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CHRYSLER CLASSIC OF GREENSBORO

October 16, 2004

Chris Smith

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

CHRIS REIMER: 10-under, you're right in the thick of it. What did you have going today?

CHRIS SMITH: Everything, really. I played well today. I've played well the last four weeks and I just haven't really gotten much out of it. I tried to stay positive and today I finally made a couple up and downs when I had to. Made a couple putts. Three or four footers for par saves, when I had run birdie putts by. I really hit my irons good and controlled the ball with my irons. Jay and I had a great time playing today, so everything just kind of went smooth and I really hit everything pretty good today.

CHRIS REIMER: How are the conditions different today than the first two?

CHRIS SMITH: Well, they were pretty bad yesterday morning too. When I started today I would have thought that two or three under would have been a really good score. And you have to -- I kind of looked at it today as having to take care of the par-5s and I could still reach all the par-5s with wind. I figured if I played the par-5s well and didn't do anything stupid on other holes that I would be able to still score a decent round in these conditions. So I just kind of went with that approach and I played the par-5s very well. I hit some other good shots. Made a couple birdies on the par-3s and next thing you know you get done and you're happy.

Q. Couldn't have come at a better time, could it for you?

CHRIS SMITH: It would have been better in January. So I didn't have to worry about it all year. No, you're right. I kind of have struggled a little bit with the whole pressure of the Money List and all that for about the last three or four months. I think it's kind of hurt my golf game a little bit. And I finally about five weeks ago I decided that that was something that was out of my control, that I just needed to go play golf. I hadn't had to worry about that for a long time and it was kind of -- I remember what it was like. It's brutal. So I kind of went home over the last four weeks and I haven't worried about it as much and I know I'm playing good golf and I know that I am controlling the ball good and I know I'm playing the way I did in 2001 and 2002.

I feel good about my golf game, I'm trying as best I can to not think about the other stuff. But you're right, I'm officially running out of weeks at this point. I told my wife after last week I felt like I played really good out in Vegas last week and I just didn't get anything out of it. I finished 35th or whatever. And I told her, I said, if I was playing this way and it was May or June, I would feel like the year was going to be great because I knew that I was playing good. But the problem is I only have three tournaments left. And so it's, it gets down to the point where you got to perform and play good this week. And I also realize that there are more important things than having to finish in the top 125.

Q. With that in mind how do you feel about going into tomorrow? Now that you're near the lead.

CHRIS SMITH: I feel -- that's where you want to be. I would have liked to have made a couple more birdies. I got -- I would like to be in the lead. But I feel good about it. I feel like my game is good and I think as long as I can stay relaxed and stay loose tomorrow and keep enjoying it that I will play good tomorrow. That's going to be -- that's really a bigger challenge for me right now than my golf game, because I know my golf game is pretty good. If I let myself do it.

So my whole focus tomorrow is I'm just going to try to keep enjoying it and realize that I'm not going to hit every shot perfect, but I know I'm going to hit some good shots tomorrow and just go out and do the best I can and try as hard as I can and if it is good enough, great, it's great. And if it's not, it's not.

Q. With that in mind how have you done previously in these circumstances?

CHRIS SMITH: Well, I've only been leading once and I won that tournament, so I mean I feel pretty comfortable there. And that was the same Westchester two years ago is the same type of deal where I had struggled a little bit coming into the tournament and the week before Kemper I think I finished 7th and I played really well and I felt like my game was good. I had the lead after 3 rounds at Westchester and I birdied the first hole at Westchester and it was kind of that everything went right after that. I didn't hit necessarily the best shots on the back nine off the tee, but I hit some really good iron shots and made some putts and I had fun with it.

So I'm not scared of the lead. I'm not scared of the prospect of winning. But I just have to make sure that I keep it all in perspective in my mind. That it's, you know, I tried the best I can, I do everything I can in my power and I try to enjoy it and I just kind of let it go where it goes. And if I do that, I think I'll be all right.

