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FBR OPEN

January 31, 2009

Ted Purdy

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome Ted Purdy to the interview room. If you'd start out giving some general comments about your round today in front of your home crowd and then we'll open it up to questions.
TED PURDY: Yeah, just first of all, I'm grateful to be here because John Felix gave me an exemption, and the Thunderbirds. My number wouldn't have been in from Q-school category, so it was nice of Mr. Felix to give me a spot in the event. I'm just grateful to be here, for one.
And two, I hit the ball well, I putted well, and I hit it about six inches on 16, so there you go.

Q. Nine inches according to ShotLink.
TED PURDY: Okay, nine inches.

Q. What was the reaction at 16?
TED PURDY: Oh, the crowd was just great. They went crazy, yeah.

Q. Did the ball just come up short of the cup or did it go past it?
TED PURDY: Well, it was a full sand wedge, so I would imagine it would have sucked back a little bit. It probably had a pretty good chance of going in because it ended up on the front.

Q. How bad did you slice your fingers up last year?
TED PURDY: I cut it pretty bad last year. In April last year I was cutting an avocado, and I went to go stab the nut out and it glanced off the nut and went into my left index finger, and it cut the tendon, or it nicked the tendon, cut it in half. It didn't cut it all the way through, but it cut it so the finger wouldn't close because the tendon was getting caught on the sheathing, and it was also the size of my thumb. It was swollen.
I went to a couple hand specialists, and they wanted to do surgery. I was playing on a -- I just thought I'd play out the year, see how I did. I didn't play very well. I had to switch my grip to an interlocked grip from an overlapped grip, and I had no idea where the ball was going.
And then I went to another hand specialist here in town, and he said, well, the last thing I want to do is surgery, and he gave me a cortisone shot, and the inflammation went away, and I was able to bend the finger again. That was in October, right before the last couple tournaments in October, and I played well in Disney, and then obviously made it through first and second stage after my hand completely closed again, my finger would close again. It's still not ever going to be the same, but I can play golf again.

Q. Are you back to your old grip now?
TED PURDY: Yeah, back to my old grip. There's no inflammation, no pain.

Q. No nerve damage at all?
TED PURDY: No nerve damage, just cut the tendon, nicked the tendon.

Q. The end result is you ended up going back to Q-school for the second time.
TED PURDY: Yeah, or about the ninth time, I think (laughing). Yeah, I was just fortunate. I made a 12-footer on the last hole, the 108th hole of the final stage, to be sitting here right now. When I make that putt tomorrow to win the Phoenix Open, that won't be the biggest putt I've ever made, it'll be the one I made in December, because without that putt in December I wouldn't be here today.

Q. You called it the Phoenix Open --
TED PURDY: FBR Open.

Q. FBR Open, but is it hard to break an old habit?
TED PURDY: Yes, it is (laughing). FBR, I apologize. But the FBR has been a great sponsor. The Thunderbirds have been lucky to have them, and hopefully more years to continue the FBR Open.

Q. Do you feel any added pressure playing here?
TED PURDY: Yeah, there is a lot of -- yeah, there is a lot of added pressure. A lot of local guys have a tough time making the cut.
But then on the other hand a lot of local guys end up playing very well because of the support. I think you get either-or. Like Phil always plays well, or has in the past; Jonathan Kaye has won here; Billy was in a playoff a couple years ago. The fan support, especially when they're rooting for you -- it's kind of how Tiger feels every week (laughter). But they really do root for the local guys here.

Q. Would you say today's round is the best round since the finger injury happened?
TED PURDY: Yeah, I had a couple good rounds at Tour school that you couldn't discount, but yeah, this was probably my best round.

Q. Where was your game when you injured your finger? It seemed like you were struggling before that.
TED PURDY: I was struggling anyway. The finger was not the reason I was playing bad. In fact, when Tiger won the U.S. Open with his broken leg, I went, "I can play with a stupid fat finger." If he can play with a broken leg I'm going to play with a swollen finger.
But my game had not been very good for a while.

Q. What was happening with your game? What was going on?
TED PURDY: A combination of things. I read a book -- Bob Rotella wrote a book called The 15th Club, and he talks about a pro -- this is what kind of turned me, as well. He talks about a pro after they win on the TOUR. They try to get better, and I tried to get better, and I went to new coaches and I tried to do new things, tried to do new putting. I tried this new putting system, and I was 191st in putting last year.
I went out this year and basically in October I decided that I would -- I got my finger fixed, for one. I went and saw Zach Johnson's putting coach, Pat O'Brien, and he changed my stance, my posture, my alignment, the length of my putter. He changed everything. I had a pretty good -- I had a lot of work to do with the putter, but now I'm putting just fabulously. I've never putted this well in my life. That was key number one.
My goal has always been to be one of the premier players in the world. That's my goal. And to get to where I needed to be, I wasn't getting there with what I had. That's why I tried to change.
But I'm grateful for everything that I learned to get me to where I am today. Hopefully there's more meetings like this in the future.

