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CIALIS WESTERN OPEN

July 4, 2006

Mike Small

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

JOHN BUSH: We'll get started. We'd like to welcome University of Illinois men's golf coach Mike Small into the interview room. Thanks for spending a few minutes with us.

MIKE SMALL: Thank you. I feel important.

JOHN BUSH: Congratulations on your recent -- I think it was a fourth place finish at the PGA Professionals' National Championship, and that will get you another ticket to the PGA Championship, and you'll be playing Medinah. Just comment on the week and looking forward to playing another major, your third straight, I think, at the PGA.

MIKE SMALL: Yeah, that was the goal for the week. We're very fortunate to have a tournament that gets all the PGA pros in the country to have a chance to play in the PGA. My goal was to finish in the top 20. That was the first goal. But then your next goal is to win it. Last year I was fortunate to win it. That's why I have such a big schedule this summer. I didn't win it this year, but I got in the PGA at Medinah. That was the big goal.

JOHN BUSH: You're now playing the Cialis Western Open. Talk about your game and your preparations coming into this week.

MIKE SMALL: Well, this is my big one of the regular Tour events obviously. I've been coming to this tournament since I was a kid, and I've had some success here the last three years. I'm going to try to prepare the same way I did the last three. Last week was my summer camp, so that was a good preparation, I guess. I didn't play much but I worked pretty hard, so now I feel like I'm on vacation.

I'm working hard, just trying to go out and hopefully I can play like I did the last three years.

Q. Did you feel more pressure with the last tournament here trying to get in it because it was Medinah, just trying to get into it? That was a big thing; you wanted to play the PGA in your home state?

MIKE SMALL: Yeah, you're right. Of all the majors I've played in, this will be my fifth major, I've never played one in my home state, and I'm looking forward to the fans and the Illini fans and really just the general state of Illinois fans for the support. It was a big goal of mine. But once I got into Saturday last week and I was in contention, I knew if I just played solid, the PGA would be there, and then I tried to win the tournament. If you're trying to win the tournament, top 20 would be a lot easier, too. I was thinking that more in the back of my mind this year than any other year.

Q. Could you talk about this being the end of an era, if you will, with The Western changing dates and the name and kind of the feelings about how this changes things?

MIKE SMALL: I've been around this event, like I said, for 30 years, coming to it as a kid and growing up in high school and college and always thinking this was the big, big deal. And then I'm not sure how many times I've played in it, seven or eight times maybe. This has always been personally, for me and my family, a big part of the summer. We'd come up and see our friends and see all the friends from when I played on the PGA TOUR.

We're going to miss it personally, but I have faith in the WGA that they're doing what's right for this event. Changing the date is going to be different; changing it to not on July 4th anymore in the summer and not having a full field event that gives us the opportunity to play is going to be different.

But everything changes and comes to an end. I'm just going to have faith in the WGA and I believe they're doing what's best for their event and we'll see what the future holds. But it is going to be different having this event in September.

Q. You won't be able to try and qualify and play in it. Will that tick you off?

MIKE SMALL: No, that doesn't tick me off. It's just golf. I'm not upset about it because I've been grateful to play the last four or five years in this thing. I look at this as an opportunity and I'm grateful for it. At one time I was good enough to get on the PGA TOUR and play out here, and I chose to do something else, and that was my decision. I've been happy to play, and I've had some success here.

Like I said, personally I'm going to miss the event. This has been a big part of my summer and my golfing career, and I'm going to miss it.

It's bigger than me. They're trying to do what's best for their organization, and to be one of the top events on the PGA TOUR. It's always been one of the top events. The Western Open has always been one of the top-tiered events on Tour, and now for sure it's not going to be lost, it's going to be one of those season-ending events. They're doing what's best for them.

I'll find something else to do, and who knows, I might play well the rest of the summer and be here next year. I've got a lot of tournaments left.

