|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SHELL HOUSTON OPENMarch 30, 2007D.J. BrigmanHUMBLE, TEXAS DOUG MILNE: Just a couple comments. Welcome. Appreciate you stopping by. D.J. BRIGMAN: No problem. DOUG MILNE: From your scorecard, kind of ups and downs. You had birdies, bogies, eagle, little of everything. If you could just take us through some of the highlights. D.J. BRIGMAN: Yeah. I mean, I -- it's kind of a fog right now, just because of the conditions out there. You're just grinding over every shot. Two of my three bogies were 3-putts, and the way the wind is, you're second-guessing yourself on a lot of these putts, crosswind putts that normally are left edge are breaking a ball and two balls being on a gust. Being committed out there, I knew I was going to make some mistakes, but, you know, I've been working a lot on my wedges in the last two weeks, three weeks, actually, I had off kind of coming into this tournament that kind of really helped me out this week, given myself a lot of chances inside 15 feet. And the greens, as good as they are, if you're rolling it good, you're going to make some putts out here. DOUG MILNE: Talk to us about the eagle. Give us some clubs. D.J. BRIGMAN: I was coming off a bogey on 12 and hit a good drive down the middle of the fairway, had 270 front and just made one of the best swings of the day. It was a 3-wood and hit just short, rolled up there and had 6 feet and just, you know, pretty straightforward putt. Dead center and rolled it just like I wanted to and disappeared. DOUG MILNE: Okay. How about 3, par-4 3rd? If you could give us some numbers on that. D.J. BRIGMAN: Sure. That one it was little down and left off the tee. I hit a 3-wood off the tee there again. I was actually in the right rough. This morning the ball wasn't flying as far out in the -- the rough is a little wet. It's not long but enough moisture that it made it a little difficult. So I hit an 8-iron to like about a foot there. So those are the kind I like to have, those birdie putts. You don't have to think about them. DOUG MILNE: Then back-to-back birdies on 5 and 6. D.J. BRIGMAN: Yeah. Two of the more difficult holes. Luckily with the way the wind is going, it's a little bit easier because 6 is downwind, but 5 I hit a driver, hit it really good down the fairway and had a 8-iron in. And tricky pin location there, had about 10-footer up the hill. Another straight putt. Executed well there. Made it. 6 yesterday just had an indecisive drive there and committed to it and hit it in the fairway and had a little 9-iron into that green and hit it to about 10 feet and made that one. So, hit my irons close and making those putts. DOUG MILNE: Then par-5 8th. D.J. BRIGMAN: That one, it was -- hit a drive just in the left rough. Laid up with a 3-iron and had a 70-yard shot there. Hit it to about 6 feet and made the putt. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Great. Anybody has any questions? Q. What is the vibe you've got going with Houston? D.J. BRIGMAN: You know, I grew up in Texas. Anytime we're in Texas, I feel pretty comfortable, and, you know, wind is -- obviously growing up in Texas, you're going to have to deal with wind. And we've some windy conditions in the past. Wind is my friend. I'm kind of doing well with that this week. Q. Where did you -- you were born in New Mexico? D.J. BRIGMAN: I was born in New Mexico, but I moved there when I was two years old. I grew up in Bedford, Texas, since I probably can remember, and went to high school there. Graduated and then went to New Mexico where I went to school at UNM. Q. So how would you describe your career to this point? Where do you think you are? D.J. BRIGMAN: I would say I've accomplished some of my goals, not all of them, and I feel like I'm about 70 percent there. I feel like -- I haven't quite had the opportunities I wanted this far in my career, and I've gone through some swing changes in the last two years, working with Mike Bender who worked with Skip Kendall, Zach Johnson, two guys who have had some success of late. Finally reaping the benefits of hard work and finally understanding my golf swing, and I've always had a really good short game, and my golf swing is now catching up with my short game, so it's allowing me to play more consistently. Q. So you are sticking it to 6 feet from about 280 yards coming off of a bogey, any feeling of kind of just wanting to walk off and say "Thank you very much" and go off