home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 2006

Corey Pavin

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Corey Pavin for stopping by after a 4 under 66 first round of the 2006 Buick Championship. Corey, no stranger to the Ten 10. T6 two years ago and 8th last year. You've finished T2 and a 4th and a 3rd. You just like to rack them up, I guess.

COREY PAVIN: There is one I haven't gotten, though.

TODD BUDNICK: You can work on that one this week.

COREY PAVIN: That's what I'm here for, to see if I can work on that.

TODD BUDNICK: Four birdies today, no bogies, a nice, clean round today.

COREY PAVIN: Yes. Today I think i hit every fairway. I didn't hit every green, but I was close enough to all the greens where even my chips were not very difficult chips. It was a nice, clean round, pretty stress free, for the most part.

TODD BUDNICK: What is it that this course favors for you.

COREY PAVIN: I don't know. I think it's a golf course that if you bomb it on it, it doesn't really make that much difference, so the important thing here is to hit the fairways, play smart into these greens. It's more of a position type golf course. And that's my kind of golf course.

Over the years I've played well here so I always like coming back and see what I can do this year, and so far so good.

Q. I remember going back a couple of years when they had the media day at Shinnecock when you were talking you hadn't been playing that great and you were saying it was almost to the point you were looking forward to the seniors. Then last year you had a nice bounce back. What changed in that period?

COREY PAVIN: I didn't realize I said that.

Q. You said it was getting to the point where your exemption was running out for the U.S. Open.

COREY PAVIN: What was your question?

Q. What changed between then and the nice year last year?

COREY PAVIN: I was working with Butch Harmon and one of his guys there, Greg LaBelle, that I've done a lot of work in the last couple of months with, and things are starting to click a little bit. I'm getting more comfortable. I'm hitting the ball better. The thing that's holding me back this year is my putting.

Last year I played a lot better. The whole year was a lot more consistent, and it's just working hard and hopefully working on the right things. And the changes I made with Butch were pretty good changes in my swing. It takes time to get those to a comfortablish kind of point and I'm getting more and more comfortable and feeling a little bit better.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you worked on?

COREY PAVIN: When I first went to see Butch, we worked a lot on trying to get more width in my swing, not be so narrow with my hands. My hands are really high and close to my head. I was trying to get more width, and that then creates more power. That's the very first thing that we did. And to just try to use my body better than use my hands in my swing, is the gist of it all, basically.

Q. To pick up more distance?

COREY PAVIN: Pick up distance, but also hit the ball up in the air, a higher trajectory on my shots and carry the ball further. That's been something that has it was fine, you know, 15, 20 years ago, but now I need to get the ball up higher in the air and I'm doing a much better job of that.

Q. Any thoughts on it was dangerously close to not continuing here as a Tour event. Any thoughts when you heard that it might be lost and then when it was saved?

COREY PAVIN: I was happy, for very selfish reasons. You know, I've always loved coming here, too. The people here I've known Ted May for 23 years, probably, and he's great and everybody that runs the tournament here are so nice. And the fans have supported the tournament all the time and you hate to see a tournament like that go, especially one where I've played well, as well. I'm glad it's here. I'm glad it's back. I each told Tim Fincham a few months ago that I was sad that this tournament might be going. And then I was very pleased to see that it was back on the schedule.

Q. There's a necessity for tournaments like this on the Tour, community related?

COREY PAVIN: I think it's very important. I think that's really what the TOUR is all about, is community and charity and giving back. It sounds like a recording or something, but that's one of the things that I think everybody on Tour is so proud of, is all the money that goes to charity every week, let alone what did we hit? That number we reached?

A billion. It's such a big number it's hard to remember it. I think that's a very big focal point of the Tour and what makes this Tour so wonderful, so it's nice to see it staying.

Q. Just joking around, obviously, but you haven't been in the winner circle in quite a while. I don't want to say it.

COREY PAVIN: That's okay, everybody knows it, over ten years, actually.

Q. Do you expect that you would react any differently on a Sunday afternoon if you were up on the leaderboard than you did ten years ago?

COREY PAVIN: I was pretty close here the last couple of years. I think two years ago I think I may have been tied or had the lead on 12 or are 13 on Sunday. And last year I think I was pretty close, as well. It's a little different in some ways. You have the experience, you've been there and you know what to expect, you know what's coming. But when you haven't been there and you haven't been having a chance to win a tournament, it's not as easy as it would have been 10 years ago or 12 years ago.

When you're there week in and week out, you learn and you deal with it very easily. When there is a long time in between, it's not as easy. But at least I have the experience, I know what to expect, but I have to go out there and execute and do things I haven't been doing for a number of years. In that way it's a little harder, but it's also a pretty fun thing to have that challenge. That's why I'm playing, to get back in that position and do it again.

Q. The course kind of fits your eye and you like different varieties of holes, is that what has gone on?

COREY PAVIN: Here?

Q. Yes.

COREY PAVIN: Yes, there's a lot of different shots you have to hit on this golf course, off the tee, into the green. Positioning is really important here, especially I think a lot of shots into the green, for me, I just love to hit a little fade or little draw, keep it below the hole, don't hit it over here, keep it on this side. There is a lot on this golf course. And over the years those are the kind of golf courses I play my best golf on.

Q. When you walk on 18 still, do you remember your little leap a few years ago?

COREY PAVIN: My little putt that I made there? I always remember that. We were talking about that in the practice round on Tuesday with Eric, my caddie, and we were trying to remember where I was exactly and stuff. It was pretty fun. There were 30,000 people around the green. It was very noisy when I made the putt. Fun, fun memories.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your birdies.

No. 3.

COREY PAVIN: 3, I hit driver and a 6 iron about 8 feet, I think, and made that.

9, I hit driver, 9 iron, maybe 12 feet.

14, I hit driver, 6 iron on the right fringe, it must have been just over 20 feet, and knocked that one in.

15, I hit 3 wood, hit a sand wedge, didn't quite get up the crest and rolled down about 25 feet and made that putt.

Q. You were pretty close on the last hole.

COREY PAVIN: On 18? I was on the left fringe about pin high and it was a big left to right sweeper and it ended a couple of feet below the hole. It wasn't really a putt I think about making too much, just try to curl it up there near the hole and if it falls in it's a huge bonus, but I wasn't really in a spot there I could go for birdie with my putt.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Corey.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297