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OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE PRO-AM

February 24, 2006

Keith Fergus

LUTZ, FLORIDA

DAVE SENKO: Keith, thanks for joining us, 4 under 67. Talk about your day started off really good.

KEITH FERGUS: I birdied the first two holes and any time you do that, that's kind of a nice way to get the day going. I made about a 10 or 12 footer on 1 and about a three or four footer on 2. So that was any time you do that, you feel like you can kind of jump start yourself and feel good about the day.

And then I played around, I birdied the par 3 and hit about a 20 footer up there on that hole for birdie, an 8 iron in there about 20 feet and hit two good shots, didn't make birdie there. So I felt like I was letting one get away and then I came around, birdied 12 from about 12 feet. I had eagle putt and missed it. And then I birdied the next par 5, probably about 20 feet.

Had some good opportunities, could have been lower, I looked it off the tee in the water on 15 and that was really my only mistake. So I had a chance to make quite a few other birdies. But overall, I can't complain. I played well, putted good so, it was a fun day.

DAVE SENKO: You've got to be I guess happy with your start this year. You were seventh in Hawaii.

KEITH FERGUS: I was seventh in Hawaii. Last week, my short irons were so bad last week, I drove the ball so good, I could have hit the green with a pitching wedge. I've been here working on that. It's bad when you drive it down there perfect. So I really felt like I let one slip away last week. 9 under you only lose by five. So 6 iron in the wind it's probably as about as it's been for a long time so I worked on that, and made some nice adjustments. So we'll see what happens this week. Keep working with the putter, that's always a key.

Q. You had to go back to Q School last year?

KEITH FERGUS: I finished 37th on the Money List. That put me in a position where I'll probably get in, 80 percent, 70 percent but maybe the 20 percent I don't get in are the ones I really like. So it was silly not to go. I could only improve my position. I played fourth, played well. It was a good tournament for me. They were paying and I wasn't making anything at home, so I thought, heck, why not go out and do what I do for a living, why sit here at home.

So I'm glad I went and now I don't have to worry about that other ten or 20 percent of tournaments I wasn't going to get in.

Q. So 37th wouldn't have got you in here?

KEITH FERGUS: I would have got in here off another category. But like the next two weeks in California, like in Newport, I've been fourth and second the first two years. So that's why I really wasn't playing. And if maybe I wouldn't have got in that one. That's one of the tournaments I thought, you know what, go take care of business and don't have to worry about anything so that's good.

Plus, it gives you some confidence and I'm playing good. So there's no reason why I can't win or anything else out here.

DAVE SENKO: If you could just take us through sort of the career path and being a coach and how that helped you now, or maybe that's a step back.

KEITH FERGUS: I don't think it's a step back. I played ten years on the regular tour, won three times and had a fairly successful career for ten years. But there was a time I felt like my kids were small, I didn't want to travel, I couldn't be gone that length of time anymore. Started school and anything goes. And you know what, it just so happens an opportunity to the University of Houston opened and I was lucky enough to get the job I did for seven years. Also got into golf course construction, two courses in Houston that we owned and operated, so it was a little different.

Once I turned 40 the kids were gone and it was like, you know what, I really want to start playing again. I did, I went back out and won two times on the Nationwide my first year out in '94. Went to the school and got exempt and stayed exempt for probably the next four or five years. And 2000, 2001 I didn't really play as much, waiting for some opportunities in 2004.

Q. Does coaching make you approach the game differently or maybe different techniques?

KEITH FERGUS: I guess you do what you do. You try to when you're out there helping the kids, you know, they are hard enough on themselves. They need to have somebody in their corner, per se, so that you could, you know in golf, you're out there by yourself; it's easy to get down on yourself and beat yourself up. There's nobody to say, "Come on, let's go," other than your caddie, but you need yourself. So that's probably the thing as much as anything, being positive when things are not going good to grab you by the seat of your britches and say, "Come on, man, let's get going, this is supposed to be fun, let's go do it." That probably helped more than anything, the way I approached it. Don't get me wrong, I still beat up on myself occasionally, too, but maybe I don't do quite as bad as maybe I used to.

Q. The former coach out here inaudible?

KEITH FERGUS: This is pretty fun for an ex coach. He's not doing too bad there was a time in my life and my career that it came along that it gave me some time to stay home, do some things, watch my kids grow up.

But I guess that's what I was put here for because I can't wait to get up every morning and go to the golf course and go work on whatever I need to work on. I'm a very fortunate person, but I've been able to do some other things, too, which I think they will also. I've had a little break. I wasn't playing continuously where it gets busy; you're worn out, but that can happen real easy, too. I had a nice little seven year break in between there and jump started it again.

Q. How has it been out here in terms of your perception, has it been harder, easier?

KEITH FERGUS: I don't think it's ever easy, unless you're Loren, I guess.

But you know it was an adjustment because No. 1, every place I went, the courses were moved when I started two years ago. It was an adjustment, plus getting back to playing competitively for three or four days, that was an adjustment. I was more comfortable now than when I first started. That's part of it, get in your comfort zone when you feel confident what you're doing, the places you go, the golf courses you know how to play them better. I think it's the more you do it, the better off you are.

End of FastScripts.

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