BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 3, 2003

Charles Howell III

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you for joining us in the press room at the Bell Canadian Open.

Congratulations for making the 2003 Presidents Cup team. Why don't you talk a little bit about being on a team for the first time in your career as a professional, and then we'll go into questions about the tournament.

CHARLES HOWELL: My No. 1 goal this year was to make the Presidents Cup team. You know, in the end, it is amazing how difficult it was to make the team. I entered The INTERNATIONAL, which was basically The INTERNATIONAL, and the PGA, after that I entered that tournament 11th on the list. I finished ninth and 10th and ended up 10th on the list. So looking back, it was much more difficult to make in the end than I thought it would be.

It means a tremendous amount to make that team. Obviously it's my first time as a professional being in a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. It will be awesome. I'm looking forward to it. I've never been to South Africa. I know we have never won the Presidents Cup on international soil; so that's more incentive there. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that.

Q. Inaudible?

CHARLES HOWELL: Oh, I would love it. I hope I have to worry about that. Yeah, I would love that. I see where it's a long way to go for some people, but in the end, going to South Africa, I think we owe it to players like Ernie Els and Retief, Nick Price, people that have come over here to play and support our tour, to go down there and support that.

I love it. I think it's great to go to places like that and I hope it's hostile as heck. Actually, I think it's great for golf. Apart from yelling in your backswing, I think it's fantastic.

Q. Would you speak about this golf course? I think you've been here since Monday, so you've had a few practice rounds in; what did you think?

CHARLES HOWELL: I think the golf course is awesome. You know, I thought Glen Abbey was a very good golf course and I wasn't sure of the idea of moving the Canadian Open around, but now seeing this golf course around, like Angus Glen (ph) last year, I think it's great. You get to see a lot of golf courses. I think this golf course was or is ranked No. 1 in Canada, maybe not right now, but it's still top two or three and it's easy to see why; it's incredible. There's not one bad hole on it.

I wish that we played more golf courses like this. This has a lot of -- the Wachovia tournament is similar to that. It's similar to Westchester. Yeah, I don't think you'll hear one complaint about this golf course.

Q. Is there anything in Georgia that it compares to as far as traditional golf?

CHARLES HOWELL: Not really, no. Not really. Nothing like this, with the trees and the way the holes are shaped. It's awesome. There's not one bad thing that I can say about it.

Q. So you are genuinely excited to be here?

CHARLES HOWELL: Yes. If the tournament were to stay here every year, it would not hurt my feelings, no.

Q. About the Presidents Cup, you had talked to Tiger about playing together, have you talked about that seeing if you can do it?

CHARLES HOWELL: Yes, we will talk to Jack about that. In fact, Jack has kind of left it open to the players to kind of decide who they play with as partners, which I think is the best way to do it. Because if one guy really wants to play with one guy, or two guys really don't want to play together, there's no sense in putting them together. I would not be surprised if Tiger and I were paired in the team matches down there.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHARLES HOWELL: Well, I hope so. It's not for lack of talent.

Q. It's also possibly the last -- inaudible -- tournament Jack will be in, is it important for you in that respect to be on a team that Jack is in charge of?

CHARLES HOWELL: I can't think of a better captain to play for than Jack Nicklaus. I remember the first Masters -- the first Masters that I went to as in '87 when Larry Mize won. So to think that I was that young and Jack Nicklaus had just won the Masters in '86 and I'm looking up to him; now I can actually play for him, that's a bit -- that's a bit kind of too good to be true or a bit surreal I guess.

David Leadbetter and I were talking the other day, when I was on the range in Orlando, I was 11, 12 and 13, I was calling Nick Price, "Hey, Mr. Price" and "Mr. Faldo" and all this and looking up to these guys, and now I could very well play against Nick in a match. Now I just call him Nick or whatever. So it's funny how things change like that.

You know, it just goes to show you the game of golf and how you can still play this game for a long time. I'm going to be playing against some kid that's probably just now being born one day and it's hard to imagine. It doesn't really happen in many other sports.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHARLES HOWELL: Yeah, Palmer Cup in the American Junior Golf Association, Canon Cup -- I was first alternate for the Walker Cup, God bless him. And right now, the Presidents Cup.

Q. What year was that?

CHARLES HOWELL: For the Walker Cup? That was in '99, I want to say, maybe. Yeah. I was ranked second in the amateur rankings, there was first alternate to the team. There's no politics involved there.

Q. Speaking of playing the game a long time, just wanted to get your comments on the captain's picks, Jay Haas and Fred Funk, what they bring to the field.

CHARLES HOWELL: I can't imagine a harder thing to do than to have to pick two picks. I think the captain probably would rather just have just the straight 12 and not have to worry about that, because I don't think they can make two picks that everybody is going to agree with.

Fred finished 11 on the list. I think you have to take 11. He's had a great three years here where this point thing has been running through. You know he's going to hit every fairway down there. You know he's going to make a ton of pars and you can count on him to play well.

