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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 3, 2008

Anthony Kim

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome our third round leader Anthony Kim to the media center here at the Wachovia Championship. Fantastic bogey-free 66 out there today. Jason Bohn just referred to it as Tiger-esque. Talk about your thoughts going into tonight and then into tomorrow.
ANTHONY KIM: I'm so excited I don't really know what to say right you now. I'm just glad I got this third round over with and hung in there and played a really solid round in the final pairing. I'm going to draw a lot off today and hopefully I can play a little bit better tomorrow.

Q. You've been waiting for this for a while, talking about it for a while. Do you feel like you're ready for it now?
ANTHONY KIM: I feel like I'm ready, but you never know. Every day is a new day, especially with this crazy game. I'm learning every day, like I said, and today was a great learning experience. To have the people behind me out here was pretty special, and I just love this golf course. Hopefully that means good things.

Q. How do you think you'll sleep on the lead tonight?
ANTHONY KIM: I think I'll sleep okay. I'm sure I'll be a little bit nervous tomorrow, but I think I'll sleep fine.

Q. What in particular did you learn today?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, one bad shot is not going to kill you; you've just got to get it up-and-down. I hit a couple squirrelly shots today, and on the 3rd hole I had an option to go for it from about 175 yards in the left rough, and the gap was about three yards wide, and my caddie told me not to do it, so I laid it out. I think even six months ago I would have tried to have gone for it. There's double or triple bogey written all over that. And fortunately I chipped out, saved par, and that kept my round going. So little things like that have added to some good play.

Q. What hole was that?
ANTHONY KIM: No. 3.

Q. How much of a change would you say your demeanor is compared to last year or six months ago?
ANTHONY KIM: I can't even tell you because golf was -- if I didn't hit a good shot, I felt like my life was over (laughter). It's hard to play golf that way. It's hard to do anything that way. I'm just having a lot of fun being out here. I love being on the PGA TOUR and living my dream. It's pretty special.

Q. You just looked really confident out there. Do you feel like you're on top of every part of your game at the moment?
ANTHONY KIM: You know, I think just -- I feel stronger mentally and feel like I've grown quite a bit in the last two weeks. I can draw off things that I did at the Verizon Heritage. It's all a big learning experience, but I feel like my game is starting to come around.

Q. I don't know that this helps you at all necessarily, but there's been a pretty healthy wave of 20-something-year-old guys winning this year. Do you draw anything from that? Did we ask you this the other day?
ANTHONY KIM: No, but it's nice to see those guys winning because it's doable, and hopefully I can keep that trend going and make my parents proud.

Q. Do you remember the last time you won a tournament? I'm presuming it would have been in college?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, it's not really a win in a big event, but I won second stage of Q-school last year, and before that it was in college. So it's been quite a while.

Q. That's not that long.
ANTHONY KIM: Over a year.

Q. In your life that would be a long chunk, when you're 22.
ANTHONY KIM: You know, I feel like I was used to winning a lot, and having come out here my first year and not having won, that was the best thing for me. I felt like it was a great learning experience. If I won, I think there's a chance that I wouldn't have practiced as hard as I am now and have been as focused. I feel like I'm very focused out there, and hopefully I can keep that up.

Q. A lot of times in college you're not playing with -- the leaders aren't paired together. You get done and go, oh, I won. How many events that you've won in amateur golf were events where you were paired with the leaders and played the last day or whatever?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, I only played I think three tournaments every summer in their schedule. A lot of my friends played nine or ten. I played the U.S. Am, the U.S. Pub Links and the Northeast Am. I was in the final group there I think it was in '04.

Q. The Northeast?
ANTHONY KIM: The Northeast Am, and I won in a playoff there, but other than that, there haven't been too many opportunities to play in the last group, especially in amateur golf.

Q. Just curious, was there a reason you didn't play that much amateur? Did you just want to pace yourself?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, it gets really expensive to play out there, and you don't exactly win prize money.

Q. AJGA, you've got to get on a plane.
ANTHONY KIM: Right, so it's hard when you're not really asking your parents for money and you're trying to find ways to do it yourself. It was a little bit difficult, but it's worked out great now.

Q. Jason said you made several six-, eight-, ten-footers for par. Were there one or two that sort of saved it for you?
ANTHONY KIM: I think my best putt today was No. 15, the par-5, where I missed the three-footer or four-footer and had four and a half feet coming back up the hill. I think that really -- hanging in there and making that putt and sticking it out made it easier for me on 16, 17 and 18. I made a ten-footer on 16, a 12-footer on 17, and obviously an eight-footer on 18. But I felt like there was a chance I'd let that one get away and made it right in the middle, so it really helped me finish the round.
STEWART MOORE: Can we quickly go through your six birdies?
ANTHONY KIM: On 1, I hit it five feet right of the flag and made that, pitching wedge.
5, I hit two 3-woods and wedged it up there to about ten feet and made that for birdie.
No. 7, hit it left of the green in two with a driver, 2-iron and chipped up there, made a 15-footer.
No. 9, hit it up there about 12 feet behind the hole with a wedge and made that one.
14, I hit 2-iron off the tee and hit a good 50-yard shot in there and made a six-footer for birdie.
And on 18, hit driver, pitching wedge to seven feet and made that for birdie.

Q. Do you feel like today kind of was a dry run for tomorrow? You're in the last group, all the attention, the cameras out there? It's kind of going to be the same tomorrow. Could today possibly have been a help?
ANTHONY KIM: It was absolutely a help, knowing that that's what's going to be out there tomorrow. Playing in that final group of Verizon was a great learning experience. I'll draw off that. I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to be playing the final round.

Q. Do you have a big entourage this week?
ANTHONY KIM: I'm actually here by myself this week. Usually I have a couple friends come with me or my coach or somebody, but I'm out here by myself and I'm having a good time.

Q. Nobody is going to fly in at the last minute?
ANTHONY KIM: I hope not (laughter).

Q. What will you do tonight?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, I actually have dinner plans. I met some people here last year. Mr. Keith, who's the starter, him and his father I think are having a dinner, or him and his son, so I think I'm going to go over there and have a bite and just try to relax.
STEWART MOORE: Anthony, thanks so much. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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