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BUICK OPEN

July 29, 2009

Woody Austin

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Woody Austin into the interview room at the Buick Open. The winner of this event in 1995 and fresh off of two consecutive runner-up finishes at Warwick Hills. If we can just get your comments on being back at the Buick Open.
WOODY AUSTIN: Happy to be back. Obviously I like this event. I like old golf courses. I like traditional golf. I love tree-lined golf.
It shapes the golf course and the holes for me, which keeps me focused a lot better than the wide-opened bombers' paradises of today.
So I kind of lose my focus when I don't see what the hole really wants, and when it's tree-lined, it shows me what it wants. And I kind of can see that, so I just do better on old golf courses.
DOUG MILNE: Take us through the last two years. Came so close. Can you comment on that?
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, '07 wasn't too bad. I played well on Sunday. Gave myself chances. Brian did a great job, birdied 18 to win. So that one was just I didn't play well enough to win last year.
I threw that tournament away. I gave that one to Kenny, so that one's going to stick with me for a while. So entirely different. I had the tournament last year and gave it away. So you never want to do that, so those kind of hurt.

Q. How long does a tournament like that stick with you? You said even now?
WOODY AUSTIN: Sure. You're back where it happened, so you can't help it.
But you know, if I was somebody who's won 10, 15, 20 times like some of the guys, you just say, it's just one that gets away, but only winning a few times, it's hard enough to win.
But to have it and give it away like that -- it's fun when somebody takes it away from you like Brian did the year before, then you can give them the props, but when you have it and you give it away, that's kind of hard to take.

Q. Are you going to (indiscernible).
WOODY AUSTIN: Sure. I mean I can definitely -- when you're playing, I'm not thinking about that.
From a tournament standpoint, obviously you're thinking about it, but when tomorrow starts, it's not going to be on my mind. Tomorrow my focus will be trying to find my golf game I haven't been able to find all year. So that'll be the hard part tomorrow.

Q. When you come to events, the two Top-25 in the world at this event, Tiger and Furyk. If Tiger didn't come, Furyk is. When you guys come to an event where it's not stacked with all these guys in the Top-25, do you look at it as a big opportunity to try and get a W? I mean do you look at it any differently than you would --
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I guess that depends on who you are really. I don't look at it any different because to me, the idea of being out here and playing is to win. So any chance you get to win is great.
But let's face it, just like in anything, you want to beat the best players, so just because he's here isn't going to change, but it will change it in your eyes and it will change it in everyone else's eyes that if you do win this event, you won it against him.
But other than that, that's the only difference. The only difference is the fact that you can say to somebody, you know, well, I beat him when he was playing.
But to win in a PGA tournament is to win a PGA tournament. You're going to tell the other -- I think the world rankings is pretty much dominated by the European guys based on the way the system works. So you gonna tell all those guys that win over in Europe they win over there, they never win against any of the top players over here. So those wins are not different? A win's a win.

Q. (Indiscernible).
WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, absolutely.

Q. Make you feel good?
WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, sure. I want to beat him every chance I get. Absolutely. I want to play with him. I want to beat him. I'm not afraid to admit it, and I love playing with him. I enjoy the hell out of it. I don't want to run and hide.

Q. You have a lot of history. This is where you won your first event. What are some of your memories of coming here over the years and what do these fans mean to the community?
WOODY AUSTIN: It's such a great event. An event can't be at a place for 51 years if it's not a good event, so there's obviously a lot of support in the community. There's obviously good people.
Obviously Buick's been a great sponsor. So it's sad to see that it could possibly go away because it wouldn't have been here this long and be this popular if it wasn't.

Q. Do you remember anything in particular the way the people treated you when you did win?
WOODY AUSTIN: I guess it was my first -- since it was my rookie year, it was kind of my first experience with a rowdy crowd on 17. And I'd been playing with Freddie Couples the first couple days and having to hear "Freddie, Freddie" always.
So on Sunday when they were yelling "Woody, Woody," that was my first really good feeling of having a big crowd yelling my name. So I thought that was really cool. So I'll never forget that.

