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GINN CHAMPIONSHIP AT HAMMOCK BEACHApril 1, 2007Keith FergusPALM COAST, FLORIDA PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay. Keith Fergus shoots a final round 70. After 71 Champions TOUR events, you win your first title out here and become the second guy to win on all three TOURs, joining Ron Streck. Congratulations. KEITH FERGUS: That was my goal to be the first. Streck beat me, dangum it. PHIL STAMBAUGH: You pick up $375,000. Your largest check ever. And more importantly, 375 Charles Schwabb Cup points, which puts you in that race as well. Just a couple thoughts about the day. I know it wasn't easy, especially those last four holes. KEITH FERGUS: Like I said before, this is really a good golf course. And you get the wind conditions blowing out there and the pin placements and then you get the choke factor going in when you're trying to win your first tournament. And all those things add up. But it was a great week. The golf course, like I said when I first got here, I tip my hat. This is a golf course. The facilities and everything has just been outstanding. They've done a wonderful job. For me to win, that is just icing on the cake. And really I haven't won in a while, and I was after that trophy. After a while, that's really what you can hang your hat on, when you're 83, 84, 95, whatever, sitting in your rocking chair, I can always look at that trophy and I'll think back to this time. And that's why we work, that's why we go out, that's why we compete, is for moments like this. Because there's not enough of them there are very few. Unless you're Tiger, I guess. But when you win, that makes you feel like really good. Because we put a lot of time in. We put a lot of travel away from our families a lot. But this makes it worthwhile. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Did you think when you made the key par save at 4 and then the eagle at 10 that maybe this would be your day? KEITH FERGUS: Just a lot of things this week were happening. And I thought, you know, but I wanted to think that but I didn't want to think that. But there were so many little signs, I guess, that just I wanted to think maybe this is it. But I didn't want to think that. So you just go out, and like I did today, don't get ahead of yourself. And this is the way it is. If it's your week, things are going to happen positively. And if it's not your week, I don't care what you do, you're not going to win. There's several ways I could have lost this golf tournament. Although I played well, I played well all week. But I had some breaks here or there. And that's when you win. But you just gotta stay in. You gotta stay fighting, stay focused. It's easy to start thinking on the third hole about the trophies presentation. Jumping way ahead of yourself. You have to forget all that. You have to plod along, one shot at a time. I know it sounds boring, but that's what you've gotta do. And, there again, if it's your time, I made the shot on 17, hit a bunker shot, it's my week. But you've got to be there. And I practiced hard enough. My game's been improving. I've been playing well. So when I got there, I wasn't ashamed to win. I put in my time. So I won't belly up there. If it's my time, I'm going to be standing in the doorway, and it was. Luckily I was able to walk through. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Before we go to questions, can you just take us through your round, starting out the day. KEITH FERGUS: There again, the winds started blowing early again. Hoped it was going to blow the same direction it's been blowing and it did. I birdied the second hole, got off to a good start, 1-under after 2. Made a great par. PHIL STAMBAUGH: What did you do there at 2? KEITH FERGUS: Made about a 8-footer for birdie on 2. And then I made a great par on 4. That was really key. I chipped it in from right off the green for par. Hit a shot just a little bit right. Hit the bounce, bounced in the water, dropped it, chipped it in. That was a big par. Q. What did you hit in the water? KEITH FERGUS: 7-iron. Pretty good shot. I don't know if the wind was blowing harder, I think it was a little harder than yesterday. But that was a huge, huge save. Then I birdied the next par 5, knocked it in two. 2-putted it for birdie. Held a bunker shot on 10, hit a good shot. Just below the hole. Wanted a bunker shot. You think get it up and down. End up making it. There's that little sign thinking maybe this is your week. But you kind of shove it away, say you've got work to do. Birdied, came back around, missed a good eagle putt on what's the next par? 14. Had about a 15-footer for eagle, 2-putted that one. And then just kind of limped in, bogeyed 16 and 18. Tell you, no shame bogey on 18. I'd like to see bogeys on that hole today. Q. Talk about 16. KEITH FERGUS: 16, that hole sets up funny. Hard crosswind to the left. Water down -- you've got left to right. Water to the left. You're trying to hit it and hold it. You don't want to hold it. I hit it in the wind. Got it a little bit, took a little hop, hit the cart path. Was able to-- I had a shot and chip it up and salvage my bogey which was good there. And key putt on 17. 