Q. After you won were you tinkering with your full swing, as well, or just your putting?
TED PURDY: Yeah, before you win, you're just like, why am I not Top 5 in the world? Why can't this happen every day? And what I found out is it's more of a mental mindset when you win than a physical mindset, than a physical, technical game. I went to see Dr. Bob Rotella after reading his book, and he's changed my career, I think, in the long run, as well.
For example, it is important for me to play well here because I'm in front of all my fans, my friends and family, and Rotella, his main point to me was to downplay the situation, downplay the importance of the five-foot putt, downplay the importance of the drive, downplay the importance of your career. It's really not that important, so just relax and hit it and try to go out there and play unconscious golf. That's the goal.
I had been trying to get to that top level. Padraig, they asked him -- I remember watching the interview after Padraig made that putt on Sergio at the PGA, and they were like, "Well, what were you thinking about," in the press, "over that putt?" Padraig said, "I didn't have a single thought. I had nothing in my head." And that's where you need to get to become the greatest. That's where Tiger is. That's where these great athletes are in any sport.

Q. You would think when you won on the TOUR, it should be a tremendous confidence boost and not cause uncertainties.
TED PURDY: That's exactly right. It's strange. But it happens to a lot of guys. I'm not the only one that it's happened to. We get so out of playing the game of golf, out of how you play well, and you play well when you're shooting a if the or Jordan is shooting a if the or a jump shot, he's not thinking about his technique or thinking about anything, he's just doing it. Or an archer, he doesn't think about technique. Every sport you kind of have to get out of your way. You're exactly right; it should give you confidence and allow you to trust more, but I'm not the only one that fell into that trap.

Q. Do you still have a female swing coach?
TED PURDY: I do, Pam Barnett here in town.

Q. That's kind of unusual.
TED PURDY: Yeah, Pam Barnett, she was a player herself, and that's what I've also learned, is if you're going to go see a teacher, go see somebody that has done it, either that has a great record as a teacher or has a great record as a player. Manuel de la Torre up in Milwaukee has been one of my coaches. I'm going to go see Toski; I can't wait to go see Toski when we're on the Florida Swing. I've kind of made a mission, if I'm going to go see a teacher, I'm going to go see somebody that's been there and done that and go learn that way.
Bob Rotella has obviously had tremendous success, so I went and saw Bob, and I think it's paying off. I played well in Hawai'i last week. I felt like I played well. The score or the end result wasn't great, but I played well and I was happy with the way my game was headed. I was excited about coming this week, and I'm excited about the rest of the year.

Q. You get to 16 tomorrow, you're going to be waving flags?
TED PURDY: Who knows. It got me loose today, so maybe I'll do it again. And that's the whole point; it's just a golf tournament. It's not that big a deal. As long as I have that attitude, I think I'll be fine.

Q. How would you assess your career since you won in I think 2005 was it?
TED PURDY: Yeah, 2005. It hasn't been anything to talk about. Yeah, 2005 I finished 20-something on the Money List and was doing great. I think my high World Ranking is 64 in the world. I want to try to get better.

Q. What is it now?
TED PURDY: Like 500-something (laughing).

Q. Having made that long putt in Q-school and playing well here, have you reassessed your goals for where you're at right now?
TED PURDY: Well, yeah.

Q. What are they?
TED PURDY: You know, I'd be lying to you if I didn't dream as a kid of winning this golf tournament and wanting to win this golf tournament. I got asked the same question in the media a couple days ago, and I said -- the question was, "What would be your ideal year?" And I said "The Phoenix Open backed up with a major."
This environment is a major environment. With this many people and the amount of energy that's out there, it's got a very similar feel to a major championship. I think historically people that win here have gone on to win majors, and I think it's because of the atmosphere. I mean, this is identical to a major championship with the parking issues, and the -- it's hard to get to the range, it's hard to get around. At a major championship it's got the same exact feel.

Q. You were talking about playing on an exemption for this week. Talk about that process of going through that each week. Does it wear you down a little bit, or what's that like?
TED PURDY: Yeah, well, I've been there before, so I know the program. In the Tour school category, I know I'm going to play enough tournaments, so if I don't get in a tournament, it's not going to break my heart because I know I'm going to play plenty in the future. You know, the average Tour school guy plays in 28 to 30 events.
As a rookie, you get a little more concerned about it because you don't know that you're going to play a lot, and it's a grind, and by the end of the year you're ready to take some time off. But for me because I've been there and done that, when I didn't get into Bob Hope, I didn't care. It was just, oh, well. I wrote for an exemption and didn't get one.

Q. But it seems like there's a bigger pool now writing those letters trying to get a spot.
TED PURDY: I think it's probably been the same, same pool, same guys. We try to fight for the same -- same category of guys trying to fight for the exemptions. Yeah, we're going to play -- in my category I'm going to play enough. If I play well this week and I make money, I'm going to play in anything I want, and I'm going to be taking weeks off because I choose to.
We're right behind the 125 from last year, so we've got plenty of -- starting at Wachovia, late spring, early summer, the fields go to 156. The field here is 132, I believe. So the bigger fields allows most of the Tour school guys to get in.

Q. In terms of going out tomorrow, looks like you might be three or four shots back. You've obviously won before. You can draw on that, I think. Can you kind of give me your mindset for tomorrow? Is it just go out and do more of the same?
TED PURDY: Yeah, I'm just going to try to be as relaxed and trusting on every shot and downplay every situation that I'm in. That's the goal. My plan is to go out there and act like it's not that big a deal.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Ted, for being here, and good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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