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CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 27, 2007

Brad Bryant

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Brad, you're one back going into tomorrow, and right back in the Schwab Cup picture with the win. Maybe talk about looking ahead to Sunday with where you are right now and some of the scenarios that are out there for you.
BRAD BRYANT: Right now I feel pretty good about what I did today. I hit the ball nicely for the most part. I hit a couple of bad shots. But I recovered a couple of times. And you know as far as the Schwab Cup race, that's something that goes on all year and you go play your best and it kind of all boils down to those seems like it always boils down to Sunday here.
Because we're playing for so many points this week. And I think that at this point the best possible thing that could happen to me is to go out there tomorrow and just not think about anything, just sort of follow Tony's directions, just go play golf. So hopefully we will not be worried about scenarios or anything else, just try to go play.
THE MODERATOR: Maybe get your birdie putts, you had a string of four birdies in five holes starting at No. 4, what was the shot sequence on 4?
BRAD BRYANT: On 4, I hit a 4-iron about eight feet. Really a nice shot. Made a birdie there. And bogeyed the next hole. And then on 6 and 7 I made long putts. Tom and I both made long putts on 6 and 7, which was kind of neat.
I made one about, oh, it must have been 25 feet on 7 and then he topped me from about 15 or 18 feet. The next hole he made one from about 35 feet and I topped him for about 25 feet.
So that was pretty cool. And then 8 I hit a 3-wood on the green and 2 and made a real nice long 2 putt. Second putt was about six feet maybe. I played those holes nicely.
THE MODERATOR: 13 they had you about eight feet.
BRAD BRYANT: The par 5 I hit the green in two there. Hit a 6-iron on that green. Played downwind today and just some spots the greens are so fast and I hit that first putt and it just kind of went by about eight feet and hit a beautiful putt coming back, and from there on I putted very nicely coming in.
I made a bunch of sort of little short putts coming in that were on these greens you're apt to miss a couple of the putts I made. I didn't miss any short putts coming in which was good. 18 I slashed it in the rough, chipped it out wedged it in there about six feet and made it for par. I was really proud of that par. Usually when I do that it's a bogey. And so that was kind of neat to not lose one there.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What would it mean given that you won the U.S. Senior Open, if you capped your season with a win here, potentially winning the season?
BRAD BRYANT: A lot of money. A lot of money. I'll have to buy dinner Monday night. If I buy this tournament I'll have to buy dinner Monday night for all the boys, which will be really fun. That would be great. And who knows. I don't think that my life would change very much. You know? Things would stay pretty much the same. I hope.

Q. Where dinner on Monday night? Back home?
BRAD BRYANT: At home. We have a group much kids. I'm the oldest guy, obviously. But anywhere from my son, my youngest is 14 to my age, we have a group of guys that eats -- we eat wings every Monday night when I'm home. And they do it every Monday night when I'm not home. But it's a big group of guys and so there's about 25 or 30 guys we get together and eat wings on Monday night. It's just great. Bunch of guys from our church.

Q. Monday night football?
BRAD BRYANT: No, not really. It's really more about kind of this group of guys that just sort of gets together and it's just a real good time of camaraderie. It's a great time for the young teams to see some of the older guys, to understand that we can just have a whole lot of fun together and sort of across generations. It's really fun. It's just a great time and the kids love it. And so do the adults.

Q. How long have you been doing this?
BRAD BRYANT: We've been doing it for a couple of years now. Year and a half.

Q. Seeing that you're in contention obviously do you think that will make it easier for you to put the Cup race in sight out of your mind or will that be something --
BRAD BRYANT: I wish you would quit reminding me about this. I just want to go play golf tomorrow (laughing) I've got more to play for more than anybody tomorrow. And you know what if I go out tomorrow and shank every shot tomorrow it's been a good year. So what's to lose? I get to start the next year in Hawaii, what a place to go to, and I got a job next year, which is a real thing to be grateful for.
And I got healthy kids and a nice wife. So man things are pretty good. I think you take those things with you to the golf course, and then you go. And hopefully you play. I know that I always carry a little I don't know a packet of I carry like four or five cards with bible verses on them when I play. And I know the last round at the U.S. Open I was carrying the one that a bible verse that says that you need to have faith in the things that are unseen. And it was just great, just understanding whatever happens things are pretty good.

