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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 3, 2007

Arron Oberholser

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

STEWART MOORE: Arron Oberholser, thanks for spending a few moments with us here at the Deutsche Bank Championship as we continue the PGA TOUR's Playoffs for the FedExCup. Runner-up, tied for 2nd finish today, move to 29th in the Playoff standings, heading into the BMW Championship in Chicago. We spoke to you yesterday, and you said if you continued to putt well today you'd be very hard to beat, and you putted well but maybe just a little bit short today.
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah, it was a good day for me. I had a lot of stuff -- boy, I'll tell you what, that back nine, I really held it together well. I was pretty nervous coming down the stretch knowing that I had a chance because I didn't really feel comfortable-comfortable with my golf swing like I have maybe the last two or three weeks, especially at the PGA. The PGA I felt invincible whenever I stood over the ball, and this week I felt a little shaky. So coming down the stretch I was a little more nervous than let's say I would normally be.
I felt like I really got it done with the putter this week, even though my ball-striking stats probably say differently. I was able to piece a decent golf swing together for the week and contend. I'm very pleased with that.
Any time you can contend without your top, top stuff on this TOUR with a field like this, you've got to be extremely pleased with yourself, and I am. If it wasn't for a tough break on 18, hit a good shot and just the wind -- I was trying to cut it back into the wind, the wind dragged it left and put me in a really bad spot there in a deep lie, and if it wasn't for that, who knows, maybe I would have had a chance for an eagle and a playoff.
STEWART MOORE: Just looking at the crowds out there, on a scale of 1 to 10, would you call that atmosphere out there a 12?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Easily, easily. It was electric. It was awesome.

Q. What did you hit into 18?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: 4-iron. I should get most improved after yesterday (laughter). Same club.

Q. I would also think it would be a little hard to be comfortable, quote-unquote, when you know you've got Mickelson and Woods breathing down your neck?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Well, you know, yes and no. I gave those guys 67s before the day even started. I mean, I woke up this morning saying, they're going to shoot 67, so no use thinking about it, just go out and play your game. And if I putt the way I putted the last few days and strike the ball I way I've struck it and just play like I've played, then everything will take care of itself, and I might have a chance for a victory coming down 18.
I didn't putt the way I wanted to today. I hit some great putts that didn't go in, you know, and Phil on a golf course like this, when all the par 5s he's hitting irons into or at worst a rescue club or a hybrid of some sort, you know, he's a tough guy to contend with, and same with Tiger.

Q. Your drive on 18, it looked like you couldn't have walked it out there any better. Is that where you wanted the ball to be?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah, I was just trying to hold one up against that right-to-left wind, and it came off absolutely perfect. The funny thing is I didn't want to hit a real heater off that tee, which means I didn't want to catch a knuckle ball off that tee, and with these new drivers you can catch kind of a knuckle ball every once in a while and they go a little farther than you want them to. That fairway runs out at 300-something, and I hit a little bit of a floater out there, and the wind was absolutely perfect. As soon as it came off the club face, I was like, "That's perfect." So I was really pleased to be able to pull that shot off under pressure.
Same with the 4-iron; it was a good 4-iron, it just didn't cut. I guess I hit it right where I was aimed, and I just couldn't move it against the wind enough.

Q. Did you hit it too well?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: The 4-iron, yeah, I stung it right through it. I didn't put enough left-to-right on it.

Q. How tough was it playing behind Tiger and Phil with the crowds and how many people stayed and were watching your group?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: We had a Nationwide Tour gallery (laughter), but it was still a lot of fun. These are the days -- Brett and I were talking come down I think it was 16, we both hit good shots into 16 -- or was it 17, walking off the tee on 17, I said, "Man, this is fun. This is a rush. This is a rush." This is my rush. Some guys bungee jump and some guys paraglide and do crazy stuff. Coming down the stretch with three or four to play and you've got a chance to win a golf tournament with arguably the greatest player that's ever lived and one of the greatest players of this century in Phil, you know, to have a chance to beat those guys, it's a pretty cool feeling.

Q. Was it distracting at all for you with the roars?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: No, no. Like I said, you know what they're going to do. You know you're going to hear the roars and you know they're going to make a move on the back nine. That's what they do. That's why they're the one and two players or one and three players in the world, whatever they are. You give them those; you know it's going to happen, and once you can turn that on in your brain and realize that's what's going to happen, then you can just shut it off and really concentrate on your own game and focus on your own game.

Q. When you were approaching your birdie putt, you knew that the eagle had to go in for a tie, right?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah.

Q. What goes through your mind? Here you have a chance for a birdie putt, and was it kind of a deflating feeling?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: No, because my caddie does a good job. He's like -- I was a little disappointed when I saw the lie because it really didn't give me an opportunity to get the chip started where I needed to. It was going to be lucky if I got enough club on the ball and got the chip started where I needed to to put the right pace on it and do all the right stuff to make that chip shot.
So my caddie just did a good job, saying, "Look, Arron, let's get into this putt. This is worth some money and it's worth some points." Unfortunately I hit that putt exactly where I wanted to. I thought I read it perfectly, and someone's big old size-12 spike mark got in the way, and the ball didn't break.

Q. Two weeks in, we've got two great fields and two really great finishes. Do you think the whole FedEx deal will take a little more hold with the players now?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: That remains to be seen. I think you're always going to have -- I think there's always going to be skeptics. But I'm starting to turn the other direction. I was kind of a skeptic myself in how it was going to work out, and -- you know, what makes the Playoffs the Playoffs are days like today. I didn't feel the same electricity last week, and no offense to Steve Stricker or K.J. Choi at all, but without Tiger in the field, it's just not the same, you know?
I don't know how you guys felt, but I'd imagine you guys thought today was pretty special out there. I mean, just playing, I felt privileged to be a part of this today and have a chance to win today. It was really cool. I wish I would have won (laughter), but a wish in one hand and you-know-what in the other and see what you get more of.
STEWART MOORE: Can we go through your card real quick?
ARRON OBERHOLSER: No. 1, great start to get off to. You know, I actually hit my drive too far with a driver. The wind was really pumping into us pretty good there. Ended up with like 68 yards to the flag on No. 1 and hit a really good wedge to about three and a half, four feet and made that, a little downhill slider for birdie.
Pars all the way to 7.
Made a great up-and-down out of the front left bunker on No. 7 for birdie to get it to 14.
And then mis-clubbed on 8, didn't hit -- just couldn't tell exactly what the wind was doing and didn't know if the ball was going to carry or not and ended up hitting a 5 where I should have hit a 6, ended up making bogey, made a bad putt and made a bogey.
9, I hit a poor drive, again, mis-clubbed, thought we weren't going to catch a flier, caught a flier, ended up over the green where the guys walk off in some really gnarly stuff and ended up two-putting from 25 feet for bogey.
Did a nice job on a comeback on 10, hit a great 3-wood and a really good 9-iron to about ten feet and made that for birdie.
And then I was really proud of the swing I made on 16. You know, any left pin -- I've been a drawer of the golf ball my entire life, and any left pin I'm licking my chops, so I felt comfortable especially with a left pin and a right-to-left wind and a right-to-left slope on the green, so it was a pretty good pin for me today. I just stood up there and had a great target and made a really good swing with a 7-iron and landed right where I needed to and released to the pin to I'd say four, four and a half feet, and I made that for birdie.
And that's all she wrote.
STEWART MOORE: Arron, thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts

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