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TRANSITIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 18, 2009

Nick Watney

PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA

MARK WILLIAMS: Nick, welcome to the Transitions Championship media room and thanks for coming in. You've seen the golf course yesterday a little bit, just your thoughts on the golf course and what it's like, different from last year, perhaps.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I think at this point the golf course is in really great shape, very lush this year. For some reason, I know last year it was overseed, but for some reason I remember some tournament being really fast and maybe dormant. But the golf course looks great and I'm excited about playing.
MARK WILLIAMS: Your normal has obviously been really good this year with a win and a second already, and a lot of sub-par rounds. Just talk about last Sunday being in the mix and Phil what that what was like.
NICK WATNEY: It was great. It was exactly where I wanted to be starting the TOUR. I think I'm very pleased with the way I played. Obviously I had a few hiccups, but overall very, very happy and looking forward to hopefully getting back in the heat this week.

Q. What's the most important thing you learned last weekend?
NICK WATNEY: I think the way that -- watching Phil end up winning the golf tournament, I was impressed with the way, either when he hit a poor shot or a bogey, the very next shot, he was right back into focusing. It didn't stay with him and never let it linger too long. I think that's one mistake that I've made for quite some time is kind of getting overly frustrated and having it affect another shot. I was impressed with how in the present he stayed.

Q. What's your schedule the rest of the way through Augusta?
NICK WATNEY: I'm going to play next week at Bay Hill, skip Houston and going to Augusta.

Q. How many majors have you played so far? I should have looked that up; I apologize.
NICK WATNEY: I'm not sure, maybe six.

Q. Still kind of a new thing and exciting thing for you?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, very exciting. I'm having not a hard time but I'm definitely looking towards Augusta. I love that course and just the whole feel, and the tournament is different than pretty much any one that we play. So, I'm excited about it.

Q. When you win early in the year like you did, do you have to set a new goal, because some guys say a good year is winning one tournament, but when you win in January, you have to re assess your whole goal structure for the year.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, definitely. That was definitely a goal coming into the year was to get into the winner's circle, and I think that I liked it so much, I would love to do it again.
Yeah, I think not necessarily changing; just adding to it and kind of -- I've played six tournaments now. So maybe examine my strengths and weaknesses, see where I could try to improve, and, yeah, hopefully get back in the winner's circle.

Q. Do you feel different about yourself more in here when you know you beat all but one guy in the Top-50 in the World Rankings last week, and he beat you by a quarter-inch?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I think it's a great feeling. To me it's very motivating just to have worked, practiced a lot over the winter and kind of not dreamed about it but imagined myself in that situation. It was funner than I could have imagined, and I'm really -- I think in Augusta, it would be even better. So I know that's a ways off, but I'm really looking forward to the future and definitely motivated after last week.

Q. Looking at last week and Torrey Pines, two courses, tough setups, a lot of great winners at those venues; looking at the major championship schedule, do you feel like your game translates well to difficult tracks like Augusta, Bethpage?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I think last week, quite a bit under par, I like when par is good. Obviously last year at Augusta and obviously the U.S. Open every year, pars are always good.

Q. You'll love it here, too. Winning score here was like 8-under.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, this place is definitely tough, especially if the wind blows.
Yeah, I think I enjoy the challenge, and especially when sometimes at the Hope, if you make a bogey, it feels like a double, because everybody is shooting so low. We are going to make mistakes, and I enjoy a golf course when par is good.

Q. What will it take to win this week? Is it more of a course that you can overpower or is it more about shot-making?
NICK WATNEY: I don't think you can overpower this golf course. It's tough to say what it will take to win, because I think a lot depends on the weather; if it stays dry and gets windy, I think Steve said 8 or 9 -- 4-under won last year and I think he won by two or three shots. I'm pretty sure last year was fast and firm and the wind blew.
So it was very difficult. And then I think K.J. shot double-digits, so it's tough to say what it will take. It all kind of depends on the weather.

Q. I think I know the answer to this, because I saw you playing ping-pong for an hour and a half, but have you had any emotional peak and crash since last week? Doesn't seem to be any hangover from all of the energy that you expended. Are you ready to roll?
NICK WATNEY: I think so. I think last week was 99 percent positive, and that one percent kind of left a bad taste in me. From Thursday to Sunday, felt like it was a really long week, and to come up one shot short or half an inch short was a little bit bittersweet to be honest.
I was very pleased with a lot of things, but to lose was kind of not as fun as winning, obviously. I mean, I think one of the things that I admire so much about Tiger is that he's ready every single week and you never hear him say, well, I played well last week, so it's okay if I finish whatever. I think he's ready to go every week.
I just want to try to get back in the hunt on Sunday.
MARK WILLIAMS: Phil said a lot of nice things about you and one of the things I noticed he mentioned is it's going to be great to have you on some of the teams, The Presidents Cup Team coming up. Have you had any feedback from the other established team players since then?
NICK WATNEY: I haven't, but I did see that. My caddie showed me that. That was definitely an honor to hear that, but at the same time, it's still six months until the team, and definitely not qualified at this point.

It's almost a home game for you.
NICK WATNEY: It would be awesome, awesome to play there. And while that's very nice to hear, I still have a lot of work to do to make the squad. So I'm just going to try to use that as fuel and hopefully I can qualify.
MARK WILLIAMS: Appreciate you coming in and thanks for your time and good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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