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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

September 24, 2006

Eric Axley

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Congratulations, Eric, 2006 Valero Texas Open Champion.

How does that sound?

ERIC AXLEY: It sounds pretty good.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Just share with us for a moment your emotions right now and just a little bit of how you're feeling.

ERIC AXLEY: Feeling relieved, happy and, you know, the only thing that disappointed me I kind of didn't stick to my game plan.

Starting on 14 I got a little too aggressive there and paid for it. Other than that I played pretty solid all day.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Questions, please.

Q. During that stretch on 14 or on 17, you never looked, you know, just like whatever, you never looked like you were upset.

Were you hiding it or staying calm?

ERIC AXLEY: I wasn't hiding anything. I felt calm because I really felt under control of my game. 14, was, in my opinion, was just a bad decision.

I don't know what the lead was at that point but it wasn't a driver hole for me today. I could have hit a 2 iron and a long iron into the green in 2 on a par 5 and decided to hit driver and paid for it.

But, no, I was mad at myself a little bit but never discouraged about the tournament or anything, you know, about the lead or anything like that. I just wanted to keep playing one shot at a time and hopefully it was going to be good enough.

Q. Are those par saves, specifically the one on 2, that was the first time in two days you had been tested. Talk about that.

ERIC AXLEY: 1 and 2, really, not a par save on 1 but I hit the driver exactly where I was aiming. It went in the bunker. And, there again, on 2, I thought I could carry that bunker on 2 and it did carry the bunker but bounced back in the bunker and so I fell like I hadn't hit a bad shot yet.

Like you said, I'm getting tested early. It was really nice to make that putt. It was a real quick putt and it was a crosswind also so it was a tough one and when it went in I was pretty relieved.

Q. What were your emotions like after No. 4 with everything that happened there not only with you but with your playing partners?

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: You went from being 3 up to like 6 up.

ERIC AXLEY: No. 4. Yeah. Ted hit a drive right and had to go back to the tee. It's kind of a shock to me what happened to Frank. He was in a greenside bunker and kind of looked like maybe hit it just a little bit heavy out of bunker and caught the false front of the green and went all the way down the fairway.

I hit what was probably my best putt of the week as far as speed, line. I kind of felt like it was going in from the time I hit it and when he made it still had a 3, 4 footer there for bogey that he missed.

So I had already putted before he had made double.

Q. What were you thinking after that, I mean obviously you wanted to check yourself not to get ahead of yourself?

ERIC AXLEY: Definitely I was not trying to get ahead of myself at all today. It was always just from the tee box all we're trying to do is hit the fairway.

From the fairway we're trying to pick a spot on the green. Whether we can be aggressive or not was a decision we made from the fairway. I never looked ahead and/or anything like that.

I just wanted to make sure I hit the next tee shot on No. 5 in the fairway.

Q. On 4, and then Frank had to go back to the tee I think on 7. There was a lot of time for you to be thinking.

Were you talking to your caddie? What were you trying to do?

ERIC AXLEY: We were singing. We were singing and just talking about songs.

Q. Having the 6 shot lead going to the back 9, it's better than being down 6 going to the back 9.

Did that scare you in a way that you up were by so much?

ERIC AXLEY: I didn't know. The only time I think the time I remember looking at a leaderboard was on 14 and it wasn't updated.

I was finished with 14 and it had Dean at 12 under but he was only through 12 or 13 holes on that board so I didn't know what he did on 13 or the par 5 so I really never knew.

As a matter of fact, on walking to 16 tee I asked my caddie if he had any clue where we stood because I could drive that green and it was kind of going to affect what I wanted to do and neither one of us knew. We didn't know where we stood.

Q. So did you know going to 18 or when did you know that were you in pretty good shape there?

ERIC AXLEY: The board was right do you remember, Bobby, where did we see the board on 17 or could we see the board where was the board right where we saw they had finished?

Q. I think 16th fairway we saw the board.

ERIC AXLEY: Yeah, 16 fairway walking up to the green on 16 I saw that thru 16 we had a 3 shot lead.

Q. Talk about the whole experience on 18 knowing you had a cushion on the tee box, great drive, great second shot.

What were you thinking? What were your emotions walking up there?

ERIC AXLEY: Well, what I felt like I hit a few loose shots coming in. I knew why I was hitting those shots. Really, the good thing about standing on 18th tee I was trying to prevent that from happening. I was trying to make the swing how I've been swinging all week and I did.

And the same can the second shot. I kind of like I say, on 17 I hit a poor shot on 17 and I knew why I was doing it.

I talked with my caddie, Bobby, on the way down there and told him what I was doing and he reminded me right before I hit my shot on 18 and I made a good swing there.

Q. You've been working with your swing coach since April?

ERIC AXLEY: Since New Orleans. Yeah.

Q. Is that Andy Plummer?

ERIC AXLEY: Andy Plumber and Mike Bennett.

Q. How has it changed your game?

ERIC AXLEY: More than anyone could change my game. My stats along since then have just sky rocketed. It's gotten so much better.

At first it was hard to bring it from the range to the course because everything was different. I noticed today I crept into some old habits coming down the stretch there. That's what I was trying to prevent from happening on 18 again.

Q. Eric, on ESPN when you were on 14 Andy North was talking about how hard it is to win out here, whether you're 6 up or 6 down.

Did you experience any of those kind of feelings about how hard it is to win?

ERIC AXLEY: It's hard to win on any Tour if that's what you're thinking about, I think.

Like I say, I was trying not to think about winning. I was trying to think about the task at hand, whether it was a putt or fairway or green hit.

