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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC PRESENTED BY WAL-MARTOctober 31, 2007Woody AustinLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA STEWART MOORE: Thanks for joining us here at the Children's Miracle Network Classic. You're capping off a great year, winning the Stanford St. Jude Championship and doing so well as a President's Cup team member for the United States. Give us thoughts about your season. WOODY AUSTIN: The last five months have been a lot of fun, but the beginning of the year wasn't all that great. I struggled the beginning of the year because I usually take the whole winter off. It's really good to play a consistent, long stretch. That's what I've been lacking, and it's been hit or miss as opposed to being consistent, like I have in the last five months. I've always strived for that. STEWART MOORE: As far as the PGA TOUR fall years, this is your first start. Comments on being here at Disney? WOODY AUSTIN: I grew up down the road. I like coming back home. I get a chance to say hi to old friends and little bits of family that are still around. I always loved Florida, love the heat. Nice to get out of Wichita once in a while and get back to my roots. Q. What was the reception like in Derby when you got home after Montreal? WOODY AUSTIN: Pretty much the same as it always is. I mean, when I get home I pretty much stay home. I only go to the golf course once -- every Friday I'll play in a noon group with some buddies and stuff, so I'll see those people on Fridays, but I pretty much stay with the boys and the wife throughout the week. I don't get in the golfing circles to where I can see a whole lot of people. Q. How was the reception different from, say, Memphis, Southern Hills? Neither of those tournaments, even though you did play well, you didn't get wet. How was it different that way? Did they beat you up pretty good? WOODY AUSTIN: Well, yeah, I think everybody I see now has to make a comment about it, including yourself there. The only big difference is I guess everybody wants to call me "Aqua Man" instead of Woody, but everybody is quick to throw out their quips about the water. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: Nobody has surprised me. Nobody has come up with anything really good yet. Q. Do you have good material? WOODY AUSTIN: Me? I try to stay away from it. Q. You're making a little money off of it, I guess. That's a good thing. They sent out the press release not long go about Zero, the outerwear? WOODY AUSTIN: I just found out about that yesterday, so, yeah. Yeah, I guess it's nice to get something -- some people say you sacrifice for something, so at least my sacrifice got me something. Because nobody seems to talk about the three birdies at the end, so I'm not getting anything for that, so I better get something for the dip! (Chuckles.) Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, but nobody talks about that; it's just about the dive. The golf was secondary. Q. This was probably the biggest change in history on the TOUR schedulingwise. They took the old schedule and blew it to smithereens and moved things around. I'm wondering what your thoughts are there that, the FedExCup, the positioning of the fall series. You've always been honest about what you think the pros and cons have been as you look back for ten months. WOODY AUSTIN: It's definitely hard to get used to, the schedule change. I don't know how 2008 is going to go; they haven't set that and are trying to tweak that with The Ryder Cup and all that. So it's the first time that we don't have a schedule set for next year. It got some criticism here and there when Phil or Tiger didn't play, but the bottom line is, it was the first year for it. I don't care if it's baseball, football, basketball, NASCAR, whatever, nothing works exactly right the first year, especially when you're talking about a model that's been around for, what, almost 80 years? So for it to change -- especially when you're talking about trying to appease all 200 individuals. There is just no way that's going to happen. I think from that standpoint, obviously you got your opinions, but it did what it was supposed to do. I mean, when you really look at it, it exactly did what it was supposed to do. It was supposed to get Tiger and Phil interested in those events and play head-to-head. They went head-to-head at Boston, they were head-to-head pretty much going into the final. Those two were the two top dogs, and they got them to play against each other, and that's what it was supposed to be about, and it did it. So from there they have to do their best to appease everybody else and try and make it a little bit better, which is what happens in any process. You always keep tweaking until you get it right. Football