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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

May 13, 2009

Alex Cejka

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

DOUG MILNE: Alex, thanks for joining us for a few minutes here at the interview room at the Valero Texas Open. We appreciate you taking the time. Obviously, as we just talked about, just heard, coming off a great week, that's gotta make you feel good about heading into this week. Just some general comments, a few days removed from The Players Championship, and just kind of a few comments as you're heading into the week how you're feeling.
ALEX CEJKA: I'm feeling great. I got here Monday. I played the Monday prime. I really like the course. Yesterday I took it a little bit easier. I just practiced, didn't play.
Just want to pace myself. It's a long week. It's a hot week, you know, and I've been playing well in the past couple weeks, and I hope I can take it over to this week. I've been here a couple times, played actually a couple times quite decent, so I'm looking forward to it.
DOUG MILNE: I know there can be a distraction factor, but you had such a good week last week. I know that I personally have been kind of bombarding you with requests to do radio, TV, come in here. Are you able to separate that?
ALEX CEJKA: Yeah. It's part of the job. If you play well, all this comes with it, and it's better this way. It means I'm doing something right instead of going out and nobody noticing you. So it's nice, and as I said, it's been a while.
On and off I've been having a couple of interviews, and I had a first-round lead in Hilton Head. So it's nice to come back and do this on -- I don't want to say on a regular basis, but more often (laughs).
DOUG MILNE: Hopefully we'll have you back in here Sunday. We'll just open it up and take a few questions.

Q. Bob was talking to you about this course compared to last week and playing courses where you're having to shoot 19-under to win a tournament. Can you expand on that, playing a tournament where you know you're really going to have to assault the flag?
ALEX CEJKA: Yeah. You know, everybody is different. A lot of guys like -- we have good ball strikers. We have good putters. Everybody likes different tournaments.
I personally play well when the courses are tougher, but you know, again, I've been here doing quite well in the past. I had a couple good rounds here. I like the golf course. It's a little bit different if you know you have to really go out there and shoot 3, 4-under, 5-under, you know, to have a good round.
But the course is in great shape. The greens -- I like the greens actually better than when it was in the fall the last couple years, the really tough Bermuda grass. It was really tricky for me. But we'll see what happens, you know.
It depends how the wind is blowing, you know, but you gotta make the putts. That's the key.

Q. What was Sunday night like for you afterwards? How did you handle that?
ALEX CEJKA: Sunday night? It was okay. Of course, I was a little bit disappointed. I think I played better than 79. I got really unlucky. It was maybe not 69, but 73, 4 should be very easy in those conditions, but you know, that's the way golf sometimes is.
You know, again, I was a little bit disappointed, but you know, you gotta go back on the horse again, you know. You take a lot of positive things with you from the week. You gotta keep knocking on the door a couple times, and eventually it's going to open.

Q. Did you play any what-if situations, what if I had laid up on four like Tiger did or anything where you second-guessed yourself on some of the decisions you made?
ALEX CEJKA: No. No. I had an easier shot than he had. He had to lay up. I was going for the middle of the green, and you know, I just pulled it a little bit, and I was going right at the pin, and it was just a bad shot.
You know, that was kind of the only really bad shot that really cost me like two shots, you know. But I had good second shot on No. 1, just a little flyer over the green. Bad luck in the planning right there. I wasn't bogeying. Second hole I had two great shots and I end up with a par only, par-5, because I was unlucky through the green. A couple I didn't make any putts, nothing. So it's one of these days.

Q. You've been using the belly, but you've also been practicing with the short putter. Any thoughts on switching that up this week?
ALEX CEJKA: I don't think this week. I'm just practicing. I'm going to use what I feel the most comfortable doing right now, and right now it's the long putter. Maybe two weeks the short putter again. I'm just experimenting and trying to find the right tool to work.

Q. So that point, going back to these greens here, different from October, can you talk about that? What is the difference that you've found?
ALEX CEJKA: They suit me better a little bit. You know, you just sometimes come on the golf course or on the greens and you know this suits you, you know.
Just this golf course, I like this golf course, just you know, visualize it better than some of the other golf courses. And I was struggling a little bit with the Bermuda grass around the greens and on the greens, too, when we had it in the past. And when I played here on Monday, it kind of felt a little bit easier for me to chip and putt a little bit. So just the first impression I had on Monday.

Q. Does the course play significantly different than October? Is it that much different rough-wise or do you know?
ALEX CEJKA: I think it's a little bit less rough. It's Bermuda rough where the ball was like sitting in there. It was tough to really get a clean contact, but it was, you know, when I missed the fairway on Monday, I had still good and decent lies.
DOUG MILNE: How much is -- obviously you've got a really unique, inspiring story as a child, escaping the whole communist. Does that still get brought up a lot? Obviously you didn't see it because you were on the golf course when they ran it on the Golf Channel, and CBS really hyped up your story and talked about you have a whole 'nother take on pressure, and hemming and hawing over a three-foot putt certainly brings pressure, but with your story, does that still get brought up? Are you asked about that a lot?
ALEX CEJKA: No. I saw that, not last week, but I saw that when it was made a couple years back. It's a nice story. It's kind of nice to even talk about it a couple times, you know, because it's a good memory.
It was tough, and as I said in the past, I was too young to understand what's going on, so I really didn't realize it, but you know, I don't think I'll ever forget where I'm from, and still with my feet on the ground, and just doing the job somewhere else right now (laughs).

Q. On that subject, what year was it that your dad moved back and how much did it mean to him to go back to where he came from?
ALEX CEJKA: He moved back I think when the Berlin wall came down. 1989? Yeah. So the borders opened. I think he went back like '91, '92. He went back.
I left the house. I was playing the mini tours, and I was on the road all the time and he was by himself at home. And he said I want to go back to Czech Republic and go back to see my parents. And it's a little bit easier life for him than by himself in Germany probably, so he just went back, and I think he's happy.
DOUG MILNE: Okay. Alex, we always appreciate your time.
ALEX CEJKA: Thank you.
DOUG MILNE: Best of luck this week. Thanks for coming in.
ALEX CEJKA: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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