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THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 6, 2005

Bart Bryant

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Bart Bryant, congratulations on your third career PGA TOUR victory, winning the TOUR Championship presented by Coca Cola by six strokes. It wasn't easy but you certainly made it look easy. If we could start with some opening comments on a fantastic week.

BART BRYANT: Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm thrilled beyond description. You know, to have I've struggled for as long as I did, and all of a sudden in the last 15 months, to win three events, even if I hadn't won this weekend this would all be worth it. This exceeds my expectations for the week. I didn't think I could make it into the TOUR Championship and I certainly didn't think I could win the TOUR Championship. It's a really cool feeling, and it's one I'm going to relish for a long, long time.

I'm thrilled that my two girls got to fly up this morning and be with my, Kristin and Michelle, and my wife's mom and dad and sister and brother in law came in and I had some friends that came in. This is a really special time and it will be neat to celebrate with them.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You came out and birdied the first two holes and three of your first four. Talk about how nice that must have been to provide a nice cushion for you.

BART BRYANT: At that point I didn't know that I was really feeling like it was a cushion. I felt like golfers are terrible, aren't they? We're so insecure (laughter). Last night laying in bed, I really pictured myself going out and getting off to a really hot start, and I saw myself birdieing 1 and 3 and another hole on that front nine, and I felt like if I could do that I'd have a really good chance to win, and luckily that's what happened. I went out and got off to a hot start. I hit a bad drive on No. 5 there, and that hole is just you hit it in the rough there, you're not going to get it to the green. It didn't worry me too much, but when I saw the ball go in the water on 6, par 3, I started sweating a little bit at that point (laughter).

You know, making the putt there for bogey, which was probably a nine or ten footer, was probably one of the best putts of my career.

Q. You kind of touched on what I was just going to ask you, that putt right there. But at a different time in your career do you think you could have done what you did today? You looked like unshakeable out there today, even despite things like that.

BART BRYANT: No, at other points in my career I wouldn't have been able to do that. My putting has gotten better over the last couple years. I worked extremely hard with Brian Mogg on my putting. It's really paid off. Also I've worked on the mental side of the game and my confidence has gotten better. You know, I felt like I was supposed to make that putt, where two years ago I don't think I would have believed I was supposed to make it. That may have been the biggest difference.

Q. You just alluded to some of this, but 14, 15 months ago I don't think you were in the Top 200 in the World Rankings and now you've won more today than you won in your first nine years on the Tour. How do you explain that?

BART BRYANT: Just kind of what I've alluded to, that I think I started to believe in my ability a little bit because of Brian Mogg helping me. I think my swing got a little better. We worked really hard on my putting.

I mentioned before that we looked at the statistics, I was always very good on my statistics. My worst statistic was always the money stat. I was terrible on that. I was good in all the rest. And he kept hammering into me, "you're a good player, and just think how hard you've worked your whole life, and for this not to pay off would really be a crime." He said, "you deserve to go out and play well on the PGA TOUR; believe you can do it and go do it."

When I got in position at Texas, I didn't wimp out. I went ahead and took the lead on the third round. I didn't know what Sunday had in store and if I would have shot 90 and fell on my face at least I was willing to put my neck on the chopping block, and I hadn't been able to do that before.

Q. You've spoken a few times this week about going through Q school seven or eight times?

BART BRYANT: I don't know, but I think I've actually made it through school like five or six times, I don't know. I've missed a lot, too. I've been there a bunch.

Q. Did it ever get to a point where you were going to pack it in and say, if I don't get through this year I'm not going to play anymore?

BART BRYANT: Actually I didn't go to Q school sometime in 1996 or '97, somewhere in there. I didn't even go. I wanted to be home with my family and my game wasn't great, and I decided to stay home and try to play the mini Tours for a while and try to make a living doing that. Luckily there was enough tournaments in Florida at the time that I could make a living by playing well on the mini Tours. I think at that point if I wasn't able to play well on the mini Tours and feed my family, I may have cashed it in. But I kind of got us through a few lean years and then my wife and I decided together I would go back to the Tour school, and I think when I went back I made it fortunately.

Q. Last time you sat before us on a Sunday, you told us stories about laying awake at night thinking about whether you should get another job, and now you're telling us how you're thinking about birdieing two of the first three holes.