has been around an awful long time, and that BCS has problems every single year, and they've been tweaking a lot longer than we have in our sport. You've just got to give it time. As far as the fall series, I think the fall series is doing exactly what it wanted. It's supposed to give the younger guys, the guys that haven't gotten a chance to play as much a chance to keep their card, which they've done. You've got guys like George McNeill who was out and is now back in, Michael Allen, who was out and is back in. You have quality tournament championships. If you say that Justin Leonard isn't a quality victory, and Mike Weir is not a quality winner, you have a problem as far as golf goes. You're talking about two major champions, and I don't care if they beat what is considered a "weak field" or whatever. There is no "weak field" on the PGA TOUR. I think it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. Q. How much are you looking forward to next year, based on the last five months of this year? WOODY AUSTIN: So far it's hard to say, looking too far forward, but I'm looking to hopefully continue -- I have yet to play a good January, February, March since 1995, so it will be nice to get off to a good start. What I've got to do is figure out a way to maintain where I'm at, and it's hard when you take -- because, like I said, I usually take the whole winter off. Fortunately, this year, I've got one event, so -- I've gotten in the Shark Shoot Out, so that will give me a week and a half or two of play, so I'll be a little more prepared at the Mercedes. Q. Is this your first Shark Shoot Out? WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah. I've never gotten in any silly season event, so I've arrived. Q. And all you had to do was fall down. WOODY AUSTIN: All I had to do was take a dive! Q. You talked about coming back home, being from Tampa, but how much did you going across the street with the kids being here have to do with you here at Disney? WOODY AUSTIN: My kids aren't here. They been here enough that they were okay with saying, "You do ahead." They're preparing themselves for Maui, not to mention that they're really big into soccer, and Saturday is their first indoor soccer game of the year, so they would much rather do that than come here. They're pretty interested in what they're doing there as opposed to -- they've been here enough. Q. That's a break for dad. WOODY AUSTIN: That's true, that's true. Q. You're not going anywhere? WOODY AUSTIN: Me? No. If I go anywhere, it will be over there racing race cars. Q. How much did your recognizability go up -- as far as do you have people stopping you in the airports making funny quips and stuff? WOODY AUSTIN: I guess. I think you have to be a golf enthusiast or somebody who watches golf to know that it's me anyway. I don't think it made leaps and bounds to where everybody knows you who is not a golfer. I've always said if you're getting recognized, at least you're doing something right. If you're getting asked for a few more autographs or pictures, that's not a bad thing; it's a good thing, because that means you did something right. Q. Woody, what meant more to you and why, the last recognition you got over the last few months of the season -- not just the dive but the PGA -- or the acceptance of your teammates? WOODY AUSTIN: Well, from a personal standpoint, I would have to say the play. It's been a long time since I've played that consistent. I've always known I was good enough to compete on that level, so I think from the long standpoint to almost run him down at the PGA and not let him have a stroll in the park -- which everybody was thinking Sunday was going to be a stroll in the park for him. So knowing that being in that position basically for the first time and coming through to a point -- not actually succeeding, but coming through to a point was pretty important for me. I need to keep that momentum and that thought process going. As far as the President's Cup, I think everybody out here who truly knows me, they know that was just something that I've wanted to do for so long, and it was just -- as far as the guys on the team, they know how stoked I was, so I don't think I had to get their approval or anything like that. I think they knew before we got there that I wanted to be there. Q. Woody, I think you made the cover of "Golf Week" and "Golf World", coming out of the President's Cup week, but you've been sort of anointed the American hero, here. WOODY AUSTIN: I think that's a good thing. Like I said, I would rather be known for the way I played as opposed to the dive but -- Q. I don't think that's been separated -- WOODY AUSTIN: But you're talking about the cover, so the covers are the goggles, and the dive, and it's obviously been a good thing for me. I'm not going to shy away from it. You'll find out here in a month or so I did a photo shoot in full garb, wet suit, scuba suit, with the flippers and the whole thing. Q. For who? WOODY AUSTIN: "Golf Magazine". So I'm not afraid to laugh at myself. