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PUERTO RICO OPEN PRESENTED BY BANCO POPULAR

March 23, 2008

Greg Kraft

RIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO

Q. Greg Kraft, thanks for joining us. 2008 Puerto Rico Open champion.
GREG KRAFT: That sounds good, sounds real good.

Q. First initial win of the PGA Tour. What's going through your mind?
GREG KRAFT: You never knew if it was going to come. I mean, I worked and worked and worked. In the late '90s, early 2000, I was close a lot.
Then I got sick, and to be honest with you, I didn't know if I was ever going to play again, more or less win a tournament. But here I am, I knocked it out, four solid days. I didn't, you know, make too many mistakes. It was a day of patience. The pins were tough, they were in corners.
It was windier today. There wasn't a lot of birdies to be made unless you are making some putts. I made a lot of nice four-footers for pars. Didn't shoot at too many flags because I didn't have too many very good numbers. Even down to the last hole, it was a punch shot because I was just outside of a lob wedge and a sand wedge was too much, and that ended up being my only bogey of the day.
But I figured I had a two or three-shot lead, so I wasn't going to go over the green in the bunker. That was the only thing I didn't want to do.
So I wish I could describe how I feel, but I can't, and I am sure maybe later I will, when it all sinks in, but as far as right now, maybe after all this work, Rookie of the Year '91, '92, all the way up to now, ups and downs, had chances to win, had four seconds in pretty good tournaments.
And, you know, when I won in '93 I had the lead the week before in New Orleans and I ended up losing and finishing fifth and then I won the next week.
But it was kind of a funny situation, I had the lead and I was supposed to tee off at 2 o'clock and then they called me at 9 o'clock in the morning saying "We have a window because of the rain, we are going to tee off at 10:00."
And so here I am leading my first tournament and I am scrambling to get to the golf course before I get DQ'd. I never heard of them -- that was something new to me, but then I won the next week.
I felt like -- I was young at the time and I felt like I deserved it after the week before when I was leading and had a chance, and I just felt like it was my time, and I didn't really -- I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, and I still think about it, but it doesn't even compare to the way I feel now with this one.

Q. What does this mean to your career for the rest of this year and the next two years after that, you don't have to worry about what you are going to be doing every week? Is that (inaudible) or are you just at a point in your life where -- would this have made a bigger difference, like, 15 years ago?
GREG KRAFT: It makes a big difference, I don't care where it is, when it was. I mean, I don't have to play the Nationwide Tour and try to get my card back, because that's no fun, go out there and starve.
And what's nice about this event is all the fans and volunteers. I mean, it had some electricity out there and it felt good, and there was a lot of people out here, and, you know, gives you a great feeling, getting rewarded for good shots and working your way through the crowd to the tee. I mean, that's fun. It's not so much fun when it's you and two other guys and your scorer and maybe two other people. It doesn't feel too much like a Tour event. This felt like a Tour event. It was special.

Q. Do you feel like you are (inaudible) health-wise coming back from where you were, now that you can play on the PGA Tour?
GREG KRAFT: Well, now I can take some weeks off and work out harder. It's kind of hard when you don't know what you are doing and you are jumping around and playing here playing there. I am going to sit down and look at my schedule, now that I know I have one, and I am a little weaker than I should be, physically. I mean, I like to work out, and I am not in the shape that I want to be in, but now I can get there, and this is huge for me, in more ways than money.
That piece of crystal that I will have at home, I will probably look at that every day.

Q. Greg, that interview that we did earlier (inaudible) you said, "Well, we will see how the weekend goes." Will you be coming back?
GREG KRAFT: I will never miss it. As long as they will have me, I will be here.

Q. You have got a few exemptions. (Inaudible.)
GREG KRAFT: I will be here as long as they will have me.

Q. On number 4 you had a double bogey and you kind of got mad at yourself (inaudible). You played the fourth 14 under. Looking back now, would you say that was a turning point?
GREG KRAFT: I didn't make a double bogey this week.

Q. It must have been a bogey on 4.
GREG KRAFT: I didn't bogey 4 this week. Oh, you know what? I did. I missed a short putt and then birdied the next two holes.

Q. Yes.
GREG KRAFT: You know, I hit it really good this week, and kept the ball in play off the tee. Towards the end I was bumming it a little bit, I hit a driver off 17, which probably wasn't the smartest play, but I bunded it and got it down there where I had a sand wedge, which enabled me to go at the pin, because it was in the corner, and I didn't want to lay back, so I challenged the tee shot to make the second shot easier.
I just -- I was really comfortable on this golf course, for whatever reason. I hit the ball solidly. The long holes didn't bother me, the short holes I was aggressive.
I am comfortable in the wind, playing in Florida all the time. I was second at Doral in the wind; Colonial, a second, it blows; I shot 63 in Hawaii, had a third.
I like wind, because I am used to the wind. I can flag my ball in the wind for the right distances. So we got to the course today and my caddy is from Texas, and he knows I am really good in the wind, and we got out here this morning and it was really blowing, and he goes, "God, you couldn't ask for a better day, because it's going to keep somebody from shooting 6 or 7 under and making a run at you from earlier in the morning, when the greens are softer."
This was the type of tournament, if it wouldn't have been so windy, that somebody could have been at 9 or 10 and shot 7 under because they tee'd off an hour and a half earlier, greens are a little smoother, little softer, and, you know, it helps.

Q. (Inaudible). How important was it on 5 that you made a birdie after bogey, hit that eagle and kind of (inaudible).
GREG KRAFT: It helps to get it under par, you know, then you feel like you are rolling. This course, to me, the way I looked at today's round is it looked like to me to just hang in there for the last four, because you had two par 5s, you can almost get to the one, 18 is very reachable if you wanted to challenge it because you -- could have made it very interesting.
And then you have a sand wedge on 17, and 16 is a pivotal par 3, it's hard to hit that green, it's tricky. So to me, the whole golf tournament, if you could just hang in there, whoever played those last four holes, you had three birdie holes and one challenging hole.
And we were talking, me and my caddy, today, and said, "Just hang in there for the last four, because that's where it's going to be won or lost, on those last four holes."

Q. (Inaudible).
GREG KRAFT: To me, when I came here to play golf, I assumed it was going to be a lot like Florida with the wind except for the pass pollen grass, which is a great surface to hit off of, and the green superintendent knows what he is doing here, which he does here, and it's a very good putting surface, as well. It's a tricky grass to make the greens because it can get grainy, it can get tough, but this guy does a great job.
And, you know, to be honest with you, I didn't expect -- I mean, this is -- I mean, like I said, out on 18, you can really tell that it's meant a lot to everybody, they put their heart into this place, and, I mean, the volunteers and the fans. Look at the reception on 18, incredible. I have been in bigger events, real big events, where it wasn't that warm. Might have been a few more people, not very many more people, if any, but it was very warm. You could tell that they were happy, and it was nice.

Q. You coming next year?
GREG KRAFT: I will be here. You kidding?

Q. You are moving up on the money list. (Inaudible) Master's?
GREG KRAFT: Are you kidding? That's got to be one of everybody's dreams. I have played in every major but the Master's. When I won in '93, that didn't get me in, and I had a couple close chances on the money list over the years, but I have never played Augusta in a tournament. That will be a dream. Never know, this is -- I am dreaming right now, so it might happen. Keep playing.

End of FastScripts

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