	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 2, 2007

Arron Oberholser

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

STEWART MOORE: Arron Oberholser, thank you for spending a few moments with us here at the Deutsche Bank Championship as we continue the Playoffs for the FedExCup.
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Pleasure.
STEWART MOORE: Third round 66 out there today, one heck of an up-and-down on 18 for par. That has to almost feel like a birdie I would imagine.
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah, it did, to a certain extent. There was a wide range of emotions felt on that last hole, from a good drive to oh, my God, I just chunked it into the hazard, to I hit a mediocre pitch shot, to wow, what a putt.
It'll make dinner taste a little bit better tonight.
STEWART MOORE: You're averaging 25 putts a round through three rounds. You keep this up, tomorrow you might be pretty tough to beat.
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah, if. That's the big question. I haven't been the most consistent putter, but I've really -- over the last three or four months, the putting has really started to come around, and I've really started to start the ball where I'm looking and roll the ball the way I want to, and the speed has been really good this week, and I think that's the key to these greens is just finding the right speed.
Once you get that speed, it's just picking a line, really. I've been able to get a lot of putts to go in this week. I think the key to tomorrow's round is just going to be able to trust the stuff that I've been working on over the last four or five months in my golf swing and continue to putt the way I've been putting, and I think if I can throw another round like this out there tomorrow, then I think that will be pretty tough to beat.
But we'll see. Final rounds with the guys that are behind me chasing me, those guys have been there a lot more than I have, so really I don't think anybody is picking me to win except maybe myself. I feel like I can do it. It's just a matter of going out there and executing for 18 holes.

Q. Can you talk about the second shot on 18? What was your initial reaction?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: My initial reaction was, it's in the hazard, and I can't say out loud.

Q. What distance and what happened?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: I had 201 front, 208 hole, and I had been struggling with my golf swing pretty much all day, really. I haven't felt comfortable with it. I'm just kind of getting up there and swinging as smoothly and slowly at it as I can. And when you get under the gun and under a little bit of pressure like I felt on that shot on 18, you tend to want to give it a little bit more. You tend to want to what I call kind of goosing it a little bit at the bottom because you know you've got to carry a hazard. I just got underneath it and laid the sod over it. I took an exceptionally long time to hit the ball. I got out of my routine because I haven't felt comfortable with the way I'm swinging the golf club this week.
So I should have backed off the ball and started all over again, and like a dummy, I continued with it. I pretty much deserved what I got because I got out of my routine and my process there.

Q. What did you hit there?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: I hit a lob wedge for the fourth shot.

Q. Second shot?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: 4-iron.

Q. You talked about some of the guys who were chasing you or who will be chasing you tomorrow. One of them, of course, is Tiger.
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Who is he (smiling)?

Q. He three-putted the last two holes for bogey. How much, if any, of a factor is that, a little extra breathing room in terms of him being a chaser?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: He'll figure it out, I have no doubt. He'll figure it out. That stuff doesn't stay with him. That stuff doesn't bother him. That stuff never has, not even when he and I were playing against each other in college. He's just -- he handles all that mental adversity better than anybody else, and that's why he's got 13 major victories.

Q. What about in terms of you having a little bit more breathing room than you would have had, had he not three-putted?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: I don't think he cares. He's going to go out there -- this is why he's so good. He's going to go out there and play his own game and take what the course gives him, and unless he has to, he's not going to force anything. If he can get into a rhythm, he's going to start making putts and he's going to climb the leaderboard and we are all going to take notice if we're watching leaderboards.
That's why guys start going, I'm not going to worry about it because he's going to do what he's going to do. At this point in the back of your mind you know he's going to make a move, okay. So you just go, look, before the round even starts, we're giving him a 66 or a 67 tomorrow, okay, and maybe even Phil, too. And so we know what we have to do there.
I mean, there's no use looking at a number for yourself; just go out and take what the course gives you. You know those guys are going to show up because they're the [number] one and three or two players in the world. That's what they do week in and week out.

Q. Can we bring you back to your journalism training? Say you're in the booth --
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Training, that's good.

