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ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 17, 2007

Tim Petrovic

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA

DOUG MILNE: Tim, thank you for joining us. Welcome back as the defending champion at this course. You've had ten starts this year, you've had some good final rounds, some cuts -- I guess a lot of it can be chalked up to a knee surgery.
TIM PETROVIC: Maybe a little bit of that. I just had my knee cleaned out in December. I've never had that kind of surgery before, but it's coming along and I'm just about able to squat all the way down to read putts now.
I've been trying to be patient with it, and I'm always pushing myself a little bit. Sometimes I push a little bit too hard, but the most important thing for me was the rehab, and I think I've been doing the right thing in terms of rehab, and it's just a matter of being a little patient and waiting for something to happen.
DOUG MILNE: Obviously things have changed visually as far as playability goes here. Just a couple comments from 2005 to 2007, the course here.
TIM PETROVIC: Well, you know, when the storm hit it was just -- for me it's been two years, I can't believe it's been two years, but two years for me, it's probably felt like about 20 years here. People just don't realize how bad it is until -- you have to come here to see.
Everybody thinks everything is okay and everything is back to normal, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Last year we were just fortunate to have a golf tournament. We did everything we could just to get a golf course, just to try to get some sort of normalcy.
And then having the football game last September at the Dome was just awesome. It was like the Super Bowl. When I went to that game, I could really see the spirit of the city. Everybody turned out for that, and that was really impressive.

Q. What brought you here just out of curiosity?
TIM PETROVIC: What brought me to what, the Super Bowl?

Q. No, not the Super Bowl, but were you a fan of the Saints?
TIM PETROVIC: Well, as soon as I heard they were going to reopen the Dome, I said, I'm there, I don't care, I'm coming. I don't care where I am, I'm coming to that game.
I just had a sense that walking down the street -- I mean, I ran into people that I knew, and I don't even live here, and I ran into people walking to the game, waiting in line, trying to get into the stadium, and then we got on the field before the game, and I had the guy behind me, made me feel good, he goes, "Hey, you're Tim Petrovic, you won the tournament here." I was like, "Yeah, how you doing?" I was signing autographs and it was awesome.
People in New Orleans really appreciate I think all sports, and you could see it during the turnout for that game.

Q. Is there any way to put into words what you felt at that game as compared to perhaps any other football game that you've been to?
TIM PETROVIC: Well, I've never been to a Super Bowl, but it was -- that's what I imagine the Super Bowl to be like. You couldn't even have scripted -- I've never been to a game where the fans didn't sit down for the whole first quarter. I mean, everybody was standing up, and you couldn't have scripted it -- the first big play when they blocked the punt in the end zone for a touchdown, the roof literally came off (laughing). It was unbelievable.
Actually I turned my phone on to videotape a couple things, and I still have them on my phone. I show people -- when I'm traveling I always show them the tape of punt.

Q. Steve Gleason's block?
TIM PETROVIC: Yeah, I'm a huge Saints fan now, that's for sure.

Q. How did you get tickets?
TIM PETROVIC: A couple birdies flew by and dropped a couple tickets in my lap. A couple guys from the tournament hooked me up, and it coincided with a charity event we had that week with Kelly Gibson, and it just turned out to be a great week. I was really happy that somebody offered tickets for me to get down on the field. It wasn't easy, though. Everybody wanted to get down on that field.

Q. Did you have a fondness for this city before you won this tournament?
TIM PETROVIC: Yeah, actually I found out -- well, The Doors are my favorite group, and Robby Krieger is a buddy of mine, and he called me after I won, and I didn't realize this, but their last concert was New Orleans before Jim died, so that was pretty weird.
No, I've always liked the city, love coming here, and just -- this city has a little electricity. There's always something going on here, and you can just feel the spirit of the people. You walk around downtown, you feel everybody is your friend. Even if you've never been here, you can walk down in the Quarter and walk around and you feel safe. I take my kids down there and walk around. My kids are eight and five years old. I wouldn't do that anywhere else.

Q. I guess for the casual golf fan, there's not a lot of big names in this tournament. Is there a reason why some of the bigger names have not come? Last year we had a lot of people step up after the storm and wanted to give back.
TIM PETROVIC: Well, I can't really speak for another player, and I'm sure every player has their own reasons, and I don't think there's one general reason why they didn't come. It could be where it is on their schedule, it could be did they play three in a row, four in a row. Some guys plan their schedules around majors, and we have THE PLAYERS, our fifth major, in between The Masters and the U.S. Open. So there could be a lot of factors.
I mean, I don't think it has anything to do with where they're playing or the city of New Orleans. I just think everybody has their own reasons. I can't speak to that.