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: I didn't hit any shots. I did go in waist deep in the water, though. And it's cold in Wichita in the water. Q. You need the wet suit, man! WOODY AUSTIN: Yes, it was very cold. Q. How do you go about getting ready for '08? Where do you go? WOODY AUSTIN: That's the hard part for me. Wichita is hit or miss in a -- starting up here in a couple weeks it's hit or miss whether I get a chance to practice. Even when it's full winter, end of November or December, even if I do get out, it's windchill of 35 to 40. It might get to 50 degrees, but as we all know it blows in Wichita. 50 degrees is not really 50. So when I get out it's not getting out to practice; it's just getting out. So I really don't get in a whole lot of practice when I'm home. So that's why at the beginning of the year I struggle, not only because my game is not ready but I'm also not a west coast guy. I'm a Florida boy, so it's a tough start for me. Q. Do you go somewhere before you go to Maui? WOODY AUSTIN: I'll go straight to Maui. It's a small field event, and you can get in plenty of practice. It's not like it's overcrowded and there are a lot of guys. Usually I will do -- Bob Hope is the first week, and I will try and go out the middle of the week before and try and practice out in California somewhere and get in some, but that's still, you know, four or five days after taking 10, 11 weeks off. It's not all that spectacular. Q. Most people who grow up in Florida and become professional golfers, don't move to Wichita. With you, it's the other way around. WOODY AUSTIN: That's correct. Q. Why did that happen? WOODY AUSTIN: Most of your TOUR players do live in Florida, and most of them are transplants. I live in Wichita for one reason and one reason only, and that's because she wants to live there. Q. Was she raised there? WOODY AUSTIN: She's born and raised, right where she wants to be. We're slowly getting everybody out there. My oldest sister lives out there -- that's how I met my wife to begin with. And then my mom's house -- we're building my mom a house near my oldest sister, and it will be ready in two weeks, so my mom will be out there. My youngest sister -- I have three older sisters, and the youngest of those will be in a community another 45 minutes away in about a year and a half, two years, when she retires. And then my middle sister is in her 26th year in the Air Force and is at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, so everybody is getting close. Q. Did you have just the three sisters? WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, no brothers. I've been raised by women since I was 11 years old. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, sure, it changes. Like I said, when you grow up in Florida, you can play wherever you want. You can take time off in the off-season, but you can play at any point in time. You're going to have great days in December, November, January, February. You're going to have plenty of time to practice, and it's like -- even if I did prepare a little bit, like say a week before going to Maui, well after Maui, most people when they come home, let's say Tiger, he comes back here to Florida, he can prepare for his next event. I'm coming back to Wichita in January. Where am I going to practice? I may be prepared for the first event, but I can't, again, prepare for the next one because I'm still coming back to the winter. That's the hard part. People razz my wife, or when I get asked these questions and I say it's about her -- the only problem I have with Wichita, because it's a great place to raise your family, my boys love it, and I'm around family, it's I can't practice when I want. That's the part I don't like, and that's the part that's hard. I like taking time off, but like anybody, if you want to go out and practice, you can't, unless Mother Nature allows you to; whereas, down here the only thing you have to worry about Mother Nature is rain and what have you. Q. How do you balance your game at the beginning of the year -- WOODY AUSTIN: That's just it. I haven't figured it out yet. And that's pretty evident every year. Ever since I moved, I struggle back -- Q. How long have you been there? WOODY AUSTIN: Well, in Wichita itself six. I moved in February of '96. Q. Where did you first move to? WOODY AUSTIN: I first moved to Kansas City to be near the major -- it was a simple drive down to her parents, and we were near a major airport and all that, and then when we had our boys we moved right to where she needs to be. Q. When you got to Derby or Wichita or