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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 23, 2006

Stuart Appleby

HUMBLE, TEXAS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Stuart Appleby, congratulations on winning the 2006 Shell Houston Open wire to wire, second win here in Houston. Congratulations on a great week, 19 under par, six shot win. Opening comments.

STUART APPLEBY: I thought if we didn't get the wind that 15 under plus score might be a chance on the cards. Today was the typical day I think we thought we should have had for four days that would have kept scoring a lot higher, probably around the 10 under par mark, 10 to 12. I enjoyed the week obviously. To have a comfortable victory has never left my lips. I've never had that luxury. It was nice to know coming down the last part of the day that things were in hand and it was just a little bit easier to relax.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about winning for the second time in one season. This is the first time you've done this in 11 years on the PGA TOUR.

STUART APPLEBY: That was something I had always got off to good starts in the last three years, and there needed to be another dose of that throughout the year, and there hadn't been. So '03, '04 and '05 were good years but I didn't feel like they were great years. Certainly now winning twice puts that feeling, an emotional feeling at a high level, to say that I won twice. It's a good year. Winning twice on the Tour in a year is a good achievement for me. Other players are probably thinking four or five and other guys are thinking if they don't win six it's a bad year. I think winning once or twice proves to you that what you're doing works, and it can work more than once every Blue Moon.

Q. Do your expectations of yourself change?

STUART APPLEBY: Absolutely not one level. From the time I won here in '99 until the time I won now, I don't expect anything. What I expect to do is to compete my best any given week, the best I can, and work with what I have the best I can and respect the swing and chipping, putting, whatever is in my game, and this week my game was at a stronger level in a rounded aspect. What I'm trying to do is get better at having a well rounded game. I know that that level, that quality of golf is going to put me in contention more often, and that's really what it is about, being near contention or in contention. Today I was always there, but a lot of weeks you've got to fight to find your way into contention.

Q. Do you prefer winning by a bunch or winning be last?

STUART APPLEBY: A bunch is a lot more enjoyable the last hour or two hours of the day. I kept it on the leaderboard once I made the birdies early in the back nine, I sort of said, right, okay, I said to Joe, let's knuckle down, push down, drive this thing home. That really was my focus. I got just as intent as I was at the start of the day because I thought, well, now I've got a lead that I just want to outgrow. It's something that I knew I could win from here but I didn't want to give up any part of my lead. I wanted to hold it or extend it. I knew what I had to do to do that, much like I used that sort of food for thought I had at Kapalua back when I was dueling with Vijay and he had a run at me. Someone could make a run at me, but what do I have to do and it'll be just make pars coming in. I got my goal of shooting 3 under par on the front nine and knew if I could do the same thing on the back no one was going to catch me.

Q. You just seemed very relaxed all week. Was that just something that I thought I saw or did you kind of feel like, all things considered, if you got going this could be your week?

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, that makes sense. I felt like last week when I was practicing at home that I felt like if I played like I was practicing I could win. Not going to because you don't know what someone else was going to do but I knew there would be no way I could finish out of the Top 10. You know when you've got something that works. I got off to a good start so that proves that in tournament play it works. Then I just really went with that same feeling, same thoughts in my swing, and just let that mature under competition stress, and it worked.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I have come into events feeling very confident about my game, and it's not always worked. But this one it certainly did.

Q. What was the basic thought you had that you were holding on to, that you brought in?

STUART APPLEBY: Just tiny little swing things. I won't bore you with details, but little swing things that I knew was the difference between an average shot and just more and more great shots. I just knew if I could execute that part of my swing, pretty much whether I was under pressure or not under pressure, it would work. That's the secret. Everyone is trying to build a swing that works under pressure. It worked all week. Very few times did it let me down.

Q. You mean there was pressure on you this week?

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, I think you always feel pressure. As the week goes on, the pressure mounts. It's really a bit like bleeding it off. You've got to bleed it off and keep it at a level where the cooker doesn't blow. That's really what I was keeping an eye on, that I kept everything under control and controlled my part of the game because I knew if I was executing my putts and placement on the greens that highly unlikely someone was going to catch me.

Now, I didn't ever think I had the tournament won going into today, but I knew what I had to do that would allow me to win the tournament.

Q. Are these swing thoughts something you think you can sustain long term to get to the next level?

STUART APPLEBY: Well, they've proven that they work. I grasped the idea and I nurtured it and it worked. That's really what it's about. Winning at good events or even making the cut can plant a seed that this is what I need to do because this got me out of a hole because this moved me up a level. I think there's some sustenance in what I worked on this week.

