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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC PRESENTED BY WAL-MARTNovember 6, 2008Robert GarrigusLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Robert Garrigus to the media room. He shot a -7 today on the Palm Course. Currently he is 141 on the Money List. Robert, if you'd just start out giving some general comments on your round today. I think you finished birdie, birdie. And just your thinking coming into the tournament. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Today's round was, you know, not textbook by any means, but it was very solid. I didn't play the par-5s as well as I usually do today. I think I played them 1-under -- or 2-under, and I had squabbled a couple chances there. I was in the front bunker on one of them and didn't get up-and-down and three-putted the other one for par. Today's round was solid. It could have been a little bit better, but I'll go work on that and we'll fix that tomorrow. To be 141 on the Money List, you really have to play well, so I'm going to go out there the next three days and know that I have to make, five, six, seven, eight birdies the next few days to try and get my card back, if not win. If I try to win and fall short, it's going to be close to the Top 5, so that's what I'm thinking about. MARK STEVENS: Okay. Questions. Q. You made an awful lot of cuts this year to be in your position. I guess just not finishing off on the weekends, or you haven't been able to shoot too many 71s and not enough 69s? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Well, yeah. The beginning part of the year killed me. Last year I started off the West Coast and made almost $600,000, and this year I made $13,000 in the first seven events, and pretty much the first half of the year was terrible. I didn't make hardly any cuts. I think I missed probably 13 out of my first 16 cuts this year, and then from then on, I think I've only missed one cut since the middle of the year, so I've been playing really well lately. I try not to think about the beginning of the year because it was just a disaster, but I've been making a lot of cuts, and just the Saturday rounds have been killing me this year. Like last week I shot -- what did I shoot? I shot 68 on Saturday and got me tied to 14th, and then Sunday I played bad, so it's been kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Garrigus I like to call it. It's been a hard year, but I'm still inside the top 150, so I know I'm going to have some playing privileges if I happen not to play well this week or happen not to play well at Q School, which never happens for me because I always think it's a seven-day vacation in December in Palm Springs, so I'll be fine there, but it's been a tough year. Q. What's been the difference between the beginning and this second half where you started to get it going? ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, confidence. I lost my confidence in Hawaii. I shot 67 the first day and then got affected by the MDF, the cut thing, and I didn't get to play the weekend and I shot three over. And that round affected me for three months. I have no idea why. I've never really been like that, but this year it seemed like -- we had a couple deaths in the family, on my wife's side, and just I wasn't motivated enough to start playing well again. And when everything turned around was the Buick this year. I shot 65 on Sunday at Warwick Hills. I didn't move very much up in the standings or on the Money List or anything like that, but that round got me going again, and ever since then I've been playing a lot better, hitting it better. And you know, it's golf. We get to play for a living, and there's ups and downs. It's crazy. Q. Were you one of those guys that got whacked by MDF that didn't really know it had been put on the books or were you aware that it was at least there? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Vaguely I knew what was going on, and I was tied for 66, and I'm like, well, maybe I'll make the cut. And then I'm like, wait a minute. I'm not going to make the cut because there's 87 guys that are going to make the cut. I got affected by that twice this year. I really didn't understand it. I like how they changed it to Saturday so you at least get a chance to shoot 64 or 65 or even a 69 just to play again. That's not the PGA TOUR's deal to cut somebody off on Friday and say, hey, you missed the cut. If they're going to do that, make it a solid 65 and make it a firm number. But I got affected by that early. I just don't know why it affected me so much, but it did. Q. I've heard you tell the story during rain delays. Could you indulge me one time and tell me the story about your former roommate who sold your rented car with the clubs in the trunk? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Oh, my gosh. Q. I know it was a long time ago and you were a different guy then, but I've never heard anything quite that bizarre. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Well, it was crazy. We were on our way from Knoxville, Tennessee, and that was back when I was doing all kinds of stupid stuff. And I was in Knoxville, Tennessee. I wanted to see my buddy in Lexington, Kentucky. And he had something for me, and my caddy said, I'm going to go get something to eat. And that was on Friday night. We missed the cut in Knoxville, so we get there Friday night. And I go see my buddy, and I had my buddy's car because he came and picked me up. It was one of my best friends, roommate in college and everything. So my caddy tells me he's going to be back that night. I'm like, all right. Whatever. That's fine. I just left my clubs and my clothes and my shoes and everything I owned in the car, and Friday night rolls around, I get home, I'm like, okay. He's not here. I figured he did something stupid. Q. You were at the hotel? ROBERT GARRIGUS: I was at the hotel, it was a Residence Inn. He didn't show up Friday night. Saturday rolls around; no caddy, no phone. I can't get ahold of him, been trying to call him for two days. Sunday night rolls around, still haven't heard from him. And Monday night at about 8:00 he finally calls me, and he's like, hey, I'm down at the police station. You might want to come pick me up. I'm like, what are you doing there? He's like, just come pick me up. And I get there, and sure enough, he's there, and I'm like, where's the car? He's like, I sold it. I'm like, you sold the rental car? And he's like, yeah, I got into some bad deals with some bad people, and I had to sell the rental car and all your clubs and your clothes. And I'm like, okay, you're fired, for one. Two, you're going home and I never want to talk to you again, you know. Q. Probably going to jail. ROBERT GARRIGUS: And I don't know what he was doing at the police station, but he had nothing to do with any, you know, anything illegal at the police station. He didn't get arrested, didn't do anything. So I sent him home, and I called my sponsors on Tuesday morning and had everything shipped from San Diego, clubs, bags, shoes, socks, underwear, shorts; everything. I had everything in my life was gone, as of then, you know. And had everything sent there, and I think I had the first and second round in Hershey with clubs I'd never seen. Q. Nationwide. