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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 12, 2005

Stuart Appleby

IRVING, TEXAS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Stuart, thanks for joining us after a first round 7-under 63, off to a great start. If we could start with some opening comments.

STUART APPLEBY: I started off, got a good start after a poor drive and made a -- actually it was quite weird; I hit my second shot over the green on 1. I was pretty happy with that because I had a pretty poor lie.

And then about 30 seconds later to a minute later, the ball was about eight feet from the hole. So I think it must have started rolling somehow because I saw Retief hit his shot on the green, which was -- D.J. hit and then I didn't really watch his shot at all, and then I saw Retief hit a shot and looked up and went, "Where has my ball gone," and I looked and it somehow rolled back on the green and I made that putt for birdie.

Then I chipped it on the next short of the green and that was where the day started, and I kept that rhythm going through the day.

Q. The computer said 24 feet on 1, but that's where it stopped initially?

STUART APPLEBY: That's where they must have shot it. Must have gone down to three yards at the end. I don't know, because it wasn't an unbelievably steep hill. I mean, I didn't look around and I didn't go ask anybody, but it must have been 30 seconds to a minute after it had stopped for me to see it roll back down. It happened to be the break of the slope brought it back basically dead to the hole.

Q. What do you like to do on that hole? How do you usually play a hole like that?

STUART APPLEBY: Should only be a 3-iron, 2-iron, sand wedge, lob wedge. I don't think you can hit driver down there. It's not really worth it. It's a pretty tight fairway.

Q. You just try and keep it in the fairway?

STUART APPLEBY: Take an iron down the right half, which will finish it in the middle with a straight ball flight, then you've got a lob wedge. It's quite an easy starting hole really.

Q. Had you seen anything in yourself that told you a day like this was coming?

STUART APPLEBY: I play on the PGA TOUR. That's what you're supposed to be able to do, isn't it? I would say that if you started coming out here and got surprised by shooting a low score, you'd really want to evaluate your mental state. The next best round of your life is around the corner, isn't it? That's the attitude you've got to have.

I played okay last week, didn't really seem to get much out of my golf and I didn't putt very well. I putted quite poorly, but today I managed to aim the putter in a better direction than what I was aiming it all askew last week.

Q. I guess you kept the Lamborghini out of the houses or the walls or whatever you were racing through at Tasmania?

STUART APPLEBY: No, it was fine. It's got a couple of scratches on it from some landings that didn't land right, but that's to be expected, and it's probably sitting in the workshop right now just getting a good change of oil. Somebody might buy it. But that was a lot of fun, I must say.

Q. No near-death death experiences or anything like that?

STUART APPLEBY: No, a long way from that. Interesting moments as I could put it --

Q. Such as?

STUART APPLEBY: Nothing someone with a lot of -- someone real -- well, I had basically driven the week and my tires were barely worn in and the brakes were hardly worn, and Paul Stokell thought the tires were pretty much good to put back on the shelf brand new and the brakes were practically brand new so I think he was trying to say I should have tried harder. But I finished 10th ahead of him.

Q. Were you a late entry here?

STUART APPLEBY: I don't think so.

Q. Did you decide last minute to play here?

STUART APPLEBY: I didn't enter physically, but I had always emotionally planned on playing here, I think.

Q. What did you do today well that you haven't been doing recently apart from the putting and the chip-in?

STUART APPLEBY: I chipped a couple -- I chipped in on 2, so that was obviously something you don't always do. I didn't really have any big up-and-downs -- good up and down on the last, good two-putt on 16, and the rest of the up-and-downs were pretty easy. There's not a lot of run around the greens, missed the ball generally on the right side, missed -- short-sided myself twice and that cost me once, and the second time I actually nearly lipped out -- actually did lip out.

I chipped and putted well today, I rolled the ball nice, something I didn't do well last week. But right there that starts to make a difference and starts to you make you feel relaxed and not as forceful.

Q. You played Pinehurst on Monday?

STUART APPLEBY: Yes.

Q. And how did it look? Give me the lowlights.

STUART APPLEBY: It's just starting to warm up there. I think they desperately need a lot of heat in the ground to get the grass to grow. It's still dormant. They've done some resodding around the greens because of areas that came alive in January with some heat and then died off in the months next, and the USGA thought that they needed to freshen up the surrounds just around off the edges of the greens. They will be hoping that that grass takes very well.

