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CIALIS WESTERN OPEN

June 29, 2004

Casey Wittenberg

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

THE MODERATOR: First professional event this week. Has played two events on TOUR as an amateur this year, T 13 at the Masters, T 36 at the US Open. Played some fantastic golf as an amateur out there on the TOUR. Talk a little about what you expect playing your first professional event this week.

CASEY WITTENBERG: Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Chicago is a great town. The Western Golf Association is a great golf association. They always run a great tournament. And, you know, I'm going to try to go out here, trying to focus on my own game, take my time, realize that it's not going to come easy, just try and stay positive in all situations, and use it as a learning experience more so than actually setting myself expectations.

THE MODERATOR: Making the transition from amateur to professional golf is a big jump. Have you talked to some of the guys you knew from the college ranks and picked their brains a little bit? If so, what kind of things have you learned to look for to get ready for the jump?

CASEY WITTENBERG: You know, I think from talking with those guys just a little bit like I have, I think their biggest word of advice is just to stay patient, just to realize that you're playing professional golf, that you're going to be playing professional golf come this time next year, no matter if it's on the PGA TOUR, Australia, Japan, wherever you're going to play.

You just need to try to get better. Every day you go out and play, you just need to try to improve your game and just to realize that, you know, this is a lifelong dream of yours that you're fulfilling. You got to look at the big picture of it, realize you're only 19 years old, you got some time and you need to stay patient.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I'm wondering why now after one year of college? Why not wait? Do you have all your goals achieved already in your mind? Is there something else that came into play or did you just want to make some money?

CASEY WITTENBERG: No, not at all. You know, college was a great experience for me. I think it was something that I needed to do for a year. But I felt like that my game would improve faster if I took this road versus staying in college for three more years.

Obviously, you know, some great opportunities have been given to me with my play last year in some amateur tournaments. I got into a lot of stuff. It opened a lot of doors for me. I was fortunate enough to play well in those important times this year already, and it's opened a lot of other doors. I felt like, you know, my game, my physical game is ready just to come out here with these guys.

I don't have any expectations like I'm going to become No. 1 on the PGA TOUR or anything like that. I realize there's going to be a learning curve. You're going to have to stay patient with what you're doing. I'm sure I'm going to get my teeth kicked in with one of these seven events that I'm going to play.

You know, I'm just excited. It's been a family decision. I got all the support, structure that's around me with IMG and my family, all the people out helping me, my coach, Ledbetter Academy. We're taking this as a real positive. It's a positive from both sides. You know, we're just going to run with it.

Q. Can you just tell us, kind of take us through the decision process? Was it after the Masters when you first started thinking you might be ready? I know there were reports as recently as a couple weeks ago that you were going to come back to Oklahoma State. Did The Open have any effect on that?

CASEY WITTENBERG: No doubt. The decision wasn't made until the week after The Open. You know, it was a family decision. It was definitely something that we discussed after the Masters and discussed the options that we had. But, you know, the whole decision was not made until after the US Open.

I sat down with my family and with, you know, IMG, those guys. You know, we sat there and we weighed options, both sides, I mean, tried to, you know, make a decision based upon whether it was going to be a positive for both sides.

It seemed that everything fell into place after the US Open and felt like this was going to be the best decision at the time.

Q. Do you have many people trying to talk you into coming back to college and delay this decision? Were there people who tried to talk you out of this decision and try to get you to go back to college?

CASEY WITTENBERG: No, not really. The people that I've been surrounded by over the last couple months and the last couple years have been extremely supportive of all my decisions.

You know, we sat down and we tried to view it, you know, pretty evenly from both sides, you know, what was going to be better for me and better for my golf game. And ultimately I want to play the PGA TOUR. And, you know, so when we sat down and weighed the pros and the cons, we felt like this would be the best decision.

I really didn't have anybody I mean, obviously, Coach would have loved for me to go come to school, and I would have loved to go back to school with him, but I felt like this would be a better decision.

Q. Do you have your schedule figured out for the rest of the summer?

CASEY WITTENBERG: I do. I got definitely next three tournaments figured out. After that it's kind of up in the air a little bit. I'm going to play here, play John Deere, I'm going to take a week off, play at Milwaukee, then I'm going to take a couple weeks off after that and we'll see where it goes from there.

Q. I'm from Denver. Have you heard from The International?

CASEY WITTENBERG: I have not. I have not heard from the The International yet. But I'd love to play there. I know it's a great tournament, a great course, but we'll just have to see.