Jay Haas, it's hard to criticize that, with the experience that he has, as long as he's been around. Yeah, it's just hard to criticize either one of those two picks at all.

I played with Jay in the final round at Firestone a couple weeks back and he played awesome. He was really, really excited make the team and looking forward to it. I hope that at his age, I can still be making teams like that and still be playing as competitively as he is. It's pretty awesome.

Q. Can you look and tell us what you see out there?

CHARLES HOWELL: It's going to be tough. If you look at both teams, there's great players on both sides. It's a bit strange, as well. They are always the International Team, yet we play against them every week. And so it's kind of like 24 players from the PGA TOUR get to play each other.

But yeah, it's going to be really tough. I can definitely see it being very close, very competitive. Yeah, it's going to be a heck of a match.

Q. Inaudible?

CHARLES HOWELL: I've heard it's going to be quite a lot. It's going to be in South Africa, and the South African fans I hear are very outspoken and wild. So it should be fun, especially with South Africans on the team, as many as they have with Ernie and Nick and Retief, Tim Clark.

Q. With regards to Player of the Year, obviously different people have different opinions, but what is the main criteria, do you think?

CHARLES HOWELL: You know, I think it's Money List. I think it's hard not to go off of that because it's indicative of how you've played all year. It doesn't matter how many tournaments you play; you can play as much as you want or as little as you want. If you win the money title, I think it's hard not to call that guy Player of the Year. You could win two majors and take the rest of the year off.

Still I think it's hard not to go with the winner of the money title. Of course, this year what a crazy year it is, with all of the money being at the top. I think it's very possible that it could be less money to keep your card this year than last year with the purse increases, just because there are so many multiple winners. The field at the Mercedes Championship this year is going to be a lot smaller than it was last year.

You know, last year everyone was saying it was the year of the young player and the first-time winners and the older players are done and they are writing all of these guys off, and now look what's happened. It's amazing.

For Player of the Year, I think it's going to be hard not to go with the winner of the money title.

Q. Speaking of young player players, Scott just won in Boston and we were asking him ten minutes ago about the other young players, yourself and Rose and Baddeley. He said you all kind of feed off each other; when one does well, it inspires the others. Do you feel the same way about that?

CHARLES HOWELL: Yeah, I think from the competitive side of it, obviously we are all good friends and we've played a lot of golf with and against each other. But we don't want to lose to each other either and we don't want to let one get like one step ahead of the other.

I think it's good because it helps keep motivating all of you. There's so many good young players now, it's hard to list all of them. You take the players such as a Luke Donald and an Aaron Baddeley and Matt Kuchar, David Gossett, Adam last week winning, Justin, it's hard to really remember all of them, and yet they are all out here doing well.

So, I think that you are going to see in the next few years a lot of the younger players start winning more. The more comfortable that we all get playing, the better we learn how to play. You know, pro golf on these golf courses takes a lot more course management and discipline than the courses we played in college golf. Plus, the competition is obviously the toughest in the world.

Q. Every golfer has a home tournament. This week is pretty much Mike Weir's. What is it like when you're playing in your home and so many people want you to do things and you still want to concentrate on winning the golf tournament?

CHARLES HOWELL: My home tournament happens to be Masters. All tournaments are very nerve-wracking. Everywhere you play, you try your best. I've never been a believer that, okay, this is a major and this is more important. It doesn't work that way. Every week you play, it feels like a major because you're trying your hardest on every shot. Whatever tournament that you win, it's going to feel like a major to you. We just so happen to have four events that are called majors, but that really doesn't mean anything. It's still a golf tournament and they are all extremely important. So you add that on with a home-town crowd; you want to play well in front of them.

You know, obviously your hometown crowd gets to read a lot about you, so obviously Mike wants to play well in front of them and so forth. You don't want to get the comments: "Well, I can do that"; "winning the Masters must have been easy"; "I can beat this guy." Obviously, you are wanting to play well but there's even more of that playing at home, yes.

Q. What you are your impressions of Mike's technique -- you ran up against him at the Nissan ?

CHARLES HOWELL: I think he's got one of the best swings out here. It's hard to tell that because he's left-handed and we are not used seeing golf swing from that side of it. I've looked on his swing on video. We can reverse it and make it a right-handed swing. And it's very good. He drives the ball extremely straight and I think that's so important. I think distance has become this fad, kind of, over the last few years. Yet you see the guys that are winning the majors are not the longer hitters.

It just shows, you have to drive the ball on the fairway. You've got to drive it straight. That's one of his strengths. Yeah, that's the main thing that I learn and take from Mike Weir is his accuracy. He always seems to work on the same things in his golf swing. He doesn't seem to jump around a lot. I know last year he struggled a bit when he got away from -- when things were working well for him his pre-shot routine, for instance, and you look at this year how great he's playing. I think he's got one of the best golf swings out here.