17 was playing cross downwind. After seeing Brad Bryant's ball hit short of the green nearly under the scoreboard down there, running off, so I kind of bailed out a little bit and was able to 2-putt it. And then going to 18. PHIL STAMBAUGH: And 18 you hit the driver off the tee. KEITH FERGUS: Hit driver and blocked it to the right. And I thought about hitting some other clubs, because the only problem with that driver brings that bunker into play for me. I didn't make a very aggressive swing at it. Blocked it right and laid it up. And that's what I was trying to do, get my bogey, because I didn't think they were going to make birdie on that hole. PHIL STAMBAUGH: So what did you hit out there? KEITH FERGUS: Chipped a 5-iron down in front. 100-yard wedge shot. Hit it in there about 10 feet. And cozied it down as close as I could get it. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Tom was in here earlier. He didn't think your third shot was that easy either from 100 yards. KEITH FERGUS: Let me tell you what, the wind, anything could happen. Blowing into the wind, if you don't catch it just right, you've got the bunkers there. There's all kinds of stuff going through your mind. But I hit a really good third shot. Left it in a good position. Didn't really need to make the putt, although I thought I did. And like I say, take my bogey and move on down the road. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Tom, you made bogey at the fifth hole which ended 40 straight holes without a bogey. KEITH FERGUS: That's pretty good. 40 straight holes on this golf course. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Yes, sir. KEITH FERGUS: I think I only made three bogeys the whole week. That's what won the golf tournament for me. You play 54 holes and only make three bogeys on this golf course, that's pretty good. PHIL STAMBAUGH: What happened at 5 there? KEITH FERGUS: Hit a good tee ball. And it just hit on the top of the bank and hit because that's a hard drive on the hole. Hard wind coming at you left to right. Blowing hard. Hit it good. Purtzer said good shot. I walked down there looking in the water. Hit the top and curled on down and rolled down into the water. That stopped my bogey, my par string. Believe me, I was taking bogey and running after that hole, too. Because that's a good hole. That's one of those holes you want to escape without too much damage. Q. Keith, you probably would have preferred a different order winning on those three TOURS, because you had to go back to the Nationwide TOUR after a certain point. But I'm wondering, during that time period when you lost the PGA TOUR status, and I know you coached a little bit and things like that and everything, did you ever have any doubts before that point or maybe even after winning on a nationwide TOUR that you'd do something special one week again? KEITH FERGUS: Well, that's what you always -- you don't know. I played 10 years on the regular TOUR and decided I still had status. But I decided my kids started school and I didn't want to be gone from a six-year-old and a two-year-old anymore. And they couldn't travel. So I knew it was time to do something else. And I did. I coached for seven years. Got in the golf course design business, built some golf courses and this and that. Then I turned 40. Now my kids are 14 and 15. I felt like it's time I wanted to go out and play again. That's when I used the nationwide at 40 years old to go back out. I won twice the first year I went back out. Got my card back. Kept it for the next three or four years until about 2000, and then about two or three years before I came here. So golf is what I was meant to do. I knew that when I got off. But I knew I had some other obligations that I needed to fulfill before I continued on. Q. So you had some status on the TOUR? KEITH FERGUS: Yes. Q. Were you fully exempt? KEITH FERGUS: I was like 140th on the money list. With exemptions I probably could have played. But, there again, if I'm gone. I've got to play. I can't believe a Nicklaus or some of these guys that can play 10 times a year. I gotta play 20, 25 times a year. When your kids are in school, you're gone a month. And the biggest fear was I come home, walk in the door one day and they say who is this. I didn't want that to happen. So I felt like it was what I needed to do. And a lot of people say, man, you're crazy and this and that. But I've never regretted a day in my life. I felt like those times, that time I spent with my kids were some of the most valuable times that I could have been with them. Then once they get to a certain stage I felt it was time for me to go back and try to play. I felt like I still could. Although I didn't know. And then when I went out and I won twice the first year out on the nationwide I felt like that wasn't such a dumb idea. And then got my card back, because that's what I enjoy doing. That's what I felt like the reason I was put on this earth was to play golf. That's a talent he gave me. And I worked with it. And I work hard at it. But I enjoy it. Q. 16th hole, you're laying 3 over there left of the green. Did you ever give any thought to anything other, or maybe 4 -- 3. You putted. You were going to putt that the whole way? KEITH FERGUS: When I first got here, my caddie and I, before I leave the putting green, I putted out, take the ball three yards off the green and I putted. When I got here I noticed the green was shaved all the way down. So I done it one other time on the same hole on the first round, hit over the green, putted it up. Wasn't a doubt in my mind. Once I practiced it, I had that feel of how it was going to -- it's not difficult. If I had