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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2006

Mike Small

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

KELLY ELBIN: Mike Small, ladies and gentlemen, the men's golf coach at the University of Illinois, the winner of the 2005 PGA Professional National Championship, playing in his third PGA Championship this week.

Mike, must be exciting to be playing in your home state in the PGA Championship.

MIKE SMALL: It is. It's the highlight of my summer and probably a couple summers, so I'm looking forward to it.

KELLY ELBIN: Can you talk a little bit about the time you spent this week on the golf course and impressions gained from the practice rounds.

MIKE SMALL: Well, this is a tough golf course from the very start to the end. I've had a great week. I've had two good practice rounds with some of the best players in the world, and from a coaching standpoint I pick up a lot of stuff that way.

But I also try to address the course and my concerns, and I'm going to have to drive it pretty straight to play out here because my game doesn't suit playing out of this deep rough very well.

Q. Like you just said, for coaching it helps your purposes. Usually you're the one coaching along and obviously walking out there with you today. What did you learn and obviously you had some great minds to pick at?

MIKE SMALL: I did. We had a great time today. Phil Mickelson offered a lot of suggestions to me, very constructive suggestions, and I took them to heart. He seemed very concerned about telling me these things. He supplied some information that's going to be good for me and my program and obviously me as a player. So that was good.

Jason Gore and Aaron Baddeley, two great players, and they've all won on Tour. Just watching them, though, is a great experience. Then we had Dave Pelz and Rick Smith in our group all day, too. It was a big brain trust, shall I say.

Q. How did your practice round today with Phil materialize?

MIKE SMALL: I asked him on Sunday well, actually he walked by me and said, "Hi, Mike, good playing lately." He said if there's anything he can do for me, let him know.

I said, "Well, okay? Have you got a game? I'm looking for a game."

He said, "Sure, Tuesday morning, 7:45." It was that simple and that easy, and it came about and it was great. It was what I needed because I saw a different way to play the golf course. I saw a lot of different shots that you don't see normally. I've got a better perspective of what I need to do. From a player standpoint, it was perfect for me. And from a coaching standpoint, what could be better?

Q. Does what you saw today and what you went through with the crowd and all, does that alter your expectation or change your game plan at all starting Thursday morning?

MIKE SMALL: Not really, no. I saw a lot of good shots hit out there today, so I visualized those. I can see good shots being hit. It doesn't change mine much. My game is pretty simple. I know what I have to do to be successful.

Last year at Baltusrol when I made the cut, I played really well and I kept the ball in play. Last year I was 6 over par after six holes on Thursday, and I didn't do the things I need today do, and then I turned it around.

This course is different, but I see some similarities that I have to do from this year to last year. But watching those guys obviously Jason hits it a lot farther than I remember him hitting it. I've played with him before. They're all crafty and very sharp around the greens. That's something I'm going to have to work on this afternoon.

Q. Aside from the obvious length of the course, what is the most difficult aspect of this course, and which particular holes on it are your favorites and how do you plan to play them?

MIKE SMALL: I think the par 3s on this golf course are going to be tough. I think with good shots you can make some birdies on them, but a few wayward shots, they're so long and they can be so penal that you can make some bogeys or doubles on those. I think some of the dogleg par 4s for me, 9, 11 and 16, the ones that all go left, I'm going to have to do a better job of playing those. Because I think if you get in that rough, it's so difficult to get up and down around these greens because the ball settles down in that rough; and if I'm missing the fairways, I'm not hitting the greens, and it's just like that domino effect.

The par 5s I think can be played well because I think they're fair and I think you can get a wedge into all of them for sure your third shot. You can get up on the green on a couple of them, which would be good. It's just one of those things where I think the par 3s are big out here, I really do.

Q. At the National Championship, I know it didn't pan out the way you wanted it to at the end, but you were still really excited about being able to come here to Medinah. Can you just talk about when did it finally sink in that you were going to be playing at home? Was it this week or after playing so well at the National Championship?

MIKE SMALL: It was disappointing at the National Championship. I had the lead for so long and I wanted a repeat and it didn't happen. But in the back of my mind, I knew I was coming here.

Then when I played in the Western Open I got a feel for being back up here and the fans and the crowd, and then I played a practice round that week, and it really started sinking in. I've really been focusing towards that.

I played four straight PGA TOUR events starting at the Western, and the closer it got, I can remember myself doing stuff that would be pointing towards this week, working on my game, thinking about certain things. Even at the Illinois Open a week and a half ago, no matter how it turned out that week, I knew I was going to come here and play. I've just been looking forward to it, and obviously getting here on Sunday and seeing how the course has progressed and how they've developed it. And then a good practice round yesterday, then today was a wonderful day, and it's just peaking at the right. If I can come here Thursday and then, that I'll be better off.

I've made more cuts the last two or three years than I've missed on the Tour, and I think I'm figuring out how to peak on Thursday instead of peaking on Monday or Tuesday like I used to.

Q. Having made the cut last year at Baltusrol, do your goals change coming into this year's PGA Championship?

MIKE SMALL: I want to make the cut again. For the club pros, that's a realistic goal. And then once you make the cut, you maybe reestablish those things. I'm not really a big goal guy. I believe I can do it. I believe I can see myself playing on the weekend again, but I can't really expect it to happen. I can't go in here and really be overly confident and really plan on it happening. I'm not going to expect it to, but I believe I can. But that's my main goal I think as a club pro is to make the cut and then let it go on the weekend.

I think last year I was in 30th or 31st after Friday and then I had a bad Saturday. It was one of those days where I played with Hal Sutton, I think, on Saturday and we both didn't make a birdie. It was one of those days where it was not good.

My goal is to make the cut and then improve on my Saturday and Sunday finish. I did that at Milwaukee and the John Deere this year, played better on the weekend in Milwaukee than I was John Deere. If my weekends keep getting better, then I can start having some more success.

Q. Having made the cut at Baltusrol last year, for a major championship, does that psychologically give you a bit of a lift coming to the PGA again knowing you've gotten over that hurdle?

MIKE SMALL: I think so. That's a big confidence boost to anybody. But the best players in the world, that's not a big deal for them. They're trying to win the tournament. But for me it was a huge confidence boost. It's helped playing since then, and this year, too. I know if things don't go well for a certain stretch, if I can stop the bleeding and get back to what I'm doing, then I can methodically make some pars and make some birdies and make the cut because you don't have to shoot 3 or 4 under to make these cuts. I don't know what historically it is, 2, 3, 4 over. Pars don't hurt you, and that's good for me because I make a lot of pars.

KELLY ELBIN: Mike Small, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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