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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 20, 2008

Woody Austin

TUCSON, ARIZONA

LAURA NEAL: Thanks for joining us. Woody beat Toru Taniguchi 6 and 5 with six birdies on the front nine, so not a bad start for your first Accenture Match Play. Talk about the match a little bit.
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, it was pretty much a dream match-up for me as far as the way I played. I just got off to the best start I could possibly get off to, and it was -- I never really gave him -- I did what I was supposed to in match play, I never gave him a hole. The idea is to never give it to him and make him earn it, and I was playing so good that I think he tried a couple times to force some birdie putts, and fortunately he didn't make any.

Q. Based on your Presidents Cup success and this format of match play, how does it suit you, if at all?
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, it's hard to say, really. Like I said, I enjoy -- like I said before, The Presidents Cup, I enjoy the idea of playing one-on-one. I enjoy the mano a mano aspect of it. Irregardless of how you play or irregardless of how you feel like you're playing, anyone can play good enough on any given day to win, and that's the neat thing about it.
I proved that today. I mean, I haven't played well at all this year, and all of a sudden my game showed up today.

Q. Why do you think you haven't played all that well this year?
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, if you look at my history, I don't play good at the beginning of the year. It's still pretty cold at home. I think the high today is supposed to be about 12, so I don't get a chance to prepare. I don't get a chance to practice. You know, my preparation and practice is actually at the tournament itself, so if I don't -- and I'm not a big lover of California and poa annua grass. You add those two factors, I get off to a bad start every year.

Q. Being a Bermuda guy from your Florida days, talk to us about your induction into the Hall of Fame.
WOODY AUSTIN: You know, it was a wonderful, wonderful time last week. I've had a few people ask me why I didn't play last week in LA because I play it every year. I love Riviera's golf course. It doesn't like me, but I really enjoy it, so they were kind of shocked that I wasn't there.
But I enjoyed the heck out of it. It was nice to see some old teammates. I got to go out and play some golf the next day with some old guys. It was a very enjoyable time. You know, it was something very unexpected. I never thought about it. The fact that we haven't had a golf program in 15 years, I never really thought that I'd ever make it in the Hall of Fame for Miami, so very, very happy and very humbled by it, I guess.

Q. Do you have a new shirt thing going this year?
WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, the Tabasco people were tired of y'all in the media ripping my shirts, so they got out. It's true. They said they were tired of the negative publicity, so they got out. They told me I could wear Tabasco shirts but I couldn't wear those anymore.
The shirt I've got on isn't one I'm going to be wearing, but it's -- the guy that made the shirts, it's his company, so he's going to eventually make me a couple. He's going to make me a few. But Tabasco had enough of the -- they said it was too much of a negative on their brand.

Q. Did you enjoy wearing --
WOODY AUSTIN: I loved them. Hey, I wore them since 1997. I wore them a long time. Hey, I've always said about whenever I got ridiculed or laughed at about the shirts, it just shows my personality. But how can I be so bad off if -- I'm not the one showing up in lavender purple pants and I don't show up with giant white belts and burgundy-colored shirts and Fedora hats. I don't show up with a tie. I don't understand how a fun, colorful shirt is so bad as opposed to all that.
You know, I didn't quite understand it. I enjoyed it.

Q. When you first had the opportunity to wear the Tabasco shirts, did you really jump at that opportunity?
WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, well, absolutely.

Q. Did you think it fit your personality?
WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. If you go back even to my rookie year, in my rookie year the company was called Divots, and they were very colorful. They weren't scenic and what have you, but if you look at my Divots shirts, they were like multi-striped and different colors. I've said all along, anyone can wear a plain white shirt, a plain blue shirt, a plain black shirt. I mean, that's easy. I want to show my personality. My personality is -- that's who I am, and I like to show it. If I can't show it by playing good golf, I might as well look like that.

Q. As a veteran of the TOUR, has your routine on the range in preparation for a match or a tournament changed, and what is your basic routine when you're getting ready?
WOODY AUSTIN: No, I'm a thorough believer -- since I'm really old school, I'm a firm believer in paralysis by analysis. I get to the range no more than 45 minutes, plenty of time to loosen up, hit some balls, find out what's there that day and go. Let's say yesterday your game was bad and you show up an hour and a half to hit some balls and see if you find it. I don't believe in that. I thoroughly believe you take to the golf course what you have that day, and if I can't figure that out in 45 minutes, then I don't need to be playing anyway.

