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STANFORD ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIPJune 10, 2007Woody AustinMEMPHIS, TENNESSEE COLIN MURRAY: Alright. We welcome our 2007 Stanford St. Jude Champion, Woody Austin. Woody, thanks for joining is. Your third career PGA TOUR victory. Played the final 49 holes without a bogey this week. Collect 4500 FedExCup points, which I believe gets you to 29th in those standings. If you could just talk a little bit about your 62 today and we'll open it up to some questions. WOODY AUSTIN: You know, I played real well on the weekend, obviously, without making any bogies and I was starting to play -- played real solid yesterday and felt like if I could play really good today and just tried -- I just tried to -- figured if I could get to 10 and make David or make Adam Scott 1-under or whatever, I felt like -- you know, I didn't want him to just kind of cruise around the golf course. And I got off to an awesome start when I holed out that wedge on No. 3 for the eagle and just kind of jump started and then I kind of stumbled a little bit, but I was playing so solid that after No. 6 -- I don't know if I hit a bad shot after that. Pretty much hit the ball right where I wanted to, hit the ball on the greens right below the holes and had just a bunch of opportunities and was able to make some. COLIN MURRAY: Alright. We'll go ahead and open it up for questions. Q. Have you ever played a better round of golf? WOODY AUSTIN: My caddy asked me that. I controlled the ball so well with the irons today. There was just -- every shot was solid, every shot was where I was trying to hit it and so from that standpoint probably not, especially under these circumstances. There's definitely not, but as far as -- I feel like I played better once before when I shot 57 at home. Shot 13-under on my home course when I was in college, so -- but obviously that's nothing to do with it under these circumstances and this position, so I'm ecstatic. Q. With the difficulty of this course this week, are you surprised that there was a 62 out there? WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, absolutely. No question about it. I was hoping that I would play a little bit better than I did yesterday and at least try to get by and make Adam Scott 1-under and David shoot 4. The idea was to make them have to shoot under par today, not just go around and say if I play good and shoot even par I'm going win. You know, I obviously accomplished that but still even going through No. 1, to No. 12, I still was just getting to that point, so at that point still didn't know. Q. You mentioned that you've been working on a little bit of glitches and stiff. Was that with your swing? Where were those problems? WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah. I'm self-taught. I don't have a teacher, so it may take me a little while to figure out all my problems I have as far as my swing. I'm a very old fashioned, feel player and when it feels right I know I'm in good shape. When it feels wrong, it may take me a little while to kind of get it and I felt like I figured out a few things at Colonial. My caddy, Brent Henley, was very good about, he's got a certain drill for it and I kind of have my own way of doing it. We've been doing a little bit of both the last couple of weeks, trying to get the club -- I've been spinning out. The club has been coming in from outside. I really worked hard the last two weeks to try to get the club back to the inside on the down swing, not on the takeaway but on the down swing, and I've worked really hard these last two weeks and it was clicking last week. It was just a little bit off and then I obviously played really solid this week and really clicked today. I just got to keep working on that. Try to get the club where it's supposed to be. Q. Do you talk as much to yourself on the golf course when you're playing like you were today? WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, absolutely. My personality, my brain never shuts up. That's just who I am. My brain will never shut up. So I'm constantly -- there's got to be either constant entertainment or constant, you know, whatever. I can't -- I'm not somebody who can sit down -- I've read one book in my life. I can't sit and just -- my brain and everything is moving around. I need that constant chatter or feedback or whatever you have it. Brent knows -- get quiet when I'm playing bad, obviously, as far as talking to him or whatever, but he knows that I'm just trying to get out of maybe the craziness that's going on in there (indicating). Yeah, I'm pretty scatterbrained. Q. You once said that as far as talent and ability, you knew you were one of the top ten players in the game, but that in terms of results you weren't because your brain would never shut off. How does on a day like today -- WOODY AUSTIN: Just goes to show that I was saying I can play. Like I said, I'm 43 now and you've never seen the potential that I have. I know what potential I did have at one point. I'm not saying I can't at least get closer to it but at 43, it's kind of hard to go back to where it was. I know what potential I had, but I'm not afraid -- like I said, I'm not afraid to admit it, I'm probably the most nervous person that ever played this game. From the first tee on Thursday, I don't care what tournament it is, how I play, but from the first tee on Thursday, I'm scared to death of what's going on and I just got to figure out a way to get through it and some weeks I get through it really good, some weeks I don't. Today, obviously, I was swinging so good that I was able to get through it all, but I just -- two weeks ago in Colonial on Friday I collapsed. I fell apart. It got so hard on me because I was -- I had been playing so poorly and I was finally hitting the ball so good and I played the first ten holes on Friday as well as anybody could have played the first ten holes. And I got up on the 11th hole from the fairway and hit one 60 yards right of where I was trying to hit it because I was afraid of where it might go and that just -- that's a constant struggle. That's just where I get -- where I say that