CHRYSLER CHAMPIONSHIP

October 30, 2003

Charles Howell III

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I would like to welcome our leader in the clubhouse Charles Howell III, 5-under today. Can we start with some opening comments. A great round on a tough course, the players have comments all day how difficult the conditions were. You played it well.

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, the golf course was very tough today. It's a total opposite of what we faced last week at Disney and in that last week you could make a lot of birdies and you knew you had to make a lot of birdies and you felt if you played three holes in a row last week with 3 pars you lost ground. And this week is total opposite of that where par is a good score and if can you make a few birdies out there and hang on to them it goes a long way. So I much prefer tournaments like this compared to last week and you know it is a really hard golf course. It will reward a good shot, but it's one of the tougher and one of the better courses that we play.

Q. You came over, I understand last Friday and played here before Disney? Some guys do that a lot with majors; is that out of the ordinary in a regular TOUR week?

CHARLES HOWELL III: The way I looked at it, this is a difficult golf course, and you know, it's worth my time to drive down here and come down here and play the golf course. I teed off at 7 a.m. I had the first tee time and I hit a bunch of extra balls. I hit a bunch of balls off the tee. I hit a lot of putts and things like that. I enjoy doing that when I can do it. And, you know, I know a lot of guys do it for majors. Every tournament for me feels like a major; you are giving it all you can. That really helped me to come over and play it. You get out to see the golf course in a different light, without the ropes up and a bunch of fans out here. You can just kind of work the golf course and play it like it was a casual round. I learn quite a lot from stuff like that.

Q. Have you ever done that before?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, I have. In fact earlier in the area during December I flew to Palm Springs and played the Bob Hope golf courses early. I played quite a bit of tournaments during the year. My schedule doesn't allow it a lot but when it does I will go play some golf courses early, yes.

Q. What was your time on Friday?

CHARLES HOWELL III: No, the week before Disney I came over and played, that's correct.

Q. What was the green fees?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Free, it was a good green fee. I even got a cart.

Q. Dan Forsman, was in here before you and he was talking about just kind of how neat it is, sort of that he competes against guys like yourself who might be young enough to be his son; I just want to know what it looks likes from your perspective to play a guy against him who is only a shot behind you, who is 20 years older than you, who has been out here a long, long time?

CHARLES HOWELL III: That's the great thing about golf, I think. You can't do that in baseball. And you can't do what that in football. And, you know, golf is a great game because of that. I'm 24, this is my fourth year as a pro. I'm playing against Ty (Tryon) who is 19 out here, and I am also playing against guys that are in there mid to late 40's. So that's pretty cool that I can play out here.

Can I play golf out here another 26 years and still be competing against guys that are going to be 20 one day? You know to think I'm going to play against somebody one day on PGA TOUR that is not even born yet, that's a neat thing about this game that can you do that. I was interviewed earlier in the week that why haven't the younger players won more this year. It goes to show a lot of the guys 40 and older have won this year which shows you that you can win at that age.

Q. Did you have any preconceived idea what Innisbrook was, did you have it in mind a Florida resort course; did you realize it was like this before you showed up?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I played here in a Junior's Tournament in American goal Junior Golf Association events so I knew it was a tough golf course.

Q. Secondly, do you consider yourself to be beyond the bubble?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Not really, no.

Q. Honest question I'm trying to figure it out myself?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I really don't. I don't think a guy that is 30 is on the bubble so to speak because you just go play golf, at the end of the day you add them up and you see where you stand. You know, it just so happens at the end of the week, you know, you just see -- I have always looked at the amount of money or dollars earned as points, so to speak, you see how many points you gained for that week and how it stands. Every time I have ever thought about a position on the money list or any time I ever looked around me and who was around me I have always done worse.

I don't see any benefit at all in looking around the money list and saying, well, I'm this amount of money ahead of 30 or this or this; every time I have done that it hasn't helped me.

Q. Were you thinking about THE TOUR Championship before Disney?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Oh, sure I was. Because it's important. And it's important for me to make that. Yes, I was and every time I thought about it, it didn't help me. So now for the last week I went into Disney, I was 20 on the money list and I thought just go play two more tournaments and see what happens. As long as I plan on giving it my best whatever happens I can deal. If I'm home watching and I were to fall out then I couldn't handle that. But I'm here and I am playing. I will give it my best and we will see what happens.

Q. I heard you say earlier the greens here were slick as Augusta; that's quite a compliment.

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, downhill, downgrain they are, yes. That's the tough part of these greens; downhill, downgrain they are fast. Then you can turn around and have 1-up into the hill which is quite slow. That's the tough part of Bermuda is the green factor. You know, your variation on the Stimp meter might go downhill, downgrain might be 14 and uphill into the grain might be 7 and you can see that on the same green. You know that's quite a difference. Now, you add in the break on the putts with the cross green, yes, these -- Bermuda greens are funny; you have to have an eye for them and definitely have a feel for them.

