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AT&T NATIONALJuly 7, 2007Stuart ApplebyBETHESDA, MARYLAND JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Stuart, for joining us for a few minutes in the media center at the AT&T National. Nice, solid round, you got it going on the front nine, got to 10-under, had a miscue on 11 and 12, and bounced back with a birdie. You had a pretty solid lead throughout the day. Just talk about that a little bit. STUART APPLEBY: Well, I got off to a good start. K.J. had a bogey and I had a birdie, so we had certainly a swing there. But it was a demanding golf course today. It was -- a little bit more respect had to be watching for the balls to be bouncing off the fairways and running with the contours a little bit more. A little bit more thought; I backed off some clubs. I went from 3-wood to 2-irons on a couple of holes which I had not done all week. The greens definitely got faster which was -- the respect level went to, pay attention, where the first few days, you know, the greens weren't near as quick. But I was able to build a bit of a lead, but then K.J. started to sneak up behind me and tailgate the last part of the day to close that gap up. We both played well. I hope it was good viewing. Course was great and weather was good so hopefully it will be fun tomorrow. Q. Rename this the Steve Bann Open? STUART APPLEBY: Yes, a couple of pupils there. Steve's a good coach. He really is a good coach, and he's worked with K.J. -- actually worked with K.J.'s putting. Probably a couple of years back now, K.J. had a real alignment issue and sort of used to putt and twisted his head and sort of got him squared up and got him going and that changed his putting grammatically; a couple of changes with his swing and K.J. is very comfortable. We obviously swing very different. I've been with Steve since I was probably 18, so that's half my life. But yeah, certainly pretty easy for him. He's not here this week. I think he's at Wimbledon watching tennis today or tomorrow. So it will be easy for him to watch on TV I hope. He hasn't had to worry about warming one player up and running to another guy and warming him you up, so pretty easy. Q. What would it mean to you to win the inaugural Tiger Woods event, and what would it do for you at Isleworth? STUART APPLEBY: Well, I'd go no more respect, because I struggle to get any as it is with Tiger. (Laughter). I would like -- look, I would love -- look, I don't -- I'm not concerned who honors an event or who titles an event or anything. Because winning, once you've won or had a drought, it feels great. And not winning feels a little shallow and empty. So if I could join all the good feelings in winning and have Tiger, his inaugural event, I'm sure I'll let him know. He'll be back at me, trust me. He's got a quick tongue. Q. What's the difference between taking a lead into the final round, two shots over K.J. Choi at a place like this, versus one shot over Tiger at Augusta National? STUART APPLEBY: I don't know. I mean, it's a different week; it's a different golf course; different scenarios, different things are going to happen. For me, I'm hoping for a different result, too. Good question. I mean, we know, you know, as I said yesterday about Tiger, if you see him on a leaderboard, what do you think; you either think, "Oh, God, Tiger Woods is on the leaderboard," or, "Well, looks like he's going to try to win this thing." So you can either take it one way and it can be more pressure or it can be less pressure. Everyone is expecting him to win. No one is expecting anyone else to win. We are expecting him to do some magic. But Augusta was one hell of a challenge. This one was a challenge but not near to the level that we've ever seen at Augusta before. Look, biggest opponent is the golf course. I'll just deal -- if I can go out and play as well as I feel like I have been playing and think and relax and just play, I think I can squeeze a couple more birdies out tomorrow and maybe get a couple more under. It's just hard to shoot 6-under par around here, it really is. Today, with the way the course is, and even tomorrow, it's going to be hotter. It's going to be in the high 90s. It's going to be even harder. Q. In terms of your comfort level, knowing that Tiger is seven shots back, does that play into it, as well? STUART APPLEBY: No, not at all. I'm not worried at all about Tiger. He doesn't care a hoot about what I'm doing. He's not worried about, I need to shoot whatever tomorrow. He'll just be going deep as much as he can. I'm not worried about him at all. I didn't even look at the leaderboard today. There was no point, because this course, if you look away and turn it away, it will turn around and slap you real quick. Q. Can you talk about your mind-set between the Open a few weeks ago to now and going into the final round? STUART APPLEBY: I potentially had a really good tournament at the Open apart from Sunday, but I wasn't really happy with the way my game was at all. I'm much more happier now my game is all aspects. I feel like I have more control with what's going on with my swing. Putting is just one of those things you have just got to get the feel and flow, but obviously be confident. But all of those things are extremely difficult