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CHRYSLER CLASSIC OF GREENSBORO

October 4, 2006

D.J. Trahan

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA: Pre-Round

TODD BUDNICK: Alright. We thank D.J. Trahan for stopping in. Of course, last weeks' win at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

Your first to your win. Talk about what it's been like the last couples days to go see family, getting to see fellow Tour players out here, had a chance to wish you congratulations.

D.J. TRAHAN: Well, it's been fantastic. Sunday night it was great. It was just me and my caddie at and another caddie of another player.

We kind of went out and just had a little bite to eat and it was really relaxing but, at the same time, your heart is still racing just because, you know, it was a 3 hole playoff and it was a hell of a playoff and it was pretty exciting to have come out on top with such a thrilling finish like that.

I'm just I'm ecstatic, obviously. It's been a long year, a fairly difficult year. My putts haven't been wanting to find the holes and my scores haven't been low enough and when you're out there and you fell like you're playing better golf than what you're scoring and you're missing cuts when you feel like you should easily be making cuts had I just been scoring the way I felt I should have been, you know, it's great to come out and pull that off especially so late in the year after such a long frustrating year.

TODD BUDNICK: You come into a place where you have you played last year and tied for 13th, shared the lead going into the last round.

Two things, one you're coming to a place where you played well before after a win and that's a good thing. Second, did playing in the final round last year help you last week at Southern Farm?

D.J. TRAHAN: Yeah. I think so. I've obviously I've been fortunate enough in my amateur career to have won a fair bit of golf tournaments.

I know how to play when I'm in the lead or near the lead. Unfortunately, last year here K.J. got off to a hot start and played flawless less golf on Sunday.

He would have been tough to beat for anybody under any circumstances the way he played that day. It was a joy to watch. I was looking at him, wishing it was me because he played beautifully.

But I just struggled with the putter last year here on Sunday. When you lose that confidence in your putter it really makes it difficult to do anything and obviously I shot 75 that day and I mean I felt like I had a hundred putts. I think the number was right around 36 or maybe even 37.

It was just miserable but, you know, you learn from everything and obviously what I took away from that was I put myself in position to win.

Obviously I felt like I was going to be able to do that again and I did and, you know, I just did what I've always done with the lead. I stuck to my game plan and just tried to focus and make a decision.

And, fortunately, for us even though couple of good putts I hit didn't go in, 71 was good enough to get into the playoff and then pull it off in the playoff.

TODD BUDNICK: Then coming back to a course that you have had some success on.

D.J. TRAHAN: I love the golf course here. It's the same at last week. I told my caddie, Todd, when we got there last week. I said, "This is a great golf course."

I like the way it sets up to my eye. That's really the same way I feel about this golf course. It's right in front of you. It's a demanding golf course and it really really, just when a golf course sets up to your eye, that's hard to describe.

For instance, like I go to Buick up in Michigan and I think 72 under par wins there every year. I can't shoot under par on that golf course. I don't know what it is.

I can feel like I hit it great and I still shoot even par for the day. Wow, 24 under par Wednesday this tournament every year. I honestly think I'm going to go back there until I least make the cut because for some sense of satisfaction, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

It's really funny how that works. Obviously I felt great about this golf course last year.

TODD BUDNICK: Okay. Take some questions.

Q Did you think about Greensboro, what maybe you learned last week sitting on the lead?

D.J. TRAHAN: Absolutely. Like I said, you learn certain things from every situation. That was my first opportunity to win a golf tournament.

I entered the lead in the final group with K.J. last year and obviously there was some nerves there and there was some excitement there and it was a thrill for me.

Of course, that went away quickly once the putter went cold on Sunday and then it was just a brutal grind for me having to shoot 75 on that night finishing in the Top 10.

But you learn little things from everything. Of the one things I didn't want to take away from that is the negatives. I threw those out the door and said, "I played great for three days last week. I played great for three days, why should not play well again Sunday and win the golf tournament? I've one them before."

It's a matter of going out and playing golf and getting the job done.