to chip that, that would have been a difficult chip. But to putt it up with the field, I felt good about it. I practiced it and I knew what was going to happen. And luckily it worked. Q. Do Texans call it the Texas wedge, too? KEITH FERGUS: No, we call it Texas wedge also. Q. 18, you didn't mark your ball. Did you want to get the ball in the hole as fast as possible? KEITH FERGUS: The way that wind was blowing, you never know. (Indiscernible) I wanted to get that thing in the bottom of the hole, yes. Q. Never crossed your mind to mark it? KEITH FERGUS: No, never did. Q. Can you talk a little bit about your strategy coming in today, being on top of the leader board? Were you thinking about just maintaining the status quo, or did you want to get a little bit aggressive and see if you could open up that lead? KEITH FERGUS: I played just the way -- when I step onto a tee box or second shot or putt or whatever, when I look at it, I know how aggressive I can be: Is this something I really want to be aggressive with or is this something I want to play more center of the green, roll the putt close. I just let it dictate how each shot, how the hole plays, how I feel when I get the tee shot. I don't say before I play I'm going to be real aggressive today. That's not the way I play. I'm going to take every shot one shot at a time. However I feel about that shot, that's where I'm going to hit it. If I don't feel like I can hit it, if I don't feel aggressive, I'll try to play safer. If I feel like this is a green light, you need to go with this putt or this chip or this drive or whatever, that's when I go. So I'm just going to play the way I play. I was not going to let anybody dictate to me how I was going to play my game. If somebody had gone out shot 62, you know what, I tip my hat. Because if I've got a 4-something that I don't feel good about it, I'm probably not going to hit the shot. You've got to feel when you're standing over the ball that this is the right thing to do, this is the right shot to hit it at this time. And if you don't do it, you say, Keith, you're stupid, there's no way you can hit the shot. I'm going to force it any way. Let me tell you, odds you're not going to hit it. Q. Did you feel at any time this weekend that you were getting into that zone? KEITH FERGUS: Yes. I'd been struggling a little bit with my game, but it was starting to come around. Still not real comfortable with my driver just like on that last hole. But my iron game has been really good this week. Driver is still not where I want it, but it's better. My iron game has been exceptional. My putting has been okay. So I felt like my iron game, all I needed to do was get it in the fairway. I don't care where it was. You get me in the fairway, my iron game was strong enough right now that I knew I was going to hit a good shot. That's why I didn't make very many bogeys. I don't care where I was, 100, 150, 200, just get me in the fairway. A lot of times I didn't hit a driver. Maybe I could have. I didn't feel good. I hit either my driving iron or something like that. I felt -- and I'm hitting that good. So yes, I felt like, you know what, you're playing good and you're hitting shots that are quality, quality golf shots. Q. You said you had signs all week that things might be going your way but you kind of tried to put -- were they all on the golf course or some outside? KEITH FERGUS: Just different things. Like I was watching that movie last night, "The Rookie." I think about the pitcher who was coaching little league high school baseball team and he could, finally could throw it 95. And he said, "Coach, it's your time." That's what everybody calls me. "Coach." I'm sitting there, watching it. They said, "Coach, it's your time." There's a sign. I'm sitting there watching that. That's pretty much my story, really. I got off and I kind of coached these kids and go back and now coach, it's your time. So I think that sounds to me I like that. That could be a sign. Q. How did you stumble on that movie? KEITH FERGUS: I'm just flicking the channel. Here it comes on, I said hmm, I like this movie. They came on. The kid said, "Coach, it's your time." So I said, "I like that." So there again you just -- but you see that but you kind of think, well, let's don't get ahead of ourselves. You're playing good. And if it's going to happen it's going to happen. If it doesn't, but there was some other things. And some friends called me that I haven't seen, I won the Atlantic Classic with them I stayed there in 1983. They live down the road. They came today and seen me win my second PGA TOUR event. To see them, they came all the way, they're 85 years old, 83. They live just south of Orlando. Military, near a military, not a retirement place but a military, just where military officers live. It's a subdivision. It's just down a couple of hours from here. But there again, that was something that they came up here to see me and they walked. I told them it's a tough walking golf course but they walked nine holes and they were here. They had seen me win. So that was there again something else that -- Q. You also talked at the trophy presentation about you were leaking oil down the stretch. Did it ever creep your mind like, oh, no, I might be messing this up? KEITH FERGUS: I just tried to hit the shots I felt I could hit. I knew the course was playing hard. I knew the last three holes that was the key, 16, 17 and 18. So I hit a pretty good shot on 16, just hit a little hard. Hit the cart path and jumped over and 18. I didn't hit a very good shot. But there again it's nothing bogeying that hole is nothing to be disgraced about. But I didn't hit the shot I wanted on 18. 