whatever, living there, what was the first moment, if you can remember, that was that, oh-my-we're-not-in-Florida-anymore type thing? WOODY AUSTIN: The one that got me in Kansas City, I'll never forget, the first winter, like I said, we moved in February of '96, and I had another really good year in '96, rookie of the year in '95, finished 32 on the Money List in '96. That winter, I came in the kitchen one morning, and she said, "What are you going to do today?" and I looked outside, and it looked like an absolutely beautiful day outside, and I looked at the temperature, and I said, "I don't know. What do you do when it's 27 degrees outside?" I don't know what you do -- I'm a Florida boy. At that point I had lived my entire life in Florida, and when I think of 27 degrees, I think of a lot of snow and -- and it was a beautiful-looking day. And I said, "What in the world do you do outside when it's 27 degrees? There is nothing I can do that I know of." Q. What did you do that day? WOODY AUSTIN: Nothing. That's why I looked at her and I thought, what do you do when it's 27 degrees outside? Q. Are you still wondering -- WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah. If it's that nice of a day, what do you do? You can't go out and do something when it's that cold. When you think of 27 degrees, you think of snow, and you can do something like that. And it was a perfect-looking day but, God, it was cold. I'll never forget that. She was just, "What are you going to do today?" Like, "Hey, we're here, all this free time." And I was just like, "I have no idea what to do." Q. That's why they made vacuum cleaners. WOODY AUSTIN: And I used to play a lot of basketball, softball, baseball, all that. Can't do that in 27-degree weather, either. So, like I said, I was lost. I at least now have found friends where I play -- I start up next week in a winter basketball league. So at least I got something to do one night a week when it's real cold. Q. That would be indoors, I'm sure? WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. Q. Didn't Shannon say you were an ace bowler? WOODY AUSTIN: I am all right. Q. That's what you do when it's 27. WOODY AUSTIN: My average is 213. Q. High game? WOODY AUSTIN: 279, shot it a couple of weeks ago; struggled this past week. Q. Are you in a league? WOODY AUSTIN: I'm in a little family league. I got my two boys and me and my wife -- I used to bowl when I was little. My parents were big bowlers, but I went about 25 years without bowling, so I'm getting back into it. Got me a new bowling ball last Christmas. I had 1970s, 1980s equipment, and you have these synthetic lanes now, and you have all this new equipment. Q. Are the balls better now in bowling -- WOODY AUSTIN: Anybody who knows you tells you you can't bowl with a 1975, 1980 bowling ball on the lanes today, and if anybody knows bowling, I still have one of my dad's LP48 balls, which is 1960-something or -- Q. Do you still use it? WOODY AUSTIN: No, but I did. I still have it, though. I still have that, a Golden Angle, all kinds of -- I have an old Columbia 300 White Dot, which is probably mid-80s. Q. How many balls do you have? WOODY AUSTIN: I had all of my old balls from when I was little. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: I don't think so. Nothing has changed as far as those guys. You still have -- I'm the quintessential -- I'm the -- I throw it up the channel. I don't crank it. Like here in golf you have your bombers; I stick to the old-fashioned way. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, I stay out near the channel. Me, Walter Ray and Norm Duke. Q. Has there been any thought in your head that, man, there isn't a better time than now to take my golf game to another level, where my game will resonate for years to come? WOODY AUSTIN: I think if I was a lot younger and I wasn't in my situation, you know, I could sit there and say, you know what, this would be a great time for me to focus on nothing but golf. But golf really is second. I'm never going to -- like I said, I'm -- if golf meant that much to me, as far as from the long-term or whatever, I would have probably fought a lot harder about moving to Wichita. But family -- I've always told my wife -- every once in a while she feels bad. If we're going through a bad stretch of weather, and I don't get to practice for two or three weeks, not even get a chance, she feels bad and she's like, "Are you sure you're happy?" And I tell her, "I have everything I ever wanted: A wonderful wife, wonderful kids, and a nice place to live." The rest is all gravy. I just have to do a better job in the beginning, have to figure it out. Q. What do you have in your backyard? Do you have a pond? WOODY AUSTIN: We do have a pond, and I have a barn; I can hit the balls into a net. Q. Horses or anything like that? WOODY AUSTIN: No, just seven acres, not big enough for horses. Q. Is it huge? WOODY AUSTIN: No, I can -- I got portable heaters and stuff. