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FUNAI CLASSIC AT THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 20, 2006

Robert Damron

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA: Round Two

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thanks for joining us here after a 7 under par 65 on the Palm Course today. You're off to a good start. A lot of players are still on the golf course, but you have to be happy with how you've played.

ROBERT DAMRON: Everyone. I guess we're the first group off, so most everyone else is still on the golf course.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your play the first two days.

ROBERT DAMRON: Pretty solid. Yesterday at the Mag was really a nice way to start. 4 under on a course that is now significantly harder than the Palm, now that they've added length to five of the holes. It's nice to get that good start where you get to the Palm where you don't feel like you have to shoot 7 under or 6 under just to compete, you can just let things come to you, which they fortunately did. They weren't for a while and then they did at the end.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: As far as your round today, maybe a couple of comments about the Palm Course.

ROBERT DAMRON: Well, I actually was getting pretty irritated early because of the very reason, you're pushing. Justin shot 12 under yesterday. And here I am, I'm even through five or six or seven holes. I birdied 7 to go to 1 under, and then I had to make a 10 footer on 9 to shoot 1 under on the front. And I'm just thinking, I'm getting lapped.

You go from the position where 4 at the Mag is really in good shape. It's actually not eight shots back. We have to see what Justin does over there. But now you're like, golly, the cut is going to be probably like 5. If I go back to 4, I'm going to have to break par just to make the cut.

I made a real good putt on 9 for par. I hit two unbelievable putts on 10 and 11 that I have no idea how they didn't go in for birdie and then for eagle, and then things just kind of went my way.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You made birdies on six of seven holes at one point.

ROBERT DAMRON: And no long putts. Four of those six were four feet and in.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Questions?

Q. You've had a few second half rallies to keep your card over the last few years. I don't remember you putting it off quite this late into the year. It seems when you've come to Disney you've always had it pretty well nailed down by now.

ROBERT DAMRON: I have. I must need a little excitement in my life. It's not the way I planned it. And to be honest with you, the year has been so frustrating, because parts of my game have been good. I feel like I played well and just messed up to miss the cut by a shot or two for most of the year.

Honestly, I'm as relaxed as I've been all year. I'm totally at peace with whatever happens. If I don't make a couple of big checks and keep my card, I don't; I go to Q School, I just do it.

Q. (No microphone.)

ROBERT DAMRON: Absolutely, I have to. I'm a little too far out to not do that. So whatever happens it just happens. I put a lot more pressure on myself in the middle of the year and it didn't work out. I say, well, I'm a little behind, I have got a lot of tournaments, but I would like to hurry up and get it done, and I just wasn't. So I'm definitely in a better frame of mind.

Q. Is it difficult at all to go from Mag to Palm and then back to Mag for the final two days?

ROBERT DAMRON: No, it shouldn't be. I kind of know what I'm getting over there now. I've played here quite a few times. I actually think that in a sense, Palm is harder because of that extra pressure you put on yourself to play well, especially after 12 under yesterday. That's ridiculous.

Now you're like I mean, I shot 7 today, which is nice and I lost by 5. It's hard not to get that in your head, Okay, we're at the Palm, everyone is going low. If I shoot 70 or 69 I'm just going to get killed. It's kind of a struggle, it's almost a fight with yourself to keep that out of your mind.

Q. I know you live here now. When did you first discover this part of the country? How old were you?

ROBERT DAMRON: I was six. My dad retired from the coal business and I was six. And we did the winters here and the summers there. Mom and dad still go back and forth. I quit going back when I was about 18.

Q. (No microphone.)

ROBERT DAMRON: I think it will be nine in a row, I'm getting to the end of my rope, but you have to keep playing.

Q. (No microphone.)

ROBERT DAMRON: That's true, practically Olympic conditioning.

Q. Any reason the scores don't seem so low today as they were yesterday?

ROBERT DAMRON: There is a little bit of wind, not enough to make a huge difference, but a little bit. But you know, there's just not many people are done yet. I think that's a big part of it. There might be three groups on each side done.

That hour and 10 minute delay plays with your head a little bit in the morning. It kind of messes up your rhythm and your routine in the morning. That could have something to do with the guys not getting the start they want also.

Q. I didn't get ahold of you to ask you about Byron's passing.

ROBERT DAMRON: I check my messages about every week.

Q. At least you got it. I got halfway there. Are there any similarities between that tournament and here? It seems the course across the street is usually about three shots easier than maybe not three shots, but reputed to be a little bit easier and a little bit shorter.

ROBERT DAMRON: Not as big a difference there. I don't think that that course is much easier, it's just got two more par 5s on it, at Cottonwood as opposed to TPC. I think that has a lot to do with the scoring difference.

Q. When you got up this morning and saw the fog, did you know then

ROBERT DAMRON: I couldn't see anything when I got up and looked out the window. It was pitch black. It took a long time for the sun to come up.

Q. When you know you're the first one off the tee and you know it's not going to happen and you still come to the golf course on time

ROBERT DAMRON: I was fortunate to tee off of 1 today where it's right by the driving range. So I can keep my eye open and look over there. And with three, four minutes to go, I can run over to the tee. If you're on 10, you have to jump over there, be ready, and then they say 15 more minutes and you have to go back. So that was kind of a break. It went right to the 5 minute mark before the tee time before they said, okay, 15 more minutes, 10 more minutes. They want to get it going as fast as they can, but even at my speed I could have made it to my tee in thirty seconds, so I was all right.

Q. You talked about the pressure of seeing that 12 under yesterday. How do you get that out of your mind and how do you keep that from taking over?

ROBERT DAMRON: You can't keep it out of your mind. It's awesome. It's hard. You don't want to fall especially my position on the money list. I don't want to fall way behind. I want to have a chance, at least. Odds are he's not going to do it again today, I wouldn't think. But it is tough on the Palm, even if he didn't shoot 12 yesterday, that type of course. It's the same type of mentality like when you get to the Bob Hope, where if you're not, you know, pretty good under par the first 7, 8, 9 holes, at least the first 2 or 3, you feel you have got to make a comeback.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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