Q. How important do you think it is, all the junior tournaments, amateur tournaments, that the modern player, maybe by the time he reaches your age, has, that tour type experience, where they didn't have that in the past. Do you feel like players are more ready to come out at a younger age because of the AJGA, all those events you played on a national level?

CASEY WITTENBERG: The AJGA is an unbelievable organization, just the actual way they run their golf tournaments. You know, you can get used to the surroundings and the environment. You know, it's different, obviously, compared to out here than it is out there.

You know, but I just take it as a positive and it helps.

Q. Can you talk about the Masters experience, what that meant for you? Were you surprised at how well you were able to do during that week?

CASEY WITTENBERG: The Masters experience was unbelievable. I had my dad actually caddying for me. I had a lot of family down there. So it was just a great week. I just tried to take it all in.

The golf course set up really well for me. It's a great golf course for me. You know, just tried to get there that week and I tried to stay focused on my own game. I tried to not get caught up in the big fanfare of the Masters. Just kind of tried to stay even keel and try not to put any unbelievable expectations on myself and set myself some limits.

I just tried to get out there and play the best golf I could. Fortunately, I got some good breaks at some good times. The ball kind of started rolling. I played well on the Back 9 on Sunday and finished up pretty strong.

Q. US Open?

CASEY WITTENBERG: Oh, wow. You know, another unbelievable experience. My dad also caddied for me there, so it was great to have him on the bag. It was an extremely difficult golf course. Played really well the first two days, and the last two days struggled a little bit. Didn't hit quite as many fairways. Didn't hit quite as many fairways as I hit earlier in the week. The greens got harder and the greens got faster. It was difficult. It was what I expected out of the US Open.

Unfortunately, the last round I struggled a little bit, just like everybody else did. Wish it would have been a little bit different. But it was definitely a great learning experience.

Q. Picking the brains of some of the guys, older guys, guys you were in school with. Who have you talked to about life on the TOUR?

CASEY WITTENBERG: You know, I've talked just a little bit. I haven't really got I obviously gotten advice from some people here at this event. We have a pretty good Roberts, David Gossett, you know, Vance Veasey, Doug, Shaun Micheel, a lot of those guys that have been out here for a little while.

The biggest word of advice is they just said, "Be patient, just realize you're 19 years old and you have a long time, you have a long future ahead of you, you have a long career ahead of you. You just need to realize, you know, that there's going to be a little bit of a learning curve. You're playing professional golf now. You're going to be playing professional golf next year whether or not you make your money in the seven events or you make it in Q School or not. You just have to be excited and happy you're out there, but realize this is your dream and you just need to stay positive. "

Q. You talk about staying positive and being patient, yet you obviously have a lot of success, you've known pretty much nothing but success. How difficult do you think it will be if you go out here and you miss a couple cuts? Is that going to be difficult to handle?

CASEY WITTENBERG: You know, I'm just going I'm going to try I'm going to obviously try to go out every day and try to play the best round of golf I can for that day, try and hit the ball in the holes. In a perfect world, I would go out, I'm great, wouldn't have to go through Q School, everything would fall into place. But, you know, I'm not expecting it's going to be a long road. It's going to be a lot of work, a lot of effort that is going to have to be put in.

And, you know, if I go through some hard times here early, which hopefully I won't, but if I do, I just got to realize the big picture. I got to realize that, you know, I have some time and that, you know, hopefully I can just use all the tournaments as a learning experience and play a little bit better in the next.

Q. There have been a couple of incidents or a few incidents on TOUR this year Davis Love with a fan, and Tiger's caddie with a camera. Things are changing. Galleries are different probably. Is the next generation of players, the next wave like you, are you different? Will you guys be more tolerant of distractions, things like that?

CASEY WITTENBERG: You know, I don't know. I mean, every player and person, you know, has his own, you know, way of handling things. And, you know, I can't really speak for anybody else.

You know, distractions are always going to be out there. You know, you're playing in front of, you know, thousands of people that are out there watching. I mean, you can't expect it to be perfectly quiet, you know, every second that you're out there.

You've just got to learn how to deal with it and try to stay as focused on your own game as you can, just try to keep the distractions as to a minimum.

Q. I see Shinnecock on your hat. Is there going to be a logo replacing that soon?

CASEY WITTENBERG: I don't know. We'll just have to say. Trying to get all that stuff worked out right now. Kind of a long process. I've done all this stuff pretty fast. Need a couple more weeks to try to get everything settled in and I'll be ready to go.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us.

CASEY WITTENBERG: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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