BART BRYANT: Well, things change, I guess.

Q. Going back to what you kind of said at the beginning of the week, do you now have a sense that you're a part of these guys, that there's no reason for you to be feeling less?

BART BRYANT: I do. Every week I feel like I belong more and more where I am. You know, it's like some of the guys asked me earlier, well, now you belong with Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen. You know, I belong on the same Tour. I certainly don't put myself in the same category as Retief and Vijay and Davis Love and Tiger Woods. I mean, these guys are the elite players in the world. They hit the ball really, really far and they can play any golf course well.

But I have found out that if I'm on top of my game under the right conditions, I definitely can compete with these guys.

Q. I also wanted to ask you, was there anything you feared today?

BART BRYANT: I feared choking my guts out a lot, all week long. You know, sometimes that fear, you can kind of turn it around and it works for you.

Q. How do you celebrate?

BART BRYANT: Well, there's a lovely lady in here somewhere who can probably answer that better than I can. I'm assuming it means spending some of that money somewhere along the way (laughter). Tonight, you know what, I've got Kathy, Kathy is here, my two girls came, as I said, and Nana and Pop and John and Sandy, and I've got some friends here, and we're going to have a good time.

Q. There's a rumor going around that you need knee surgery on Tuesday. Can you confirm or deny that?

BART BRYANT: I can confirm that I am having knee surgery on Tuesday morning.

Q. Which one?

BART BRYANT: On my left knee.

Q. Just for old time's sake (laughter)?

BART BRYANT: Just feels like the thing to do. I haven't had surgery in a while.

Q. You're down to one good appendage.

BART BRYANT: Yeah, that would be one.

Q. Is it precautionary?

BART BRYANT: You know what? I had some problems with my knee earlier in the year in Hawaii that lasted for about a month and a half. I really struggled with it, and it got better, and then it came back and I've had it for about two months towards the end of the year. However, the last couple weeks it's felt much, much better. I still know it's there, but it's feeling really good. I'll talk to my doctor tomorrow and kind of go on a plan, but I'm assuming we may just go there and clean it up. Honestly, I really haven't even mentioned it because it's really nothing. It's going to be a quick cleanup arthroscopically. I'll be back in three or four weeks. It's not even worth mentioning to be honest with you.

Q. What about the putts at 11 and 12? I think I even saw a little bit of emotion out of you after the one on 12 especially.

BART BRYANT: I was trying. I think I was getting abused on television for being so dull (laughter). I had to liven myself up a little bit. When I made the putt on 11, I think that's when I really had the first sense of "we're going to get this thing done." That was a big putt. Of course then I was on 12, and I think Tiger may have birdied right in front of me or something, and Tiger always let's you know he's around. And then when I made that putt, birdieing 11 and 12 really gave me a boost of confidence. Had I not had those two birdies and then bogeyed 15, it could have been a little unnerving. But having birdied those two holes and having that kind of cushion, bogeying 15, the easy par 5, just wasn't that big a deal at that point.

Had I been two shots less, had I not made the two birdies and then bogeyed 15, I think it really would have affected me mentally.

Q. Did you still kind of sigh after you saw Tiger's 6 go up after your 5?

BART BRYANT: No, when I was coming down 16 teeing off, I figured I had a three or four shot lead, I wasn't sure at that point. And then we were walking down the fairway and I saw Tiger had missed a short putt, and I thought he probably bogeyed this hole. But then when I got up and saw the scoreboard that Tiger had gone to 11, I was fairly confident at that point, if I could just keep it together for three more holes, we could come out and top.

Q. After a strong finish in 2005, what are your expectations for yourself going into next season?

BART BRYANT: I don't even know that I really thought about it that much. I'm going to have to sit down with Brian and address that, set up some goals and decide what I need to try to achieve.

It's funny, about three weeks out before the TOUR Championship, I was talking to Brian, and I said, "man, I hope I can finish strong and get in the TOUR Championship. Even the Top 20 would be really cool." He goes, "Top 20?" He said, "Man, you might finish Top 10." That's how he's thinking. He's taught me a lot. I didn't believe it was going to happen. I don't know if I ended up in the Top 10 or not.

Q. 9th.

BART BRYANT: Wow, so I'll just keep hanging out with him (laughter).

