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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2008

Olin Browne

VERONA, NEW YORK

JOHN BUSH: We'd like it welcome Olin Browne into the interview here at The Turning Stone Resort Championship.
OLIN BROWNE: It is a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
JOHN BUSH: It's been quite a last few weeks for you, actually. Just get you to go ahead and give us some opening comments on the Ryder Cup experience, obviously serving as the assistant captain for the team.
OLIN BROWNE: Well, obviously it's as great honor to represent your country in any capacity, but certainly since I've be been in golf my adult career, a great honor and a great privilege.
To be part of the winning team on top of it all was really fantastic. Hard to put into words exactly what it felt like. I've been a fan of golf as well as a participant for a long, long time. To be on the site and experience the madness of the crowds and the general enthusiasm from everywhere, and to witness that great play up close, was certainly an extraordinary experience.
JOHN BUSH: All right. Get you to comment about this week. You missed the cut here last year.
OLIN BROWNE: Thank you for reminding of that.
JOHN BUSH: Yeah, sorry. But you did end on a good note, 2-under, 70 on the Friday. Just comment about the golf course and how it suits you and your plans for the week.
OLIN BROWNE: Well, it's a wonderful golf course. It's in beautiful condition every year. I would venture to say it's easily in the top two or three condition courses that we play all year.
Obviously the growing seen out her in central New York is conducive to that. Lots of rain and lots of sunshine. Whoever is in charge, the superintendent, whoever he is, or she, has done a magnificent job. Lots of grass. The greens are perfect.
It's a beautiful place, too. I mean, it's beautiful rolling countryside. Nice mature trees here and there and water hazards and so forth, so just a sensational place really.
JOHN BUSH: And the state of your game heading into the week?
OLIN BROWNE: I'm hoping to ride that Ryder Cup hysteria. Obviously I have some great memories from a couple weeks ago. I got to see the very best players in the world performing at the tops of their games under the most intense kind of pressure. And from both sides. There was extraordinary play on both sides of the ball.
Just looking forward to finally getting back into the swing of regular play this week.
JOHN BUSH: Questions?

Q. The first three days of the week here there are not a lot of big galleries, but fans come. They walk around. For you guys, and from what you think for the fans, what are those first three days about? What are they generally?
OLIN BROWNE: Well, for the players it's a little bit different than it is for the fans, obviously. The fans are coming out to see some players that they follow and they want to see some great golf. They're getting to see guys work on their games in preparation for the tournament.
Typically what happens in the days leading up to the event is guys go out and play a practice round and try to get a feel for the golf course and the grass, hit a lot of chips and putts, try and get a feel for what the greens are doing, the breaks, the speed and so on and so forth.
So they're really seeing guys trying to dissect the golf course as opposed to execute shots to certain flag locations, which they'll see Thursday through Sunday. It's all about preparation. I imagine you could draw a parallel between going to the racetrack and watching guys warm up their cars, get a feel for the track.
You know, preparation is different than the tournament. Nerves aren't frayed and everybody is a lot more relaxed. What we're all trying to do is just get a feel for what's going on.

Q. What did Paul Azinger tell you what that he wanted of you when he asked you to be assistant captain, and how much time and commitment did it require?
OLIN BROWNE: We didn't really discuss that in particular. He just invited me to be part it. The time and commitment was almost none the first year.
We discussed strategies and so forth, but we didn't do anything that we don't normally do anyway, playing practice rounds or having dinner.
As this year unfolded, really the first half of the year was just getting a feel for what was happening with the guys who were going to be the eight that qualified through the points list.
Nothing really started taking form until really the U.S. Open was over. Then we had two majors left, which had double points, and obviously the final stamp was the PGA Championship. So his 8 guys were set at that point.
Once that happened, you know, it was just a question of him figuring out who he wanted to be his other four guys. He had a really good idea which guys that was going to be. I think the four that he ended up picking were the four that were playing their best, like he said, all along. He had a number of guys in mind, and he let their play show him who was going to play on the team.

Q. Did he does ask for input?
OLIN BROWNE: Yeah, not input so much as more of a sounding board. You know, having played out here for however many years it is, I had the chance to play with a number of those guys during the course of the year.
Paul is a sharp guy. He doesn't need a whole a lot of help. Just maybe reinforcement or validate an idea or something like that.
But, you know, Raymond Floyd and Dave Stockton were integral in that process as well. Those guys have had a lot of experience and been around a long time. So I think we all contributed whatever we were asked at whatever moment.
If I felt like Paul was looking at a particular issue from an angle that wasn't going give him a clear view, then I'd voice my opinion on that. But he knows that that's what I was going to bring him, that I was going to give him my opinion regardless of the -- regardless of the issue. You know, he's going to make his decision on his own. He didn't need a whole a lot of help.
He was just asking for his friends to be clear and honest with him, and that's what he got with the three of us.

