Q. I know you made a putting adjustment. I wonder if you could go through the technical aspect of what you did and what it did to help you?
CHARLES HOWELL: Well, basically, it really wasn't a lot of technical differences. It was a sense to putt more feeling into my putting. When David Leadbetter first told me to putt more feeling in my putting, I thought, "You're crazy, how do you add feel to something?" I've always been very mechanically minded and thought one thing led to another, where the short game is different than that.
Pretty much I've tried to just get really comfortable in my setup and just try to actually maybe add feel through a lot of practice and just comfortable. No mechanics at all. There's been no one specific things that David has told me that's turned it around.
The bottom line: More practice. Other than that, just getting more comfortable.
Q. Did you change your grip, move the finger down the shaft?
CHARLES HOWELL: That was maybe the only technical change I made was to move my right index finger down the shaft. We got that from some video of Seve Ballesteros putting. You watch him and his right finger is down there and that's more of a feel thing.
Q. Did it help with you feel and alignment?
CHARLES HOWELL: Solely feel. I don't think there's really a mechanical benefit of what it will do to a path or anything. But more feel, yes.
Q. Did you know, either based on statistics or internally that you needed to do something with your putting if you were going to achieve what you wanted to?
CHARLES HOWELL: I think if you go down the Top-10 players in the world, you can see that they all have very good short games. It's going to vary day-to-day or week-to-week. I don't think there's a great player that's not had a great short game. I think Tiger is the most underrated putter in the world. I think he's the best putter and he's ranked, what, 130 in putting? Rankings don't mean as much to me. If you look at the great players, Tiger, Phil, Sergio, Ernie, you just go down the line, they are all fantastic putters.
Q. But were you aware that maybe that was just the one missing thing?
CHARLES HOWELL: I was definitely aware that it had to improve, oh yeah. No question about it.
Q. First, may I ask you a two-part question. What was the key to the round, and how did you putt today?
CHARLES HOWELL: The key to the round was actually a lot of shots to the middle of the greens. Every pin was -- well, the pins, apart from 18, they were all tucked four or five paces from each edge. With it being windy and a little cooler, I tried to play fairly conservative there.
How I putted, I would say I putted good. I didn't putt great, but then again, I made a lot of good two putts from a long distance. Then the few birdie chances I had, I took advantage of them.
I would say I putted good today, which is definitely a change from a couple of months ago.
Q. To stick with this putting theme here, it seemed like you made a lot of 3-, 4-footers, maybe come-back putts that maybe earlier in the season, were those giving you some troubles? Is that the difference between then and now?
CHARLES HOWELL: Well, a great example would be I made a good par on the first hole.
Then the second hole, I hit what I thought was a really good shot in the front bunker, which is not the place you want to leave it there. Then ended up making about a 6-footer there for par. That was a really big putt because you never want to start off making a bogey that early in the round if you can help it. To get up-and-down from a spot that's not easy to get up-and-down from, to make a par, that kind of kept it going a bit.
You're exactly right. Any time over the period of a four-day tournament, if you miss one or two, 3-, 4-footers a day, it adds up really quick. To have a bogey-free round, you always have to play well, but I guarantee that you still have to make the 4-, 5-, 6-footers for par.
Q. Having improved your putting, what do you plan on working on in the off-season to improve next year?
CHARLES HOWELL: Oh, still a lot of short game. No question about that. A lot of short game.
I still think the most important club in the bag is the driver and the putter, as well. But I think they are neck and neck. I don't think you can put one more important than the other one. I'll spend a lot of time working on the short game.
Q. You were saying outside that you had to hit some different kind of shots than you have had to lately. What are some of those shots?
CHARLES HOWELL: Well a lot of shots, a lot of three-quarter type shots, a lot of low shots. A few draws and fades to hold against the wind. Shots that you don't really have to hit or think a lot about in a Las Vegas or Disney tournament, where the pins are a little bit easier because of the Pro-Am format. And also, the wind is not blowing as well.
A few shots like that, where obviously you always practice them, but when you have hit them in tournaments going into it, it seems to make them a little bit easier than just all of a sudden, here you go. Fortunately we had a practice round yesterday in those same conditions as today, the wind and cool, so that was definitely an advantage.
TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Charles.
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