Q. Take us back to No. 6. You hit that shot that looked like it caught a floater. Was that a bad swing or a bad club or what was your thought process going down to the lake?

BART BRYANT: This is going to sound weird. The bogey on No. 5 was not a bad bogey, but it probably cost me two shots. It cost me the bogey there and it cost me the bogey on 6, and the reason I say that is because Retief hit a 9 iron onto that green, and he hit it like 20 feet past the pin, and I'm standing there really, really comfortable with an 8 iron until I see where Retief hits his 9 iron. I think had I been hitting first, I would have been fine. But when I saw where his 9 iron went, I really started second guessing that club, and I just wasn't committed to the shot. I swung a little bit easier and I hit it just a skoesh heavy.

Even after that, seeing where Retief's ball ended up, I thought if I just got my club on the ball at all, I was going to get over the water. I was very shocked to see it come back in the water. I'll tell you, that was an anxious moment there. I started having things going on in my mind like how many can we chunk in the water from this ball drop (laughter)?

Q. With a Top 10 finish, you're, I believe, exempt into all the majors next year. Have you ever had a season when you were exempt going in?

BART BRYANT: No.

Q. And do you have a new plan for how to go into those events?

BART BRYANT: I will have a new plan, but I just don't know what that is at this point.

Q. How does it feel then just knowing that?

BART BRYANT: It feels good.

Q. The Masters.

BART BRYANT: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Of course I knew I was going to be in the Masters, and to be exempt into any tournament that the Tour plays next year other than the TOUR Championship, I think that's what it is, it's a pretty special feeling.

Q. Have you ever been exempt into all four majors in a year?

BART BRYANT: No, I've never played in the Masters.

Q. Can you just talk about that? I mean, how old will you be next April?

BART BRYANT: I'll be 43 on the 18th of November.

Q. Just talk about that, getting into The Masters.

BART BRYANT: I'm hoping they'll actually shorten the course (laughter). I mean, it's a dream come true, to play in the Masters. I always said that I would not go there and play unless I was in the tournament. Once I found out I was in the tournament, I actually had a friend of mine who invited me to come play in December. I don't know if it's going to if I'll end up being able to do it because of the knee surgery, but I may be able to play a practice round. But I'm really looking forward to being there and playing that golf course.

Q. If you get the knee cleaned up, how long is the recovery?

BART BRYANT: It's like three weeks, maybe four. It's real easy, real fast.

Q. When Brian was talking to you about your stats and your stats were better than what you were doing on money, when he was trying to convince you that you were a better player than that, how good did you think you could get to at that point? Did you want to get to X on the Money List or win something and did you ever think you could get to the point where you got to now?

BART BRYANT: At that point, no. Honestly I was hoping to become a regular 100 finisher on the PGA TOUR. I felt like I could do that, I could achieve that goal, and I don't know what the 100th guy makes on the Tour, but I felt like I was certainly in that caliber of player that I could finish in the top 100, and that's kind of where I belonged. I started to believe that, and somehow I just went right past there.

Q. At your age now, are you almost surprised that you've been able to do this this late in your career?

BART BRYANT: I'm very surprised. I mean, I'm just as surprised as you are (laughter).

Q. In your other victories, did you play as well, as consistent as you did this week? You went wire to wire this week.

BART BRYANT: You know, I played really good in Texas. Yeah, and I played good at Memorial. I would have to say, though, that this may have been my best golf. The reason I say that is because those other ones I kind of snuck up on it a little bit. I didn't have the lead at Texas going into the last round, but I kind of snuck up a 60 there on Saturday, and then at the Memorial I was basically tied for the lead with nine holes to go or maybe one back or something and kind of snuck up on that one. So I didn't have to deal with having the lead for all four days and the emotions that come with that, learning how to manage that, and that's probably what I'm most proud of this week is dealing with the emotions, the mental side of having the lead, and I alluded to this earlier in the week, but Friday was a weird day. I ended up shooting 68, but I felt like I was playing in the last day of a tournament, and I knew I shouldn't be feeling that way. I was expending so much mental energy that day. I was really concerned that it was going to deter my performance on Saturday and Sunday. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to recover because I felt like I used up so much mental energy that day.

Luckily I was able to relax and rest and come back strong. Saturday felt more normal, and today felt like a normal Sunday. It felt like Sunday again.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Bart, congratulations.

End of FastScripts.

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