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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 5, 2008

Chad Campbell

HUMBLE, TEXAS

DAVE SENKO: Well, Chad, thanks for joining us. Maybe you could just talk a little about your day. You followed up your round yesterday with a 7-under 65. Looking ahead to tomorrow. Maybe just recap your day today.
CHAD CAMPBELL: Yeah. Felt really good after yesterday's round. Played really well yesterday and carried over into today.
Got off the a great start there on the front-9. Couple birdies. Three out of the first four holes made birdies. Kind of kept it going. Gave myself quite a few opportunities. Was able to make some of the putts.

Q. You had a pretty --
DAVE SENKO: You had a long putt, 62 feet.
CHAD CAMPBELL: That's probably about right.
DAVE SENKO: What did you hit second?
CHAD CAMPBELL: Driver, 5-iron.
DAVE SENKO: How about on No. 8, eagle at 69 yards it says.
CHAD CAMPBELL: Actually it was 88 yards. Hit 55-degree wedge.

Q. When did you start thinking it was your day? When you make a nice birdie putt on 1 or bottoming a 60-footer or hole out from the fairway? What point were you --
CHAD CAMPBELL: All of the above. Seriously, kind of all of the above.
I guess I 3-putted 7 from just off the green. I was probably 35 feet away, pretty easy 2-putt. And that was a little disappointing, but nice to be able to come back and hit a good wedge shot and have it go in.
I think I guess maybe the wedge shot kind of let me know that it was going to be a good day. Kind of the whole time, you know, got to get off to a good start, birdieing 3 of the first 4.
I felt really comfortable out there, especially after yesterday's round.

Q. Something about Houston?
CHAD CAMPBELL: Maybe. I like it here. I used to always come to Tour School here. I played at Deerwood for second stage pretty much every year and Cyprus Wood for first stage.
You know, I just like Houston golf courses. I don't know what it is about them. Seems like there's a lot of good golf courses down here. Plus it being in Texas, I'll a little biased of Texas.

Q. They're all probably pretty flat.
CHAD CAMPBELL: Some of them. All the ones in Houston are.

Q. You're used to that?
CHAD CAMPBELL: West Texas is pretty flat. They're not flat in Austin, though, San Antonio, walk all year.

Q. Were you watching what Wagner was doing all day? Because three different times, tied him for the lead, three different times he birdied.
CHAD CAMPBELL: I looked up there a little bit. Obviously, he's playing well. I knew I needed to keep making birdies. There's -- I knew Charley was playing pretty good. I played with him the first two rounds. I knew there were going to be some birdies behind me. Needed to keep trying to go lower.

Q. How much fun is it to be going into Sunday with a chance to win?
CHAD CAMPBELL: Absolutely. That's why you play tournaments. That's what I wanted coming into the week, and, you know, got off to a little bit of a bad start there on the first round, but kind of got -- obviously got it back the last two, and definitely I want to win to go to Augusta. But, you know, mainly focus just trying to get the job done here and worry about next week later.

Q. Is it hard to keep that out of your mind, the possibility?
CHAD CAMPBELL: It is a little bit. I played since '03. So I played the last five years. Played good there in '06. Finished 3rd there in '06. I don't think anybody wants to miss that tournament. Pretty special tournament.

Q. When you think about the fact that for 17 1/2 years Davis hasn't missed a Major, is that just --
CHAD CAMPBELL: It's amazing. Me and my caddy were talking about it this week. That's just unheard of. I don't know -- that's got to be the longest streak by far right now. I'm sure there's a person pretty close.

Q. Fifty-five is next.
CHAD CAMPBELL: Yeah, that's amazing. I don't know how he's playing. I know he likes Augusta as well, so he'll be disappointed he's not there.

Q. Do you think having that carrot on the stick has sharpened your focus in any way or something where you're having to push thoughts of it out of your head?
CHAD CAMPBELL: No, I'm not trying to push it out of my head. It's there. I definitely think it's great, you know, maybe gave me a little extra motivation. And, like I said, when you go out there tomorrow, you can't really be thinking about that. You got to be thinking about trying to make birdies and win the golf tournament.

Q. You had what, two rounds 65, 64, I think it was, something like that? Is tomorrow -- have to throw another one of those up there to win?
CHAD CAMPBELL: I don't know. I don't even know what -- I guess Johnson is 15. I don't know what he did on the last, but got to think you got to get to 18 or so kind of is what I was guessing. Hopefully just roughly in there.
I don't know what the weather is going to be like, either. If it was like yesterday afternoon tomorrow, I'd take even par right now. I heard it was pretty tough out here yesterday afternoon.

