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WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 7, 2005

John Daly

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

p> JOEL SCHUCHMANN: John Daly, thanks for joining us. Two good days for you, 67 67, just one shot off the lead of Colin Montgomerie heading into the weekend. Start with some opening comments on two good days for you.

JOHN DALY: It's been solid with the driver anyway. Yesterday I struggled with the putter a little bit, but today I think I hit it a little bit better; just one bogey, I think, today. I love the way I'm hitting my driver. It's keeping that in play that has allowed me to score somewhat decent.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Yesterday was 7 and today was 16. Talk about driving the green there at 16.

JOHN DALY: Well, I didn't really think I was going to be able to. The wind was in our face a little bit. We went ahead and hit, me and Paul, and I thought there's no really way I was going to get on today. Yesterday I killed it and it was just on the front. I got a lucky bounce and rolled up on the green and had about a 35 footer.

Q. Right across the lake, John, is a course that didn't let you hit driver, now you're hitting driver a lot. Talk about the courses at Olympic and Harding and bringing the driver into play.

JOHN DALY: This course is a lot longer than Olympic, I think. Olympic was one of those courses where the U.S. Open, the fairways these are pretty tight, but this one just opens it up for you. I'd rather hit driver and be somewhere in the rough than lay back there and have to hit a longer iron in. Olympic, my 2 iron was boring to me during the Open. I guess if the members play it it's a little more open and you can probably hit driver. Olympic is a lot shorter than this course, I think.

Q. Did you get your putter sorted out today?

JOHN DALY: I went and checked my putter and it was one and a half degrees of loft, and I'm usually four and a half or five. We knew there was something wrong. I don't know whether it was pulling the crib out, maybe it got hung up on the putter or the stroller or whatever, but yesterday was really weird. We got it fixed, went over to Bennett and it was a little better today.

Q. Tiger came in here with a turtle neck and a vest and Colin Montgomerie is wearing a sweater. You played in short sleeves today.

JOHN DALY: You put both of them on the scale and they'll weigh just about what I weigh right now. I'm a lot warmer than they are (laughter).

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could go through your round. You started on the front side.

JOHN DALY: Driver, L wedge to about I hit it about a foot and a half on 1 and made it.

No. 4, par 5, I hit driver, had to lay up, L wedge with 89 yards to about eight feet and made it.

10, I hit driver, 6 iron just short, had about a 60 foot putt, two putted.

Only bogey of the day, 14, I hit a pretty good drive, just kicked left off the hill and had a really bad lie and tried to hit an 8 iron, put it in the worst place on the left, chipped up to about 20 feet and missed the putt.

We talked about 16.

Then 18, had a nice drive, 347.

Q. Maybe talk about your approach shot.

JOHN DALY: We had 104 to the hole on 18 straight downwind. I killed that L wedge and it didn't go as far as I thought it would. That pin is I guess you're almost better being a little short than you are long there.

Q. How did the conditions play out there with the weather? Was it more overcast, cooler today? Did it make any difference today?

JOHN DALY: The wind was blowing harder and the ball wasn't going near as far as it was yesterday. No. 12, I hit 3 wood, sand wedge yesterday, I think, and today I hit 3 wood, 6 iron. It played a lot longer today.

Q. Does it feel like you're on a muni?

JOHN DALY: No, this doesn't feel like a muni at all.

Q. Nothing like the ones you've played?

JOHN DALY: No (laughing). We didn't have fairways or hardly ever had greens. We kind of went from tee box to tee box (laughter). No, this is a wonderful golf course. I know they put a lot of money into it. I just think it's old traditional style golf. You can play conservative if you want or you can hit driver if you want to. That's what I love about this golf course.

Q. How do you think the weekend is shaping up?

JOHN DALY: I don't know. I mean, I'm excited about it, being in the last group with Colin and David Howell, so it's kind of neat to be in contention.

Q. When is the last time you played with Monty?

JOHN DALY: It's been a while. It's been a while since I played with Colin.

Q. Do you enjoy his company?

JOHN DALY: Yeah, we always chat it up a little bit.