But, yeah, I mean it is hard. Whether you try to think about it, you know what's going on and your stomach tells you so and the way your body reacts tells you so. You can lie to yourself all you want but you do feel the pressure and it's hard.

I mean it's hard. That's when the old habits start creeping back in, goes back to muscle memory of what your body remembers and it was tough to keep that under control.

Q. You made a lot of par saving putts today. Did you feel very comfortable with the putter?

ERIC AXLEY: I did. I felt like I had been putting well all week. A lot of the 6 and 8 footers had not went in or 8 and 10 footers had not went in during some of the rounds but today I feel a few of those went in. Key putts you, key par saves, yeah.

On the flip side of that, we missed a few birdie putts that we should have made, as well.

Q. Eric, you had obviously you had a late tee time because you're in the last group. You had plenty of time this morning. Did you tune in some golf from across the shores?

ERIC AXLEY: I did, I watched some.

Q. What did you think of that?

ERIC AXLEY: The Europeans played well is what I thought. It's easy to sit here and say what a lot of people say but the Europeans looked like they played super golf over there.

Q. You obviously played great all week long, couple 63s. Would you say you're the hottest left hander on the PGA Tour right now?

ERIC AXLEY: No, I would not say that. There are a lot of good lefties on this Tour right now.

Q. This weekend.

ERIC AXLEY: Played well this week and who knows if all the lefties were here who would have been played the best. No, I wouldn't say that.

Q. Eric, you turned pro in '97. Through all those years did you think this day would come around?

ERIC AXLEY: Yes, I did.

Q. Is it everything you expected it would be?

ERIC AXLEY: It is, it is. I know a lot of it hasn't hit home yet and I won't see a lot of what happened today until next year and stuff like that but I kind of have a grasp on what comes after a win so, yeah, it's pretty cool.

Q. Eric, last two winners, Brad Bryant and Robert Gamez, before they entered this tournament were thinking of Q School and Nationwide Tour and they ended up winning and all those things changed the plans.

All your plans have changed, haven't they?

ERIC AXLEY: They have. I'm still going to play probably the season out and try to move up on the money list as much as I can but, yeah, as far as my fall plans they've definitely changed.

Q. Tear up your Q School

ERIC AXLEY: Send the check back.

Q. Eric, there was a point you considered giving golf up?

ERIC AXLEY: Yes. I left college after two years and I was actually it was probably three months before Q School that year, and I was out with some friends mountain bike riding, staying in shape and stuff like that and had an accident, tried to catch myself and I superextended all the muscles in my wrist. I couldn't even hold a pencil for like eight months.

So I just couldn't play. I couldn't hold a club. So I took about a year and a half off and didn't play golf and came back. That's when I turned pro in '97.

Q. You obviously won tournaments before but never on this stage and never does it feel any different to you?

ERIC AXLEY: It does because, I mean, these are the best players in the world. Obviously a lot of top players are at the Ryder Cup. But on any given week anyone on this Tour can win and you're competing against the best in the world and yeah, that's pretty good feeling when you compete not compete with them but when you win.

Q. Your wife is pretty excited?

ERIC AXLEY: She seems pretty excited, yeah.

Q. Did you know where she was on the 18th?

ERIC AXLEY: I did because of what happened to Ted when I was watching him take his drop she was right in the backdrop.

Q. She was like clawing to get in and couldn't get in?

ERIC AXLEY: I didn't know that. I expected her to jump on me quicker than she did. No, I knew she would be pretty excited. She was very similar situation last year at the Tour Championship on the Nationwide Tour.

Q. You were like the second to last group at that time?

ERIC AXLEY: I was in the last group for the Tour Championship.

Q. But you finished runner up there.

ERIC AXLEY: I finished second.

Q. Because some of your pursuers weren't in the group of you. They were Kim was several groups ahead. Were you aware they were kind of making a move at all?

ERIC AXLEY: 16 fairway I saw that he had posted 12 under and until then, I just knew what people were through 13 holes.

I had no idea, and that's when I saw exactly where we stood and then when we hit our tee shot on 18, I didn't hear I didn't hear the crowd or anything when Dean or Justin were putting. I don't even know where Justin or Dean finished.

I think they were 12 going into 18. I didn't hear anything. Obviously I knew they didn't make birdie. I thought we had a two shots there.

Q. Can you sing?

ERIC AXLEY: No.

Q. Can't carry a tune?

ERIC AXLEY: No.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Anything else? You want him to go through his birdies and bogies? Okay.

Birdie on 4.

ERIC AXLEY: Birdie on 4, I hit driver and 7 iron to about 18 feet and made birdie.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Double bogey on 14.

ERIC AXLEY: I hit driver off the tee and my ball was sitting I was pitching out in the fairway but a rock bracing my ball up on hard pan.

So as soon as I went to chip out it hit the rock, shot up in the trees and was still in the trees. Then I punched out and we had 126 to the hole and I fly the green with a sand wedge which is a 115 club. It was kind of strange.

And I had a fluffy lie and left it short of the green and chipped up and made it for a double.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Bogey on 17.

ERIC AXLEY: Hit 9 iron and just made a really bad swing and it was again, in a little fluffy rough and it just muffed out and came up short and I 2 putted from the fringe.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: And then birdie on 18.

ERIC AXLEY: Driver and a 9 iron to three, four feet, whatever that was.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Relieved?

ERIC AXLEY: I was relieved when I heard the crowd. I knew it was close when they roared a little bit.

JOAN vt ALEXANDER: Everybody all set? Congratulations.

ERIC AXLEY: Thank you. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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