it's hard -- it's hard to explain. Just hard to explain. Q. Woody, you say we never got to see your potential. With what Vijay has done in his 40s and Fred Funk in his 40s, is it maybe still there? WOODY AUSTIN: Like I said, there's no question I can get better. There's no question I can get closer. It's hard to say that I can show you my potential at 45, that I could have had at 30. I don't think you can say that because at 30, especially the way the game is going, at 30 I could actually start to swing at it harder and hit the ball farther. I can't do that at 40. If you took technology backwards, then maybe I possibly could, but the game has changed so much in the last ten years that it's a power game now, it's not about precision anymore. That was the strength of my game. My comment was there wasn't a shot I couldn't hit because you had to hit shots. Now you just got to hit it 330 yards and I still can't do that, so I got to figure out other ways. Q. I gather you had an interesting qualifying round in terms of your brain getting in the way, your putter. You weren't using the putter on the way in. Care to take us through that? WOODY AUSTIN: Again, like I said, I was starting to play good. I was starting to see signs of good play and I never get in any majors unless I qualify and I've always said that U.S. Open is my best chance if I'm ever going to get lucky enough to win a Major. That's my best chance because it's about -- tough shoot -- you can't hit it 300 yards and be in this kind rough (indicating). You better drive it straight. I've had my chances at a couple U.S. Opens. I've lead or tied for the lead a couple times and so I was finally playing good and I really wanted to play this week or next week because I heard so much about the place and how hard it was going to play and I went out and played Scarlett Golf Course the first round and played -- I played 17 absolutely flawless holes and I shot -- I was 3-over. It was just extremely frustrating. I ended up shooting 2-over and that was extremely frustrating. And then I go to the other golf course and I three-putted the very first hole right out of the gate. Now I'm 3-over again and I was playing so well and I just kind of -- was going along and going along and I birdied the 10th hole and then I three-putted the next hole. I kind of -- I went a little overboard and kind of walked to the side and said, well, you know, my chances are pretty much over and I pretty much just kind of got rid of the putter at that point and I proceeded to knock in about a 6, 7 footer for birdie and a wedge in on the next hole. I proceeded two holes after that to hole about a 40-footer for eagle with my sand wedge and next thing you know I played the last three holes right down the middle, right on the green and two-putted and I made it by a shot which -- again, who was going to say I was going to make any of those the way it was going, you know. Just a freaky thing. Got lucky and I'm going to hopefully run with it. Q. Have you ever had more fun on a golf course than you had today? WOODY AUSTIN: Actually, I probably have to say the first time -- I'd have to say when I won at Hartford in '04, that day was probably a little bit more fun. There was a little joke between me and my caddy going that day and I really wasn't thinking about winning that day and it just kind of all transpired. So it was more jovial whereas today, once I holed that shot on 3, from then on I knew. It was fun but a constant thought process and grind. And sure I was happy where I was hitting it but you're still grinding your way out. Whereas at Hartford on Sunday, we were making some birdies but we were five shots back with 9 holes to play. We had a little joke going; it was probably a little bit smoother or little bit more fun, but there's nothing more fun than being on the last green with a five shot lead, though. I never thought I would have that because my three or four wins were all playoffs, so for me to actually be able to finish a tournament off, knowing I won instead of finishing a round never knowing, I didn't know if I would ever get there. I'd have to say today's finish was definitely the best I've ever had. Q. What's the one book you've read? WOODY AUSTIN: One book, The Cardinal in the Kremlin. I was in Japan in 1989 for 30 straight days by myself in a hotel and it still took the entire 30 days to read that book: I can't sit there and read. Like I said, my brain just doesn't do it. Drives my wife crazy. I can sit and watch TV because it's stimulating but I can't just (indicating). Q. Going into an Open, the person who won the week before has yet to win the U.S. Open. The way things are going and the way you're playing this week, you like your chances at this point? WOODY AUSTIN: Obviously, the odds are still really good it's not going to happen. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to be a front runner -- I've never won a Major. But I know personally, like I said, that's always been my one tournament I felt like I could always play and the fact that I'm now getting close to where I feel like my game is coming around, that's just going to give me that much more confidence. And if the golf course is playing as hard as they say -- the only thing that's going to bother me next week is the greens. Just like I had problems here the first day here with the wind and the pace. Three-putted four of the first 12 holes I played this week. If the greens are that scary fast out there, that's going to be my problem. So, that's what I'm going to have to work on but it's nice to know that my game is coming around. Q. What happened on the par 3, 14, were you aiming at the stick or what were you doing? WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I wasn't -- obviously the flag -- it wasn't so tucked. I was aiming probably -- we had a spot, if you look on that tee, the Stanford sign, there's a D in the Stanford is probably 10, 15 feet left of the hole. Wasn't aiming too far off. Q. As you look back, you had the time in Japan, the working at bars and everything else, is this gratifying? Do you think of those times as you sit here? WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. Absolutely. Especially