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SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 12, 2007Tadd FujikawaHONOLULU, HAWAII JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tadd Fujikawa, thank for joining us. You turned 16 this week, and you certainly gave yourself a nice birthday present, becoming the second youngest player ever to make the cut in a PGA TOUR event. Some comments about a great couple days and your eagle putt at 18. TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, these past two days, actually this past week, has been great. A lot of fun and you know, all of these people out here just supporting me and rooting me on, it really helps. I just want to say thank you to everybody that has helped me throughout my whole life, and this is just the greatest feeling in the world. Q. Can you compare it to the feeling of being at the U.S. Open this past summer? TADD FUJIKAWA: I think yesterday was similar to the Open. But today was definitely more exciting. You know, I think just having all of these people just lining the fairway every single hole, it's amazing, and it's kind of intimidating from the tee, but when you walk off and into the fairway, you know, they are all cheering you on, and it's just great, unbelievable. Q. On 18, you knew that was going in and the little pump at the end. Take us through 18. TADD FUJIKAWA: I hit a good tee shot. I took it far enough left where I would still be in the fairway, and you unfortunately I was in the rough. I rolled through the fairway. And then I hit a 6-iron to 12 feet and made the putt. Me and my caddie both knew exactly what the break was going to be, and all I needed to do was pick the line, line it up, just stroke it, and I did it. And, I don't know, I just felt like the fist pump would just put the cherry on the cake right there. (Laughter). Yeah, it was pretty exciting. Q. What's more exciting to you, qualifying for the U.S. Open or making the cut here? TADD FUJIKAWA: Making the cut here. Q. Because? TADD FUJIKAWA: Just because there's so many people, and it's my home crowd, right, and you know, I think the Open was really exciting. It was my first professional, like against the top professionals. And that was great. But I think making the cut here has more meaning for me other than the U.S. Open. Q. Do you think you were less nervous here because of your experience of last summer? TADD FUJIKAWA: Definitely. I kind of knew what to expect. I think knowing what to expect really helped me and helped me prepare for this tournament. Q. Were you nervous? TADD FUJIKAWA: No. Not at all. I just told myself at the beginning of the round, just go out there, hit the shots. And I knew I had the shots in my bag. I just needed to execute. I did that, and it's a good feeling when you can hit a shot that you want to hit. I don't know if you guys know how good that feels, but I'm sure everybody else does. (Laughter) I said I'm not sure. Q. Do you feel like now that you're the only one of the seven local golfers that are in it this weekend, are you feeling like maybe you've got the rest of the golfers in the state who didn't make it on your shoulders? TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, I think so. It feels pretty good. Like I said, all of these people that come here and support me and root for me, it's unbelievable and it's just a great -- it's a really good feeling. I think that when I made that putt on 18, that was just like the loudest roar I've ever heard in my life. That was unbelievable. I have no words to explain what that feels like. Q. I just want to get the yardage you had into 18 with the 6-iron? TADD FUJIKAWA: I think I had 207. Q. To the front or to the pin? TADD FUJIKAWA: To the pin. Q. Are you playing well enough to win? TADD FUJIKAWA: Probably not. Q. What's your goal on the weekend? TADD FUJIKAWA: You know, I think now that I made the cut, I'm just going to go out there and have fun and do the best I can. Just hit the best shot that I can every time. That's pretty much all I can do. I'm probably not going to win this tournament. (Laughter) No, truthfully, I'm probably not going to win this tournament. But I'm certainly going to do my best. And it may happen maybe like one out of a hundred times, but you never know. Q. And to follow that up, will you give Michelle a hard time that you've made a cut on the PGA TOUR before her? TADD FUJIKAWA: No. That's kind of mean. (Laughter) I'm not that mean. I probably won't do that. Q. Since you're not playing for position money-wise, can you be more aggressive? TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, I guess so. I never really thought about that. But now that you bring that up, that's a pretty good tip. (Laughter). Q. Joel, does Top-10 get him into the Bob Hope Classic? JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I would have to check on that. Q. What were you thinking on 16? TADD FUJIKAWA: I just told myself, commit to my line. I just told myself to commit