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THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

September 11, 2007

Rory Sabbatini

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Rory, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the TOUR Championship. Nice finish last week, Top 10, moves you to 4th on the FedExCup standings with an opportunity to win the big prize, the $10 million. Just talk about being in position and then we'll go into some questions.
RORY SABBATINI: Well, obviously it's great to be in a position to have that opportunity. I figure I'm just going to have to push Steve in the lake over by the range there and try and prevent him from playing well again. It's obviously going to be a tough week this week, and a lot of things have to happen for me to win the FedExCup. Golf is a strange game, so anything is possible.

Q. Have you spent much time figuring out exactly what you need to do and what other people would have to do to win?
RORY SABBATINI: I figure I've just got to play well and everyone ahead of me has got to play badly. That's about as simple as it gets.

Q. What's your whole take on how the FedExCup Playoffs has gone and do you have any suggestions how you would change it?
RORY SABBATINI: Well, you know, obviously everyone has opinions, but the situation is the TOUR is going to look at exactly how this has all played out. I think in some respects it's played out well, and in others it hasn't played out as well as they would have liked. The situation being it's the inaugural year of the FedExCup, and it's like anything in life, the first time you do it you normally have to tweak it a little bit and try and perfect it a little bit. I'm sure they'll come up with appropriate resolutions to it.

Q. If you would make any change, what would you do?
RORY SABBATINI: I would simply make it a requirement that you have to play all four events to make you eligible to win it. The way I see it, if you don't play all four events, you shouldn't be eligible.

Q. Have you been out there yet? And if so, how are the greens?
RORY SABBATINI: Actually I just got done playing the back nine today. You know, I think -- obviously there was a little overexaggeration to the extent of the damage to the greens. I don't think it's as bad as everyone thought it was going to be. Obviously they were just wanting to prepare us and be precautious (sic) about the whole situation. Other than them just being a little slower than traditional out here, there's obviously some patches on the greens where you can see the distressing of them. But all things considered, they're still rolling well.
You know, I think the biggest difference is they've probably lost in my estimation between half dozen to a dozen traditional pins that they use during the tournament. I think they're going to have to obviously modify some of the pin locations.

Q. Are these greens worse or better than some that you may play on the West Coast Swing?
RORY SABBATINI: These greens, I don't even think they'll register on that scale, some of the ones we play on the West Coast. Traditionally some of the ones that we get to play earlier on in the year, you know, out in California get to be pretty severe and pretty testing of your patience.
You know, the greens are just -- they're a little softer and a little slower, but that's about it. I think they're going to be fine. I think obviously they're not going to be able to cut them down as short as traditional and they're not going to be able to dry them out, just to prevent further stressing of them. But all things considered, I think they've done a great job in maintaining the course.

Q. What's it like competing under those circumstances? You did it at the Nelson. Any comparison there between what that was like and here?
RORY SABBATINI: You know, you can't really compare. It's just -- if we played indoors in domes all the time, hey, it would be perfect because we could control the weather. But not the way golf is. A lot is left up to the weather. Especially in the southeast, they've had a very hot summer and very little rainfall, so that doesn't exactly bode well for bentgrass greens. They've done as good a job as they can here, and it's just -- unfortunately, that's part of the game of golf.

Q. Do you have any idea what it would take for you to win this thing, this FedExCup this week? Have you looked to see what kind of things have to happen for you to mathematically win it?
RORY SABBATINI: Well, I didn't do it. My wife informed me. She said, you win, Tiger finishes 13th or worse or Phil and Steve have to finish third or worse, and you win.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Do you want me to read it to you? If Rory Sabbatini wins the TOUR Championship, he would win the FedExCup if Mickelson finished worse than second alone, Stricker finished worse than a two-way tie for second, and Woods finished worse than a two-way tie for 13th.

Q. Do you like your odds in that thing? Where would you put your odds in all of those things happening this week?
RORY SABBATINI: Well, that's a hard one to say. I think if you go by Vegas, I'm 66 to 1 (laughter). But the way I look at it, I've got a one-in-five chance. I think theoretically there's only five guys that can actually win the FedExCup now. So I've got a 20 percent chance, in my opinion, and the way I'm playing, I'd say I'd probably favor a little higher than that.

Q. Do you get any sense one way or the other about whether other players agree with your assessment that you should play all four to win?
RORY SABBATINI: I don't know if they agree or disagree. That's my opinion, be it right or wrong. That's kind of the way I view it.
It's four events for the Playoffs and you get eliminated each week. If they played one event for the Playoffs in the NBA or baseball or football, exactly, like in football, you play one match and the thing is if you decide, okay, I'm going to skip this week, you know, that's a forfeit. That's the way I see it.

