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THE BARCLAYS

August 20, 2008

Anthony Kim

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY

LAURA HILL: Anthony, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to The Barclays. You are obviously top of the list and a favorite for the FedExCup championship. Can you talk about being here and kicking off the Playoffs?
ANTHONY KIM: Yeah, I'm excited to to be here and looking forward to playing some better golf. There's some improvements I can make in my golf scores and hopefully in the FedExCup it will show up.
I played the course on Monday and the course was a lot softer and even today in the morning it was a lot firmer and the greens were getting a little bit faster. The course is in great shape. I think probably the best shape we've played all year, and looking forward to a great tournament.

Q. A lot of people have been comparing you to Tiger Woods, and they think you are the next big thing in golf. Does it get intimidating to have such expectations?
ANTHONY KIM: You know, I've been asked that question quite a few times, but I can't think of it like that. He won seven times by the time he was 23 years old, won the Masters, won so many tournaments.
I've only won two tournaments and really I haven't done enough to get that comparison. Hopefully one day I can play good enough where people can say, hey, he played some good golf and there was a reason to compare him to Tiger.
As of now, there really isn't a comparison; he's done so much more than I have.

Q. You've done a great job this year; what was the main difference between last year's Anthony Kim and this year's Anthony Kim?
ANTHONY KIM: There's so many things. I don't really know where to start. I practice a lot more. I'm more focused when I come to tournaments. I think I did a lot of growing up this off-season. I was going out every night last year and living the life of a professional athlete and not focusing on my craft, and my job is to play golf. I think I'm a lot more focused and I have great people around me. I've built a great support team, and obviously with some of their help, I've been able to improve my game and my life.

Q. I wanted to talk a little about the fifth hole, your impressions of it, and rumor is you plan to go for it every day; is that true?
ANTHONY KIM: The what hole?

Q. The fifth hole, the drivable par 4, or the quote, drivable, par 4.
ANTHONY KIM: For some reason it seems like that's the perfect driver distance for me. It plays 18 yards up the hill, according to the Bushnell Range Finder that my caddie just bought me. I think it's like 299 or 289, something like that, to the front, and it's a shot that requires a cut off the tee if you're going to hold that green, and that's what I hit.
I don't see why I should lay back and let the birdie come to me when I can go chase that thing down.

Q. In practice rounds did you get it pin-high?
ANTHONY KIM: I hit three balls yesterday and one of them went about eight feet and another one went about ten feet, and another one was about 30 feet away. So I hit the surface every time, and obviously the pins might be to where I can't hit driver if the pin is in the front, I probably will lay up and probably try to suck something back off the middle of the green and play safe that way.
But if the pin is in the back, I'm probably going to hit driver there every day.

Q. Talking about how last year was your first year as a professional athlete, golf-wise, how much more prepared are you this year for the FedExCup and this kind of run, and really where you are right now, one of the top 5 in the standings?
ANTHONY KIM: I can't even tell you what I felt like last year. All of that was a blur, being 21, turning 22 in the summer last year, it was just a point in my life where I really didn't care about golf. You know, everything else came before golf.
Now, obviously that's not the case anymore. I feel very refreshed. I'm very motivated. I'm looking at this house in Dallas, Texas, right now that I may be can't afford, so I need a good FedExCup, and I'm putting some pressure on myself to go get that house.

Q. You've talked over the last few months about how much you've grown up in the past year and how much you've matured. Have other 20-something players come up to you and said they are looking at you as a role model?
ANTHONY KIM: I don't think anyone has come up to me that way, but there's been quite a few people that have come up and asked me what I did to change and why my game has improved so much, and what it takes to win a golf tournament.
Everybody out here has so much talent, that there are just little things that you have to change. And it's not the same for everybody, just because you're 22 years old or 25 years old. But there has been a couple of people that come up to me, and I tell them what I think.