Q Do you know where you played after Greensboro last year?

D.J. TRAHAN: We played nope, I don't know. Vegas. Was it Vegas? I went out there and missed the cut by a shot.

I shot 75 on Sunday here and hit the ball well in Vegas and the putter was still being extremely rude and temperamental and I ended up missing the cut by a shot there.

Little bit of a disappointment after obviously Sunday was a disappointment but I felt like I was still playing well and that there was no reason for me to no continue playing well. I think we missed by a shot at Vegas.

Q Prior to last week, how often do you feel you were in contention on the last day this year?

D.J. TRAHAN: Really never, to be honest with you. Well, Milwaukee I had a chance and unfortunately got off to a poor start there but then I was 3 over through 4 holes on Sunday there.

I hung tough and made some birdies coming down the stretch to finish 4th but you know, that was a good feeling because, like I said, it's been a tough year and when you're out there I think guys have different ways of feeling about it but I honestly felt like I was not playing the kind of golf that my scores were showing.

I felt like I was playing better golf than that and obviously that's a good thing as far as optimism is concerned because I had to be optimistic about my game and believe it was there and I was going to be able to come back and do some good things but it's just a little bit but at the same time it's also that much more frustrating.

If you're playing bad and have no confidence and you feel like there's no hope, you don't really have much to look forward to every time you tee it up. Geez, if we play good today that would be nice.

But I was still expecting to go out and I expected myself to be able to play well and it's just a lot more frustrating that way.

Q Would you say the course sets up well can you be more specific as to what it is that is conducive to your game?

D.J. TRAHAN: In all honesty, it's club selections. I might be able the hole might set up so good to my eye that I might feel I can be aggressive enough to hit driver where most guys might hit a 5 wood or 3 wood. It's really amazing.

In all honesty, it would be no different than driving down the street and looking left and right at people's different yards and that's a beautiful yard. I don't like that yard very much. Obviously, this is how I want my yard to look versus that one.

Well, this is how I would like I like a golf course to look would be this golf course this week. And when you stand on the tee box or hitting a second shot into a green and look at the shot, and you feel so comfortable over it, that's what a golf course like this does for me.

It's kind of old school like I said right in front of you. It's got a fair bit of length to it this week but I just like I like the way that the doglegs go except 6 is a nice little dogleg left, par 4. It's not an easy hole by any means.

For some reason I get on the tee box and sets up great to my eye. When you can get on the more difficult holes on the golf course and you like the way they set up, obviously it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to play great golf but it makes you feel a lot more comfortable with a golf course when you can just look at shots and look at holes and you're relaxed.

TODD BUDNICK: Alright. Any other questions for DJ?

Q How about the game this week?

D.J. TRAHAN: Clemson? The football game?

TODD BUDNICK: Around here

D.J. TRAHAN: It is the game. Obviously Wake Forest has definitely gotten me a little red in the face the last couple of years but we're playing so well right now, I'm obviously not going sticking my foot in my mouth and say we're going to win the football game but I really like our chances.

The last two weeks our guys have played fantastic and it's been a thrill to watch them and you got to believe that their confidence is high and they're going to be a little bit worked up over what Wake Forest has done to us the last couple of years and with them being 5 0, I would have to imagine that's going to motivate our guys that much more to be a team to hand them their first loss.

Q Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you have some friends out here last year?

D.J. TRAHAN: They were listening to it on the radio and obviously the terrible play in the fourth quarter broke my heart. I was playing with a broken heart on Sunday.

Q How does that on Saturday, does that take your mind a little off the golf, take a little pressure off?

D.J. TRAHAN: Little bit. Obviously, I'm still focused on my game but if I'm fortunate enough to have a friend out there who is listening to the radio I'm obviously going to want to know what the scores are.

I never want to be, you know, if you're walking in between shots it's not a big deal to go over and say hello to somebody and get a score on the game. No different than talking to your playing partners walking down the fairway, really.

TODD BUDNICK: Alright. That you have DJ.

D.J. TRAHAN: Thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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