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FRY'S ELECTRONICS OPEN

October 18, 2007

Nick Watney

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Nick Watney to the interview room. One of the words we've heard a lot to describe your round has been "interesting." Just a couple general comments about the round, and we'll open it up for questions.
NICK WATNEY: For the most part, everything was pretty good today. I hit a lot of good irons and made some nice putts. But there were a few not-so-good holes, also.
DOUG MILNE: Talk to us about that one, in particular, not-so-good hole.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I hit it in the desert and I was kind of in a spot where I couldn't take an unplayable and go sideways and have any kind of shot. So I tried to hit it out. The ball barely moved, so then I chipped it out. Hit it in the green-side trap and hit it out and 3-putted for an 8.
DOUG MILNE: We mentioned on the way in, this is the first time you played this course, not even a practice round and we joked, maybe that's the trend you need to start.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, maybe I've been doing it all wrong for the last three years. (Laughter).
I played in Vegas last week and then had a Pro-Am in Fresno where I went to college on Monday, and Tuesday just didn't feel like doing much. And with yesterday having the Pro-Am, I didn't see the golf course. My caddie, Tim, kind of steered me around. So it worked out all right.

Q. So did you play it in the Pro-Am?
NICK WATNEY: No.

Q. So you didn't play it at all? You just walked out and played it for the first time today?
NICK WATNEY: First time.

Q. Nice.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I like the course.

Q. Did you almost not play the tournament?
NICK WATNEY: It crossed my mind. I mean, I don't know, it was just really tough to get motivated to come out here. I was really tired for some reason. But I'm glad I played now.

Q. Are you known as a birdie machine? Are you kind of a guy who likes to streak?
NICK WATNEY: I'm not sure. I mean, that's tough to say.
This year I would say no, because I've putted pretty poorly for most of the year. So birdies have been scarce at times.
But I'm working on that, so hopefully I'll start to make more.

Q. How does this one stack up in terms of 11 birdies? What's your previous best and what's your previous best low round?
NICK WATNEY: I think on TOUR, this is definitely the most birdies I've made in the round, 11.
But as far as low round, I think -- I don't know if I shot lower than 65 this year.
DOUG MILNE: What did you shoot in the final round in New Orleans?
NICK WATNEY: 69.

Q. Can you talk about your mind-set on the 8 tee box after the eight; was it just starting from scratch?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I think I played well the first two days last week and had a really poor weekend. So I think I was trying to learn from that, that I need to try to let things go as soon as possible. I made a few mistakes last week and really got frustrated and it led to more and more of a problem. I tried to just let it go as soon as possible, and things worked out for me.

Q. How much has your life changed since your TOUR win?
NICK WATNEY: I don't think it's changed too much. I mean, definitely I achieved a goal and a dream, but as far as life-changing, I wouldn't say it's changed too much.

Q. The TOUR stop in Scottsdale is a big 'ol party with some golf thrown in. What's it like coming back to Scottsdale with a whole different atmosphere?
NICK WATNEY: Well I heard Phil say this is a little more intimate setting. I would agree with that. I'm sure his crowds will be big, but far as today, the crowds were relatively small. There's not like a stadium effect so much. It was nice.

Q. There was 11 birdies; did you have any chip-ins or any long putts? How many tap-ins went in?
NICK WATNEY: Actually I had quite a few tap-ins. I would say inside of five feet, there were six or seven actually. So I hit it close a lot.
DOUG MILNE: Was it 16 that you actually used a ball mark to your advantage?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, my playing partner, Sean O'Hair, moved his coin and my ball was moving up to the hole and it kind of banked off his coin and found the hole.

Q. What hole was that?
NICK WATNEY: That was on 16.
DOUG MILNE: About 22 feet.

Q. Whose ball mark?
NICK WATNEY: Sean O'Hair.

Q. What was your mind-set coming into the Fall Series?
NICK WATNEY: I heard that a lot of guys were not going to play any events. I thought, you know, I think it's a great opportunity to -- I mean, it is a Fall Series, but it's still a golf tournament and it's what I love to do.
So I thought if I attacked it, I may have an advantage over some guys who were just kind of well, you know, let's just wrap up the year or whatever. I really wanted to try to do some good things.

Q. For us, we look at there's only X number of players in the Top-50 or Top 100. As a player, do you recognize that as a proven winner, you might have a leg up on a lot of the guys here?
NICK WATNEY: I don't think so. Like I said last week, I got ahead of myself on the weekend, good shape heading into it and didn't have the correct mind-set, and George McNeill, maybe a quote unquote, unproven winner, he just walked away with it. So I think there's so many good players out here that that mind-set, for me, won't work out very well.
DOUG MILNE: Nick, thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts

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