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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

February 10, 2008

Corey Pavin

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

NELSON SILVERIO: Corey Pavin, thanks for joining us, bogey-free 66 out there today. Anything in particular click out there?
COREY PAVIN: Well, I played actually okay at the Hope, and I didn't make any putts. I missed the cut by one. So I felt pretty good even though I missed the cut.
I came in here and I felt good every day. Hitting the ball, working really hard with Greg LaBelle at Butch's place, and it's starting to feel more comfortable. It felt good, and I felt like I hit a lot of greens, had a lot of chances, started making some putts and it was all good. And today was a nice day.

Q. Judging by your scores out here this week and even last year when you tied for 6th, it seems like you really like Pebble. What is it about playing out here that suits you so well?
COREY PAVIN: I like it up here, I always have. Obviously it's a pretty place to come up, and it's nice when you get weather like this, too.
But I grew up in southern California. I played our state amateur up here quite a bit. It's a golf course I'm very familiar with, the kind of conditions I'm familiar with. I like Pebble Beach a lot. I've had some success here, some good rounds, and just kind of one of those courses that fits my eye. I like it. I feel comfortable on it. You kind of have to hit a lot of different kinds of shots. It's not overly long, which is always a good thing for me. It all fits in pretty nicely here.

Q. For some reason it seems to fit guys over 40 well.
COREY PAVIN: You were just dying to ask that (laughter). Well, I think probably what I just said, it's not an overly long golf course and it's a golf course you have to think your way around. The greens are tricky, and experience helps being on these greens. You know, sometimes it seems like a course you should just eat up, and you have to be real patient. Any course that we play a U.S. Open on I think tends to favor more experienced players.

Q. What are you working on exactly? What are you trying to do?
COREY PAVIN: I'm trying to see how I can explain it, actually. I'm trying to take the club more inside and a lot squarer. I tend to open it a little bit, so I'm trying to keep the club face as closed as I possibly can, and also on my downswing I'm trying to actually drop it into a flatter plane -- a different plane, a lower plane, but also keep the club a little straighter up with a very square club face.
So in essence I'm very square all through my swing, and then I just try to move my body through it, which is something I haven't done through my career. I've been a very handsy player, and it's taken some time to get used to. Like I said, it's felt a lot more comfortable. I've worked with Greg a few times this year, and it's just starting to feel more comfortable finally.

Q. When did you start with him?
COREY PAVIN: Greg and I started working probably -- it was a few months before Milwaukee in '06, and obviously I played well in Milwaukee, and I just feel real comfortable with him and what he tells me, and we've just kind of -- he's progressed me with what he's trying to get me to do. And it's been a nice pace, and like I said, hopefully it'll stay this way, feel comfortable and get more comfortable. I feel good about it, though.

Q. Expanding on what you said earlier, it seems like this is a course you should eat up, the scores aren't that low this week despite pretty decent conditions. Sort of curious about your theory on why players haven't been eating it up more. And as sort of a second part, how refreshing is it to play a course like this where length doesn't matter that much in today's game?
COREY PAVIN: Well, the second part I love a lot. I always love playing courses that aren't long.
But you know, I think the first few days the greens were a little bumpy. They were amazingly smooth today out at Pebble. I think they dried up, and whatever they did to them, they rolled a lot better today.
You know, I think just the length of rounds is kind of tough sometimes, too. We're playing 5:45, six hours, it's hard to keep your focus; it's hard to keep momentum sometimes. That makes it a little tricky. We had great conditions this week, and it seemed like the scores should be better. Greens might have been a little bit firmer here and there. These courses are tough. The greens are very difficult to putt, even when they are smooth. There's a lot of undulation and a lot of slope and a lot of trickery to them.

Q. Is it kind of cool, though, not just for you personally, but for a 6,800-yard course to hold its own?
COREY PAVIN: Oh, yeah. There's some sort of thought that a longer golf course is a better golf course just as a blanket statement, and I don't agree with it. I think there are long golf courses that are excellent golf courses, but the way you set up a golf course is how that golf course is going to play. Obviously you play U.S. Opens out here, with the exception of Tiger shooting whatever -- what did he shoot, 15-under or 12-under, whatever it was, still, the next score was even, wasn't it, or 3-over?
You know, these courses don't have to be long to be difficult. It's all about setup, and I think -- we played a course in the Canadian Open -- someone is going to have to tell me the name of it, but it's in Toronto. Hamilton, which is a very short course, right? 6,800, and 5-, 6-, 7-under wins the tournament there.
But it's about setup; it's difficulty of the greens and how they're set up, too. There's no reason to make courses exceedingly long. It's good to have a variation, definitely.