to feel like you had any idea of what you were doing at the Open, especially putting was just extremely difficult. Q. Because the confidence level is higher now? STUART APPLEBY: If you had to play 15 of those tournaments in a season, you'd be very hard to build your confidence, because you're constantly getting slapped down. You get up, you get slapped down. This is certainly not an easy golf course where you can make eight birdies a day, but yes, I'm physically hitting the ball better. If I had hit the ball like I did and putted like I did at the Open, I would have had a good tournament, no doubt about it. That's just how the game works. You lose things and things don't feel the same or a little bit different and you don't know what happened. That's the beauty of the sport. The best, I guess that's what makes them the best is they do it more often; they don't lose the peak. I've turned the corner of where I was weeks ago. I was hitting it very good, but I was frustrated. I couldn't tell and now I can tell; and I can hit good shots on the range and I can hit good shots in the tournament. That's the big test is walking off the course and actually executing. Q. You've already addressed what it would mean to win Tiger's tournament and how you just want to win, period. But 25 years ago, were you a Norman guy, and are you aware of the fact that this was his first PGA TOUR victory here? STUART APPLEBY: I found out today. It was '84, Ian Baker-Finch played with Greg in a practice round. It was Ian's first tournament on TOUR, and Greg won this. But I was not aware. We were very aware of Greg -- I was very aware of Greg probably around '86, because that was about when I really started to get a hold of golf and '86 was a big year. And then from then on, Greg Norman, Greg Norman; he was just the forefront of golf in Australia. He wasn't what Tiger Woods is to the world, but he certainly was that for golf in Australia. He was internationally, but certainly from the aspect of being 'the man,' he was definitely it for Australia. Q. So that would be kind of cool? STUART APPLEBY: Yes. Q. The crowds have been going up a lot from almost 20,000 to almost 30,000 today, almost 40 -- STUART APPLEBY: 37,614 today. (Reading) I have my own sheet. (Laughter) Q. Do you guys get a sense of that? A lot of it is for Tiger but -- STUART APPLEBY: I didn't have a feel for anything for Tiger today. I guess he was nowhere where I was. I couldn't really -- no, I didn't know. But of course it would be. You know, if I hit shanks and cuts and slices, too, I'd want to watch someone like him play golf because it looks a lot easier. But that's pretty good. 102,000 people so far, we're going to obviously get maybe more if Tiger was a little closer to the lead, you could get 40,000, 45,000 out here pretty easy, and that's pretty impressive. So, obviously, he pulls the biggest crowds, he] the biggest Pro-Am crowds and that's what it's all about. That's why he's paid the big bucks. Q. At Avenal, there were comparisons to Norman at the time, it was your second win and people got excited about another young Australian coming up. What is the difference now with you if you were to win here, than it was nine years ago? STUART APPLEBY: Well, my second win, it was a year and nearly a quarter after my first win. I was certainly very much an unknown player and one of the new younger rookie guys sort of thing playing well and going about my own thing. What's changed, I guess I've been out here, so my name has grown over time. People obviously know me more, know me through wins, know me through media interviews and whatever and just been an older face out here now; long gone from being a young guy. I play a lot better golf. Competition's lifted. I'm a lot more experienced. I guess I'm not under the radar as much as I was back then, which sometimes can be a really good thing. Sometimes you've got to learn to deal with the elevated prestige of being a better player and understanding what that's all about, and knowing how to still translate different demands into still winning golf tournaments. There's a lot of beautiful, raw things about being a young guy and winning. And there's a lot of different things about it as you get older about winning. But bottom line is, there's some very familiar things about it; once you're on the golf course, it's all about playing golf and getting it done. Q. What was the issue with the driver; was there a crack? STUART APPLEBY: It looks like it's got a little crack in the face. I found it on the 16th tee box, par 5. Maybe a half an inch fracture, more like a blind, hairline fracture. I don't know where that exactly happened. I'm presuming it happened today because I always sort of look at the face or rub it or wipe it or whatever. The ball flight did not seem to deviate or do anything funky, and other drivers, which I haven't broke any for a long time, but the flight flew downhill, just flew like a shot duck. I'm not sure what happens tomorrow, whether I'm allowed to use it, because of whatever, because I don't know what makes it non-conforming, I don't know. Its shape is the same. It looks the same. It's playing the same. It's not been -- Steve Rintoul is the man to ask about that. STEVE RINTOUL: I just want to interject on a question the