Q. About what?

JOHN DALY: Whatever (laughter). Sometimes it's golf. I mean, both of us have had plenty of divorces so we can always talk about that (laughter). I've had a lot more than he has.

Q. He's had obviously, you mentioned, the struggle in the last year and a half, his personal life and his game went bad, now he seems to be back. As a guy who's gone through it yourself, does it sort of please you to see the recovery for Colin?

JOHN DALY: Well, it takes a while. It's a lot of you know, you get lonely a lot. I've been through it a lot and I know what he went through. To see him win last week, and he's played great in the British Open, it's great to see him come back. So many years winning Order of Merit, seven in a row in Europe, and he kind of got used to that. But he's back and he's playing good golf. I'm sure he would love to get a win on U.S. soil. He hasn't had one on one of our Tour events. My hats off to him. I know what he's been through.

Q. What do you think of the city of San Francisco? Have you ventured out, checked things out at night?

JOHN DALY: Not too much. My wife has, Sherrie. She's been to every mall and stuff, downtown. She's been to all the shops and she loves it. I don't like walking in the city. I can barely get through 18 holes out here. No, it's a wonderful city. I mean, the fans are unbelievable here. Why we don't have a tournament here every year is mind boggling to me. They're hungry for golf here.

Q. Different than the AT & T Pebble Beach Pro Am? That's a little south of here, but do you see a difference?

JOHN DALY: A lot more fans out here than at AT & T, a lot more, double or triple.

Q. Given your play in Germany and being in all the biggies this year, have you thought much about European Tour membership?

JOHN DALY: Well, I've got a decision to make. It depends how I play here. If I was to get lucky and win, there's a chance that I would make enough to get in the TOUR Championship, play Vegas next week that I'm committed to, and then maybe go and play the one before the TOUR Championship in Europe. I think it's a week before our TOUR Championship, isn't it?

Q. Which one?

JOHN DALY: The European one. I need one more tournament to play in Europe. I have to play 11 to be qualified to play there. I made enough money in Europe to play in the TOUR Championship.

Q. So if you don't win here or if the TOUR Championship here looks sketchy, you might go over

JOHN DALY: Like I said, I have to win here and I think I'd be guaranteed in the TOUR Championship. I don't know for sure, but I'll play Vegas and maybe think about going to Europe.

Q. What would be the thing for you for having Tour membership over there? Why would you want European Tour membership?

JOHN DALY: Well, I think I was going to play in a few more events. I mean, like what Ernie does. I can't travel the way he does, but it's fun. I enjoy going over there. I love playing in Germany. I haven't been to Spain in a while. I remember going there one time, and it's just a beautiful country. I enjoy going over there.

Q. We'd like to have you play on the European Tour. Why would you do it?

JOHN DALY: Well, you can play both. Ernie is doing it pretty much, Retief does it, Sergio does it. We have to play 15 here, and I think it's 11 over there. That's 26 tournaments. I think it's a lot of fun. I love going over there and playing. It's very peaceful over there. You know, it's good golf courses that you can hit driver a lot on, which I enjoy doing (laughter), especially those Germany courses we play. It's just perfect for my game. Like I said, I enjoy playing over there.

Q. The names you've mentioned are either South Africans or Europeans. For an American to go over and play as much would be very, very unusual.

JOHN DALY: Yeah, probably. But like I said, I'm the one that likes to go over there and play. I enjoy the people, I enjoy the European Tour, I enjoy the sponsors. It's more laid back in a way than ours is. Guys hang out a little bit more on the European Tour. Our Tour has got quite a bit more money than the European Tour does, but only a few of us get to hang out in the States, we've either got a trainer or a psychologist following the guys (laughter), and my entourage is a bunch of drunks having a good time (laughter). Everybody is a little bit more serious on our Tour, which is okay because we're playing for so much more money.

Q. Talking about 18, a lot of guys have said the tee box is moved a little bit too far to the left. Talk about how the hole sets up and your strategy.

JOHN DALY: I just try and knock it over those trees. There's a forked tree that sticks out and then there's a solid one. That's what I've been aiming at, going over that every day.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: John Daly, thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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