Q. Some of us remember the days when people were told, don't expect anything from a golfer until they're in their 30s because it takes time to learn the game. Obviously certain guys have changed that, but you and Brett are more typical examples of guys peaking now.
ARRON OBERHOLSER: I think so. I think I'm at the very beginning. I'm still -- I mean, we're all still learning. But I'm still learning how to deal with being in certain positions, whereas guys like -- obviously like Phil and Tiger and those guys who are in their 30s, they have learned and they know how to deal with being in these positions. I'm still learning how to deal with being in these types of positions and having a chance to win golf tournaments on a regular basis, and that's -- obviously all of our goals.
My goal is no less; it's just that we work to be more consistent, I think, as we -- I think coming into your 30s, I think you find a level of maturity -- I think some of us do, at least, with certain things, and you start to -- I don't know what you do, you just tend to -- I don't know what it is. I don't know. Yeah, I really can't explain it.
You tend to feel more comfortable with yourself and who you are and in your own skin, and you really don't care what other people think anymore, you just try to go about your business and try to lead life in the best way possible. If you're proud of yourself for doing that, then you feel good about yourself and you play good golf.

Q. When you say these positions, being at the top of the lead?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Being close to the lead. Those are the positions that I've had lots of experiences with at other levels, and I'm just at the stages now where I'm learning how to deal with these situations at this level. My first couple years I had spots. My first two, three, four years I had spots where I dealt with some stuff, but now I feel like I'm putting myself -- when I play well and I play consistent, I consistently put myself in positions where I have a chance with 18 holes to go on Sunday if I can shoot something in the mid-60s to high 60s to really give myself a chance to win a golf tournament. I feel like I've been heading towards that in the last four or five months to year or so with my play last year and my play over the last month or so.
You know, the changes that I've made in my golf swing over the last five to six months have been difficult, to be honest with you. There's changes to my body. I've gained ten pounds of muscle over the last six or seven months, and it's been -- you know, the new changes have been -- it's been a little weird because my plane has changed, the way I come into the ball has changed, I'm hitting it farther, and I've had to learn how to deal with that.
It's been difficult and frustrating at times, and that's why I think you've seen me play well for a couple rounds and then it kind of goes to pot on the weekend of late. You know, I agree with you, it's been frustrating with that, but I think it's just trusting the new stuff that I have and learning how to play with it under the gun.

Q. I guess when you talk about learning, is there any way to learn how to play with the lead or near the top of the lead other than just doing it?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: It's pure experience. It's pure experience. I mean, I don't think that -- I think you can draw from other memories and experiences at other levels, but it's not the same thing. Like I can think back to my Canadian Tour days where I contended a lot. I can think back to my Nationwide Tour days where I contended a lot there, but it's not the same thing.
Especially at a place like this, look who's behind me. I've got the U.S. Open champion behind me, who shot 65 today; I've got the PGA champion behind me, who three-putted the last two holes to give us all a little bit of a break; and then a three-time major champion in Phil Mickelson right behind me. And then obviously Brett is leading.
I mean, and Brett has won before. He knows how to do it. And this golf course is right up his alley. We all have our work cut out for us tomorrow, and I do, too, without a doubt. I'm the last guy, considering this is a bomber's golf course by every stretch of the imagination, this is a bomber's golf course, and I'm probably the last guy on that board that most people think will win tomorrow with those names up there. I like that. I like being the underdog.

Q. That being said, knowing the course -- and you knew that coming in, that style of course?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah, I've played here twice before, and the changes that they've made have been good. There still needs to be more changes in my opinion, but the changes that they have made have been really good.

Q. So you're pleasantly surprised at where you stand?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: I'm very -- yeah, because my putting is the only thing that's keeping me in it because I haven't played the par 5s well at all. I swear, I think I'm only 2-under on the par 5s for the week, whereas you look at the rest of the guys on that leaderboard, they're probably tearing them up because they can all reach them in two, and I can't.
Today was the first day that I could reach 2 and 18 with an iron and didn't even go for 2 because it's just a crazy shot with that pin sitting in the front for me with a 3-iron. And 18, I just obviously made a bad swing. Those guys have been able to go for them all week, whereas I've had to lay up on pretty much every one of them.
STEWART MOORE: Thanks for joining us.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297