into the sunset? D.J. BRIGMAN: It was my best swing of the day. I hit it right where I wanted to. You know, anytime you make an eagle, it's a great thing. Fortunately, I've been able to make some this year. I think about every tournament I've played in, I've at least made one eagle so far on Tour. That's gone well and makes up for a lot of mistakes, those 3s on cards. Q. Any apprehension about how you'll handle being in the mid -- you're in the middle of the mix right now? D.J. BRIGMAN: Yeah. I learned a good lesson this year earlier at San Diego, Top-Ten going into the weekend, I think eighth place and I played tentatively on Saturday and didn't play well. So I learned a lot from that experience, knowing that I got to stay aggressive, and last week I played in Louisiana Nationwide event and finished fourth there. So coming off from confidence from last week. Had a good weekend there, shot under par both days and shot 5-under the last day to bolt up to 4th from like 12th place. So, you know, I realize now that if I'm going to make mistakes, I'm going to make aggressive mistakes and not make tentative swings, commit to my shots. I can live with that. Q. Skip won that event. D.J. BRIGMAN: He did. Q. You guys got a lot of mojo going. Now, it says in your bio that Oprah is your hero. D.J. BRIGMAN: That's accurate. Q. Why is that? D.J. BRIGMAN: Well, she's inspired me in a great way. I think to me a hero represents someone who will make you do something you ordinarily wouldn't do in a positive way, and she's allowed me to be just little more open to, you know, people less fortunate -- out on Tour, you get treated like kings, and it's hard to forget, you know, all the people out there who are suffering and how lucky we are. And so she has done -- she's done a fantastic job in her philanthropy and just taking care of others. I've kind of adopted that attitude. I do the best I can to just be a good person and realize this is what I do for a living, but this is not who I am as a person. Q. Any projects you're involved in inspired by her? D.J. BRIGMAN: Yeah. I donate to the Angel Network, which is her network, but, you know, not at this time, but I do plan at some point in time when my career really takes off to really be able to give back in a good way. Q. How did this happen? You just would be watching the show in the afternoon and just -- you were struck by her heart? D.J. BRIGMAN: The way kind of my schedule is when I'm home, my wife works in TV and, you know, her -- kind of our afternoons is our time together. So Oprah usually came on in the afternoons and we kind of would watch it together, and, yeah, just kind of -- she inspired me. Q. What's the story on your wife's wedding ring? D.J. BRIGMAN: Oh, in college I washed dishes to pay for her wedding ring. That's how I earned enough money to pay for the rock. Q. You must have done a lot of dishes? D.J. BRIGMAN: It was a lot of dishes. Those are days I don't want to remember. My hands looked like prunes and didn't smell very good when I was coming home at 2:00 in the morning. Q. Where did you work? D.J. BRIGMAN: Worked at Route 66 Diner in Albuquerque. Q. It's on Route 66? D.J. BRIGMAN: The old Route 66, uh-huh. Q. Late at night? D.J. BRIGMAN: I would do Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and so I would go in usually around probably 8:00, and then I'd stay there till close I think at 2:00, and I'd stay there till 3:00. Q. You don't complain too much about the life your lead now? D.J. BRIGMAN: No. She's upgraded since, so she can't complain too much. Q. I mean, does it make you -- having seen that side of life, does it make you more appreciative of what you have and can have? D.J. BRIGMAN: Sure, absolutely. You know, I realize how fortunate I am, and I realize how easy it can go away, too. I could have a career-threatening injury at any time. I'm trying to enjoy it every day and every week and realize that, you know, it's going to be a fun ride, I'm going to have a smile all the way through it until it ends. Q. What does your wife do? D.J. BRIGMAN: She's a news anchor. Does the morning show in Albuquerque. Q. They say dishpan hands can be career threatening? D.J. BRIGMAN: That's why I stopped. Q. How long did you have to do that? D.J. BRIGMAN: Six months. Q. That's devotion. D.J. BRIGMAN: Yeah. DOUG MILNE: Okay. We'll make you a free man. Thanks for coming by. D.J. BRIGMAN: You got it. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|