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BUICK OPEN

July 29, 2009

Nathan Green

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

MARK WILLIAMS: Nathan Green, we'd like to thank you for joining us, RBC Canadian Open champion. Must have been a big thrill last week. Just run through your thoughts and feelings and what you went through the last couple days and what you're looking forward to this week.
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah. It's been pretty hectic with the media stuff and the playoff and then the five-hour drive in yesterday. So still trying to catch up a little bit, and it's starting to sink in a little bit what happened. And just when you wake up in the morning and realize that you won a PGA TOUR event, that's huge. I never really believed it.
But yeah, it's been good. I've got a lot of well wishes from the other players and friends back in Australia. So it's been really exciting the last few days.
MARK WILLIAMS: There were eight aces last week at the tournament, and I know that you back in 2003 hit a hole-in-one that probably changed your life, allowed you to probably pursue professional golf a little more.
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah. 2001, the Australian Masters, I sort of played all right going into that event and ended up getting a hole-in-one in the Australian.
Also backed up last week, and that sort of launched me through. I was able to find some Tours to play on. I was able to go to the Canadian Tour, and Nationwide Tour as well.
I was able to play that Tour without the financial sort of worries, and finally got out on TOUR. And yeah, had a really good first year, and I think my game was not so good, especially last year and a half. And I wasn't working as hard, and sort of taking it for granted a little bit, but the last sort of few months I really knuckled down and started to check my position on the Money List.
Started to play some good golf. It's been frustrating the last four weeks because I was playing well and getting zero out of it. Played really well in the cup, and carried it into last week. I wasn't expecting any big deal, but played really well for the first two or three rounds, and the last rounds I played pretty well the first 10 holes and started to struggle a bit. I was able to sort of just get it in.
MARK WILLIAMS: Questions?

Q. Does this victory change your schedule any? What do you plan to do? Are you going to play on through the PGA?
NATHAN GREEN: Definitely. I'm looking to be in the PGA before, and I'm going to do Reno next week, and of course, I'll try and get qualifying for the FedExCup.
I think I would have to play this week, and I'm now playing on the PGA, so I'll take Greensboro off and hopefully play into the FedExCup.
I'm not sure. I haven't looked at the FedExCup. I was so far out of it before, so I'm not sure what ranking gets me into what events. So hopefully I'll be okay for those couple.

Q. What's been the reaction like from the other players once you arrived here?
NATHAN GREEN: It's been good. I had a lot of congratulations from a lot of the guys. And yeah, it's been more than I expected.
They've been cheering me on, and it's -- I didn't really know what they'd say, but it's been a pretty warm reception.

Q. Did it ever go through your mind, during after the playoffs that not only were you in a playoff with the two-time U.S. Open champion, but somebody who won the U.S. Open and you beat him?
NATHAN GREEN: Not really. I played him a few times, and the greens were in some pretty casual water, and they played pretty quick.
So no, I've played with Tiger, so I've been in a pretty same situation on that before, and I made a few mistakes on that one. And even though I made a few couple bad shots in the playoff the other day, I hit the hole in a much better frame of mind and hit some really good shots and it's definitely been good for me.

Q. That victory up in Canada, from what you said, this changes your chances to make money, doesn't it? From the tournaments to get into and the start of the FedExCup? Could you talk about that?
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah. As I said, I don't know the exemptions status. I know I get the Masters next year, which is huge. And then besides that I'm not really sure.
I know I get in Akron. You get some guaranteed money, and I know you sort of practice those and you want to play along. I'm not thinking I was going to be in the PGA. That's going to be like my eighth event in a row, so after I won last week, I'll play the next four events, it's going to be tough to make the TOUR the next three weeks, keep that going and play some more good golf.

Q. Phil Mickelson said he's coming back to the TOUR next week. Obviously things must be going well at home. What are your thoughts on him coming back to the TOUR?
NATHAN GREEN: I think it's great. I know he's had a rough time with his wife, and I think his mother as well, so I think -- I know it's going to be tough for him to play like he played pretty well at the U.S. Open.
Hopefully he can perform and take that into the PGA, and I think it's great for golf, for him and Tiger to be playing events. So I think players can get it going and benefit from it.

Q. You said it would be difficult the next, what, four weeks or however many weeks it is. Is that difficult physically or difficult mentally to get prepared for so many tournaments in a row?
NATHAN GREEN: Just mental. My fitness has always been pretty good, but yeah, just the mental grind. I don't know why, but whenever I have two weeks off, the energy from that event is definitely a lot different from this event. Even though you feel like you made it through the week, but when you carry -- you're carrying advantage from last week, if you hit bad shot and you wake up 15th, and sort of play a par-5, you gotta hit some bad shots and you sort of Band-Aid your swing a little bit during these periods.
But after five or six weeks, somebody said, anyway, that I know you just lose your focus, whenever you have a week or two, you sort of work on one or two things and when you play that first event, your mind's pretty clear and you know what you're working on.
And as I said, after six events, you're just working and trying to get around the course, and it's just the mental grind, and I'm looking forward to a week off.

Q. In a few weeks you talked about you moved up to 37th on the ranking given you got the Buick Open and the Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship coming up. Have you thought about the President's Cup now that you've got a victory? You're obviously climbing up the rankings and a long way out at the moment, but three more spots.
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah. Definitely something I would love to play in the future. This year probably I'm out of it, but last week was just good in the fact it gives you the confidence to know that even though I didn't have my best stuff on the last day, I was able to do it before.
And I was holding on coming down the stretch, and I've been in those situations before, so yeah, hopefully I can keep playing some pretty good golf.
Good sort of last month or so without getting much out of it. Hopefully I've turned the corner on that. Try to get out there and do some good stuff this afternoon and try and get it before this week.
MARK WILLIAMS: We appreciate you coming in, and good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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