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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY MORGAN STANLEY

May 28, 2008

Ryuji Imada

DUBLIN, OHIO

LAURA NEAL: Ryuji, thanks for joining us here in the media center. Congrats. Still fresh off the win. Gives you a lot of confidence going into this week I would think.
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, definitely. It was a busy week last week. I didn't really get the practice that I needed, but I still feel good. Game's still in good shape. And I'd love to do the same thing I did a couple weeks ago.
LAURA NEAL: Questions?

Q. Is relief part of the sentiment?
RYUJI IMADA: Definitely. I'm relieved, but yeah, it's -- it's definitely a relief to get a win. I've always wanted to win on the PGA TOUR. It's taken me quite a long time. But I'm more happy to win than leave, I think.

Q. You've exceeded some of your results from 2007 in the first five and a half months of 2008. Is there something specific in your game where there was a light switch and things turned and suddenly you started to see this progress that has catapulted you to this next level and a winner on the PGA TOUR?
RYUJI IMADA: I think being comfortable has a lot to do with me. It's the fourth year I've been on the PGA TOUR. And I feel a lot more comfortable out here. I know the guys well. It doesn't affect me as much as it used to playing against or playing with bigger names that I grew up watching. And also getting used to the PGA TOUR. I was playing on the PGA TOUR and playing in front of a lot of people.

Q. What is the hardest to adjust to? Was it big-name players? Was it the courses, just knowing the courses? When you say it took four years to adjust, is there one thing, can you put them in order?
RYUJI IMADA: Oh, I think playing on the PGA TOUR was the biggest to get used to. Playing in front of big crowds. Being -- seeing my name on the leaderboard. And knowing the golf courses helped a lot too.
I guess playing with the big names would be the third, I guess.

Q. You took care of that Masters thing for next year, didn't you?
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, as long as they don't change the rules.
(Laughter.)
But, yeah, that's been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid. And I came over here thinking that I want to play in the Masters some day. And to have that dream come true is really an unbelievable feeling.

Q. Do you ever slide over there from Athens and watch at all? I may have asked you that before?
RYUJI IMADA: I have. I've watched a few times and we used to go there once a year as a team and play. So I've been there three times. But the course has changed quite a bit since then.

Q. You talked about familiarity. When you come back to this course for a second go-around and get another look at it, do you feel that gives you more confidence as you head into the first round and you go through this tournament?
RYUJI IMADA: Definitely. I mean, knowing the golf course helps quite a bit. But also has a lot to do with how you're playing at that time. And I'm playing pretty good right now. So that definitely gives me more confidence. So not so much knowing the golf course, but just being more confident within yourself, I think.

Q. Did you get much love back in Japan after winning? Are you aware of it?
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, it's been a busy week for me. Especially from Japan and over here. A lot of media obligations. Things like that. People calling me from Japan and America. I had to return a lot of calls.
Yeah, it's -- I saw a friend of mine sent me a few newspapers from Japan and I was on the front page on a lot of them. So, yeah, I got a lot of love.

Q. They haven't forgotten about you, you've been over here so long. I was wondering.
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah.
(Laughter.)

Q. How is the -- I heard the rough's pretty brutal out there.
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, it is. The rough is really thick and there's -- it's standing up, standing straight up. So if you get in there, I don't know that if you could hit more than 150, 160 yards. I think it's a good preparation for the U.S. Open.

Q. I didn't look at what this did for your world rankings. Are you in the U.S. Open, the PGA, the British, all that or do you still have to go for qualifying Monday?
RYUJI IMADA: I am in the U.S. Open through the Money List, I think. And the British is? Top 3 in the Top-20 that aren't exempt already. And then the PGA is off of last year and this year's Money List combined, I guess, through PGA to PGA. So I'm in that. So, yeah.

Q. You're in the next four for sure?
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, the next four, Grand Slam.
(Laughter.)

Q. How many Majors have you played in to date? I think you had gone through a U.S. Open qualifying before and all that stuff.
RYUJI IMADA: I have played in I think five Majors. Four being the U.S. Open, I think.