to the line that I picked. The couple of holes before that, I was kind of guiding my putts and I was putting the death grip on my putter. My caddie and I kind of talked it over and just said, you know, just hit the putt, and if it goes in, then great. You can't do anything about it if it doesn't go in, as long as you hit the putt pure. I hit the putt pure and hit it right on the line that we had picked and it went in. Q. Is there as much pressure as you felt out here today? TADD FUJIKAWA: No pressure today. Q. Not even on 16? TADD FUJIKAWA: Mm-hmm. Q. What do you do tonight? TADD FUJIKAWA: Eat. And sleep. And maybe watch the GOLF CHANNEL. Q. Did you acknowledge every single person that said something to you? TADD FUJIKAWA: I did my best, that's for sure. I know how it feels to get snobbed. You know, it's not a very good feeling. I try to treat people the way that I would like to be treated. I really wouldn't like people not acknowledging me when, you know, I say something to them. So I will do anything I can to acknowledge them and, you know, treat them how I want to be treated. Q. Have you ever been snobbed at a golf tournament? TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, by a couple professionals when I was younger. (Laughter) Yeah, watching golf, it just doesn't feel very good. Q. It seems watching you play with the other guys out there today that they were like a father/son relationship, can you talk about that? TADD FUJIKAWA: Yes, I learned a lot from them. I think just being out here helps me make my game better, and I learn a lot from the players out here. They are great. They are really nice and they just supported me throughout the past two days, and I really appreciate it. Q. What was the advice that Weekley gave you after your cart path shot? TADD FUJIKAWA: I said, "Sorry for taking so long on that one." He said: Just don't worry about it. When you have a ruling, you shouldn't apologize. I just thought it would be nice, but he said do not apologize. You know, it's not your fault that you need a ruling. So that was pretty nice. Q. How hard was it to play with a camera two feet from your face? TADD FUJIKAWA: That was kind of uncomfortable. I must admit, that was something different. I think walking down the fairway and stuff, it was okay. You know, hitting the shot, he was far away, so it didn't bother me at all. Just walking down the fairway and having a camera right in front of your face every step you take it's not the most comfortable feeling. It's like everybody is watching on you every time you do something. But I mean it's something you've got to go through. Q. I think GOLF CHANNEL came about hole 14 and that's when you went bogey, bogey. TADD FUJIKAWA: Oh, no, on that, it wasn't the camera, that was me. That was bad. Q. What a difference a year makes, Tadd. What were you doing January 12th 2006, at this time last year? TADD FUJIKAWA: Going to school I think. Yeah, I'm not sure. I think now my game is much stronger and I feel that I have more shots in my bag. Last year, I didn't have that. I've been really trying to work on my short game and putting, and I just can't stress how important putting is. You know, I learned that about a year ago, and ever since then, I just putt, putt, putt, I can't stop putting. It's so important that I actually feel you need to practice putting more than you do hitting and chipping. So I've been trying to do that. It's improving. It's getting there. Everything right now is just okay. It can get better, though. Q. Did you watch the Sony Open last year? TADD FUJIKAWA: I watched it on TV. I didn't come down here. But I did watch it on TV. Q. For those of us who are not locals, can you give us just a quick synopsis on your background, how you got started, where you go to high school, are you going to Stanford, anything? TADD FUJIKAWA: Well, I'm from Honolulu, Hawaii. You know, I started golf around eight years old, just hit balls and just go out there whacking it on the driving range and try to hit it as far as I can. About 11 or 12, I started getting more competitive, and I tried to improve my golf game. So I went to a PGA instructor and about maybe since October, maybe September, I stopped taking lessons from him. Things just didn't work out and that's the way things goes. But for the past year, like I said, I've tried to work on my short game a lot and I realised how important it is now. A good, I guess, example is on last hole. I'm pretty sure if I didn't practise my putting as much as I did I wouldn't have made that putt, and I probably wouldn't have made the cut in this tournament. I probably -- how should I say this -- never mind. (Laughter). Q. Where do you play most of your golf? TADD FUJIKAWA: I practise a lot at Pearl Country Club. Sometimes I hit balls there. I play nine holes once in awhile. I usually go to hit balls at Navy Marine Golf Course. That's about it. You know, I go to play 18 holes just around of golf with friends and stuff here and there, but I