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FUNAI CLASSIC AT THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT


October 17, 2006


Eric Axley


LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA: Pre-Round

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Eric, for joining us for a few minutes in the media center at the Funai Classic. You finished up the season pretty well with a win and then you just kept on going with a couple good finishes the last couple of weeks. Just talk about what that turnaround has meant and the relief it has given you.

ERIC AXLEY: It's given me tons of relief. The turnaround I feel like has been coming. For the last seven or eight weeks I've been playing well, just not scoring that well. I played well in Mississippi and didn't score well a couple of days and then kind of scored better again at Greensboro and had a chance to win there. It's been more relaxing rounds after the win. I guess it kind of frees up your mind a little bit, knowing where you're going to be playing the next couple of years.

Q. You made 31 grand in 21 weeks, and then you make

$1.3 million in one week.

ERIC AXLEY: I made more than 31 grand in 21 weeks, I promise. That's wrong. I was 180 on the money list. Like I say, the four or five weeks leading up to the win, I played I had been playing solid, just not making the key putts or the key up and down. And all of a sudden, the week of San Antonio, I made those putts and got the ones I should get up and down, up and down.

Q. So it's just make the shot?

ERIC AXLEY: Right. It can happen at any time for anyone out here. I didn't feel I hit the ball much different than I had in the previous weeks, it was just a few more putts went in and no silly bogeys or silly double bogeys.

Q. Is there a smell of desperation among some of your compatriots on the range as we're getting close to the witching hour here, any of your pals from your years on the other tours?

ERIC AXLEY: Yes. I've heard guys, just not necessarily coming up to me and telling me, but I hear the talk on the range or in the locker room about who is 125 on the list, what the number is going to be. And then also you hear some other guys talk about what 70th is right now and what 40th and 30th is. I think it's not just desperation on keeping your card, but depending how you're playing, everyone seems to have a goal of where they're trying to get.

Q. How much different or harder would it have been on you if you didn't win or say if you didn't get into the top 125 going into next year? How does that change your life to not have knowing that you can have a schedule?

ERIC AXLEY: Being able to set your schedule is obviously huge. How different would it have been if I didn't win, if I finished second? I don't know. I still probably would keep my card, because two weeks later I finished tied for third. I guess if you don't do all that, as well as I felt like I was playing, I wasn't really afraid. I just got it made up in my mind that I wasn't scared to go back to Q School, that I would get through there and be out here again, but I wouldn't be able to set my schedule and play in any invitationals and stuff like that. So it will be a huge difference.

Q. (No microphone.)

ERIC AXLEY: I haven't had a week off, so no, I've still just been doing the same things.

Q. (No microphone.)

ERIC AXLEY: A few things. I already had a contract on a house before I won. We'll probably follow through with that a little quicker now. No, nothing crazy yet.

Q. (No microphone.)

ERIC AXLEY: It's funny, because I've always looked at stuff like that, fast cars, and when you think you can't afford it you really want it; and when you can, you don't really need it. I don't know. I may do something. I don't know. We'll see.

Q. Is it to look ahead to try to get into the Masters or things like that or do you just not think about that?

ERIC AXLEY: My goal each tournament is to win. If I do that, I will get into the Masters and I will get into The TOUR Championship. So if I keep my goal short term, as far as winning this week, then it will take care of the long term goals.

Q. (No microphone.)

ERIC AXLEY: I haven't seen since last week. I was mid to high 60s going into last week.

Q. Four of the last seven weeks, somebody outside the top 125 has won a tournament.

ERIC AXLEY: It shows you how deep the TOUR is. Like I say, anyone out here can win on any given week. Just because you didn't get off to a good start don't mean you can't play or that you're not capable of winning, it means you didn't have the greatest start and you could have been a little down on confidence. And then you've got the guys that got off to a great start that have slowed down now. It's kind of the way your chips fell.

In our sport it seems you make your money, unless you're Tiger, three to five weeks out of the year. Very rarely do you make huge chunks of your money in a 12 week span. Three to five weeks, you make your big chunks of money, and the rest of the time you just kind of add on to it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Eric.

End of FastScripts.
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