, no, I got this. And she was right, she did, it was awesome to see. And then the putt, I mean I never rooted so hard for something and it went in center cut. It just looked good the whole time.

Q. Did she take time over the bunker shot or just walk up and hit it?
GARY WOODLAND: Her dad was trying to help her and told her to swing harder and she kept telling me kind of, she's got it out of the bunker, and she told him, she's got it. She said, leave me alone, I got this figured out. So it was really, really cool.

JOHN BUSH: Gary good stuff, best of luck as you go for two in a row.

GARY WOODLAND: Thanks, guys, appreciate it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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