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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 10, 2009

Jim Furyk

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

Q. You must be pretty happy, I would think.
JIM FURYK: I am, I am, I'm sure everyone feels the same way I do. This golf course is very tough and baked out. I feel like I played very well this week. I hit a lot of good golf shots. You know, I really could have got a lot more out of my Friday and Saturday round to be honest with you. That's where I feel like I might have let the tournament slip. I should have been in a little bit better position and closer today. I played my heart out today. I hit a lot of good shots and made a couple good saves on the back nine. I want to go back and play No. 9 over. Making 6 there and laying it up in the left bunker is just an absolute -- just a bad mental error and bad mistake, and I hit the wrong second shot. It might end up costing me a chance to win the tournament.

Q. This is a good place to be, 6-under.
JIM FURYK: Yeah, I'd rather it be 7 or 8 to be honest with you. 8 would be great. It would put a lot more pressure on Henrik. But in the long run, it'll turn out good. I think it was tied for 6th the last I looked, and it's only going to get better.

Q. Talk about the shot at 18 out of the fairway.
JIM FURYK: As good as I've had. I hit 3-wood off the tee and had 185 to the pin, is 70 to the top of the first ridge and was just trying to hit a shot (170). It was a touchdown breeze, trying to hit a shot that landed around the top of that first ridge, and I'm guessing it flew a little farther or took a gigantic bounce, one of the two. What's frustrating, we can't find our ball marks on the green. There's no ball marks so you can't get a judge for how far the ball is flying in the air. With as brown as the green is when it lands, you can't get a judge for exactly how things are hitting. I was trying to hit 8-iron there, so that will tell you how hot it is, how far it's going. Stock 8-iron for me is usually about a 150 yard shot. I was trying to land the ball about 170 and the breeze was probably only 7, 8 yards. I was a little gassed up. I hit it and really thought I was going to have a good chance, a good birdie putt, but it went through the green.

Q. Is it frustrating for you?
JIM FURYK: It is. It is. It's fair, absolutely. If I were commissioner for a day, I might set it up a little different, but I think the setup is pretty decent. I would never say the golf course is unfair. It's just a penal golf course and has a lot of sharp edges on it. You're never too far away from birdies and double bogeys. There isn't a wide margin of a difference in there.

Q. Now that you've played it two different ways, which do you prefer?
JIM FURYK: May by far, that's not even a contest. The golf course was not meant to be played on overseed, it was not meant to be played slow. The weather is better. March is -- on overseed, you have to water it down too much. The golf course plays too slow. This golf course should play fast and running, and good championships should play fast and running. May sets up a better date in between the Masters and U.S. Open.
I remember some days in March were pretty miserable. This week is pretty indicative, maybe a lot hotter than our usual weather average, but May is a good month here weather wise. It's already starting to get hot, Bermuda is starting to grow. It's just a much better championship. That's not even close. That's not even close.

Q. You used the word championship. Do you use that word when you talk about ordinary TOUR events or is there any significance to using that word?
JIM FURYK: In my opinion hands down it's the fifth biggest event in the world. That's my opinion. Obviously maybe some of the European Tour players, or this may not be that in their heart, but this being the premier event of the PGA TOUR and having the best field in golf, we go out of our way as a TOUR to make this event as good as possible. In my heart it's the fifth biggest event, and that's why I called it a championship.

Q. Yesterday, Tiger, I've never heard him say this before, he said it's like our fifth major. He's always so traditional about majors, so that was new for him.
JIM FURYK: I think the date has really helped. This golf course should be played firm and fast, baked out. It actually is a lot more fun this week, but it's also more challenging.

End of FastScripts

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