BUICK CLASSIC

June 9, 2002

Chris Smith

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome the winner of the 2002 Buick Classic, Chris Smith. Chris became the seventh first-time winner here. It's got to be just a tremendous feeling today to get that monkey off your back.

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, it is. Honestly, I can't describe it. I just told my wife, Beth, that I found myself -- I saw when we walked off the 17 green that I had a two-shot lead and I figured one of them might birdie the last hole, but I could feel myself welling up inside, and was like, "Oh my gosh, control yourself."

It's been unbelievable. I feel like we have both worked at it very hard and put a lot of time in, and to have something pay off and have everything happen the right way, it was great.

TODD BUDNICK: You said she surprised you; at what point did you know she was going to be here?

CHRIS SMITH: Well, she was up in Chicago with her mother and sister. I got up this morning and I called her, and it was really strange because it was like 10:30 this morning. And I said, "Well, are you going home to watch the golf?"

And she said, "Oh, yeah we are planning our whole day around the golf."

So I had the phone and was laying on the couch in my room, and it took me an hour later, and a light bulb went off in my head and I realized I didn't hear the kids or her mother in the car. I picked up the phone and called her and said, "where are you." And she said, "We're driving home." And I said, "No, where are you?" She said, "We're at the golf course."

We had a couple of hours, and so she came over to the hotel and I think it was good that I got a chance to see her before I got out here.

TODD BUDNICK: That's great. Let's take some questions.

Q. Describe the feeling, I know you've had a lot of chances before to come close, but after finally getting it, does it make up for all of those times when you came close and didn't quite get there?

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, the funny thing is I feel like I've played better before and not gotten the job done. I guess that's the crazy thing about this game. In Atlanta last year, there's no question that I played better, but I made putts today. I made a lot of putts when I needed to. I had good pitch shots when I needed to and just kept pouring the putts in. Next thing you know, get to 18 and I got a two-shot lead.

So, it was great. You try to prepare yourself for what it's going to be like and how it feels, and I don't think you ever really know until you get there. I'm sure I'll have a smile on my face, probably at least until we get to Hawaii in January next year. It's just been great.

Q. The way the back nine unfolded with everybody sort of bunched, did you get a funny feeling that you were in good shape? Were you watching the board at all?

CHRIS SMITH: I tried not to watch too much. I caught myself a couple of times feeling like I was in a match-play tournament with Loren, and I tried to stay away from that. I tried to keep focused on what I was doing with each shot.

The pins were so tough, and the golf course was playing so difficult that I felt like if I just kept -- even hitting the ball crooked off the tee which I did for the last 10 or 12 holes, I was still hitting a lot of greens. I think I probably missed three greens all day and I was able to do that by hitting some good iron shots and being smart and hitting into the middles of greens when I needed to.

I felt like if I just kept making pars, and as good as I was putting, that there would be a chance that I would sneak some birdies in there and I felt that would probably be good enough.

Q. You have such a reputation of being a big hitter, is it extra-satisfying that you were able to scramble and get up-and-down?

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, I have never done that in my life, so, yeah, it was great. (Smiles).

As Beth knows, I have been so frustrated. The first two or three months last year I putted really well and then I kind of lost the putter.

The last two or three years, I haven't felt like I chipped the ball as well as I should. To hit shots when I needed them and to make putts when I needed them is kind of the missing piece of the puzzle that I've been looking for for a long time.

I got a good friend of mine, Michael Breed, who teaches here in this section. He came out and walked the Pro-Am with me on Wednesday, and he gave me a couple of things to think about with putting. We ended up being out on the putting green until dark on Wednesday night.

I called the normal teacher I have, I called him on Wednesday night when I got home and I said, "Well, what do you think of these things"?

He knew Michael, and he said, "Well, Michael is going to give you good information, and sometimes you need a change, so go with it."

So Thursday I had a whole new stance and routine that Michael had given me on, Wednesday and it was the darnedest thing; I felt like every day I was going to make putts this week.

Q. Same putter?

CHRIS SMITH: Same putter I used all last year. I realized about four or five years ago that it's not the arrow; it's the Indian. I quit searching. I have a whole basement full of putters. I quit searching because I know it's not the putter; it's me.

Michael is the head pro at Sunningdale. He really helped me a lot this week.

Q. Your game is at a place it's never been before and you're a winner now, how disappointing is it not being able to carry this momentum into next week?

CHRIS SMITH: I've gotten that question a lot, and obviously you want to play in the Open. I wanted to play and I felt like from what I heard, the golf course was good for me and it sounds like it's going to be a great venue.

I've played six weeks in a row and I'll probably be teeing it up on Thursday and Friday with my two kids. There's probably not a better group than playing with them.

So I'll enjoy being home. I haven't been home for six weeks, and I'll enjoy watching it on TV and being at home.

Q. Did you happen to see a replay of 11 where you hit --?

CHRIS SMITH: I haven't seen anything.

Q. You hit driver pretty good and hit into the rocks?

CHRIS SMITH: I looked at my caddie on 11 tee and I said, "How far do we have to the creek?"

