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SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 14, 2007

Tadd Fujikawa

HONOLULU, HAWAII

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tadd, thank you for joining us. An exciting week for you. You got to play with the No. 2 player in the world today, Jim Furyk, and made a lot of fans this week. Maybe some opening comments about certainly probably one of the best weeks of your life.
TADD FUJIKAWA: By far, this week has been unbelievable. Just everybody, my caddie, my mom, my dad, you know, my whole family, and, you know, everyone in Hawaii has been just unbelievable, just great supporting me and everybody that has helped me so far is just my No. 1 fan in my jocks.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: How many autographs did you sign this week? It looks like you might have some writer's cramp.
TADD FUJIKAWA: I'm not sure how many, but quite a bit, quite a bit.

Q. What was it like golfing with Jim?
TADD FUJIKAWA: You know, he's a really nice guy. He respects me very well and I appreciate that. You know, all of the pros out here have been great. They back me up 100% and I really appreciate that.

Q. What was it today about your round? I know you started off a little -- struggled a little bit in the beginning.
TADD FUJIKAWA: I just couldn't get anything going today. I made a couple of good putts, but just momentum wasn't there. I think on No. 3, that just killed me right there. I was doing okay up to then. I hit my tee shot right in the middle of the fairway and my ball was right in a divot. You know, I think that's just -- you just have to accept it; that that's just the way things goes.
Just, you know, hit the ball shot that you can, and if it doesn't work out, then just move on.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: What were you attempting to do, were you trying to hit it in the middle of the green and hopefully get out there of with a par?
TADD FUJIKAWA: I was trying to hit it in the middle of the green, just hit it solid, get contact. There was some sand behind my ball, and the divot wasn't fully filled with sand. So it was hard for me to hit it clean. So I hit the sand behind it and came off kind of soft.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: So you couldn't have hit your driver any better.
TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, right in the middle of the fairway.

Q. The gallery today by far was the biggest it's been in the last four days. Can you talk about everybody following you?
TADD FUJIKAWA: This is by far the biggest crowd I've ever seen. You know, it's a good feeling having this many people backing for and you rooting for you. Even when you hit a bad shot, they are still cheering for and you they still applaud, and that feels really good.

Q. What was the best moment out there over the four days?
TADD FUJIKAWA: I think that eagle on 18 on the second day was pretty good. You know, there's too many moments to choose from. It's just unbelievable. Every hole, it's just everybody is cheering for you and I think every time that I stepped on the tee and off the tee, there's, you know, people calling your name. That's unreal. You know, you never expect that.

Q. Do you think your life has changed at this point?
TADD FUJIKAWA: No, probably not. I mean, I'm probably going to get a lot more people saying, oh, aren't you the kid that plays golf and did this and that.
No, I'm still the same person. I'm still going to eat and sleep, and nothing is going to change like that. Still going to practise golf of course. Yeah, it has been a little different for the past, you know, six months since I qualified for the Open. But I think this tournament really got me out there and opened some eyes.

Q. Does this weekend motivate you now to play even better, to make your game better?
TADD FUJIKAWA: Definitely. You know, I'm always trying to get my game to the next level and I'm sure every PGA TOUR player is doing that, too. You know, Nick Faldo yesterday when I did my interview, he said, "You know, you have the game to play out here as of right now." I thought that was really nice of him to say that. That really motivates me right there. Now I know that I can play against the top PGA pros and compete with them; not only play against them and not do very well, but I can actually beat some of them.
I feel that that right there motivates me more to do -- to practise harder and to practise more correctly and just to go out there and now I have something to shoot for.

Q. Will you still play the bulk of your golf this year on the Junior level or do you intend to step it up a little bit and try for some of the Amateur events on a national level?
TADD FUJIKAWA: Yeah, last year I played the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Public Links, the U.S. Junior.
I'm still going to play American Junior Golf Association and they are no pushover, either. They can compete out here. I'm sure they know that. I'm still going to play those tournaments and try to win and, you know, I'm just going to go out there and do my best like I've been doing. You know, if it doesn't work out, then I guess I've got to practise harder.

Q. Compare your overall experience this week with what you were expecting or hoping for coming into it.
TADD FUJIKAWA: You know, I didn't expect this many people being here and supporting me, but you know, that's not a bad thing I guess.
But it's just an unbelievable week. You know, it's always been a dream of mine just to play here on this level, not necessarily this tournament, but this tournament is even greater because it's in my hometown. Yeah, speechless. This week has been awesome.

Q. Any regrets?
TADD FUJIKAWA: Absolutely none. I did the best that I could this week. I hit a couple bad shots here and there, but it's been fun, and I did my best and no regrets.

Q. Is this the best you've ever played or have you played better in other lesser events?
TADD FUJIKAWA: I think this is probably the best that I've played. I think all of these people out here supporting me has driven me to hit better shots because I'm sure everybody likes when the crowd goes crazy and starts yelling and I don't know if everybody does, but I do, anyway. So I think that kind of gives me something to shoot for.

Q. Was there anything that you figured out during this tournament that you have to work on? The way you practised before got you to the point where you're at now; is there anything that you're going to try to experiment with or change?
TADD FUJIKAWA: Right now I don't have a coach so I'm definitely looking for one. So if anybody wants to help me, then I'm up for grabs.
Yeah, there's nothing very much I'm going to change. I'm just going to work on my short game and work on my putting a lot. I think for your golf game to be good and to play at this level, you know, not only one thing can be good. Everything needs to be solid. I think that's what I realised over the past year or so; where you really need to -- every aspect of the game needs to be perfect to win. That's what I'm going to try to do and get every part of my game so perfect that I can stop something on a dime. If it's a hundred yards, five feet, ten feet, you know, just everything, that's when you know you're perfect.

Q. Were there any notes left in your locker today by any other players or anybody?
TADD FUJIKAWA: Not that I know of. But the pros out here, just unbelievable, the nicest people you'll ever meet. I really appreciate all of their help and all of their advice and I know that they are all rooting for me because they are just out here, you know, congratulating me every second that I see them and I think that's something really nice of them to do.

Q. I also wanted to know, what's your handicap and at what course is it; do you know?
TADD FUJIKAWA: My handicap was plus 2.7, but that was in like March. I haven't updated my handicap since March. Yeah, it's just all over the place. I don't play at one particular course every single time.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tadd, congratulations on a great week.

End of FastScripts

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