Q. About three years ago at Glen Abbey, you and I did a ten-minute interview on the range and you were pretty quiet then. You were kind of shy with some of the questions and stuff. I notice three years later, a lot more animated Charles Howell and a little more outgoing Charles Howell. Something you've worked on or is that just a natural progression of being out here, more comfortable, what is it?

CHARLES HOWELL: I think it's just what this game does to you. We are all headed to the funny farm one day. It just is a matter of time. (Laughing).

I think it's just from playing a lot of golf, learning more about it, starting to learn things a little better and create opinions. I think it's just a natural progression. We play so many tournaments each year and each week, and obviously the main goal is to get a little bit better every week and every year and keep improving.

Q. You haven't won a tournament this year, how eager are you to try to get one in this last swing of the season?

CHARLES HOWELL: I'm going to play a lot coming up simply for that reason, to try to win a tournament. You know, last year I was sitting here and I had not won a tournament. I missed the cut at the Texas Open by a shot. I flew back to Orlando and I went out skiing with David Leadbetter for two days; then I went to Michelob and won. Who would have thought that?

Take a player -- look at people who have won our majors such as a Ben Curtis or Shaun Micheel. Just shows you how crazy this game is, how many good players there really are out here.

I'm going to play a lot coming in. Obviously try to win a golf tournament. I would love to go back to the Mercedes, what a great tournament that is, and that's a pretty good incentive.

Q. Inaudible?

CHARLES HOWELL: You know, usually a fair amount, probably seven or eight times, which is more than I do in the PGA or the U.S. Open. So a fair amount, which is good.

Q. Does your caddie have an appreciation of this course --

CHARLES HOWELL: Oh, he does. He loves the golf course, as well. We play a lot of very modern golf courses now with a lot of rolls and slope, a lot of big open areas and it's really nice to see a golf course like this. Not that the fairways are overly narrow, but they are shaped by trees, which is nice to see. It's not just a huge expansion, huge expansion of just 50,000 people which is a nice change, and I wish we played more courses this way.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHARLES HOWELL: Yes, I have. I have not played it in a tournament, similar to this, Quail Hollow, very similar to this, Oak Hill, similar to this.

Q. You talked about the machine that turns around a swing, have you turned your swing around, looked at your swing as a left-hander?

CHARLES HOWELL: Yes, it's very interesting. You can gain an appreciation of looking at swings different ways. Yeah, it's pretty neat to see. It's much easier to take a guy like Mike Weir and put his swing right-handed and Phil Mickelson and appreciate it much more that way than watching it left-handed.

Q. Inaudible?

CHARLES HOWELL: Well, last thing I wanted to do was finish 11th or 12th and be a captain's pick because I didn't want to feel, "so you got picked for your first team event." I didn't want that at all. In fact, had I finished 11th and 12th and not been picked I would have been upset, you don't want to feel like you're a charity case or whatever, "oh, we'll let you on the team." It was important for me being my first one at my age to make the team, to make the team, the Top-10.

Being a captain, it would have been hard not to take 11 and 12 because it's hard to argue with those two picks, but then again, it's hard not to argue for a Jay Haas. It's hard not to argue for a Shaun Micheel who just won the PGA. Then you have Chad Campbell who is playing great and Ben Curtis who won the Open. It's very difficult making those two picks.

But then again, on the flip side of it, though, it's hard to make two bad picks, as well.

Q. You have a relationship with Jack, and he said he would not let that kind of stuff get in his head, even if you were No. 11, you would not be a lock to be a captain's pick because you were not experienced in international play. Were you worried that you might not be picked?

CHARLES HOWELL: I would not have -- but I wasn't counting on it with him. I wasn't counting on it. With the emphasis on experience -- inaudible -- there's 18 fairways, I've never -- international experience means absolutely nothing. I don't think -- I don't think experience means anything, either. For people that do, Ben Curtis won the British Open. People used to say you have to play four or five Open Championships to get used to it; no, you don't. That's a very negative way of looking and thinking of things, I believe.

And so other people have said, "Well, your first tournament win cannot be a major." Well, Shaun Micheel just won the PGA. So I think that's a pretty negative way of looking and viewing things. I don't think that's a good reason to pick or to not pick a player for a team. I may -- with the Presidents Cup overseas, I wouldn't want to pick me if I didn't have international experience. So I have never gone for that or believed in that, no.

Q. Do you think of the Presidents Cup as a precursor or extension of the Ryder Cup next year, do you look at it that way ?

CHARLES HOWELL: Yeah, I certainly hope so. If I were to be fortunate enough to make the Ryder Cup, yeah, that would definitely help having to play the Presidents Cup before that. Your first team event being a Ryder Cup would be even tougher, I think. But now that the Presidents Cup -- I imagine it would definitely help if I were to make the Ryder Cup, yes.

End of FastScripts.