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. Nationwide. I think back then it was buy.com. Q. It was like '03, '04? ROBERT GARRIGUS: I think it was '02 or '03. Yeah. That's a crazy story. I tell it to everybody just because it's hilarious, one, and two, people like to hear that kind of stuff. That was a long time ago, but it's still kind of funny today. I actually talked to the guy. He was one of my best friends. I'd known him for seven years. He just got into it with drugs and got in a bad spot and had to ditch everything. Q. Did he dig his way out? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yep. He's doing just as good as I am. He's working for a Waste Management company in Phoenix, and he's doing great now. Q. Lesson learned. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Absolutely. Q. You mentioned obviously you're well aware of where you stand on the Money List. How did you feel when you teed off this morning? Did you place any additional pressure on yourself or did it not remotely affect you? ROBERT GARRIGUS: I was too tired. It was 6:45. The sun hadn't even come up yet. I was sitting there trying to figure out how I was going to wake up before I even hit my shot. I kind of shook it off a little bit and hit birdie the first hole and hit it close on the second and made birdie, and that kind of got the day started, woke me up a little bit. And I really didn't put any pressure on myself today, nor am I going to the next three days because I can't afford to. You know, we've got a couple hundred, $300,000 to make, and that's not what I should be thinking about. I should think about winning the tournament. And if I do that, you know, if I can just stay calm and relax and just think about what I'm supposed to be thinking about, I'll be fine. Q. Your family here with you? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. My wife's here with me this week. We're staying at the Swan, going down to the Boardwalk and having fun every night, so it's been nice. Q. Could you just talk about the difference between trying to make the top 125 versus trying to make the top 150 which you mentioned earlier? That's really almost the more important of the two at this point. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. At the beginning of the fall series I was 173rd on the Money List, and I finished the very first event I took a month off. I didn't really think about golf a whole lot. It was the whole thing about the Playoffs, not making it. I just missed it by two strokes in Greensboro. I was playing really well. And I took a month off. I'm like, all right. I gotta go win or I have to finish way up there in a couple big money events, and I finished third in New York, which would have usually got me my card, except I was tied with seven people, and I only made 250, which is kind of funny to say, I made a quarter million dollars and I was upset. But yeah, I played well enough to win. I missed two short putts on the back side, and I played my heart out, and I finished third and I didn't make enough money to get my card. So I played the next couple weeks, I kind of had a wrist injury a little bit. I hit my club on a root in Mississippi the week after and I had to withdraw, and then it kind of flared up on me again in Texas. But being 150 that got me like to 136 or 137, and I've fallen a few spots since then, but fighting to get your 125 is pressure, but to not even have a job for the next year and knowing you have to go back to second stage, I think there's more pressure on that than there would be to get your full exempt card, because the guys that don't finish in the top 150, a lot of people don't know, that you're going back to second stage. You're playing the week after this tournament and then having to go through that and then third stage. So I think taking care of that first was nice, and now I can just go freewheel it and have some fun this week. Q. What's it like to have that FedExCup playoff time off? ROBERT GARRIGUS: The first week I didn't even want to watch golf, because I love to watch golf. Even when I'm not playing, I'll go home and I'll watch it. But the first playoff event I didn't even want to watch it because I was so upset. I missed it by a couple shots, probably $30,000, and last year I really -- I put the hammer down at the beginning of the year so I didn't have to do that, didn't have to miss a playoff. And then I finished ninth in the playoff in the first event and secured my card before the fall series even started. So last year was a little different. This year, you know, I mean it's going to happen to everybody. We all play golf for a living, and it was tough this year, but I'll learn from it and go on to next year and make sure that I don't do what I did at the beginning of the year. Q. Do you feel like that's an awkward time for everybody? Did you think it was kind of -- when folks not in the FedExCup playing at that time. What I'm thinking these other guys don't even have anywhere to play. ROBERT GARRIGUS: It's very awkward. I've never had a month off in my life, I don't think, with golf because I've always been to Q School. I've always played through the year. I've played 20 -- this is my 29th event and I had a month off. I mean and I've taken two and three weeks off here and there. It's really weird. For the top guys like Tiger, Vijay, Phil, they never have to worry about that stuff, but guys in our position that have to take a month off, maybe go play in a Nationwide Tour event and that -- it's not a step down. It's just like, whoa, it's kind of a reality check. And I just took a month off because I knew I needed to be ready and I didn't want to be worn out for the fall series, and it turned out to be okay. Q. Can I ask what second stage you signed up for? ROBERT GARRIGUS: I think it was Beaumont in California, and thank goodness I don't have to go there because the wind blows like 50 miles an hour there, and anything can happen. But it's funny because last time I had to go back to Q School I finished second at the same course. I already know every shot I have to hit if I have to go. I can see every hole in my head. I've played there 25 times. I've been to Q School so many times it's not funny. I don't really think of Q School as a grind. I just kind of go, and there's no cut. It's six days, and if I play well, I'll get through. I'm focused on this week, though. I'm looking forward to actually going fishing this afternoon at Disney Lake, and going to relax a little bit and go wake up and do it all over again tomorrow. MARK STEVENS: Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, Robert. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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