Q. This tournament seems to have produced a lot of first-time winners, you being one of them. Any reason why maybe this tournament brings that out in a player?
TIM PETROVIC: Oh, I don't know. I mean, last year Chris Couch, we thought he was going to lose it and he won it. It was just crazy. The same thing happened to me. I was out of it, and then I made one putt the last hole and it got me back in it, and I won the playoff.
It's hard to say. It's hard to say. There's a few other tournaments like that. I think at Hartford, a lot of guys have Hartford as their first win. All the guys out here are so good, I mean, it can happen any week. There's a fine line here.

Q. What do you know about Boo Weekley?
TIM PETROVIC: Boo has been playing great all year, and I give the guy credit. The guy chips in, most guys would have been shaking in their shoes. I'm sure he wasn't Mr. Calm. He acts like it on the outside, but I'm sure he was real nervous inside, and he just stepped up -- for a guy to chip in on the last two holes, that's something.
We saw Chris last year, everybody thought he was making a mess of it -- it only takes one shot. You can erase three bad shots with one great shot, and that's what happened.

Q. There are a lot of young players out there playing --
TIM PETROVIC: Well, look what happened two weeks ago, Zach Johnson, Masters champ. It's going to take a couple weeks to sink in, but he's been playing great since he came out here.
You know, it's no fluke that the guy dominated the Hooters Tour and then dominated the Nationwide Tour. We've had -- I don't know what was the number, how many wins, guys that have graduated from Nationwide Tour come out here and win. 200? That gives you an idea of how deep the play is not only on the PGA TOUR but on the Nationwide Tour, also.

Q. Talk a little bit about what you see differently out on the golf course. Have you played it yet?
TIM PETROVIC: No, I have not been on the golf course yet, sorry to say. But I did have a hand in and I know all the changes. It's actually refreshing to have a redesign on a golf course and actually make it shorter because the norm right now, everyone is trying to stretch out their golf courses. We've seen it at Augusta, we've seen it at other golf courses, but to have a course actually shorter, you say that, some guys go, "they what?" We shortened it. We shortened 18, we shortened 16, we shortened I think 9. I think the back tee is still there, but they're going to play the up tee.
You know, I talked to Kelly earlier, and he said the course is just in awesome shape. He's never seen it in such great shape. So the guys that didn't come, they're missing out because we've got a heck of a golf course this week.

Q. Do you think the positioning of this tournament this year, two weeks after The Masters, might that affect the field?
TIM PETROVIC: No, I think it's actually in a good spot. It's before THE PLAYERS. Now that THE PLAYERS has been moved and THE PLAYERS is not already passed on the schedule, it's coming up. It's the fifth major and the guys are trying to get ready for that. Some guys will go home and practice but some guys are going to take advantage of coming to a great golf course and getting ready.
Like I said, I can't speak for some of the guys and why they're not playing, but they all have their own reasons. I think it's in a decent spot on the schedule now that THE PLAYERS is moved in between.

Q. I have sort of like a two-part. You went into this tournament last year as the defending champion. Technically, in reality you won on another course. Now you're back here. Do you feel like you're defending this year, or was it last year?
TIM PETROVIC: Last year was such -- you know, it was a blur, especially for the city and the people that live in this area, that I wasn't even really thinking about defending last year. I was just happy we had a golf tournament. To get people out to see the PGA TOUR is important. It's important to the city, and come heck or high water -- can I say that? -- we were going to have the golf tournament.
That was the first thing last year, just having the golf tournament. It was a little strange playing there. You know, I like this course actually a lot better than the other course. It's good to be back here, and a lot of guys are coming up to me, "Hey, DC," defending champ. I saw Chris, and I said, "Hey, you're defending champ," and he said, "No, you're defending champ," and I said, "Well, if you look at the locker numbers, I'm locker 2 now. You bumped me down to locker No. 2." He's locker No. 1. He's the defending champ.
Some guys are saying it's the House That Petro Built kind of thing. They're aware of what went on here. All our guys are behind the city 100 percent, and they're looking forward to playing the golf course.

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