JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 24, 2002

Charles Howell III

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Charles Howell to the John Deere Classic. Charles, 44th on the money list right now. Three Top-10s in his first 5 events, but none in your last 16. You have had a great season so far but you have been struggling a little bit lately perhaps.

CHARLES HOWELL III: Well, I got off to a real good start beginning of this year. Obviously hadn't played as well as I would have liked to. Plus I think a lot of tournaments, some of the first ones I had played like the Masters, U.S. Open, I still had good tournaments at those events they weren't Top-10s, but I had a good chances, to play really well there, and I think it's still a learning process. There's still a lot of things I am learning and trying to get accustomed to.

TODD BUDNICK: Have you played any practice rounds?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes. I played yesterday morning and the golf course looks great. It's in the best shape it has been in the three years that we have been here. The greens are very, very good. I have had a lot of complaints about them in the years past. Golf course is in super shape. Golf course has gotten better. None of the holes were changed.

Q. How much has it helped you that you have actually been here for a couple of years? This is a course you have seen a couple of times.

CHARLES HOWELL III: It helps a lot. It's nice to come back to events that I have played before. I don't feel like I am in such a rush to come out and play a bunch of practice rounds and try to learn everything that there is to know about a golf course. But my first year I finished third and last year I didn't. I think it makes the practice days a little easier. Prior to the tournaments I know what to expect, what clubs to practice. I will hit a lot of 3-woods and 2-irons. Obviously quite a few holes out here are like that off the tee. Maybe helps a little bit with the practice or two.

Q. Do you like the style of golf course? Older style?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I think the golf course is great. Yeah, apart from probably the TPC at Sawgrass I think this is one of the best TPC's in the country, if not second best to that one. No question about it. There's not one bad hole on the golf course. The only hole that I have ever heard criticism is the 4th hole at the (inaudible) middle of the fairway. Other than that, no.

Q. Don't you just go over that?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yeah, with the right wind direction yeah, you can go over it, yeah.

Q. The success you had, second tournament out ...

CHARLES HOWELL III: Right.

Q. ... Did that make it a little more difficult to be patient? Did you think this was going to be a little easier than it turned out to be?

CHARLES HOWELL III: No. It's actually probably made it harder than I thought it would be. Coming out I finish third my second event. I thought -- not in a cocky way, but I thought that I could do it and it wasn't a huge problem to play my way on, and I didn't do that. In the end it was probably a good thing that happened of me having to go through that. No. 1, I got to learn the rules of the PGA TOUR very well. No. 2, I got to learn that they are stuck in their rules, and I also learned that it's an honor to play out here, and I have learned that, you know, everyone who is part of the PGA TOUR has had to work hard and play hard. It's an honor to be out here and play. Whether you are 1 or 125th on the money list, you are still part of the PGA TOUR, and it's just the -- it's good to be out here. You get to play golf everyday for a living.

Q. Did you think that you could have -- that it was going to be pretty easy to have success out here?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I wouldn't say that I thought it would be easy. I knew that I had to play well, but at the same time, it was just a big confidence boost as anything, I think, that I would come out here and could finish third. Obviously, I didn't expect to finish third, first, second, third every week, but at the same time I thought I could do it. Obviously I have come a long way since then, but to get started off, though, was a big boost, yeah.

Q. Has it been difficult to be patient waiting for that first win?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I think this is a little more difficult tour, than the last year when I had a couple of chances. This year it hasn't been difficult simply because I haven't let it become that. I have just tried to play golf, and I had a few chances at the beginning of this year. I haven't had many since then. But it hasn't been a product of actually trying too hard. I have had to grow up a lot. I have had a lot of things going on, apart from golf, that not a lot of other people do. So it just takes some time to grow up and to learn how to manage everything. And it's just if it were just golf alone, I think it would be a little simpler.

Q. Elaborate on that.

CHARLES HOWELL III: Obviously I am in a lawsuit right now with my former manager, and then obviously just the business of golf outside of just playing golf and just hitting golf balls, there's a business side to it as well. A lot of other things that actually that I view as all positive. They are all making me grow up. I am learning how to deal with these issues. I wouldn't say it's like David Duval breaking up with his fiancee, but I would say any time you are involved in a lawsuit or things of that nature, you have to grow up. To go through that at 22 and age 23, I think you learn a lot about people.

Q. Is Tony going to be on your bag this week?

CHARLES HOWELL III: No, I have hired a new caddy, Brendan McCarta now. He's going to be caddying for me. He's from London. He caddied for Jose Maria Olazabal before he won the Masters with him. He work for Jose Maria for three years. They won the 99 Masters together. And he caddied for Jose Coceres last year when they won two events, got him working for me so I am excited about that.

Q. Disappointed when Tony decided to stay with Greg?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Oh, sure, it was a disappointment. I was under the impression that he would be caddying for me this year. Obviously I think the world of Tony. He caddied for me when I finished third here, I had a lot of success with Tony. I think the world of him but I guess right now the timing didn't work out for it, and so forth. But I am excited about Brendan, and I will move on from there.

Q. Remember stuffing that shot the first year here on Sunday on the 14th --

CHARLES HOWELL III: That was something. I remember that Tony just telling me not to get cute with it, just get something on the green, and then it went in the hole. That was kind of one of those you know, times where I really -- I was aware I wasn't near the lead but I really wasn't aware I was still trying to just save as many shots as I could, just to try to finish as well as I could and here I am in the lead or tied for it, I think at the time, it was. That was pretty exciting.