Q. That's sort of the defining characteristic of that whole course?

STUART APPLEBY: Well, they're only a small part of it, but I guess the issue will be that if you're trying to chip a ball into the last yard before the green, that will be difficult; the bump shot into the top part of the edge of the green will be difficult. I don't think that will be really an option anymore because I don't think the grass will have settled down very well by the time we get there. But I think the chip-and-run, hopefully all the sodded areas will get nice and level where the shot up the bank won't make a difference. But I think anything kicking into those sodded areas will be a tricky task.

Q. Was it visually a different color?

STUART APPLEBY: Oh, it was totally different grass. It's been just cut up out of a machine and it's been laid --

Q. When you say sod, you mean they spliced it in there and set it and you can pick it up like carpet?

STUART APPLEBY: Basically. It's not rooted in, not grown in. It's not cut, it's very long, probably an inch and a half longer than the grass around it. It's just been put there, so they'll be hoping for five weeks of heat. I don't think it's going to be ideal, but there's nothing -- the USGA, I don't care whether it was anybody else, no one else -- you can't control the weather. Having a warm patch in January and then losing all that heat, there was nothing they could do. They were going to have to try and sod it, which they left as late as possible, or have bare patches around the green, potentially bare, wet patches.

Q. Would it be fair to say up until now you've had a lot of distractions on your mind this year and golf hasn't been a priority?

STUART APPLEBY: Not really. Have I felt like I've not wanted to get to the range or not wanted to practice or not wanted to play? I haven't really felt that. I'm probably three or four tournaments down in my schedule over this year, and that always happens when you have a new addition. So not really. No, I don't feel that way. I don't sit out on the course and wish I was home being a father. When I'm out on the course, I'm out on the course. I don't feel emotionally like I've left -- like I'm not on the golf course.

Q. How do you explain your form?

STUART APPLEBY: Well, I guess I'm four tournaments down from last year, and right there could be a couple two, three good tournaments and I'm up again, whatever, in the Top 10.

You know, my stats haven't been to the level I wanted them at this year, but I think I'm really looking out for a big year, move onto the next year, look up, really get those stats looking better again.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could touch on the rest of your round and we'll take one final question. You talked about 1 and 2.

No. 4, birdie.

STUART APPLEBY: Made about a 25-footer straight, dead straight, across from pin high.

Only bogey of the day on 6, left it short side right, really poor short with a 9-iron, had a diabolical chip that I hit to 20 feet and left it short in the middle.

Came back with a birdie on 7, reachable par 5, hit driver around the corner, hit 4-iron onto the fringe about four yards from the pin, just tapped it down, made it, two-putt.

No. 9, hit a little cut 3-wood up the fairway and a solid 8-iron to about a yard.

11, 4-iron, sand wedge to about 15 feet, made that.

Par 3, 13, hit it longish left on the tier, backed it off the tier to about ten feet.

Then 17, I hit a 4-iron really quite thin but very straight, ran up to about ten feet, eight to ten feet on the left side of the hole and broke that one in. Then had an eight- to ten-footer on the last to get up-and-down.

Q. Were you living in Isleworth in '99 when Payne won at Pinehurst?

STUART APPLEBY: Moved there in the summer of '97, yes.

Q. Did you go to his party like the week after he won that thing at his house?

STUART APPLEBY: No. It was at his old house then, wasn't it?

Q. Right.

STUART APPLEBY: I don't remember. I remember him making really nice margaritas. I remember he always made really good margaritas.

Q. Knew his way around a blender?

STUART APPLEBY: That's where he started my drinking. Now I've got to have Mexican when I come to Texas.

Q. Is it true that your chip-in on 2 was the first time you've chipped in this year?

STUART APPLEBY: That's your job. If you want to sit on the stats and look that one up -- I don't know. Look, I won at Mercedes, but you can't miss a green at Mercedes. You miss like four greens -- you think you're a great golfer until you see the size of the greens. You can't miss fairways.

I'm normally a good chipper -- if it is my first chip-in for this year, I'd better pick my act up.

Q. How would you assess what kind of year it's been to this point?

STUART APPLEBY: Good start, ho-hum the rest of the year.

End of FastScripts.

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