Q. What are you playing this year?

MIKE SMALL: My schedule is finalized for this year. Including this one I have eight more PGA TOUR events I'm exempt because of the club pro win last year. I have this one, John Deere next week, then I'm scheduled at the BC Open, which may not happen, and then the U.S. Bank in Milwaukee. Then I have the Illinois Open those three days after that which I'm not going to miss because I want to try to defend that. Then I have an off week, first off week, and then the PGA, then I'll recoup that off week.

Then school starts and we have or practice and fundraiser, and then I go to Reno-Tahoe, and then our season gets going, and I'm going to go to the Southern Farm tournament, which is right after the tournament we're hosting; my school and my team is hosting an event at Olympia Fields this fall, a big national college event. So then I'll leave that night to go to Southern Farm and then I'll finish off with the Disney, the Funai, for my family.

Q. Does it feel a little bit like old times, going through that schedule where you're kind of on the road? Does it bring back a feeling of when you were playing full-time on the Tour?

MIKE SMALL: Yeah.

Q. How does that make you feel?

MIKE SMALL: It does bring back the memories. I've always missed the Thursdays through Sundays. When I started coaching, I love what I do and it's part of my life and I have goals for that, and I've always missed Thursdays through Sundays but I haven't missed the practice and the preparation and the hitting balls. Right now my back is killing me from hitting balls out there. I haven't missed the travel. But it kind of brought back some memories what I wanted to do because I had the opportunity to choose what tournaments I wanted to play in.

I'll always have that in me; I'll always be a Tour player. I played for 12, 11 years of my life full-time. I don't want to lose that and it's always in me, so it does bring back memories.

Q. Why is there an uncertainty about the BC Open?

MIKE SMALL: Well, they've got some weather. They're flooded. It's really two parts. Their part is it's really in doubt of whether they're going to play. I think they're going to make that decision this week I heard. But also there's two big junior events that week that I need to recruit at, too, me and my assistant. I may not be up to playing four in a row. That might be too good. I may take that week off and recruit because I'm working on the phones every night, so I might need to go back and recruit because that's what I do firsthand.

Q. Will you take another tournament?

MIKE SMALL: No. The six events I got from the club pro win last year were any three events I wanted, barring a couple invitationals, and then it had to be three out of four events that were opposite the World Golf Championships or the British Open, and I didn't play Tucson early in the year, so I have to play BC, Reno and Southern Farm, which is fine. Those are good tournaments. Those courses set up well for me.

And then obviously the other ones I chose. I played the Byron Nelson back in May, which was during finals week. I didn't play well, but it was good to go down and knock the rust off.

Q. You're good friends with Steve Stricker. What was it like for him missing cut after cut for three years and now being able to come back? What was that like for him and what can you say about him as a player?

MIKE SMALL: Well, what I can say about Stricker not as a player is I can tell you he's one of the best people I've ever met. He doesn't have any enemies in the world. He's one of the best-liked players in the world. I think everybody was pulling for him. He showed some resilience, some guts to come back from that stretch he had there. To go from top 15 or top 20 in the world to where he didn't have status was frustrating, but he showed some faith and hard work, and when I played with him out at St. Charles that day, that was pretty impressive. I knew he was playing well.

Then he goes -- he had a legitimate chance to win the U.S. Open, had a legitimate chance to win the Booz Allen a week ago. He could win this week. He's hitting fairways now, not missing fairways now, and from inside 100 yards he's the best there is. He is ranks up there with the Top 5 players in the world from 100 yards in. He always has. His putting is phenomenal and now his scores are dropping phenomenally.

Q. Is he a confidence guy? Is it that simple or is there more to it?

MIKE SMALL: I think all players, all the players out here have confidence. But confidence, whether you like it or not, is directly related to how you're hitting it and how you're playing your game. You can fake it, you can have that confidence, but if something is wrong in your swing or in your mind, it's going to affect your confidence and your emotions to an extent. It affects different people different ways, and that would probably be a question for Steve deep down. When we've talked over the years, the last year or two he's been struggling, and I've noticed lately his words have been more positive and he's been more optimistic and he's not as down on himself, and that has something to do with it.

JOHN BUSH: Mike, thanks for coming by.

End of FastScripts.

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