THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 30, 2001

Charles Howell III

CHARLES HOWELL: Thank you.

CHARLES HOWELL: It is definitely tough. Only Tiger Woods and Justin Leonard have done it so far. Certainly not the easiest thing I've tried to do before, but fortunately, I got through it. I think the hardest part of all was making the last $9,000. Definitely not easy making one cut. I think it would have probably been easier had it been 50 -, 60,000. But fortunately got over with that and got that behind us.

CHARLES HOWELL: I really wasn't quite sure. I know when I turned pro I definitely caught a lot of attention from both ways, so to speak. I had a lot of people telling me it was really easy, a lot of people telling me it was really hard. Now I'm a member now and have played for almost a year pro. I think it's been about how I expected. Not very easy, that's for sure. I think the hardest adjustment from college to pro is understanding that every player on the field has a very good chance of winning versus a select few.

CHARLES HOWELL: Right. No, it's -- this year compared to last year, I think this year I had much more appreciation and understanding. After three events last year, I earned conditional status, where I could play the rest of the year out. I didn't really understand what I had done. I don't think I really understood how close I was to be able to earn full status. Consequently, I missed three or four cuts there by one shot coming down the stretch, which would have, could have made a big difference. I think after missing the second stage of Tour School that had a very big part to do with how I played since then. It's given me a little more incentive to work hard. I know that Tour School is now not a place where I want to go again, that's for sure.

CHARLES HOWELL: Thank you.

CHARLES HOWELL: Right. No. A lot of things got started in that arena. The original started when I finished 144 on last year's money list, and I was under the assumption that would give me an exemption, to the final stage of Tour school and grant me conditional status this year. The rule was if you don't start the year as a member, you can't receive any member benefits if you're not top 125 or higher. So therefore, I didn't receive that benefit there. And then as of this year, I had two top 10s, which a Top-10, if you are a member, it allows you to play in the next event. Under my circumstances, I wasn't a member of the Top-10 that counted as a sponsor exemption. Although the tournament did get the sponsor exemption spot back, I still had to count that as one of my seven starts. Under those circumstances, obviously, I didn't agree with them. We never hired an attorney or anything like that. But rumors and things got sorted out. It's enough to say I didn't agree, that that's correct. But I think that, you know, the Tour's in a hard situation there. They never expected a nonmember to come and have that same problem and to fall into that category and so forth and so on. They admitted a Monday qualifier doesn't count as one of your seven spots but a Top -10 does. I think once they've evaluated all this, and the rule changed. Now you can play 13 events, which is a good change. Maybe somebody can thank me one day.

CHARLES HOWELL: I'm look forward to it quite a bit actually. I'm getting closer to where I can make my own schedule. It's been kind of tough, whether you can play this week or that. Or if I Top-10, I got to play this week, or whatever. It's getting closer. I'm most definitely looking forward to the schedule part of this. To be able to arrange a lesson here. Just to go home here, a day on the couch here. Whatever. It's definitely something I'm looking forward to.

CHARLES HOWELL: The closest to that was probably Monday this week. We got done from the Kemper flew in here, got here around noon, and spent the rest of the day at the zoo. I didn't want to see a golf club the rest of that day. It's been a while. It's been a long time coming, I know that.

CHARLES HOWELL: Right, you know I wouldn't say so much I got burned out. I'd say I played a full college schedule, obviously. And then I turned pro, I played my seven events, and actually ended up getting conditional status, and so I kept playing week after week after week. I made a mistake. I played too many events in a row. I had the mind-set I was going to go play every event I could until I got my money, my card for next year. Then I was going to take some time off from then. That cost me, because I played a couple events, and I played iffy. Instead of taking a week or so off to go work on it, I kept playing. I got a little bit frustrated, that's for sure.

CHARLES HOWELL: My goal is to be the best in the world. My goal wouldn't be that if I didn't think I could be that. I've worked hard since I first started playing the game at age seven, and that's always been my goal to be the best player in the world. Will I be that? I don't know. If my best is Top-10 in the world or my best is Top-50, it will definitely be my best effort, it won't be because of a lack of effort. I'm fortunate to have enough God-given ability to where I can be the best in the world.

CHARLES HOWELL: Sure. I think one day. Right now, no. Today, probably not. Of course I don't think anybody's giving him too much trouble right now. Right now, I can't, but I'm working very hard and I know what I have to do. I know the gap between where I'm at and he's at. Of course, a lot's filled with hard work, but a lot of that is filled by smart, hard work. One day I'd most definitely love to challenge Tiger Woods, that's for sure.

CHARLES HOWELL: It has to do a lot with, obviously, control of the golf ball. What I've worked on very hard has been my distance control. I think you probably heard the same song preached by Tiger when he turned pro. You hit one shot too far, one shot too short, whatever. I have worked really hard on that. It's a complete package. It's driving it, it's iron game, it's short game, it's wedges, it's whatever. All of that now has to be great to compete.

CHARLES HOWELL: I've always have been the type that wanted to, hey, take a chance. I feel like if you don't it's kind of boring. Really, NCAA going for the green there on 16, I was quite upset I didn't go 4th to last round. But I've always played that way. I've had a belief and confidence in myself that I could pull that off. Most of the times I have. Sometimes I haven't. You just learn from it. I think with myself, and I know this is probably true of a lot of players, if I go out and try to play conservative or safe or whatever I end up getting in just as much trouble had I gone for it and missed it as well. Now I have more status to play here now, I'll be more relaxed, and be able to play a little more of the style of golf I have been used to playing.

CHARLES HOWELL: Within the past few years it's definitely been Tiger since -- I played against him in the third round of the U.S. Amateur in 1996 in Portland, Oregon. And I just turned 17 at the time. And I believe he was around 20 or 21. Since that day, it's been Tiger. I played pretty good for me that day. I lost on the 17th hole. But he's definitely been someone -- I guess he had Jack Nicklaus to look at and work towards. I've kind of looked at Tiger and kind of worked on what he's doing. I think he's changed the whole style of golf as far as hitting it further, so forth, so on. And myself and a lot of players hit the ball quite a long way now.

CHARLES HOWELL: Thank you.