Q. Have you felt any different expectations from within to live up to playing that well again?
BRAD BRYANT: I've played really poorly since then. Up until last few weeks I've played a little bit better. So this week was kind of -- it's kind of a little bit of a surprise actually that I played well today. Yesterday and the day before I hit the ball really close to the hole. Today I didn't hit it quite so close to the hole but I made some putts and scrambled real nicely. So it was just good to -- it's good to see myself playing decent golf again. I knew that it would happen eventually.
And I'm glad that it's happening this week. But things haven't really changed. After hurting my back at the British, I think that really was the thing that's kind of messed me up for a while. My back went out and I spent a month in a lot of pain. And then trying to come back and that was probably I had -- had I not won the U.S. Senior Open I would not have played the weekend in Britain. I made it through with pharmaceuticals. I probably shouldn't have played. But I felt like that being the current U.S. Senior Open champion I needed to finish that tournament.

Q. Did you injure it playing?
BRAD BRYANT: It's been hurting for a long time. I've had problems with my back. It went out on me the first time in '96. And it's just through the years it's kind of chronic. And there's no real problem. I'm just old and fat. If I would work out it would be all right. In fact, it's really funny, we've got time for a quick story.
We miss Payne a lot. I don't know, we don't talk about it very often but we miss Payne a lot. And Payne had a lot of trouble with his back. I walked into the locker room Friday at Disney world just a few days before the plane went down, and I walked in and my back was hurting real bad. Payne was sitting on a bench in the locker room. I walked in hunched over and he looked up at me and he said, "Bradley, your back's hurting again, isn't it?" I said, "Yeah, it is." I said, "Gosh, I don't think I have a very good back." And he said, "There's nothing wrong with your back, you just have a really terrible front." (Laughter) and it's kind of the last thing that Payne said to me, but it's great to remember friends that are gone. That was a tough couple of years there. I lost three close friends all in a short period of time. And so my back is chronic thing and just flares up occasionally. I've been fortunate. It's only happened once on the champions Tour. So I've been a lucky guy.

Q. You get a lot of good natured levity with your brother. He's won some high profile tournaments.
BRAD BRYANT: For a while they were introducing me as the second best player in my family. They've stopped doing that. But, I don't know. You gotta -- one thing you gotta understand, if you're not a superstar when you come to the Champions Tour you never get to be a super star, no matter how much you win. That's okay, because they still pay you lots of money for winning these tournaments. It's really great. And so that's fine. And I'm just real fortunate to have had some real good weeks this year.

Q. Have you noticed any increase in your profile since winning?
BRAD BRYANT: That was very nice (Laughter) is that sort of a back handed way of saying boy, Brad, you're getting fatter?

Q. How are you perceived by others?
BRAD BRYANT: I don't think so. I think that you know for the last two years I've been third on the money list for a long, long time. It's just Loren and Jay, I just can't beat those guys. And occasionally I get to beat them, they don't play real good. And looks like this week if I play well tomorrow I might get them.
But I think that's been the thing that if I have more respect from the other guys than I used to, it's because I've played well over a long period of time. Not because I've just won one golf tournament. I mean let's face it, you go out and you win one U.S. Senior Open you win two or three, you win one more Champions Tour events and that's really a flash in the pan. But for two and a half years now I've been right there at the top of the money list, not on top but very close to the top. I've won four events out here. I've taken my game from where it was on the regular tour to a different level out here on this tour. And I think that that's great. And so it's been really good. I know that Tony, my caddie, he told me one day, he came up to me and said you've got the greatest job in the world.
I said, well, yeah, how is that? And he said, well, you get to play golf every day. You're making lots of money and nobody knows who you are. (Laughter) that was perfect. What a great deal, you know?

Q. Would you want to change spots with Tiger?
BRAD BRYANT: No, I don't. I'm glad he's around. Tiger means a lot to all of us. He'll never feel it, but there's a lot of guys like myself that are very grateful that guys like Tiger have come along that they've put up with all that they have to put up with and they're still doing well. Jack had to do that. Arnold did it. Faldo did it and Norman did it. They're the ones that put golf in the forefront of the world. And a lot of us have benefited from their great play and them handling themselves well. And you know I think that's one of the great things about golf is that no matter who you are, no matter how good you are, golf is going to humble you for at least one day. And everyone knows that. So when you walk in the locker room, you have to be a real guy. You get too big a head the guys will take you down a notch.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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