Q. If you get to 28, you're a lock.
CHAD CAMPBELL: I think so. (Laughter). Might as well just shoot for that. Let's do that.

Q. Like people were shooting really good scores. Is it the softness of the greens, the low rough, combination of all these things that are making the course --
CHAD CAMPBELL: Little bit of everything. The course is just immaculate. The fairways are perfect, the greens are perfect. Probably the -- some of the best greens I've ever putted on, and, you know, they're perfect speed. Just fast enough where you can make a lot of putts.
I think the little bit lower rough, you don't have to be so precise off the tee and still make birdies out of the rough.

Q. Do you feel like you're a guy that kind of is good as really riding waves, getting -- able to build confidence real quickly? You had a flow going here for two days.
CHAD CAMPBELL: I guess so. I never really thought about it that much, but, you know, I felt like I played all right this whole year. Obviously last week I missed the cut, but it sounds weird. I didn't feel like I played that bad last week and felt like I played decent all year. I just needed some low rounds to turn those 10th, 11th places into, you know, wins or, you know, Top 2, 3s, giving myself a better chance to win.

Q. It's been a change year that year, hasn't it? Because it's not -- it's probably been hard to put a finger on more than some years.
CHAD CAMPBELL: I felt like I've been playing great this year. I don't know. I don't know. Felt like I played good the end of last year and carried it over to this year. I missed a couple cuts, both of them by a shot. Overall, not too disappointed with the way the year is going.

Q. Was there anything you can point to in the last year, change you made that got you kind of back to playing Chad Campbell golf? Anything did you differently?
CHAD CAMPBELL: Not really. You know, last year I worked on my game really hard the whole year, and I think just at the end it started paying off. Now I'm still kind of seeing a little bit from that hard work. Golf is a weird game. Lot of times you don't get results as quick as you want them. You tend to get a little bit impatient. I think at the end of the year I stayed patient and, you know, good things happen.

Q. Can you put a percentage or any thoughts on obviously everybody who hasn't won wants to win an event. When you get down to a situation like here, whether it was here or New Orleans or whatever, last tournament before the Masters, how much does that add to what y'all are thinking, the people that aren't in the Masters or that hasn't won? Does that make sense to you?
CHAD CAMPBELL: Not really. Can you run that by me again?

Q. Help me out here. Hasn't -- if you're not in, does it make this tournament that much better, knowing you got a shot?
CHAD CAMPBELL: Absolutely. I think so. Was that kind what you were saying?

Q. Yeah. There's always the pressure to go out and win, but when you throw the Masters on top of it, whether it's Houston or whatever tournament is right before a tournament that you're going to get in if you win.
CHAD CAMPBELL: Right. Honestly, I think it would be a little bit more pressure if you haven't ever played in the Masters. I don't know -- I'm sure that makes sense a little bit, but not like -- that's the last thing I want to do is miss the Masters.
But, you know, like I said, you got to focus on what you're doing. I know people that haven't played in the Masters. I don't know if -- I know Charley hasn't. I'm not sure if Johnson has. I'm sure Bob has a few times, I would imagine.
You know, I think, you know, it might be in their heads a little bit more than mine. Obviously, I will be thinking about it, you know. You don't want to just totally block it out because, you know it's where you want to be next week. Does that kind of answer your question?

Q. How much tougher is it when you've had a lot of success like you did, then maybe had a little spell where you don't play as well? Is that tough to deal with? How did you deal with it? How do you get back to playing good again?
CHAD CAMPBELL: It's very tough. This year was the first year that I wasn't in either one of the World -- the Match Play and I had a lot of success the at the Match Play. Played pretty well there every year. It's not fun sitting out those weeks. We're talking about a little extra motivation to get back into those tournaments and get back into the Top 50 in the world. That's kind of where I'm looking right now. It's so important to be there now. It's qualification for everything.
So, you know, it's not fun being outside of it, especially when you know how good it is when you're inside of it.

Q. Do you think your dip was technique related or just the Tour is kind of a marathon, you kind of be lulled into complacency over the course of 25, 30 events?
CHAD CAMPBELL: I wish I had a good answer. I don't know. If I knew what it was, I would have stopped it a little bit earlier. But, you know, the only thing I knew to do was work harder at it. Maybe I did get a little bit lazy and complacent. Just keep working hard at it and hopefully good things will come.
DAVE SENKO: Everyone okay? Thanks Chad.

End of FastScripts

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