Q. You said you weren't dealing with it very well, the top 125. Could you expound upon that?

CHRIS SMITH: Well, it's a stressful thing. It's the prospect of losing your job. I got two kids and a wife and they all depend on me. I think they have been more than, more supportive than I ever could have dreamed. And they don't put any pressure on me. But I feel it inside. I want to provide for them and I want to keep my profession going. It's what I love to do and I want to keep playing golf and I don't want to lose the opportunity to play in the best place in the world. And with my status I would still have some tournaments, but I feel like my golf game is better than that. I feel like I should be out here playing every week. And so it's a hard thing to describe, because there aren't a lot of people that have jobs that they can just get taken away from them in one week. And that's kind of what you face out here if you're struggling for top 125. And I think that I let it get a lot more important to me than it really is. I think I realized that it is not the end of the world. And I know that I have the skills to do it. And I have proven that to myself. And I know that eventually, even if it doesn't happen this year, I know eventually it will, everything will work out because I feel like I belong out here and I know that I can win out here. So I think it will all work out.

Q. What changed your four weeks ago, whatever it was, what changed your focus?

CHRIS SMITH: My wife, really, to be honest. I spent so much time and she kind of let me, let me try to deal with it the best that I could and she didn't say a lot, which was great. And I had an off week, it was the week of San Antonio, I believe. And I was home and we were just sitting there talking about it as we always do and she said, you know, you got to have faith, first of all. You got to have faith that everything is going to be okay. She said, I know everything is going to be okay. And I know that your golf game is going to be good enough to do what you need to do. And just go let it happen. And I thought about that for a little bit before I came back out and I realized that I hadn't approached it that way. I hadn't this faith in the fact that it's going to work out. So I just kind of relaxed a little bit and I took a step back and I settled down a little bit and didn't let every shot bother me. I tried not to be nearly as difficult on myself. I think I'm very hard on myself at times and I think that that is something that has been bothering me for the last year and a half too. The whole another phase of that is that after I won in 2002 then I came out in 2003 and felt like I should be competing to win every week. And so all year last year if I shot even par that first day I felt like, well this tournament's done. I'm 8 shots back. I got no chance here. What am I doing? And that was a whole another mindset that I dealt with last year and I was dealing with a little bit at the start of this year. I think after I won I needed kind of to -- I changed my goals a little bit and I think I needed just to keep going and just keep playing instead of trying to chase the win. Because you don't win by -- the best weeks aren't the weeks that you win. And I had a round here this week the first day here, I had played better the first, the last three weeks I played every single round better than the first round I played here. But everything just kind of seemed to happen right. And I got a decent round out of it. I shot 2-under and in the afternoon it felt pretty good about things. And it was the worst round I had played in four weeks. So if you can -- I figure if I can just keep going and keep doing what I'm doing, the weeks that you happen to win, aren't necessarily the weeks that you're playing the best. I knew that I was playing good and she's helped me with that. And it's just been a group effort. My kids help me. My kids call me at night and leave me messages and say, dad, we miss you, we look forward to you coming home, play well. And all that stuff helps. And they have helped me a great deal.

Q. Do you think that it's harder to win the second time than the first time?

CHRIS SMITH: Well, yeah, I do. For me it has been I think because of what I was explaining to you. I played good after I won in 2002, I played good the rest of the year. I didn't miss another cut and I had a couple more chances to win. So I'm sitting at home in December and in 2002 thinking, well, heck, you know, I should win three times next year. So I was going out every week thinking well I'm going to, if I don't win this week, there's something wrong with my golf game. But this winning thing is much bigger than the shots you hit. Which might sound ridiculous. But everything has to go right or you can get beat. So I mean there's all this stuff going on that you really don't have control over. And I was trying to force that whole, that whole winning mentality. And that's not, at least nor me, that's not how it's going to work.

CHRIS REIMER: Any more questions?

CHRIS SMITH: I'm glad nobody said I'm 152 on the Money List.

CHRIS REIMER: Now it's in the transcript.

CHRIS SMITH: That's first thing they said out there. So, you're 152 on the list. Yeah, like I didn't know that.

Q. What did you have in on 9?

CHRIS SMITH: I had 187 to the front and whatever the pin is on. I think I had like 194 or 195 or something to the home.

Q. So what's that off the tee about 370 or something?

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, well I know -- the cover on the bunker is 315 and I hit is right over the center of the bunker. I had to cover it by 35 or 40 yards. But it's downhill, 30 mile an hour wind. But it's as far as I can hit it.

Q. Do you have to go over the trees there where you're hitting it?

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, I hit it right over the people and the trees and the cart path and the bunker and all that ended up in the fairway.

CHRIS REIMER: All right. Thank you, Chris.

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah.

End of FastScripts.

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