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BANK OF AMERICA COLONIAL

May 22, 2004

Chad Campbell

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We would like to welcome Chad Campbell. Chad, a great round today, round three, tied the course record with a 61, 9-under par, and also tied your personal low of 61, which was last year on route to winning the TOUR Championship. Congratulations on a great round. A lot of players still on the course, but you'll be in a great position heading into tomorrow. Just talk about your day today, obviously a great one for you.

CHAD CAMPBELL: Thanks. Today was great. I got off to a really good start, eagled the start and birdied the next two. Made good putts. That was key. I feel like I have been playing well, just haven't been able to get the ball in the hole, and to be able to make a few putts on the first few holes really got my confidence up and I kept that going throughout the round.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about the conditions. A lot of players talk about how the conditions will get tougher as the week goes on with the fairways and greens drying out. Just maybe talk about the conditions out there.

CHAD CAMPBELL: Yes, their definitely drying out a little bit. The fairways are getting a little firmer and I think the wind has picked up a little bit from Thursday. Thursday wasn't quite a windy, and the last two days it seems it has been blowing a little harder. The greens are firming up, a little bit, as well, so it's playing a little bit tough out there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: There are a lot of birdies on your score card and an eagle. Talk about No. 9, a great par save for you. You hit it in the bunker off the tee, laid up, and got up and down from 57 yards. That was a great save for you.

CHAD CAMPBELL: It was. That really kept my momentum going. Hit a good wedge shot in there from 10 feet and made the putt. That was really a key hole to keep the round going. If you don't make that putt, you never know what happens. It kind of knocks all the air out of you. Luckily I was able to make it and keep it going.

Q. Chad, it seems like sometimes when you get it going, you really take off on it. Same thing at the TOUR Championship, too. Talk about how maybe you kind of feed off that once you start making putts. Does it just keep you going?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I think so. I feel like I've been pit hitting the ball pretty well. Yesterday I didn't hit it all that well, but the day before I hit it well. I felt like I hit it well last week, but I haven't been able to get the ball in the hole that often. When you're making putts, it makes the game a lot easier.

Q. 61 with two bogeys, talk about overcoming those and talk about those two holes and about keeping the round going.

CHAD CAMPBELL: I bogeyed 4. I hit it short of the green and hit a bad chip to 12 feet and missed the putt. It didn't really bother me that much because I knew I was playing well. I was making putts, so it wasn't like I wasn't going to be able to get it back and make a birdie. It was nice not to have that feeling today as opposed to in the past where you kind of press after you make a bogey.

Q. How many course records would you guess you have and can you describe what it feels like to shoot 61 at Colonial?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I don't know how many course records I've got. I've got the Champions, maybe, and this one here. I think I've still got in my hometown of Andrews. I'm not totally sure of that.

Q. What was that?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I think it was 61, as well. That was a long time ago. Shooting 61 here with all the history and everything about Hogan and just the tradition, it doesn't get much better than that, you know.

Q. A lot of things are judged by earnings. What significance does sharing a course record mean to you? I know you can't take that to the bank or anything.

CHAD CAMPBELL: I guess it's just -- I really don't know. I hadn't really thought about it, actually. I think it's quite an honor to be able -- I don't know how many others I share it with, Kenny Perry, I know, but to know nobody has ever shot lower than that on that golf course, it's pretty special.

Q. Most of the 61s, at least as far as I can remember, have been under pretty benign conditions, particularly I think soft greens maybe after a rain or something like that. Did you think it was tough out there? You talked about the wind actually being -- you thought it was blowing harder?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I thought it was blowing about the same as it was yesterday. I mean, if you're hitting the shots, if you're getting the ball in play and you feel good over the shots, it's not that tough. But if you lose a little bit of confidence, those fairways become a lot smaller and they're harder to hit. A lot of it is confidence and just trusting the wind.

We've played the same, pretty much the same wind conditions the last three days so I know pretty much what it's doing. It's maybe a hair different today, but it's nice knowing exactly where it's coming from, as opposed to the last few days where you're kind of guessing.

Q. When you shot 61 at the TOUR Championship, afterwards you kind of talked -- you said it was kind of like a blur afterwards, you weren't conscious what you were doing shot by shot. I'm wondering, was it a similar feeling out there today?

CHAD CAMPBELL: A little bit, I guess. As far as the rounds, they are very comparable. I felt I hit the ball about the same, I hit a lot of shots that -- a lot of good golf shots and made a lot of putts, so they are very similar rounds. I think I was more conscious about what was going on, if that's your question.

Q. Sometimes I think the stuff said about Texas players being good wind players is a little bit overdone, but West Texas, that might be a different story. How does this compare to a typical day in Andrews? You've played in worse winds than this, I assume?

CHAD CAMPBELL: This is about normal, as far as blowing 20 out there, something like that, if I was guessing. It blows pretty much every day out there. I think it's really beneficial to grow up out there and learn to play in that and learn to hit a lot of different shots in the wind.