16 wasn't that bad. 18 was not a very good tee ball but was fortunately in a spot I could still make bogey. Q. Can you compare how you felt nerves-wise coming down the stretch today as opposed to say when you were 30 years old? KEITH FERGUS: I felt as calm today as I felt in a long time. I really did. I never really felt pressured. I never really felt, I led the tournament for three days. That's unusual. I've never done that before. But I never felt I just felt like, Keith, just number one -- just for me to be here and be able to compete today is a positive. Just for me. In 20 years from now I'll look back or five years from now when I'm not playing I don't know how much longer I'll play. I'll look back and I'll say that was nothing but fun. That was so much fun. I mean just to be able to do that at this level, to have your health, to be able to go out and compete. Whether you win or not. I mean sure we want to win. And I work hard to win. But just to be able to play with Brad and Tom and be able to have a chance to win. So I was very calm. I didn't rush myself. Keith, just hit your shots. If the putts go in, sand trap, bunker -- I hadn't held a bunker shot in I can't tell you. Tell Mark a lie, he said a couple weeks ago my bunker shot was bad. Q. (Off microphone) KEITH FERGUS: He gave me a rib. I putted a ball out of a bunker at Valencia a couple weeks ago. That was the only shot I had. But anyway, there again, I haven't held a bunker shot in a while. So it just so happens I held a bunker shot, you go on to win the tournament. I didn't pressure myself. I stayed with my game plan. I didn't -- and I felt very, very comfortable today. Q. Were you always that way or was there a time when you would have been a nervous wreck? KEITH FERGUS: No, I've always been, feel like I stayed fairly calm. Obviously there's times you get butterflies, sometimes when you get nervous, especially maybe when your game is not quite as good and you know it. They always say it's kind of like going and taking a test when you hadn't studied. We all know that feeling. Oh, baby, this is not good. It's kind of like golf, if you're not prepared and you go in and all of a sudden you're up there running the lead, I'm not prepared, not playing good. That's when you get nervous. I'm playing good, I worked hard. I was playing well. Like I said before, there's no reason I shouldn't be here. And now I'm just going to take it and see what happens. If I win, I win. If I don't, I'll go back in two weeks and try again. Q. After 2005 you went to TOUR school, I believe. If you hadn't qualified there would you have come back, tried to make it back on the TOUR, or what would you have done? KEITH FERGUS: I'm thinking, I came out -- what year is this 2007. How many years have I been out here? Q. I think four, I believe. KEITH FERGUS: First year I went to TOUR school. I was exempt through career category wins but I still wanted to enhance my number, status. And I did. I finished like eighth. So that helped. Played a full year my first year, which was 204. So the next year I was fully exempt, 205. So I went back. I was finished like 30th on the money list, 205. I said I'm going to go back to the school anyway. There again, I want to get my status better. I think I finished third or fourth in the school. Became fully exempt. Finished 19th on the money list last year. So I would have still been exempt. But I want to know exactly. I don't want these "maybes," maybe you're going to play. Maybe you're not. That's no fun for anybody. The reason I went back was to help my status. That way I could say, you know what, I'm going to play this week. I can make my reservations, my wife or whoever, I know what's going to happen and that's why I did it. I would have still played. But, no, if I hadn't made that. My aspirations of playing a regular TOUR are long gone. Those kids are way too good. I know where I belong. These guys can play. These guys can play good. Fred Funk has played here, he just won on the regular TOUR a month ago. So these guys can play. Let me tell you what. But I'd rather play these guys. My time has passed with them. This is where I belong. Q. At any time were you aware that today was April Fool's day and this all may be too good to be true? KEITH FERGUS: Was it really? Q. Yes. KEITH FERGUS: No, I did not know that. Is this true? Q. It's true. They're not going to take the check back or anything. KEITH FERGUS: No, I didn't know that. But let me tell you what, when I get out here, I get so focused. I haven't read a paper. When I come out here, I'm by myself this week. It's golf. I come home -- I leave here. I go to the hotel. I get the flicker. And then when I get up in the morning, I come here. I practice. I play. I go home. I get the flicker. That's pretty much the way it is. People think it's pretty boring, once you leave the golf course. The golf course is great. The practice and the playing. But then once you leave, it gets boring. I didn't know. I couldn't tell you. I barely know it's '07. I didn't know it was April, though. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Congratulations. End of FastScripts |
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