Q. How did you find the course today overall?
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, the golf course played shorter today, it really did. I guess we're starting to get a little bit more heat up above or whatever. The ball is starting to stay in the air in the mountains. It definitely played shorter today than it has in the first two days for me. The driver went out there a lot farther and the irons were carrying, so it definitely played shorter.

Q. One of the things I don't know if a lot of people know about you is at the Presidents Cup Tiger said you were by far the best athlete on the U.S. Team and talked about you dunking a basketball, and also there was a rumor about you being asked to walk on for Miami as a kicker; is that true?
WOODY AUSTIN: No, I never could have walked on. I could kick way back then, but no, if I would have done anything at Miami, I would have actually probably walked on and played baseball. There was a few years there where I didn't think our shortstop was all that spectacular and I could have probably taken his job. But I hadn't played in a lot of years, so it would only if they would take me hitting .150 or whatever, if I could stand there on a good curve ball and what have you after not playing for a while.
The thing about me as far as being an athlete, I grew up playing every sport you could play in Florida. I didn't turn to this game until 8th grade. I heard a quote about Tiger's perfect year, and he did it when he was 11. I never even thought about playing golf at 11. He was already -- I was already -- let's see, at 11 I probably played basketball for about four or five years; I was in my third or fourth year of bowling; I was a No. 1 ranked tennis player in Tampa; I was playing soccer. You know, I played them all until high school. When I got to high school my mom was adamant about one sport, one sport only, and I was only 5'-3" and 95 pounds soaking wet, and golf was fresh. I had only been playing a year and a half. I just started at the end of 8th grade, so it was -- I knew the head coach, the head basketball coach, and he was a golfer, and he told me flat-out, he said, "Woodrow, I like your basketball game but you're not nearly tall enough, so don't even bother." So it was a pretty easy decision at that point.

Q. Can you still dunk?
WOODY AUSTIN: No (laughter). I could never dunk -- I'll make sure that nobody gets that -- I could never dunk a basketball because I never had big enough hands, but in college we had dunk contests with volleyballs, and I could definitely dunk a volleyball.

Q. And a 50-yard field goal, is that true?
WOODY AUSTIN: That probably would have been a stretch. 40, no problem, in college. Now, you know, I might pull a hammie at 35.

Q. What has accrued to you from all your visibility from last year?
WOODY AUSTIN: Nothing, really. I guess I've said the last few weeks, the only thing that's come about from The Presidents Cup or whatever is I get heckled more. Everybody from every line everywhere around is stay away from the water, don't fall in the water, "Hi, aqua man, where are the goggles?" So I just get heckled more, that's all.

Q. Do you consider that heckling?
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, when you're walking on a golf course like this, how much water is on this golf course (laughter)? One hole, I think. And like I said, it doesn't matter if I'm even close. And it comes from different avenues now. Even at San Diego, the crew in the locker room that were doing the shoes dropped off my shoes. I came back the next day, and my ticket that has your name, that your name goes in there, they didn't put my name in there, they put "Aqua Man" in there. It's coming from all avenues.
My caddie and I, Brent, we set the over and under at 8 for goggles in the Pro-Ams by Wednesday, and the first three in a row out of the gate this year, so I'm already at three and I've only played four events.

Q. Someone wearing goggles?
WOODY AUSTIN: No, the entire Pro-Am team on Wednesday on the first tee with the picture. It has to be the whole team, and we're already at three out of four. Pretty good start.

Q. Did anyone today in the galleries say anything about your shirt, where is it?
WOODY AUSTIN: No, not today. So far in a few tournaments and what have you, but no, not today. Like I said, it's disappointing to me, because like I said, I liked to wear colorful shirts. So I'm hoping -- this is supposed to be the last week for these, so hopefully starting at Honda he's got me some good ones.
But it was kind of thrown together quick last-minute when I couldn't get the deal done with Tabasco that he just tried to throw things together as quickly as he could. Hopefully he'll do a better job on the next one.
LAURA NEAL: Thanks very much. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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