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THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

September 27, 2009

Steve Stricker

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Q. Pretty nice score today. Can you just talk about the score and how you got there and how the whole scenario came about?
STEVE STRICKER: It was a good day. I played pretty solidly today. You know, the conditions were tough again. The wind came out of the west, northwest, when we've been playing it out of the east. So totally different wind direction.
It was a little bit different out there at times. The course played different, played longer some holes. Some holes played shorter that have been playing longer. But overall it was a good day. I gave it a good try until really catching -- caught a mud ball at 16, and then three-putted 17. Other than that, it was pretty solid today.

Q. How much on your mind was the FedExCup?
STEVE STRICKER: You know, it was on my mind, but it was in a good way. I was very excited. I was very aggressive with my swing. I felt like I made a lot of good swings. I didn't back down. So it gives me a lot of confidence. I drove the ball great today under these conditions and under the circumstances, so it was a good day.

Q. Did it feel like a major out there at the end with all that was on the line? Did you feel the pressure, say, than a different TOUR Championship?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, it did. There was so much riding on the line. I mean, you know, after I made bogey at 16, I kind of figured there went my chances.
I thought maybe if I could hole that putt at 17, that's probably why I got a little more aggressive with that one, and then maybe birdie 18, an outside shot, because I knew I needed to finish solo second when I got out the calculator this morning and tried to figure it out.
You know, I gave it a run, and it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of good atmosphere. It was fun. A lot of people around, and I heard some big cheers from behind. It was pretty cool.

Q. Do you feel like they've kind of gotten it right now?
STEVE STRICKER: Well, you know, it's provided a lot of excitement for sure. There might be some tweaking again, who knows. But I thought it provided a lot of excitement for the fans and the players. All the players coming in here this week had a legitimate chance at winning the FedExCup, more so the guys in the Top 5, but you know, I think it was a lot closer than it has been over the last two years.

Q. Was there one thing on the top of your mind that you would think you would want to change in the system?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't really -- there was some big movers early on, I think. There's so much weight put on the Playoffs, and I don't know if that's a right thing or a wrong thing. It is the Playoffs; it's just like any other sport. There's a lot of weight put in the Playoffs. Is it too much? I don't know. When a guy can jump up from hundreds into the Top 10, you know, I don't know if that's right or wrong.
What is right? I think every year you're going to have a scenario that's going to jump out and you're going to say, you know, that just doesn't seem right. I think you've got to put something together like they did this year that creates a lot of excitement like this did and with five guys having the opportunity to win, it did do that.

Q. What do you think about the schedule next year? There was some talk about the off week, playing three straight and then having the off week before this. Would you like to see that off week shifted to a different spot next year?
STEVE STRICKER: You know, yeah.

Q. Play two and then an off week and then two more?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I'd rather play two because we're on a short week after the Deutsche Bank Championship. We finish on Monday and then we're teeing it up again on Thursday.
Then again, the guys who play in the Ryder Cup are going to be facing three tournaments in a row and having to go from here all the way over to Wales to start that week, which is pretty tough on the team to do that.
Any way you slice it, it's a difficult stretch, it's a long stretch, and you've got to be physically and mentally ready for it.

Q. How much did that mud ball affect you there at 16?
STEVE STRICKER: You know, it's what happened. I knew it was going left, I just didn't know how much and it's tough to aim it over in the bleachers somewhere. It just took off and went over there. And that was fine because I had a lot of green to work with to get it up-and-down, and I didn't get it up-and-down.

Q. You must be pretty proud of your efforts overall during this playoff series?
STEVE STRICKER: No doubt. It was a good run today. I got right back in there today and had some exciting times there, and I was confident. I was swinging aggressively at it, and things were going good.

End of FastScripts

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