He said, "290 to the first part of it." And so my 5-wood is a 255 club. I'm trying to smoke it. I had a lot of adrenaline today. I was hitting a lot of shots really long.

We were trying to club down and to be perfectly honest, I felt like it was a 3-wood and he said hit the 5-wood. So I'm trying to roast it down the left side and I hit it, picked up my tee right away, thinking it was perfect and I see the thing bouncing around, skirting the creek, and I said, "How far did I hit that?" He said,"I think you hit it 295."

I think we hit the right club. It was a new experience for me. I had a lot of adrenaline going all week. Like I said before, I think there's a lot more to winning than strictly just how good you hit it because I know I've had tournaments where I played better than did I today, but things just worked out.

Q. Does the adrenaline explain missing fairways?

CHRIS SMITH: Oh, I think so. At the end, I was trying to hit some things smooth. So I was kind of somewhere down into the normal range. I started leaving them out to the right, but the crazy thing was that it didn't bother me. It didn't bother me. I was hitting it all over the place and I knew if I could get it to the green I would be okay because I was putting good. It was a long time since I had that kind of confidence in my putter where I could just let it go. If I didn't hit the fairway, I didn't hit the fairway.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about having Matt on the bag, good friend you've known him for ten years; that had to help coming down the stretch.

CHRIS SMITH: I couldn't begin to tell you how much he has helped me. He started working for me full-time last year, and he is one of my very best friends. He's a great caddie and I he's a good player. Just to have him around me has been a great impact on my golf game. And to be able to spend time with him has been a lot of fun, too. We've had a lot of fun. He feels the pain when I'm feeling pain; and he had tears in his eyes when we got done tonight. He's been an incredible help for me for two years. He's part of the family. We've adopted him.

Q. Do you know your schedule for rest of the summer?

CHRIS SMITH: I'm not going to play again. (Laughter.) I'm done. I might not ever play again. (Laughter.)

No, I was kind of teetering between playing at Memphis or not. I am close to Chicago. We're only two hours from Chicago so I always want to feel like I'm ready for Chicago. So I figured I would play Memphis as kind of a tune-up. I've got to think at this point I probably won't play Memphis and then play Chicago and see what happens with the qualifier for the British.

After that, I'll keep -- I'll probably keep my schedule pretty similar to what I had planned. I might take one week off here or there to catch an Ohio State game or soccer game with my kids or something like that.

I've played a lot of golf so far this year and I'm looking forward to going home and taking three weeks off.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go ahead through your card now. You started the day with birdie, bogey, birdie.

CHRIS SMITH: It was quite a start. I hit it just like the adrenaline thing I was talking about on No. 1, we had -- I can't remember, it was 197, I think to the hole. I'm gripping down an inch on a 7-iron and trying to smooth it and it landed on and rolled up almost to the back fringe. I made probably an 8- or 10-footer right off the bat, which was big.

Hit two good shots on 2. Hit a pitching wedge on the middle of the green and my putt bounced and hit something, rolled off and I left it way short right and 3-putted there.

Then on 3, I hit 3-wood, 9-iron up about 10 or 12 feet short of the hole probably and made that one. It was a rocky start.

Then 5, the par 5, I drove it perfect into the first cut of rough and hit a 3-iron up short of the green. I had a bad -- the ball was kind of nestled down in the fairway and I was trying to run something up the hill and left it on the bottom tier. I guess I had a 30-footer and 3-putted that one up the hill.

10, I hit 3-wood off the tee, and it was up green-high left in the rough. I chipped it up probably 15 or 18 feet short of the hole, but I was putting right uphill and I hit a really good putt there and made birdie.

12, I had trouble at all week. I had a hard time getting in the fairway and I hit my drive in the left rough and laid up into the fairway. I had a 9-iron. I was in a divot. I got in a pretty deep divot after I laid up and I chopped a 9-iron out. I thought I got it to the green but it stayed short and I pitched it up about seven or eight feet and made that one for bogey.

15, I hit a drive and I kind of pulled it over the big tree and it got through the fairway in the rough, and I had an 8-iron in and I had a really good shot there. Hit it about 15 to 20 feet right of the hole. I was walking up to the green and it was the first time that the whole scope of the thing hit me. I was walking up the green and I told Matt, I said, "I'm going to make this putt." I really felt like I was going to make 2 and I poured it down into the middle. That was a good one to make. I needed that one.

TODD BUDNICK: If somebody told you yesterday you were going to play the par 5s 1-over today, would you think you would have a chance?

CHRIS SMITH: I would have hoped I made a lot of birdies on the other holes if somebody told me that. (Laughter.)

Matt told me on about the seventh hole, he just said to me: "Be patient, take your time, the pins are tough." And the pins were tough. I would assume that on this golf course, I would be able to play the par 5s under par. I think I probably would have played 18 differently because I think I could have reached 18. But the par 5s on the front, I butchered those up pretty bad. So I figured I would probably play them a little better than that.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you very much, Chris. Congratulations.

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