Q. So that's still kind of a fresh and fun thing?
RYUJI IMADA: Definitely. It's fun to go out to the Majors and I have had a little, a couple of good years at the U.S. Open. I finished in the top 15 twice. So the U.S. Open golf kind of suits my game because not many guys are going to be able to hit the fairways. And my weakest point probably is off the tee driving in the fairway. So that kind of puts everybody in the same field. And my biggest asset is probably short game. So that helps at the U.S. Open sites where you are going to be missing a lot of greens. And in tough spots.

Q. Kind of an equalizer?
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah.

Q. Are you in the Top-10 in Japan sports celebrities would you say?
RYUJI IMADA: I don't think so.

Q. Top-20?
RYUJI IMADA: Well, I don't know. Might want to ask these two right here (indicating).
(Laughter.)
These two could probably answer better.

Q. How about golf?
RYUJI IMADA: I don't know. It's really not for me to decide. I haven't been back in Japan since my win, so I don't know what it's like over there in Japan. The thing is I haven't played in Japan for a long time. I play there once or twice a year, but I haven't really done anything over there, so people really don't know me.

Q. You're bigger than Tiger though, right?
RYUJI IMADA: Oh, definitely.
(Laughter.)
No.

Q. I know the ground and coming over and the academy and all that, but there have been a few Japanese players who have done the college thing in the United States, at least none are springing to mind. Did you consider turning pro and heading back over and maybe starting out on one of the Asian tours or something like that? Was that a consideration or was it college all the way?
RYUJI IMADA: No, I didn't think about turning pro after high school. I was playing really well at that time and I had won a few big-name TOUR events, plus the Junior events. And I did think about it, but people around me didn't think it was a good idea for me to turn pro at 18. You still have to mature and be able to take care of yourself and they didn't think it was the right time for me to do that yet. So I actually took a couple of years off after high school, not really doing anything, and when I went to college it probably was the best thing for me. And I would probably do it again -- I would probably go straight to college if I had to do it again. It's just that I think the people have to mature and I finally turned pro at 22 and I still have a hard time traveling myself and getting a rental car and finding a hotel. I don't think I could have done that when I was 18. So I think it was the right move for me to go to college.

Q. Have there been any other Japanese guys that have played college golf over here successfully that I'm blanking out on here?
RYUJI IMADA: I know a few. There's one guy in particular that's playing over in Japan. But I didn't -- I didn't think about going back to Japan and playing over there. My goal and dream was to play over here U.S. and on the PGA TOUR. So I was going to stick to that.

Q. What did you do those two years, just play golf and practice? Get a job?
RYUJI IMADA: No. Really, I played some amateur golf. I was kind of lost. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to turn pro, didn't think I was going to go to college. I didn't really have that many tournaments to play in. So I went back home a few months, I didn't touch a club, I just kind of lost -- I had no goal. I was kind of didn't know what I should do. So that was two years of a waste of time.

Q. I guess what prompted you to go the direction of heading to UGA was Chris, the coach then?
RYUJI IMADA: Yes.

Q. Was he the guy who reached out to you or however that worked?
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, he reached out to me. He asked if I was going to go to college and I have known him since I was 14 years old from AJGA.

Q. He worked for them for awhile.
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah. So I know -- I knew that he was a great guy, a good coach. And I took a visit once and it was just a no-brainer. They had such a great facility, great school. I loved it from the beginning.

Q. Won a title the first year?
RYUJI IMADA: Second year.

Q. Couple years ago the treatment of the traps caused a bit of a ruckus with leaving out one or two of the teeth of the rake, do you find that to be difficult and are any of the other courses that you're aware of on any of the tours treated in this fashion with regards to the hazards?
RYUJI IMADA: I don't know that any other golf courses do that. But as long as we play on the same field, same bunkers, I don't think that -- I don't know -- I don't have a problem with that. But it comes -- it become -- I think luck gets involved a little more when this, when the teeth raking, I guess whatever you call this.

Q. It's unusual.
RYUJI IMADA: Yeah. Sometimes you'll get a good lie, sometimes it will be sitting right in the crease. And it's going to depend on who is going to rake the bunkers. Some will be deep; some will be kind of shallow. So it will be interesting to see. I didn't get to play three years ago, so.
LAURA NEAL: Ruyji, thank you so much for your time.
RYUJI IMADA: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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