Q. Was there a point where you felt in contention today? And there are some changes going on, but was there a point where you got it far enough under where you felt like you were in there?
COREY PAVIN: I felt pretty good -- I birdied 2, which was my 11th hole, and I think that put me 7-under for the day -- for the tournament, I mean, and I felt like if I can just get some more and more and more, I could at least try to get up there.
I wish I could have got maybe one or two more, but I just kept pushing, kept playing aggressively and real positively, and I just felt very relaxed on the golf course as I was doing it. You know, it was a nice putt I made on 8 to get up there. And I wish I would have hit a little bit more aggressive putt on 9, but it was getting kind of windy and it was a tricky putt there, but overall, like I said, I'm very pleased.

Q. At this point in your career what are your expectations for this year and the next couple years before turning 50? What goals or what do you see yourself achieving?
COREY PAVIN: You know, I have a lot of goals. The main goal for me is I just want to get more comfortable on the golf course with my swing, hit it better, and that will translate to a whole lot of things. Obviously I want to win. I mean, I'm not out here to see how much money I can make. I want to be winning tournaments and in contention. That's always been what I've wanted to do.
And I think I can do that. But I need to keep on this path. I need to hit the ball a little bit better than I have in the past, and I feel like I'm on the right track for that. You know, there's a lot of things that go with all that, being in contention a lot. But that's where I want to be is in positions like I was today and maybe a little bit more in contention. But it's a good start.

Q. That putt on 8, were you thinking of making that? It looked like kind of a scary putt there.
COREY PAVIN: You know, I was more concerned about the speed because I've rarely had a putt from that spot on that green. I'm usually putting up the hill. So I wasn't quite sure of the speed, but I had a pretty good read on it. I knew it was going to break right early and then a little bit more left at the end. I felt good about that. It was one of those putts, even though it was 30 feet or whatever it was, you don't have to hit it that hard, so you feel like you can hit a good putt and then give it a good chance.
I didn't expect to make it or anything, but I expected to have it look like it might go in at some point.

Q. How was it, both of you guys kind of charging and being on the opposite nine where you don't know how many people are out there?
COREY PAVIN: It happens a lot in this tournament. Actually I was talking to somebody about that this week, where you just make the cut on Sunday, if you have a really good round on Sunday you can move up a ton here. It's always been that way here because scores are always so bunched. But it is strange to have two people like that in a group making a move on the other nine. It's always fun to do.

Q. You said you were playing real aggressive today, but you didn't post a single bogey out there. Did you have to scramble for any of those pars, or was it coming pretty easy to you?
COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I missed a couple greens. I actually hit a pretty good shot on 13 and it just trickled off the left. It was kind of one of those chips I think about making.
I missed the green on 3 -- actually I hit the downslope of the bunker and it kicked it over the green about six, seven yards, which is actually -- that shot was a little tricky, but I hit a pretty good chip there.
I'm trying to think. Oh, the par-3, right? 5, the par-3, I hit it in the left bunker, which wasn't a very good spot to be, and I hit a decent bunker shot about 12 feet maybe and made it, so that was a really big putt for the day.
You know, I just got up on 6 and knocked it on in two there and made birdie. So that kind of helped momentum-wise to keep going. I don't know if I missed any other greens.

Q. Given today and how you're feeling more comfortable and more confident, how do you feel about Riviera next week, and are you as confident going into Riviera as you've been in a while?
COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I always felt good going into Riviera. Even if I'm playing crappy, I always feel good going into Riviera. So it's nice, but on the other hand I want to be careful. I don't want to have too high expectations. I will forever remember the '95 PGA where I went back there and I had won the LA Open or Nissan Open I should say -- or should I say Northern Trust Open, but I felt pretty good going in there and I missed the cut. I think I've been around long enough to kind of hold the reins back a little bit and have expectations but keep a good track of them, keep a hold of them.

Q. With the unusual Ryder Cup system this year, have you thought at all about trying to make that team?
COREY PAVIN: I think that was kind of what I was semi-alluding to earlier; if I can just get into contention a lot and have a chance, there's other things that can happen. You know, I'm always wanting to be on a Ryder Cup team. I mean, there's no doubt about that. I'm not -- I don't know where I'll end up at the time, but I know if I just play well and I take care of business, as they say, with each tournament, I know that I could have a chance.
But it's a long way away, and I need to keep playing like I did this week and maybe a little bit better, actually, to get on the team.

End of FastScripts

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