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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 2009

Paul Goydos

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

DOUG MILNE: We want to welcome our runner-up here at the Travelers Championship. Eagle, birdie, par, birdie to tie for second here. Just talk about what went right on the last four holes, and what it means to --
PAUL GOYDOS: We don't want to talk about the first 14, though.
I just was struggling with my swing, and part of that's probably just the situation. I'm not going to run and hide from that.
But I kind of -- standing on the 15th tee I kind of regrouped and felt I kind of figured out maybe what I was doing wrong. I kind of did some diagnostic work, spent a little time there, and hit a tee shot at 15. Kenny's ball didn't get there, and I thought he hit it okay, and I hit it a little left of his ball and said, okay, it's going to run down there next to his ball and I'll have a little chip. And all of a sudden rolled all the way up there and I heard cheering, and I'm like, what are they cheering for, and it rolled all the way up there 20 feet from the hole and made two, Kodak Challenge two.
And then 16 is probably the best swing all day, 7-iron in there about six or eight feet.
17, actually I drove in a divot, but I hit it way down there, hit 9-iron, I don't know, about eight feet and just hit not a good putt.
And then 18, I had a little luck, and then Kenny Perry had a similar line and putting first and 5-iron 12, 18 feet. Those putts, you saw Kenny's get away from him pretty quick, so I just started to throw it up there and tried to guess where it would roll back in the hole, and it was right in the middle and that was just one of those things.

Q. Three top four finishes in the last four events. Things going pretty well for you.
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah. Getting closer. Third, and then a miss cut, and then a fourth and now a second.
Yeah, the progression is in basically the right direction. I just need to finish it out. I needed to shoot 63 to win today. And I was out there for 62 and Kenny shot 63. Having said that, he played pretty good. He played like a guy who's won, I don't know how many times he's won now, 15 maybe; 14. I played more like a guy who's won twice, especially early in the round.
You know, he just was the better man today. I don't think anybody's going to -- he never -- you know, it was a little slow start. He was only 2-under after eight. But really never -- when he made the par putt on nine and then the birdie putt on 10, I don't think it really looked like anybody else was going to win at that point. Certainly didn't to me.

Q. You said yesterday when you got the 15th tee, you still have a shot. After your first three holes, did you think you still had a shot?
PAUL GOYDOS: Oh, yeah. I'm still grinding it out. I did go two, two. Unfortunately he went three, three.
So you know, I went two, two, three. I picked up two shots. You know, part of the equation is that he makes a mistake in that scenario that I gave yesterday, and Kenny was in no mood to make a mistake. And I could have told you he wasn't going to make a mistake.
He's swinging it good. I don't think he had too many bad shots. He was very aggressive. He played the golf tournament to shoot 63 and win. A couple times he short-sided himself and got it up-and-down but that was part of his being aggressive. Even though it looked like he hit the ball in the wrong place, reality was for the other 16 holes it was working out and I think that was the risk he was willing to take, and it paid off. He played great.
It's a big difference shooting 63 on Saturday and shooting 63 on Sunday.

Q. Can you talk about the 40-somethings up there? You and Kenny and David. Had to be a lot of fun.
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah. Wasn't paying attention to their age. I'll be honest with you. But yeah. Golf's one of those sports where you can play for a while.
This is a golf course where you do have to kind of a little bit mind your Ps and Qs and keep the ball in front of you, but probably a coincidence. I think Casey Wittenberg was up there, too. What is he, like eight years old? (Laughs).

Q. With the conditions department, did you think it was a must to get off to a fast start today?
PAUL GOYDOS: No. I actually think the first five holes played pretty tough. It was a little windy. It was the first wind we've had. It blew like eight miles an hour, which felt like 40, but you know, 1 was a short iron but a pretty tough pin. Two was, again, just a wedge, but a pin was a little too aggressive if you hit it past the pin, you're going to struggle.
That tree on three got in the way of my ball, and then four. Maybe 3-wood on five and then 3-iron, and so no, I kind of thought the course as I should, I think I was 5-under on the front nine and 14-under on the Back 9 and if you keep the ball in the fairway on the back nine, that's where your scoring is.
No, I was just trying to keep plugging along and see what happens, and I think if I made the putt on nine and ten, those two putts probably would have helped at least, but there was no slowing down the Kenny Perry express.

Q. Kenny obviously had to put some matches behind him. Did you see the old Kenny Perry today?
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah. Again, matches. I don't even know what happened. I forgot.
Yeah, like I say, I played with Kenny in The Players in the last round. Yeah. I don't think it's bothered him.
He's trying to win and we sometimes look at not winning as failure, and that's just not the case. And Kenny, I'm sure has played enough out here to realize, hey, things happen.
I don't look at what happened to me in Texas as failure. I look at it as a learning experience. That's the way the game is.
We live in the era of Tiger Woods, who makes winning look ridiculously easy. The more I think about it, the more I feel Tiger Woods is the most underrated player on this Tour. You guys have no concept of what he accomplishes on a weekly basis when he plays. It's ridiculous how good he plays. He makes it look so easy that when somebody else like Kenny Perry, who's won 15 times, doesn't get close something's wrong. That's just normal.
Palmer at the Open, the Olympic Club made a mess of the Back 9. It happens to people. It just doesn't happen to Tiger.

Q. Are you discouraged at all with 19-under and not winning?
PAUL GOYDOS: Discouraged? No. I'm a bit flabbergasted I think is a better word. But I think that's probably the lowest 72-hole score I've ever shot on Tour. Two 61s. I can't remember two 60s.
But I didn't get caught up too much in that. I was kind of there until 10, and all of a sudden I was four back and I really needed to start doing something, and it wasn't that I'm pressing. I just needed to kind of keep hoping that putts go in as opposed to not going in, but I really wasn't thinking too much about that, quite frankly. Now I'm going to though.

Q. You saw those putts on eight and nine and how he was able to birdie.
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah. He hit a great shot. That's a really hard putt. I was not unhappy with where my tee shot ended up considering how unsolidly I struck it, and I just got pulled. Quick roll down that hill and this roll was ridiculously slow, and I just hit it. Nice putt.
And then I missed a putt on nine and not a great putt either and Kenny got a horrendous break opportunity. I mean first ball it was a one-inch area where his ball could've landed and kickback in the bunker and probably wouldn't have been a big deal.
But he did what the difference between winning and losing or winning second or third, he got that ball up-and-down. He made that 10-footer to keep his round going. And then on the 10th hole he had a great putt. And that's what the winners do.
You look at how I played eight, nine and ten compared to how he played eight, nine and ten, that's the difference. The winner, if I would have made the putt on eight, made the putt on nine and made par on ten and I didn't. I went bogey, par, bogey and that kind of tells you the difference between the guy who's going to win the tournament in hindsight, difference between winning the tournament and a guy who's not. Kenny did all the right things.
DOUG MILNE: Thanks, Paul.

End of FastScripts

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