Q. Do you think four is too many to ask you guys to play in a row? Would three be more reasonable or something else?
RORY SABBATINI: Well, I can tell you right now I'm happy it's not three because then I wouldn't win the FedExCup. So I'm kind of liking four because it gives me another week to try it.
I don't see four as being too many. You know, there's guys that have said, you know, if they put them two weeks apart, whatever, you know, the situation is look at a guy like Steve Stricker, he's playing phenomenally right now. If suddenly you spread it out over eight weeks, it now becomes an event -- a situation that it could be detrimental to him, whereas if it's four consecutive weeks, as well as he's playing, it benefits him.
There's no sure-fire solution to it, and that's the thing, is it's all hit or miss. There's always going to be criticism. This is going to be like the BCS.

Q. What's your opinion on that?
RORY SABBATINI: What's my opinion on that? I think they should do a playoff in college.

Q. There's been some grumbling recently from some of your peers about the schedule, about how the money is paid out. Do you think that PGA TOUR players on the whole have to be careful about turning off fans when they're complaining about such things?
RORY SABBATINI: You know, it's a catch 20/20. It's just basically if you speak your mind, you can turn some fans off. If you don't speak your mind, you can turn some fans off. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Personally to me I'm not looking at dollar signs or anything like that. I'm looking at the fact that I'd like to win the FedExCup. I'm not in it for the $10 million bonus at the end of the run. I'm in it to win the FedExCup. That's what's more important to me. I'm looking at the fact that that's what's important. I want to win an event in the Playoffs, and as I said, I've only got one more week to do it, so I'm going to put full effort into this week.

Q. The LPGA has a system where one week at the end of the season everybody has a chance to win there, their big pot they cut down during the event and have a one-day shoot-out at the end. Would you like to see something where everybody who got here had a chance to win this FedExCup?
RORY SABBATINI: Well, the way I see it, you've got -- how many regular-season events? 33, so you've got 33 regular events during the year, and now the situation is you've got to play well to get into the top 144. It's basically saying, you know what, you want a chance to win the big prize at the end of the rainbow, then you might not want to leave it to one event because you see it every week, anybody can win any given week. I don't think that's necessarily justice for the guys that have played well all year and put themselves into position.
How would it be if Tiger won every event during the year and then suddenly he got sick the week of the final event and couldn't play, had to withdraw because he had the flu or something? So now he's not eligible but yet he's won every event during the year. I think the way it's structured is a good system.

Q. Commissioner Finchem would like this to become the measure of success. Do you think he is succeeding in that regard? And would you rather win this or a major?
RORY SABBATINI: You know, the situation is time will tell. I think this is basically a newborn baby in the sense of traditional golf, and it's going to have to mature. Obviously they'll tweak the system, and they hopefully over time will get it to be what they want it to be. I think that's the goal.
You can never really go into anything and say, okay, this is what it's going to be, because it's too early in the system to tell.
Personally I would rather win a major, but if it came down to -- if at the end of the day somebody said, okay, in your career you can win a major or you can win a FedExCup, you know, I wouldn't be too dismayed with winning a FedExCup. It would be pretty good for me, too. I think it speaks highly about having a consistent, good year.

Q. Do you feel the players have had enough input in advising the format for the FedExCup?
RORY SABBATINI: You know, personally I'm not a politician. I don't spend a lot of time worrying how much input the policy board puts into it. I focus more on my game and winning golf events. I'm not 100 percent certain of how much input the policy board, players, everything like that, has been put into it. But I think after this year there will definitely be a pretty good emphasis put on by the players onto obviously what needs to occur to get the system right.

Q. How much does the FedExCup help this event in particular at East Lake compared to previous years?
RORY SABBATINI: Obviously, in essence, it's still the same event. It's the TOUR Championship. You know, I would love to win the TOUR Championship, and it just happens to be that it's part of the FedExCup.
You know, I think ultimately it's changed in a slight sense that it's now based off a points system instead of off the Money List. It definitely has a slightly different feel to it. But in the same way, it's still the Top 30 guys on the PGA TOUR here competing at the end of the season to take the crown.

Q. Providing that the TOUR Championship winner and the FedExCup winner are not the same person, do you think that the TOUR Championship winner is going to wind up getting overshadowed on Sunday?
RORY SABBATINI: I'm sure it's possible. Anything is possible. You know, the whole point of it is let's make it interesting.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you. Play well.

End of FastScripts

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