Q. Did you get maybe an extra charge coming back here and maybe coming back to Milwaukee where you had the chance to win last year, I mean, do the places where you had some success help --

CHARLES HOWELL III: I say I look forward to them. I think some players or even myself go to some tournaments not looking forward to them. But I was looking forward to going to Milwaukee, looking forward to playing here. And it just keeps you excited. I think that also the realization that 156 players each week can win the golf tournament, it also does it. I have never been a believer in a weak field. I have never understood that how it's the PGA TOUR, I mean, so how there is no such thing as a weak feel, an so I have never been a believer in that. But I always -- I look forward to coming back here.

Q. David was in a little while ago and he was talking about after being a winner here he got paired with people like Tiger, and Mickelson an Els. He says the younger player really helps him a lot to be paired with those guys. Have you had a lot of opportunities to play with Tiger an -- have you played with Jack and Tiger, and what is it like not only -- what do you learn from that? What is it like?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I have played with Jack Nicklaus a couple of times in practice rounds through a friendship with Gary Nicklaus, and even Gary, so to speak, too, that they know so much about the game and they are obviously -- Jack one of greatest players that ever played, the greatest, they just know about the game. I have not got to play with Tiger or Phil Mickelson a lot, because of where I am at, my category for my pairings. I am not in the winner's category pairing so I won't get paired with them on the first two days. Obviously I have played with them, you know, pretty much everybody out here at least once. It's a learning experience. I think really a good experience for me was the Masters this year playing not only the Masters but being from there with maybe the pressure of the galleries, whatnot. And then the U.S. Open at Bethpage where the fans were quite a bit rowdier than normal. And that was a good experience there. So the more of those I play the better off I will get.

Q. Also in talking with Luke Donald up at the Western Open, he was asked the media and the fans were looking for somebody to step you and challenge Tiger, who is going to be the next guy to do so. Luke was saying it was going to have to come from a group of the guys who have been labeled the young guns. He said some of the older guys he thought were intimidated by Tiger and he feels the younger guys are a little more cockier. Are you in the group of guys that are going to have to step forward and challenge him?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I don't even think about it to be honest with you. I don't think it's -- I think that's made of much more -- I think that whole idea of having someone to challenge Tiger is made up a lot more than it is worth. I think that there's so many great players out here, I mean, how can you discredit Ernie Els or Phil Mickelson or David Duval, you know, I still think that obviously I haven't won a golf tournament yet I think of all the young players Matt and David have won once, that's two wins there. You have players like that that have won more majors than we have than normal wins combined. I think it is a matter of time and learning. I don't look at things you know, like a sprint, like I am trying to do something this week or this week; it's a long time. I am going-- hopefully I will play golf Lord willing 'til I am 60 years old. That's a long time to be to be worried about trying to challenge Tiger or whatever. If I look at it if I can be the best that I can be and if that's winning 100 times or ten times then that's what it is. I think a lot of players probably had a little hard time beating him simply because that's what they all think about is beating Tiger. You see that he didn't win the British Open, and Ernie Els wins and look at all the people there. I just think there's a lot of great players out there.

Q. Your driving numbers are outstanding. Putting numbers a little less so. What do you have to with your putting to --

CHARLES HOWELL III: I think putting stats are misleading. I think when people are looking at putting stats they don't take into account of greens in regulation and total footage of putts; how close you are hitting the ball to the hole. If I wanted to improve my putting stats, I'd probably go miss every green on purpose and try to get up-and-down. Because I don't think that -- I have never been a big fan of looking at those. I keep stats on my own, in my head, you know, relative total footage of putts how many of those I am making. I don't think it's -- I don't think you can actually compare how someone is putting versus another guy by how many total putts per round, or anything because you don't know how far they are putting from and you also don't know how many greens they hit. If I hit 10 greens and somebody else hits 17 I guarantee you I am going to have less putts than him. So I have never been -- I think that about me and my putting is probably been blown up a little bit, you know, too much simply because -- fortunately I have been able to hit a lot of greens and now I would say that I can hit the ball closer to the hole, that's one thing I have thought about and worked on. As well as putt better from the range of probably 12 to 18 feet. Other than that, I say that my putting okay, but I would -- that's one of the things I am working on. Obviously the goal is to hit 18 greens and one putt every green, but if the range of the 12- to 18-footers I think is very important out here.

Q. Tired of hearing that obviously?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yeah, because I don't think -- I don't think everybody understands it. You can't read a putting stat and say that okay, Charles has -- is averaging 29 putts a round, I mean, compare that with greens in regulation. I know last year I think I was second on Tour in greens in regulation. I heard a lot about my putting. If I would have putted like the leader on Tour I would have won every tournament. So obviously I am not saying that my putting can't improve. That's one thing I am working on but at the same time it's just a range of putts in the 12 to 18-foot range I need to make more of.

Q. You said whether that's 10 or 100, in terms of how many wins you take away by age 60, how many do you think you will be at?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I have no idea.

Q. Is there a goal? You don't have Jack Nicklaus posters on your wall?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Not any Jack or Tiger posters on my wall. Obviously I'd like to win the Masters. If I can win one tournament it would be that one, but I have always said that. I have said if I won that I would retire the next day. But no, obviously that's the No. 1 tournament in my mind that I do want to win. Other than that, I hope --you know I am going to give tournament my best shot. I don't quit. I don't give up. Whether I am you know, 10 back or 10 ahead, I still play every round as hard as I can, and I will go from there. As long as I do that I can get up in the morning and be all right.

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