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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 2009

David Toms

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

DOUG MILNE: I'd like to welcome David Toms to the interview room. Thank you for taking the time to come down. This is his seventh Top 10 finish of the season, and he's currently 11th in the FedExCup point standings. David, if you'd start off and give us some general comments on your round and then we'll take questions.
DAVID TOMS: First of all, I played well today. Didn't get off to the kind of start that felt like I needed to to put pressure on the guys that were ahead of me.
I really felt like I needed to get under par pretty quickly to at least give them something to think about. I just ultimately got too far behind on the Back 9.
Played well all day, but when we first started off, we had some breeze. The wind was up out there, and I played a lot of pretty stout holes on the beginning of the front nine over there and I just couldn't quite get off to that start I needed to.
And I felt very comfortable out there today down the stretch. I was hitting good shots, hitting good putts, trying to put pressure on Kenny, but he kept making birdies behind me, and I think in the end I just got beat by a better player this week.

Q. Is it frustrating at all 19-under par to lose by three?
DAVID TOMS: It is. I felt if I got to 20 that's kind of the number I had in mind last night when I was laying in bed trying to sleep. I thought that might do it because that's still a pretty solid round by the leaders. And in the end that wouldn't have been enough either.
It's not really frustrating because I played great this week. I made one bogey for the week, which is pretty good golf on a golf course that's got a lot of trouble out there. If you hit a bad shot, you can make a double pretty quick, and I really shouldn't have made a bogey on the hole I did. It's a short putt for par.
All in all it was just a really solid week for me and a week I always enjoy playing up here, and look forward to next year seeing if I can improve on my position.

Q. Can you talk about you and Kenny and Paul, I mean all over 40, all on the top this week?
DAVID TOMS: How about that? You know, first of all, Kenny Perry, he doesn't play like a guy in his late 40s. He still hits the ball as far as the young guys. He's got tons of experience. He's obviously on a roll the last couple years. He's a great guy.
You don't even need to put his age next to his name because I don't think that has anything to do with it. Now, Paul and I, we're not necessarily very long hitters, and for the golf course being as soft as it was this week, I think the scores we ended up shooting were pretty darn good, considering the way our games are for this golf course. I think when this golf course is firm, I think it fits right to us, but soft and long, I think both of us played extremely well to get what we did.

Q. Is it experience, mental toughness?
DAVID TOMS: I don't know. Just playing well. You know, I played with Paul the first two days, and you know, we always enjoy each other's company. We seem to both play well together when we play, and we had a lot of laughs out there and we just missed each other on the weekend. We were kind of close.
And I'm very happy for him. He's been through a lot the last year and a half, and you know, he's still out here grinding and playing great golf at his age. That says a lot about the type of player he is.

Q. There's been some discussion about whether this course and courses of this length are too short, especially on a week like this. You said it's a golf course where you have to place your shots. Would you leave it -- because this week was different because it was soft. Would you leave it the way it is?
DAVID TOMS: I would leave it. I mean if you look at years past when it got firm and fast with a little bit of breeze, the scores probably overall weren't as low as they were this week.
And I love to play here. I think that's why they get a good field. Everybody likes to play here. Bombers like to play it. The shorter hitters like to play it. I think it's a golf course that anybody can do well on, and I think that's what we need on Tour.
Last week at the U.S. Open, that just beat me up. I had no chance to win that golf tournament, and if you look at the leaderboard at the end, you could see the guys that were up there. And that's not going to happen at this tournament. You might have a guy that bombs it out there like Kenny does win it, but you have a lot of other guys that have a chance. I hope they don't change it.

Q. What's it like being at the U.S. Open knowing that you can't win, not that you're not good enough but because you're not long enough?
DAVID TOMS: It's discouraging. That golf course, if it was firm and fast, it would have been a whole different story. I think it's just conditions that dictate that a lot.
They're trying to do -- I know our field staff is trying to do a better job with giving us some variety trying to get things firm and fast, but when it rains every day, you have rain delays, there's nothing you can do about it. So we've just been stuck in the wet grass for about three weeks now. I'm ready to get back in some firmness. We'll probably get that at the British Open here soon.

Q. I don't know how close you are to Kenny. Have you seen anything in Kenny since then -- obviously he's back on his game today. Has it been a progression? Have you noticed anything about that?
DAVID TOMS: I think he's very determined. I heard him say that he has a lot left that he wants to accomplish in his game, and he's been as hot as anybody the last three years, I guess. So you know, obviously he didn't finish the way he wanted to there, but that just goes to show you what this game can do to somebody that's playing extremely well, in total control of their emotions and all of a sudden have that happen to you, and it's a cruel game sometimes, but very rewarding other times. Like the way he played today, it's probably a distant memory for him now.

Q. Were you surprised that putt did not go in?
DAVID TOMS: It was a tough putt. You know, it was one of those that it was a speed putt, and it just ran out of gas. That's the way I had to putt it. I didn't really want a two-and-a-half, 3-footer coming back. So I hit it soft. Late in the day that grass as soft as it was, you don't always get the truest roll. It just kind of fell off at the end.
You know, maybe if I make that and he's got a pretty long shot in -- I saw where he kind of laid pretty far back on 17, maybe a different story. I don't know. The way he was playing it's probably no big deal, whether he won by one or three or whatever.

Q. Did you talk to Perry on the 15th tee when you guys were waiting?
DAVID TOMS: No. I didn't talk to him. I saw he just power lifted on the hole before, so he probably wasn't in the mood to chitchat too much.
DOUG MILNE: Okay, David. Thank you for taking the time. Good luck next week.

End of FastScripts

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