gentleman just asked. Stuart has a hairline fracture in the face of his driver. It's there, but you can barely see it. It does not make the driver non-conforming tomorrow, and it did not make the driver unfit for play during play today. It's not substantially unfit. He can still hit a shot with it. He can start the round with it tomorrow. It conforms as per the Rules of Golf starting the round tomorrow; if you choose to tee off with it, you can. He can play three, four, five holes. And if let's say he got to No. 6 and the face totally caved in, cracked where it becomes, what we call substantial damaged where he could not play a shot with it, then he would be able to replace it during the round. So it's going to be -- Q. He would or he wouldn't? STEVE RINTOUL: Yes, he would be able to play it during the round. STUART APPLEBY: I'll work on that. I'll make a few phone calls and see what happens. STEVE RINTOUL: My name is Steve Rintoul. I'm with the PGA TOUR Rules -- STUART APPLEBY: I don't care. STEVE RINTOUL: And I'm from the same country as him. STUART APPLEBY: You wouldn't think it, listening to that accent. (laughter) Q. What driver is it exactly? STUART APPLEBY: J33 Bridgestone. Q. You said the one you hit felt like a shot duck -- STUART APPLEBY: I've had other ones break, and you notice. You go, "Oh, my God, what's wrong with the club?" You think it's the ball, but, I mean, it flies terrible when it's properly cracked. Literally the thing doesn't explode and fall apart and shatter, but the ball flight is just terrible. But this doesn't seem like that. Now, look, I don't know, I could have 50 more shots in it. I could have one. Probably makes better sense to probably see if I can rustle one up. I mean, it's playing with fire a little bit. I've never really pushed one -- normally I'd just toss that out ad get another one. In fact, what I probably should do is hit one, practice with one that's cracked and just see how long it goes before it literally explodes or doesn't change; I don't know. I've been hitting it out of the middle, so maybe that's the problem. (Laughter). Q. Trailers are gone, right? STUART APPLEBY: That's a custom shaft, too. There's only -- well, I don't think there's any around. It's a custom-made shaft. Yeah, my 3-woods are custom shafts. I've got one in Orlando -- I think I've got one in Orlando. My guy who builds them, the truck I think is up in maybe Moline or somewhere. And he's actually lives a couple of hours from here. So I don't know if he's throwing tin cans and shit out of the way right now looking for a spare driver in his garage. Because I'm sure he heard the coverage on TV and he'll be like, "Oh, shit, I've got to get it -- sorry, Honey, I've got to go!" So I don't know if he's got the SOS yet. I should have talked to the cameras out on the course and said, "Nick, get in the garage. Get over here now. I need a new driver!" Q. Following up on what Tom asked about the crowds, usually when you're in the lead final group, you have close to the biggest gallery, about the biggest; the biggest was about ten groups ahead of you today. Does that help, hurt when you're playing for the lead? STUART APPLEBY: No, it doesn't really matter. The crowds are very supportive. As K.J. mentioned, he had some good Korean backing out there. I didn't have much Australian backing, but I've lived over here long enough now that I've got enough American fans, U.S. fans, and obviously I've played well here before. So yeah, the crowds were good. They are very friendly and you know, there's all sorts of -- you've got kids yelling out, you've got older people yelling out. I heard the medics had their hands full today with the heat, and tomorrow it will be more of a factor. So there will be a bit of a hustle and bustle going on. I think we'll do all right, hopefully get enough people and put on a good show and hopefully make it worthwhile. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Stuart can you go through your birdies and bogeys? STUART APPLEBY: Birdie on 1, I hit 3-wood, wedge to about four feet. 2, hit it left in the left rough on the slope of the bunker and hit it to about ten feet, missed it. Birdie on 3. Hit a good driver and a sand wedge to about five feet and made it. Parred 4. Good 2-putt. Birdied 5 from about probably with 20 feet. Grit up-and-down on 6. Hit it left and chipped it out short of the water and up to five feet and made that. 7, birdie -- sorry, I was trying to excite everybody. 9, I knocked it on in two, hit a terrible first putt and holed about a 15-footer, 12-footer for -- yeah, 15 sounds better on 9 for birdie. 11, I hit it left. Oh, I keep forgetting, 11 is that par 4. It used to be the old 10. I hit it in the right trap, hit a poor shot out, a decent third shot, missed a -- misread a 12-footer for par. Bogeyed 12 after missing a three -- 3-putting it. I missed a 5-footer for par on 12. Birdied about a 10-footer on 13. And then just parred my way in. Q. Good save on 18? STUART APPLEBY: I had a good save on 18. Ten foot, four inches I saw on the board. Q. On 11 were you in the fairway bunker and the green-side bunker? STUART APPLEBY: Not quite green-side. Back from green-side. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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