Q. How much will you miss this place if this is the last time it's here?
WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, again, I miss all the old golf courses. I love traditional golf. I love old golf courses.
I think the technology today has ruined the game, in my eyes, because it's taken these kind of golf courses away, because again, it's more of a bomb and gouge game now as opposed to controlling your ball. Hit it left-to-right when the hole's left-to-right. Hit it right-to-left.
You get courses like this when the guys can't hit it up over the trees and they actually have to hit golf shots, which they're not comfortable with. You talk about a modern golf course and there's no trees out there, they just go at that bunker out there. They just think, I'll just hit it over it. That's not golf really.

Q. You touched on 17 a little bit, but if this is the last year for the Buick Open, what would it mean to lose a hole like 17 where everybody knows 17 at Warwick Hills?
WOODY AUSTIN: Well, again, it's fun. You hear so much about 16 at Phoenix and how they turned that into like a stadium hole. They pretty much surrounded that hole now.
And 17's a lot like that, obviously not as big or on the grand scale. But it's a tournament that you know regardless of how you're playing, what time of the day you're playing, you're still going to have a big crowd around 17.
You could be one of the first groups off on the weekend, but there's still a good crowd on 17. So you're always going to have a chance, you're always going to have that feeling like you've got that good support. And the fans no matter what position you are when you get to 17, every day, so I think that's cool.
You're not just kind of out there. Even, let's say, you know, a year when Tiger is winning and you go off early, it's not everybody has a big crowd following, but not everybody is there. There's still a couple places at this golf course where everybody kind of goes to and they can have a good time and think it's great.

Q. If they picked Woody Austin as the winner of this year's tournament, what would you say?
WOODY AUSTIN: I'd say I don't know if the crystal ball you looked in is accurate.

Q. When you talked about trying to find your golf game and you haven't had it, what happened? What's gone wrong?
WOODY AUSTIN: I played so bad all year, there's a lot of problems. Just that I haven't been able to find the consistency that I've had.
I've had a few good tournaments here and there as far as sporadic, but it's just been so inconsistent this year. So my ball striking, which is my strength, has been this is probably the worst ball striking year in all 15 years out here, other than '97 when I couldn't see straight. But it's just been very disappointing how bad I've hit it this year.
But just like anything, it can come back, and maybe tomorrow with being in such, like I said, I'm in an environment that I like. And like I said, I love tree-lined golf courses, it keeps me focused better, so maybe that little added bit of focus might kind of bring back some good memories.

Q. Based on what you said about technology and golf, are you someone who's happy that they'll be changing the groove rule next year?
WOODY AUSTIN: Can't wait. I think it will help me, I mean personally, because I know what to expect. The young guys have no idea what to expect. They've never played a club like that. They think they know, but they don't know. So big difference.

Q. You like the flyer, don't you?
WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, yeah. That's just it. You tell the young guy you're going to hit flyers. They go, I've hit a flyer. You go, no, you haven't. You've hit a jumper which looks like a golf shot. It goes up in the air. A flyer doesn't go up in the air and look like a golf shot. So they don't know what they're in for.
It'll bring back hitting the ball on the fairway. Guys aren't hitting the ball on the fairway anymore. Our Top 10 players in the world don't drive it all that straight. Top 10 in the world back in the day all had to hit it straight.
Now it's not a prerequisite, and it should be. It should be important to hit the ball in the fairway. That's golf. You're supposed to hit the ball where you're supposed to. Just because you hit it 30 yards past me, you should not be benefited by hitting it 30 yards past me but 20 yards in the rough and be able to extend it out of the rough, as much as I've extended out of the fairway from 30 yards back. So I think that's going to make a big difference.
DOUG MILNE: Woody, thanks for coming by, and play well this week.
WOODY AUSTIN: Sure.

End of FastScripts

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