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: Like I said, if I get in a position or period where I haven't gotten to swing a club or do whatever, I'll go in there and whack some, but hitting a ball that far is not telling you anything. Q. It's odd for those of us that have grown up in the warm weather areas. Do you appreciate the fact that you play the game now more -- there have been good players that came from Minnesota, and they have a huge hankering for the game by the time spring rolls around, and in Florida we get kinda spoiled -- WOODY AUSTIN: Like I said, we all have our own patterns and how we can -- and those guys obviously have figured out a way to do it their -- you know, it's awful hard once you get to my -- I changed at, what, 34. Awfully hard when you're 34 to go completely the opposite. Q. (Away from microphone.) WOODY AUSTIN: Nothing against them, but it's a lot easier for them at 34 to go from there to here, and now have all that time to do it, as opposed for me to go from always having it to, oh, crap, I can't play. And if I do, I'm out there with eight articles of clothing on. Q. Nice backswing. WOODY AUSTIN: You hit it solid and it goes 200 -- Q. Like hitting a rock. WOODY AUSTIN: Right. And she says, "At least you got to play a lot this winter," and I say, "Babe, when it's 45 degrees, that's not playing. Just because I got out six times or whatever, that ain't playing." That's just getting out, just to get out, but you're in the golf cart freezing, and that's not golf. Q. This is the first year that Children's Miracle Network Classic has had the tournament for children's healthcare. I'm wondering how often do the pros who are focused on their game brush up against the actual sponsors -- WOODY AUSTIN: I don't know how particularly we brush up against the sponsors or however, but if you look at the players, a lot of us are associated with children's charities in one way or another. I have Wichita Children's Home on my golf bag. I've been with them ever since I've been in Wichita. They've been around since 1899, and it's an unbelievable charity, and I'm happy to be with them. I just came from a Pro-Am on Monday for David Toms for the "Big Oak Ranch," and it's phenomenal what they do. They take them all the way through high school and college. And Hal Sutton has his own hospital, Skip Kendall has a hospital Pro-Am, and you can go down the list, and there are numerous of us. The fact that they are the sponsor adds -- I've always said, there is nothing better than to help a child that can't help themselves. Kids are great, but without being able to help themselves, they need that support, so it's great to be a part of it. Q. I wonder if you plan on being at the British Open this next year. WOODY AUSTIN: I'll be there, guarantee it. As long as I know I'm in -- the problem with -- everybody keeps missing -- the problem with the British Open this year would have been nine weeks in a row. I want to go over there knowing I have a chance to win. I don't want to go over there because everybody tells me to go over there. At nine weeks in a row after a 15-hour flight and time change and wasting basically all of Monday, I would have had two days to prepare. I was exhausted to begin with. So if the best player in the world doesn't play more than two weeks in a row because he says he's exhausted, and I've got him by almost 13 years, do you think I was tired after eight in a row? It was bad timing for me. I definitely want to go. And obviously, as of right now I'm in for next year. If I know I'm in, and I can prepare and I can set my schedule, I'll be there, guaranteed, no question. Had nothing to do with the golf course. Q. I read somewhere somebody said that you said, well, I don't play that kind of golf anyway, links golf -- WOODY AUSTIN: Right. Q. And I wondered if that was as much -- WOODY AUSTIN: What I said was I've only been to Europe once, and that was at Royal Winthrop in '96. I saw Carnoustie obviously previously, and I said I've never played over there. So for me to get ready for that style of golf in two days was going to be difficult to begin with. Take into account how tired I was -- but I did say "that style of golf", but I didn't mean I didn't like to play that style of golf. I said I would have to learn in two days, and that wasn't conducive, because I wanted to go over there to win. I don't want to go over there to shoot 80, and I probably would have shot 80 both days in the condition I was in. So I would have really been mad, and then everybody would have gotten on me for that. STEWART MOORE: Woody, thanks. End of FastScripts |
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