like to practise a lot. I think it really pays off. Q. And your school is? TADD FUJIKAWA: Moanalua High School. Q. When you walked up to the 18th green and your two fellow competitors waited behind, which usually is reserved for a champion, did you realise what was happening at that point? TADD FUJIKAWA: Everything was happening so quick. I was just -- I just tried to stay in the moment and concentrate on my next shot, because the round is not over yet. I think that was really important. But they are true gentlemen and they did that and it was really nice of them to do that. Q. How big was that, talking about the improvement of your short game, how big was the sandshot on 6 to kind of get you going? TADD FUJIKAWA: Oh, yeah, it was right of the bunker. It wasn't that important. I mean, if it did go in, then it went in. But it would have been close if it didn't go in. My caddie right before the shot, he said, this is makeable. That's a good thought. That's a good last thought in your mind, playing through your head, you know, this is makeable. Q. Who is your caddie? TADD FUJIKAWA: Garrett Paoshi (ph). He's a member here. He read a lot of my putts for me throughout the whole week. He's great. He knows my game and we get along very well. He's a great caddie. I appreciate it. Q. How did you get paired up with him? TADD FUJIKAWA: His son and I used to play junior golf together and he caddied for me in the qualifier. You know, I shot very well in the qualifier and I said, you know, it's working great, so why change, right. Q. Do you think it's meant to be, you're the lowest of the local guys, do you think this weekend is just meant to happen? TADD FUJIKAWA: I guess so. I can't tell if it was meant to happen or not, but I just -- like I said, I try to go out there and do my best, and if it happens, great, and if it doesn't, then work harder and hope I can do better next time. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If you could for the record, explain, you're a sponsor exemption but you earned that through a local qualifier. Could you explain that for us, as far as maybe the number of players. TADD FUJIKAWA: There's this thing in the Hawaii called the Governor's Cup and what they do is take the top club amateurs and the Top-12 professionals, and they go head-to-head and try to see who can win, and we lost, but that's okay. And then after that, then we have a qualifier for the Top-12 amateurs in the state and it is here at Waialae. I shot a 67 and I think I won by two strokes. Q. What do you have to lose tomorrow? TADD FUJIKAWA: Absolutely nothing. Well, I don't feel like it, anyway. I may. This is just fun for me. I don't make any money off of it. This is not my job, yet. So no pressure tomorrow. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And last thing, if we can just go over your score card real quick, birdies, bogeys and eagles, first birdie came on No. 6, maybe talk about the clubs and the distances you had there. TADD FUJIKAWA: I hit my drive down the middle and hit an 8-iron, made a very bad swing, just totally blocked it right, right of the bunker and chipped it in. My lie was like perfect. Couldn't get any better than that. Like I said, my caddie told me that and it was great. No. 8, I hit my tee shot right in the bunker, and I hit a pitching wedge to about 20 feet, somewhere around there, maybe longer and I made the putt. 12, I hit my drive down the middle and then I hit a wedge to about two feet, three feet maybe and I just rolled it in. 14, bogey, I hit my tee shot left. And then I had to hit my second shot under a tree, and then I hit a little to the right, still on the green and then I 3-putted. Then 15, I hit my tee shot. I thought it was in the fairway but it must have rolled in the rough and I thought it was terrible. I tried to hit a cut in there, just a little kind of running cut just to run it up on to the green and then kind of squirted on me and took a drop on the cart path and 2-putted. Birdie on 16. I hit my tee shot again to the right, just a little bit to the right, it wasn't too bad, just in the bunker. And I hit my second shot to 12, 15 feet maybe. And made the putt. Then on 18, I hit my tee shot, I thought it was perfect, but obviously it went through the fairway and I hit a 6-iron on to the green and made the putt. Q. When you had the birdie to go under, was there a feeling of relief, or what was the feeling because you knew you were near the cut line, the birdie on 6? TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, it was a pretty good feeling. I knew it was makeable, but I didn't expect myself to make it, so when I made it, it was kind of a sigh of relief. I just took it as a grain of salt. I knew that there was a lot more golf to be played, and just try to stay focused and keep myself in the game. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay, Tadd. Congratulations and good luck on the weekend. End of FastScripts |
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