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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 21, 2007

Michael Sim

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you for joining us in the media center here at the Travelers Championship. Kind of a slow start to the round, but a nice 29 on the front side, which was your second nine today. Talk about what you did well out there.
MICHAEL SIM: It was just a crazy front nine. Didn't do a whole lot. Then on the back. Holed two good putts on 2 and 3 and made a real lucky birdie on No. 6. It was off the tee right and then left rough, and then just hacked a 9-iron out, landed on the front, rolled 20 yards up to like three feet and made that. It was unbelievable. It was just a weird 4.
And then made a good putt on 7, chipped in on 8, and hit it to 10 inches on 9, so it was a really good finish.

Q. Mike, you're one of the few guys ever to shoot under 30 on even nine out here. Have you ever shot a 29 before someplace? Obviously it's a par 70 not 72, but still.
MICHAEL SIM: I shot 29 when I was an amateur, 2004, maybe. I don't know the history there. I have shot 29 once. It's good to do it professionally, that's for sure. It will be good to tee it up tomorrow with that momentum.

Q. The score wasn't there on your front nine. Did you know it was going to click on the back side?
MICHAEL SIM: I was teeing the ball well. My iron shots, I hit it in there close a lot. I got a new putter Tuesday. On the putting greens it was coming off beautiful, it was rolling on my line, and then I made a good one on 2 and another one on 3, and that just got the confidence going. I was never looking to shoot 5-under. It was just going to be sort of like a 1-under, 2-under, 3-under round and then have a chip in. I think the putting got me going, but I struck the ball well all day.

Q. Did you make any mid-course change at all swing or was it just simply the ball started disappearing?
MICHAEL SIM: Not really. Like I said, I three-putted 13 from four feet, just above it. I wasn't thinking about three putting. So get to 2 under there and then you're just cruising along. And then I end up 3 putting, and then bogey on 8 and I'm 1 over. I played equal on my front nine that I did on the back, I just got the momentum going. You know how it is, onces you get on a roll, you just make birdies.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Talk a little bit about your year. I know you were hurt at the end of last year. You went home. I don't know if you had surgery or what. You haven't played many events. Talk about your injury and how it came about.
MICHAEL SIM: Well, I think I did it in Wichita last year on the Nationwide Tour. I hit a driver on the third hole on Saturday and hit it hard and I felt something go on my back. I had a scan in Pittsburgh, an MRI, probably the week after, because I pulled out of the next tournament. I shot a 65 the first round and I pulled out, I withdrew. I couldn't play anymore. So I had a scan that week and nothing showed up. I went through the next couple of weeks and it wasn't getting better, so I went home to Australia and got some treatment. I was home probably for four weeks. And then I came back to Midland, Texas, and played good there, and then won the next week in South Carolina. And then it was really bad after that.
As soon as I won, the week after, I could barely move. It was really stiff. So I managed to play out the rest of the season, I had two events Miami and The TOUR Championship. And I finished 19th on the Nationwide Tour, and then went home and had another scan. And I had a stress fracture in my L-5, which is the lumbar 5 in your back.
They said the healing process was going to be three months, and it ended up taking five and a half. That's why I'll only play five events this year. And I came back to New Orleans and played really good there. The first event of the year.

Q. (Inaudible).
MICHAEL SIM: I think they gave me a minor. The way it works, if you're under four months, it's a minor, and above it's a major. I think they gave me a minor medical, which I think that works, they take the Nationwide Q-School bracket, average out how many they play and I get the difference the next year, I believe.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: So you're feeling fine now?
MICHAEL SIM: I was a little bit sore when I came back and then I've been taking -- I was taking fish oils back home, it's like an anti-inflammatory vitamin, and then I stopped taking it for a week when I got back and it was sore, and ever since I got back on them again I haven't had a problem, so I think it was the fish oil.

Q. Fish oil and rest, so you don't need surgery?
MICHAEL SIM: It was just a cracked bone. It's just got to heal, no surgery.

Q. You're a young guy. You haven't had much problems with that before?
MICHAEL SIM: This is the first time I've really been injured. Obviously there's the odd week where you're a little stiff or sore, but I played in a tournament in '05 and I was sore down there and I withdrew. That's the only tournament I've had to pull out of in the past.

Q. There is a guy leading or in the lead on the Nationwide Tour named Michael Sims. Have you run across him before and do you guys get confused for each other?
MICHAEL SIM: Actually, there's a funny story about that. I ordered some wedges from Titleist, and so did he. And I was sitting there back home and I'm just about to come over here. This box arrives and I thought, perfect, I'll go practice this afternoon. I looked at these wedges and it had "Simsy" written on the back of the wedge. And it just wasn't what I ordered, the grip was wrong, the shaft was wrong, and the head was wrong. I thought, This can't be right. So I e-mailed Bob Vokey and he said, "That's for Michael Sims."
When I came over here, I played the Nationwide in New Orleans. And he said, "I've got to meet you, I'm Michael Sims." And I was like, "Yea, I'm Michael Sim." It was kind of a funny story.

Q. Did you bring the clubs back or exchange them with him?
MICHAEL SIM: No, I shipped them back, but I should have shipped them to him because he was down there. It was a big mess.

Q. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Let's go through your birdie, yardage and club to the green. What club did you hit to the green on No. 2?
MICHAEL SIM: Two, pitching wedge to 10, 12 feet.
3, 9-iron to 13, 14 feet.
6, I hit 9-iron out of the left rough to two and a half, three feet.
7, pitching wedge to about 30 feet.
8, chipped in from pin-high, just past pin-high on the right. Actually a good iron shot in there and trickled off the back, and chipped it in. The pin was on the left side, and I don't know if you've been out there, but it was probably 15 yards maybe.
9, I hit sand wedge to a foot.

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