Q. You talked last week about trying to get to the next level. How far are you and do you think you can get there?

STUART APPLEBY: God, you're picky, aren't you? Time frame?

Q. Just curious.

STUART APPLEBY: Look, I need to play more like this, this type of golf. I play like this this is not the next level for me. It's the next level on paper, but long time I need to keep doing this stuff, keep moving, keep doing this. I may never say I don't know if a player thinks that they're at the next level. I think we always climb through those levels very slowly. Sometimes we don't even know we pass them. But I don't feel like winning twice has put me on another level. I've had good chances to win previous years twice and didn't, so there may be a level there, at least on paper there is.

Q. What is the thing that you're going to remember about this week that's different from the other times that you've won? What's going to be the

STUART APPLEBY: I don't know, I think a seven time winner before today, and I think seven time winner, I think I know what I'm doing. I've got a couple shot lead. I know how to win before, I'm really just telling myself not how great I am but saying you've done this before, done it different ways, playoffs and what have you, but I thought, well, it worked for two days, worked for one day, worked for second, third. You don't change the recipe, you just go and grab stuff and start mixing in the bowl, and that was really what I thought today.

I think there was no time in the tournament where I felt like I had to have a change in game plan, where I had to be more aggressive or more defensive because I felt like I was in ultimate control of what I was doing and no one else was putting enough pressure on me to make me be more aggressive or more conservative. The course was tough enough where you couldn't be silly out there. I knew that sort of plays a bit into my hands where I can play conservative but also sneak a birdie in.

Q. Joe talked about at 17 that you finally asked how you stood.

STUART APPLEBY: I knew how I stood but I wanted a second opinion. That's what I pay him for, I guess.

Q. You wanted to make sure that you were at 19 instead of 20?

STUART APPLEBY: No, I didn't I knew where I was, but I just wanted to hear it from his lips. I didn't want to come in and someone say, "oh, no, you only have a one shot lead."

Q. At that point was it fun? It seems like you were very focused and you knew what you needed to do swing wise and things like that.

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, I was very focused. I've watched tournaments where players had big victories and thought I don't know how easy it would be or how crazy it would be. I felt comfortable and relaxed knowing there was no way I could mess up the tournament, but it's hard to switch off because you're in your golf shoes, you're wearing your outfit, walking the fairways, playing golf. You're still there, still in the office, and you just don't and the door wasn't closed. I was still there, and it's hard to switch off and just walk over and whatever, sign autographs and whatever. You just can't do that.

I certainly felt it was the first time I've ever had the time I could calm myself down, not switch off but know that everything was totally under control and there was no way possible anything could happen. No one can take anything from me and I couldn't do anything about it to screw it up.

Q. You kind of felt like Tiger Woods with a double digit lead.

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, whatever, the U.S. Open.

Q. And The Masters.

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, you're right. You're still switched on. I think sometimes you think someone will just walk up on the last from 30 feet and fling it down there. You are still there and still can't break your routine even if you have a six shot lead because it shows you're stepping out of your zone.

Q. Was there any significance to you in doing it wire to wire?

STUART APPLEBY: I'll use that for next time there's a wire to wire chance, saying I've done it before, I know how to do it, so yeah.

Q. Would your game this week be capable of winning a major, if you take the game you had this week into the majors?

STUART APPLEBY: God, that's hard. It was good. I'm not sure because I haven't been in contention enough, I don't think, to know what was that level I had then. Maybe that might have been my best game and it wasn't good enough, so I don't know. I think the way I played today, if I played like that in the major, there's no doubt I can be a contender at the back.

Q. What do you think they'll do to Appleby proof this place next year?

STUART APPLEBY: Oh, please. This is not Augusta. They don't have to prove anything. This course has got enough teeth on it. It's all weather dependent like most courses are. This might be one of the lower scoring tournaments that you might see here because I've seen Texas a lot more brutal than this in difficulty, and I think my score might stand for a while just because the course, we got enough of a good break in the weather.

