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FBR OPEN

February 1, 2008

Doug LaBelle

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Doug LaBelle, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the FBR Open. 9-under par for the tournament going into the weekend. This is your home stomping grounds. You live here in Scottsdale. Just tell us what it feels like to -- Aaron went through this a little bit last year. Just tell us what it feels like just to be -- your dad is here, your family is here, your friends are here. Just talk a little bit about that.
DOUG LaBELLE II: Well, it means a lot. It means a lot to be playing in front of a lot of family, friends. More importantly, aside from all that, just to play some good golf. That's the best part about it. Having family and a lot of friends here is really nice, but finally hitting some good golf shots for a change is very nice.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You've started out pretty well this year. You've told me you won a six-man playoff for one spot at the Sony Open in Hawaii, finished Top 10 there, got you into the Buick Invitational, finished 19th there and then turned around and was a Monday qualifier this week. You must feel pretty good.
DOUG LaBELLE II: Yeah, it feels pretty good. As I mentioned before, I mean, I wasn't sure if I was even going to go down to Hawaii to try to Monday qualify. My fiancé and my dad, they kind of talked me into it a little bit, and I decided to fly over. And obviously, the last three weeks, three of the last four weeks has been obviously the start that we needed to really kind of maybe give ourselves some more opportunities to play, playing out of the category that I'm in. So it's pretty nice.

Q. Did your fiancé talk you into Hawaii because she wanted to go?
DOUG LaBELLE II: Well, no, she wasn't going to go, not just to Monday qualify. She knows that I played well there last year, and she's been a real support, as well as my family. I mean, my dad and my mom and my fiancé, they've been really supportive.

Q. What's your fiancé and father's name?
DOUG LaBELLE II: My fiancé's name is Julie and my father's name is Doug, just like mine.

Q. Your dad, I was talking to him in the fairway on 8 and he said the key to your game this year is putting, that you led the Sony and the Buick in putting.
DOUG LaBELLE II: I was close to the top. I know I was leading in putting at the Buick going into the last day. I didn't putt that well on Sunday but I still putted pretty well. I didn't make as much as I was making the first three days, but I still made quite a few putts.
My short game, the first two events I played in, has pretty much carried me. My strength is normally my driver, putting it in the fairway pretty straight, not long but straight, and we haven't been able to do that in quite a while so it's nice to see some balls go in the fairways.

Q. Is that all the hard work you put in or is that Mike Leboeuf?
DOUG LaBELLE II: Mike Leboeuf helped me a lot with my short game, chipping. Mike Shannon has helped me a lot with my putting, as well as Mike Leboeuf. Carl Welty has helped me, he's over in Palm Springs. He's helped me with learning to read greens over the last seven years. I've had a lot of good people in my corner that have kind of helped me get here, so there's a lot of credit to obviously a lot of people.

Q. When you are Monday qualifying, what expectations do you have once you get into a tournament?
DOUG LaBELLE II: Well, I mean, my goal is still to try to go in. I mean, that's still the goal. I mean, to go out and obviously try to do the best we can one shot at a time, whatever it adds up to in the end, then we'll take it. But if we get into the tournament, that's already something positive, and if we can just build on that, then that's -- whatever happens, that's okay.

Q. What keeps you at it when you have some down times and you know things are so competitive out here?
DOUG LaBELLE II: Well, I mean, I think it started with something that -- I started out 20-some years ago. I was about 10 or 12 years old and my grandfather took me to a golf tournament, the Buick Open down in Michigan, and I would say that pretty much got me going. I saw a fellow Mount Pleasant native play, Dan Pohl, and got to watch him, and I just saw the surrounding and I saw the production, I guess you could say, about how awesome it was and what a great feeling it would be to play inside the ropes like that. And I think at 12 years old that's what I wanted to do.
But there's certainly been some down times. I know in -- I think it was '97, so about ten years later, right before my senior year in college I was maybe looking to kind of finish school and get out of the game, maybe try something different. I Monday qualified for the Buick Open, and that's kind of been my inspiration ever since.
So it's certainly been a lot of desire and a lot of -- obviously a lot of heart to keep you going.

Q. It's been a pretty crazy week already. Is there anything you can do to get ready for this weekend?
DOUG LaBELLE II: I'm just going to go through my routine, hit a few putts, hit some chips, work on my short game, hit a few balls and go home and get some rest. I'm pretty tired.

Q. Do you have any advantage being a local, a hometown course?
DOUG LaBELLE II: I'd like to say that it's an advantage, but this week on Tuesday was the first time I've ever played the back tees here. I've played this golf course three times from the up tees in a couple charity things in December, but other than that, I've never played the back tees until Tuesday.
I don't necessarily feel like I have an upper hand, but it is nice sleeping in my own bed.

Q. What do you think of the atmosphere out there, your first taste of real craziness?
DOUG LaBELLE II: I haven't got a whole lot of it because this morning we started on 16 at 10:00 this morning, 9:00 this morning, there wasn't a lot of people out there. But then when we came through for the second round, it was pretty crazy. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I heard there's going to be a lot of people out, and it should be fun. I'm kind of trying to block a lot of that out and just play. It's probably hard not to notice them, that's for sure. But it should be fun.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you. Appreciate your time.

End of FastScripts

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