Q. You've been around for a while. What is your sense of how the players feel about the Fall Series? It's still relatively new.
OLIN BROWNE: I know any time you get a chance to play for $1,080,000 first place everybody is going to be real happy about that. It's great he to be here at this place.
The Fall Series is the seven tournaments that occur after the FedExCup. I think we all wish they were part of the FedExCup, but that's kind of not the way it's headed at this point.
I wish we had 52 tournaments during a 52-week schedule. I think it's great that the Fall Series exists. I've always played a pretty long and thorough schedule, and I would continue to do so. I'm hoping to play as much as I can this fall as well.

Q. What do you do Friday through Sunday of the Ryder Cup?
OLIN BROWNE: I didn't sleep much. I ate a lot. I drove around in a golf cart quite a bit. Friday through Sunday, you know, we had our guys that we were following. We were really Paul's eyes and ears. He's just one person and he couldn't be with every group all the time. He used to, you know, How are the guys playing? Are they loose? Are they relaxed? Do they need a pick-me-up? Do they need to be left alone to do their thing? Some of the guys he left alone and some of the guys he let play. Some of the guys he came out if they were, you know, tight or whatever he came out and loosened them up a bit.
Really what he had was 12 guys that were all playing at peaks of their games. The qualification process took care of that, plus the four picks. Paul's philosophy was -- he had a plan, and he put it into play, and he let the guys play. He didn't overcoach them or overanalyze the situation and he didn't overburden them with a bunch stuff.
I think ideally what he did is he recognizes that golfers are individuals, and he let them do their own things. What he did is he matched up guys who he thought would play well together, and then he turned them loose and let them play.
I think that's a mark of somebody that's got a lot of confidence in his plan. He had his plan and he let it go. He wasn't or coaching anybody, which I think -- you know, you can tend to micromanage a situation, which can get -- things can get out of hand when that happens.
I don't think there was any secret to what he did, other than he trusted the guys that he had on his team. He knew that they would do the job for him, and they proved him right.

Q. I read some columns that said without Tiger being there it's easier for team chemistry to exist and stuff like that. Do you think the Ryder Cup team is better without Tiger Woods?
OLIN BROWNE: I don't think any team is better without the best player on the planet, and probably arguably the bet player in history. I think certainly when his career is over he's going to have every significant record in golf. I think everybody missed having Tiger there, just like we missed having everybody there. We would have loved to have every guy on TOUR there cheering us on or playing or whatever.
But the 12 guys that showed up were the 12 guys that were on the team, and they got the job done.

Q. As a player, how did you treat that week? Did you game have to take a backseat? Was it like an off week?
OLIN BROWNE: Yeah, I practiced mentally a lot. I took my clubs up there for whatever reason. I don't know. Paul and I were planning on playing Saturday and Sunday up there, but the residue or remnants of Ike came through and just laid waste to the golf course.
We were having lunch with the PGA of America officers on Sunday, and we were going to go out and play Sunday afternoon. You know, 85, 90 mile-an-hour gusts at the golf course, so discretion was the better part of making a real mistake there.
So my clubs stayed in my travel case. I haven't touched a club really until two, three, or four days before I got here for a couple weeks. Probably going to be good for me.

Q. 2010, will you be the captain? Anybody?
OLIN BROWNE: Do I know who is the captain?

Q. If asked, would you?
OLIN BROWNE: Well, no. I won't have to worry about answering that question because I would never be asked. There's a pipeline. The PGA of America has their people in line, and I think they've got their guy pretty well in mind. He's going to go over to Wales and the other side is going to be ready. He's going to have a big job.
But I think, like I said, with this new selection process we'll get the hottest players on the course at that particular time, and I think that's going to certainly help our side.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the European team alter its selection format somewhat in response to that. Because they have a process, and I think it's similar to ours except they only have two picks instead of four. If you look at it, Paul's four picks were all within the top 18 or so of the guys overall. Just gave them a bit more flexibility.
JOHN BUSH: Olin, thank you.

End of FastScripts

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