Q. You talked a little bit how the bogey at 4 didn't really bother you because you felt there were plenty more birdies to come. When did you get that feeling? With the eagle, did it take following that up with two birdies? When did you feel like the birdies were going to be there all day long for you?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I felt after making those putts on like 1, 2, and 3. Earlier in the week I made some putts here and there, but to be able to make three good putts, they weren't really long, from like 15 feet and 10 feet, 12 feet, something like that, just to be able to see the ball go in the hole it just builds confidence from that. It made it easier when I made that bogey, just the feeling that I could make putts.

Q. I hope this doesn't sound like the exact same question, but just in terms of the first two rounds, 6 under was leading after 2, did you envision a 61 was out there today if the conditions remained the same?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I guess you don't ever think 61s are out there. If you get it going, obviously like I did today, you can make it happen, but if you just hit the ball in the fairway and get it on the green, you get a lot of looks out here. That's easier said than done, obviously. But the greens aren't huge, so if you get it on the green, you're going to have a lot of 15-, 20-footers, even if you're not hitting the perfect iron shots.

Q. You talked about your one bogey. Your other bogey was a 3-putt?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Yes, on 8. I hit it right in the middle of the green where I was looking, and had probably, I would guess, 35 feet just on that second tier putting up to the back tier, and I just ran it about 10 feet by.

Q. So not a gimme. But do you kick yourself a little bit about the 3-putt there?

CHAD CAMPBELL: You do, but if you don't 3-putt, what happens the rest of the round, kind of.

Q. Not to get too far ahead of things, but Ryder Cup looms in the fall. Is that any sort of motivation to make the Ryder Cup team, because the Nationals are up against your country?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Definitely. That was probably one of my main goals this year, was to make that team. I've talked to guys that have played on the Ryder Cup and they say there's nothing like it. It's something I'm definitely working toward and hopefully it will work out.

Q. We got to talk to Jed afterward. Talk about that relationship, as far as -- obviously you two go back and how nice it is not to have just a caddie there but a friend on the course?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I think you said it right. He's probably my best friend, so to have him out there with me, he's very knowledgeable about the game and he knows my game very well, we've played together and have been good friends ever since we were 12, 13 years old. Just to have a guy out there that you can talk to, not necessarily about golf, but about anything, so I think that's the most important thing, and he helps out a lot, too.

Q. You talked about how one of the things that makes a round like this happen is getting hot with the putter. Do you think there's anything about your mental approach to the game that's conducive to allowing yourself to keep going low, low, low, like you've been able to do several times in tough conditions?

CHAD CAMPBELL: When you get days like this, you just try to stay out of your own way. I know you've heard it before, and it's hard to do, but just don't overthink things, just let your body do it. You're obviously swinging well and hitting good shots, don't take much time and just let it happen.

Q. Some guys struggle sometimes when they're at a local event because they're trying to please everybody who's in the crowd, maybe they feel a little bit more pressure or they've got too many things going on. How did you feel out there? You obviously have a lot of people watching you. Do you like that kind of atmosphere?

CHAD CAMPBELL: It's really nice, when we get to Texas, for people to come out. It's great to have that support. There's a lot of people that have supported me pretty much my whole career, so it's nice to be able to put on a good show for them. You said it right, it is a little bit more pressure. Maybe I put a little bit more pressure on myself because I want to perform well for them. Sometimes it's tough to do that in front of them. You sometimes push yourself too much.

Q. Did you ever play here when you were a kid? When was the first time you saw the course? Was it fairly recently, and was it everything you had read about growing up?

CHAD CAMPBELL: The first time I saw the course was my third year of playing, so I think it was about two months before the event my first year, whenever that would be. We played with a member. Other than that, I haven't played this course that much. I played in the Westcott Pro-Am on December 1st of last year. They had it out here.

Other than that other than the tournament, I haven't played it that much. It's one of my favorite courses that we play all year. I love the golf course, the tradition, everything about this whole tournament is great.

Q. Anything about that first round?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Probably seeing the Wall of Champions over there, that's pretty neat.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could go through your round and we'll take one last question. It might be the most difficult thing you will do all day, is go through the birdies and eagles.

No. 1, you had 9 feet from 190 yards. What did you hit in there?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I hit 6-iron.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: No. 2, six feet from 84 yards?

CHAD CAMPBELL: 60-degree wedge.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: No. 3, 139 yards in to 11 feet?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Wedge.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We talked about No. 4. Just came up short, chipped it from 12 feet and then missed the putt.

No. 5, what did you hit in there?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Hit 3-wood, 6-iron.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: No. 7, hit 93 yards to eight feet.

CHAD CAMPBELL: That was a 60-degree wedge again.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: The bogey on No. 8, a 3-putt, what did you hit in there?

CHAD CAMPBELL: A 5-iron.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 11, par 5?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Hit driver, 2-iron into the right bunker and then chipped out to eight feet or so.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Then par 4, 12?

CHAD CAMPBELL: 12, hit driver, 9-iron, probably 425 feet or so.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 13?

CHAD CAMPBELL: 6-iron to 15, 18 feet.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 15, about an 18-foot putt?

CHAD CAMPBELL: 15, hit 3-wood, 9-iron there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 17?

CHAD CAMPBELL: 17, 2-iron, 9-iron.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Made a good last putt there on 18 from about 35 feet.

CHAD CAMPBELL: That was a good putt.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Chad Campbell, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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