on a year like this year. I said I've been pretty miserable all year. In the back of my head all I keep thinking is that it's coming to an end. No Top 30 -- one Top 30 in 15 tournaments and no -- nothing was clicking, nothing was going my way and like I said, the game has changed so much that it's passing the older guys by more and more. Now, obviously what she said, Vijay, he's six-four, he can hit it hard enough. He's big and strong. I'm a little peanut. So it's just -- I was definitely down for quite awhile as far as this year, wondering if I was going to find it in time to keep on going because I certainly don't want the dream to end: I started it when everybody already told me it was over. I had a lot of people tell me I would never make it staying away from the game and being away from the game that long. To grind it out and get here was one thing. Then when I won and it was kind of validation, but then it went ten years in between to the next one, it was like, oh, my God. Then to win again. Now I've won the third time in a little bit quicker fashion, so I certainly am not a brash person. I certainly don't toot my own horn, but it's nice to be able to say that when I say that I can play, I can actually prove it and this is proof. Q. This tournament was very pleased obviously to have a lot of big names in the field and next to some of them, Sergio, Vijay, you don't have quite the reputation. How would you like to be thought of by golf fans? WOODY AUSTIN: I'm just your average everyday guy, I really am. I remember where I came from. I remember working in the bank. I remember working in the bartending. I remember everybody. You can always come up to me, you can always talk to me. I have a blast in the Pro-Am with my Pro-Am guys. Enjoy playing in the Pro-Ams. I'm not going -- I had a standing thing with all my family and friends when I first made it in 1995, if I ever change, you better hit me, better slap me, get me straight. Maybe that's why I get so down on myself or mad at myself when I don't perform, but that's the way I want to always -- I want to -- I want to be perceived as a person that's no different than anybody else. I'm just trying to do my job as well as I know I can. When everybody says you're too hard on yourself, I try to look at it from the standpoint if you go to work and you're not happy, you're not happy. I know this is a game, but it's still work and if I know that I'm better than what I've proven, am I supposed to be happy? Q. Are you happy today? WOODY AUSTIN: Well, absolutely. It's hard to explain to a point. If you know deep down that you can play with anybody -- let's say I know deep down I'm a Top 50 player in the world and yet I haven't been in the Top 30 in the last three years or whatever, well, I'm supposed to be happy with that? COLIN MURRAY: Woody, one other note on today's round, your 62 today was the lowest final round for your PGA TOUR career. WOODY AUSTIN: Lowest I've shot in the PGA, period. Couple of 63s. COLIN MURRAY: In your in relation to par -- WOODY AUSTIN: Yes. Same tournament, too, Buick in Flint. Conditional page break: 2 Q. Run through the card. WOODY AUSTIN: Shots or just birdies? Q. Eagles. WOODY AUSTIN: Parred the 1st hole, made about a 25-footer for birdie on the 2nd hole. I had exactly 60 yards to the hole on No. 3, 53 to the front, 60 to the hole, one hop, spun, went in just like a 1-putt. Q. Which club? WOODY AUSTIN: Lob wedge, 60-degree wedge. Follow 2 putt for par on 4. Good up and down on 5 and 6, 5 from just off the right of green. 6 I was down the left rough line off the tee and I caught a flyer and hit it over the green and then I chipped it to like 6 inches, 8 inches. It was an easy putt. After that I started flagging. I hit it right on the front of the green on the hole on 7 and two-putted. I hit it about ten feet for birdie on 8, didn't make it. I hit it about 12 feet right below the hole on 9, didn't make it. I hit it right in the middle of the green there on 10 and about 20, 25 feet and made that one. That's when I started thinking, okay, maybe it's going to go. Then I made about 15 feet on 11. Didn't make it. Then 12, I hit it just in the fringe exactly pin high. Had a perfect lie and chipped it in with my lob wedge. That's when it started dawning on me that today was going to be a special day. Had a good up and down for par on the next hole, which was huge. And then I hit one of the best 5-irons of my career on 14. I hit it foot and a half, two feet right below the hole on the par 3. 15 was routine 4. 16 was a great drive up the left side. Hit a 3-iron exactly where I was trying to hit it right on the right center of the green, just anywhere on the green and then hit a perfect lag putt to a foot. 17 hit down the right side and I kind was under the tree there so I had to kind of hit it under the tree and just hit a gorgeous 6-iron to 12, 15 feet and made it. And then parred 18. It was just -- like I said, starting on No. 7, I just hit every iron right where I wanted to hit it. Q. How long do you take to celebrate this before heading up to Pennsylvania to start preparing for the open? WOODY AUSTIN: I'll still leave tomorrow morning just like I planned. I'm going to try and have some fun tonight. Q. When Adam had those consecutive birdies including where he got the drop, did you feel at that moment any sort of pressure building? WOODY AUSTIN: I honestly didn't know he got a drop or did anything. We talking about 11? Q. Yes. WOODY AUSTIN: I didn't know he got a drop. We're standing there on the tee because there was a problem with the group in front of us as to whether or not Brian Davis' tee shot crossed the corner up there or whatever, so we were just standing there for awhile, and right before I got over my shot to hit, a big old roar so I knew he had made it. I didn't know whether he got a drop or whether just -- I just knew he chipped in from over the green. I just knew -- I kind of just assumed that at that point we were still even because I figured I had birdied 10 so he birdied 11. COLIN MURRAY: Anything else? Thanks Woody. End of FastScripts |
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