It seems to me like once you start seeing the putts well on Bermuda you can hole a lot, whereas I think it's easier to be consistent on bent grass. On Bermuda, once you started seeing it well then you can do okay on them.

Q. I guess on 14 you add eagle; can you take us through how that came about?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I had a good drive there. I had -- I remember I had 245 to the front. And I hit 3-wood on the back right part of the green and the putt was straight downhill and downgrain. In all honesty I was trying to get the speed right and get the ball close to the hole and low and behold, it was the right speed. It went right in the middle of the hole. It wasn't a putt standing over that I think I can knock this in. It was a putt focussing on the speed of it and making sure that was right and low and behold it hit right in the middle.

Q. How far was the putt?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Shot link will tell you something else, 37 feet, 3-and-a-half inches.

Q. What was more impressive, the putt or the approach there? You figured you are going to get to the green after your drive.

CHARLES HOWELL III: I could reach the green comfortably; it was downwind. The putt was the toughest. Simply because, you know, once again it's downhill, downgrain, the hole was cut in a little bit of a slope. I know that if I miss it, it is going to roll five, six feet by the hole.

So yes, the greens make you think. It's not the old Bermuda wherever single putt is slow and you just whack it. They make you think.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Eagle on 14, bogey on 16.

CHARLES HOWELL III: 16, I drove it in the water off the tee. I dropped, I hit an 8-iron. Just over the back of the green, got up and down for a bogey there. Actually I drove two balls in the water today. I drove it in the water also to third hole. I picked a poor club off the tee, it's probably one of the stupidest course management moves that I ever made as a professional.

Q. It's like 250 to the water?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, 250 run out. It ran through the fairway into the water. Yes, that was a really stupid mistake. I birdied the first hole. I holed a putt from about 15 feet there up the hill.

The 2nd hole, a 2-iron and a 8-iron to about 15 feet, made birdie there as well.

And then the 7th hole I hit a 2-iron and a wedge to probably 25 feet and holed a long putt there for birdie.

Q. Are you feeling more comfortable on the greens?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, I am. David Leadbetter and I have spent a tremendous amount of time with my putting. Putting is so important. The two most important clubs in the bag are the driver and putter. Any time you have a poor round, any time you see a player struggling or when you see a player playing really well, it's because of those two clubs. Every single time it happens that way. We spend a lot of time on it and every round I play, either good, bad or indifferent, it continues to be that way and I am still working on it.

Q. When you are working on it what are you working on?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I would have to kill you. We video it a lot. It's the simple things, my set-up, its path, watching the rotation on the ball. It's nothing fancy because putting isn't. You know, it's not as mechanical or technical as we get with the golf swing and the full swing, it's just putting. It's a lot of feel. In fact, David's wife Kelly helps me a lot with my putting as well. She's great putter in her own right. Putting is one of those things like that.

Q. I know it's the first round, what did you think when David Gossett got out of the box at 4-under?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Well, when I went to tee off and I saw the scores on the scoreboard I knew the course was playing difficult, to see him start off 4-under through 8 holes was awesome.

It always helps to play with a guy like that because myself and Mark were under par, but not as much under as David. You kind of push each other along. That was important today. Mark unfortunately made a 6 on the last but he played a good round today as well. David shot 1-over. That was the absolutely highest he could have shot today. He should have shot 3, or 4 or 5-under as well. It helps a lot to watch a guy do that.

Q. When you hit that 3 iron in the water, a mistake like that, does that take a long time to recover from? Can you tell us about your anger level?

CHARLES HOWELL III: It was such a bad mistake that I wasn't mad about it. It wasn't even close to staying up. It flew right to the edge and bounced right in.

You know I couldn't get mad about it. Had it just trickled in, I would have been furious. But I couldn't get mad about it because it was such a bad mistake.

Q. Just the way you call it the stupidest thing sounded like you were pretty upset?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Oh, yes, I was. And Brenden and I will talk about it later. It was just one of those things. It was plain as day, clearly a 4-iron off the tee maybe a 5-iron, because it was downwind. It's one of those mental blocks. But yes, who knows.

Q. Is this the kind of course that you enjoy playing?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Definitely so. I much prefer a tournament like this where par is rewarded over a tournament like last week where you have to make a lot of birdies, definitely. I will take this style of golf.

You saw it like the Candian Open, like the Wachovia tournament and obviously the majors, I will take this every day over the others.

Here's a tidbit for you, you probably want something interesting to write. Mike Piazza called me last night and wished me good luck. So there, you go, you have something to spice it up.

Q. What's the connection there?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I did a Callaway commercial with him a couple of years ago and we became good friends. We keen in touch here and there. We actually talk a bit. He lives in Miami. So he knew we were in the area. He called. He is obviously my favorite baseball player but I'm prejudiced.

Q. You ever call him and wish him good luck?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Do I? Yes, I do.

End of FastScripts.