Q. You mentioned that you were working on certain aspects of your game, but it had not shown up in your score yet. Can you sort of talk about what you've been working on?
ANTHONY KIM: My putting, the ball has not been going in the hole for me. The British Open, I think I was first or tied for first in greens in regulation, and finished seventh or eighth in the event. Obviously the ball had not been going in the hole, but I've been working on my putting pretty hard, and I'm feeling like the ball is starting to go in the hole for me.
That's the biggest difference from winning a tournament like Wachovia or AT&T to losing a tournament like the British Open or the Canadian Open.

My short game has been turning around and I'm working on it and hopefully it will show in the next couple of weeks.

Q. Beside how you've been golfing your ball, you're also known for your style on the course; can we expect any sartorial surprises in the next week or in the Ryder Cup?
ANTHONY KIM: You know, I don't want to promise anything and then let you guys down, so I'm just going to say it's going to be -- it's going to be like every other tournament, every other day, but you never know.

Q. Ordered any new belts?
ANTHONY KIM: I haven't ordered any new belts, but I heard that Nike is making me a couple belt buckles, so I'm pretty excited to see those.

Q. Where are the FedExCup Playoffs on your radar as far as importance and where do you stack it up against everything else during the year?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, I guess this is as close as we are going to come to an NBA Playoffs or NFL playoffs, and that's what I'm looking forward to watching. I'm not a huge baseball fan but when it comes on, the playoffs, I watch. For us, this is what it comes down to.
You don't play golf for the money, but when you hear $10 million on the other side, you kind of think about that and what a nice gift that would be, and maybe I can buy this house that I want if I get there. So that's a pretty big focus of mine.

Q. How jazzed do you get knowing that the field is awfully strong?
ANTHONY KIM: It's awesome. This is the reason you play is to play against the best players in the world. Every one of us is lucky to be here on the PGA TOUR, and we get treated so well everywhere we go. You can't ask for more from a TOUR's perspective.
As a player, I feel very, very fortunate to be in this situation and have a chance to win this FedExCup.

Q. What is your feeling about golf as an Olympic sport, and also, if you're a small country that's trying to field a program from scratch, do you think you would have a chance of fielding some competitive players in eight years?
ANTHONY KIM: You know, I think it would be great for the game. I was eating at a restaurant a couple of days ago and the guy asked me how I was going to do, and I had no idea what he was talking about, and he was talking about the Olympics and he thought golf was there already, and he was pretty surprised it wasn't, because tennis is there, every sport is there. I guess tennis is the closest thing to golf that people see.
I think it would be great for the game. I don't know enough about how many countries would be able to play and what kind of teams they would bring, but I think it would be great for the game and I think it would grow the game tremendously.
So hopefully that will all come true and I'll be able to be a part of it one day.

Q. Back to the course. Holes 1, 2, 4 and 6, right off the bat, the best birdie opportunities and a lot of the other holes are tough and greens are left-to-right. Where else on the course besides 1, 2, 4 and 6 are other opportunities for players this week as well?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, if you hit the ball in the fairway, every hole is a birdie hole. Obviously 1, I hit a drive, was it yesterday, I played nine holes yesterday and I hit it five yards right of where I was looking and the wind caught it and hit the tree and I was right behind the tree. So even though it's a driver, chip, if you don't hit the ball in the fairway, it's going to be tough.
They have made the rough so it kind of grows into you, and so I had 170 to carry the rough on I think hole number -- the par 5 on the back, and I didn't get it over from the intermediate rough. The rough is pretty penal out here. You can get lucky, but the greens are perfect, so I don't see where there isn't too many birdie opportunities.

Q. I know you said earlier that the comparisons to Tiger might be a bit premature, but the sport has been looking for his defining rival for quite a long time. How much is that part of your motivation to be that defining rival when he returns healthy?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, I mean, I'd give my left arm to be that guy. It comes with winning tournaments and playing good golf. I mean, really, there's not anymore I can say, but I need to win golf tournaments.
LAURA HILL: Anthony, thank you for coming in and good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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