Q. Other than the fact that you won out here, what's your take on the course and this as a tournament site?

STUART APPLEBY: Well, a few obvious things. It's nice to play everyone is a bit concerned about changing courses, especially when you change one that's only 100 yards away, and that was a good golf course. I played well there when I last played there. I liked the feel of this course. I liked the feel of this course. I liked the way the greens were designed. I thought they were very fair. Everything moved, you could position your ball on the greens near the flag if you wanted to be aggressive. You could be conservative and have a good conservative effort where you could be conservative to the bad side and have the same length putt and have a real tough one. You could plan your way around and be aggressive. The greens were firm but very fair. You had to draw the ball, you had to fade the ball.

There was nothing wrong with this golf course. It was definitely out there. It was repetitious in look but didn't play the same. I think everybody felt comfortable out on the course and I think their eye fit it very early. It was a good change. Changes are good sometimes but sometimes players are a bit weary of changes, and I think this one was fun.

Q. But that was a place you finished second and didn't come back the last two years?

STUART APPLEBY: No, I'll come back now. I know this course well now, and hopefully I can get a love affair like I had at Kapalua.

Q. Is the comfort zone you had this week, is there in any way can you liken it to the comfort zone you had when you walk out to Kapalua?

STUART APPLEBY: Kapalua is another level of game because Kapalua, I don't know, it's not as. This is a bit different. I think every wind is a little bit different in other ways. All in the way you feel. Some things are very different. Kapalua, I have a calm confident feeling, which I had today, but I think, I don't know, could be the scenery, could be anything. Could be knowing that you've won there before that it just I haven't had a second on the same course but a win, and try and work out how I developed that relationship with Kapalua. I know this course, how to do it, where to hit it, know where to bounce it, and that's something I'd like to work on.

Q. There obviously wasn't any big turning point or anything to this thing, but do you have a favorite like snapshot moment from the week that you look at, that you look back at as that was what this tournament was?

STUART APPLEBY: A nice snapshot, an overall section, so many putts were not critical but sort of on that theme, for par yesterday, and some today for birdie, and they both meant the same thing. They both meant holding something and maintaining another way holding something again. One was for par, one was for birdie. There was no critical thing, really. No nine, no nothing. I was trying to keep myself emotionally steady. I found the times that if I was more nervous I found a way to get myself back and level. There's only so much you can try and concentrate. There's levels above that and below that, but the level you want to be at is a zone, and I've managed to find that often enough. That puts me in a productive state of mind versus not productive, not noticing a break or not noticing a spot or a piece of danger on the fairway. I managed to be there a bit more often, and that obviously led to productive scores.

Q. How do you feel about this being next year moved the week before The Masters. Are there similar shots out there?

STUART APPLEBY: Nothing really resembles. It's not preparation for Augusta. The only thing that's preparing for Augusta is competition, and Augusta is a different level because it's one of the higher levels of competition in any given time. It's certainly not preparation, but it's competition preparation. It's you engaging. Certainly if I play like this next year going into Augusta, I'll have the next event to gain the momentum and the vibe going on.

Q. I don't mean to get past the happy moment of today, but looking ahead to next week in New Orleans, what is the thought about that tournament and going back to New Orleans after what happened and the future of it?

STUART APPLEBY: Well, the Tour talked about it quite a bit for quite a long time now, probably the last six months to eight months we've been really talking about this is the biggest event New Orleans has had and may have this year. Certainly it was a concerted effort by the Tour to sort of ask let's help out, really think about this tournament more than maybe some of the others in a priority sense, not others being the events after this, but that this needs to be maybe just looked at a bit firmer than normal for obvious reasons, for what it can do for the town, for the charitable donation side of things, and an event is back in town, the whole aspect of it. We looked at that more than we would have a year or two ago because of obviously what the locals are dealing with.

Q. I guess there's the big bang of doing it this year and doing what you said from that dynamic. What about beyond that, though, as far as that event?

STUART APPLEBY: I have no clue of the event past what I'm about to do next week, play there next week.

We don't know the future. I don't know the future, so I think us turning up at least instigates what we're trying to do as golfers in that town and how the town is going to recover. It's going to take five years plus for the town to maybe have a new identity in a way, a little bit different, a different feel, obviously for the better. We're going back and trying to help out. There's events organized asking for wives and people helping out people with trying to pick up the pieces.

There's fliers out there looking for help, we're just obviously trying to do it and raise as much money as we can charitable wise for the charities in town, and look, the country is very aware of what's going on there, and I'm very sure no one has forgot about it. Like I say, I think there's a good five year building plan there that we will be thinking of this for a long time.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Stuart, congratulations.

End of FastScripts.

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