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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 2, 2009

Webb Simpson

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

DOUG MILNE: Webb, thanks for joining us for a few minutes here at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Congratulations on a Top 10, 8th place last week. That being said, just kind of assess the state of your game as you're heading into your first Deutsche Bank Championship here this week.
WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, thanks. The game feels great. I've been working on a few things for the past couple of months, and you know, last week was great to see some results pan out for me. You know, the experience of holding the lead going into Saturday was helpful.
And so, you know, looking forward to it. I really like this place. I like the golf course a lot, and I'm looking forward to another one week.
DOUG MILNE: This is the third year for the FedExCup. They've tweaked it each year. You're now with your finish last week moved up to 41st. Just comment on that, how you're obviously in great position heading into this week and likely moving forward for the next two afterwards.
WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, you know, the goal last week going into the week was just to play solid and give myself a continued chance at the TOUR Championship. I got my text message saying I moved up to 41st, and at first I thought they made a mistake. I didn't realize I was going to jump 40-something spots.
But I love the format. It keeps everybody on their toes, and whoever plays best in the Playoffs is going to win. I think this year's system is great compared to last year.

Q. What are your first impressions of the golf course? Maybe compare what you see here to what you saw last week.
WEBB SIMPSON: Yesterday I played the pro-am, and it was -- we played early, so the ground was pretty soft. We weren't getting hardly any roll, and it was playing really long, and we were on the front of every tee box, too. I was hitting 3- and 4-irons into a few of the par-4s.
But I think with the weather it will firm out a bit, and the greens are beautiful, couldn't be any better. Just totally a different feel than last week because we've got trees and a little wider landing areas this week. But I think you'll see some low scores with how good the greens are and with the weather we're going to have.

Q. Just to follow up, you have moved up, but with the volatility that is possible, are you confident that you are going to move on to next week no matter how you play this week, or do you feel like you have to play your way into Chicago?
WEBB SIMPSON: You know, mindset-wise, I want to make it to the TOUR Championship, so I'm not really thinking whether or not I'll be in next week regardless of how I play this week. I'm trying to think of it as keep playing well and that'll kind of take care of itself like it did last week. You know, we'll see what happens. TOUR Championship, I'm 11 spots out now with two events, so anything can happen. But if I play well I'll move up and hopefully I'll get in.

Q. Do these events have a little bit of a different feel so far than a regular season event?
WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, you know, there's a lot of buzz in the locker room and player dining, people talking about so-and-so moved up a lot. I was on the bubble and I got moved out. So I think it's exactly what, for a playoff situation, you guys and the fans want and us as players want. You know, it's probably the best system, everybody says, so far. But it really is exciting how many points you can get in each tournament, to know that you guys set the FedEx kind of standard for us beforehand, so we need to play well, so those people who go out and play well are going to get benefitted a lot.
This being my first year, I don't know how it was last year, but it's a blast kind of following it and seeing what everybody is doing.

Q. What did you take out of the weekend from this past weekend that was positive, and then maybe some things that needed work?
WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, you know, I was obviously disappointed that I didn't win, holding the lead on Saturday. But you know, experience I know will help me in that situation. You know, a triple bogey on 11 on Sunday just didn't necessarily kill me, but looking back at the scores now, I would have gotten in a playoff. But I know anybody can say that, but it's just one of those things where I'll look at the positives, I'll look at how I handled the emotions and the pressure and take away the good things and just see where I need to get better.
You know, I think Sunday I approached it a little too conservatively. I saw the wind blowing and I knew it was going to play longer and harder, so I was thinking a score around par would be pretty good. You know, I get lapped with 1-over, everybody shooting 4- and 5-under. So I kind of learned when you're a couple back going into Sunday, even if it's playing hard, you need to go out and shoot a good score to win, and it was true for Sunday.

Q. I don't want to bring back a bad memory, but on the triple what happened there at 11?
WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, it was a par-3, water left, and I just -- one thing I've been working on in my swing is my weight transfer to my left side, and I kind of hung back a little bit, and when I do that I flip the club a little, and it went left. It wasn't really a good place for me to drop. I could have re-teed or dropped where I did, which what was about 140 yards in the rough. If I could go back I might have re-teed it just because it was sitting down in the rough, but it was just kind of a snowball effect; each shot kind of kept going.

Q. What kind of a grade would you give yourself for your rookie season?
WEBB SIMPSON: Rookie season? You know, I think it's been -- at this point a B+. You know, it was a goal starting out the year that I wanted to win a tournament, and my next couple of goals, I still have a chance at it. I've still got a chance of reaching my goals this year, but it's been a little up and down, and something I want to be better at in the future is being a more consistent player, so there's not as many highs and lows.
You know, overall I'm thrilled to death.

Q. Looking at this week and your strategy, 18 is a hole where you can make some things happen. I'm curious as to how do you approach a hole like that? What's your strategy?
WEBB SIMPSON: Well, something my caddie and I were talking about today is par-5s like that where you have carries, same with No. 2, carries over water on your second shot, I like to check the pin before I tee off. On a hole like 2 I do. 18 is more you can kind of just bomb it down there. 2 you have a little tighter landing area. But I think there's room left and long on 18, and so you can be aggressive and you can chip from long. It's not too bad.
I think you'll see that -- I remember watching last year, plenty of eagles and birdies there, so the more aggressive the better, I think, on 18.
DOUG MILNE: Webb, we appreciate your time, and best of luck. Keep it up this week.

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