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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC

November 12, 2009

Matt Bettencourt

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

MARK STEVENS: Okay. I'd like to welcome Matt Bettencourt to the interview room. Matt, you shot a 5-under today on the Palm Course also. Can you talk a little bit about your round and maybe the conditions teeing off early this morning, and then we'll take some questions.
MATT BETTENCOURT: Cold and windy, I'm sure as Will had said. It's tough out there today. You know, you expect the winds, but not the temperature. I don't know what the temperature is, but it can't be more than 60 degrees, probably somewhere in the 50s still. And the ball wasn't going anywhere, so you had to take an extra club. And real important to hit the fairway out there today, so I did a pretty good job of that.

Q. Do you still feel like you got a sniff at Rookie of the Year? You're technically a rookie, aren't you?
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah, I am. I have to win.

Q. Do you think so? To knock off the Australian guy?
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, Marc Leishman had a great year. And even if I didn't win, I'd probably still vote for Marc. He had such a great year.

Q. You pretty happy with the way this year has gone?
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah, I am. I'm very happy how the year has gone. I have a job next year. I've secured my card, so any time you can do that, never a bad thing.

Q. On that, what's the feeling out there with some of the other guys, younger guys fighting for their TOUR card?
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah. It's tough. I wouldn't want to be in that position, anywhere around 123 to 125 on the Money List because it puts so much value into each shot, and you try not to think about it and try to focus and play your own game, but it's in the back of your head, for sure, and the guys that are just outside of Top 150 trying to secure some status as well, so that's difficult as well.

Q. Is 5-under low enough on Palm for you with Mag tomorrow?
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah, I left a few shots out there. I missed some short putts coming in. I thought I had good putts and I lipped them out, lipped out three of the last four holes.
You know, it happens. It's golf. I had an opportunity to go pretty low today, and I'm happy with 5-under par, but I think the Mag's at least two shots harder, so if anybody can shoot in the 60s out there today, 68, 69 is one heck of a round out there. So you know, there's a lot of golf left to be played.

Q. (No microphone).
MATT BETTENCOURT: Not really, because I hit it good. I hit a great putt there. I hit a great putt on 17. I misread them and the grain pulled the ball a little bit at the end and caught the lip. So if I keep hitting good putts, I'm going to figure out how to read them a little bit better and they'll fall in eventually.

Q. I just wonder whether in the locker room you guys were talking about Fowler at all. Apparently he's not taking the foot off the gas. He just got up to 6 today and it must be something to be kind of young, dumb and fearless.
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah. No, no. He's not fearing anything. He's got nothing to lose either. Just turning pro. He had a great tournament there at the Frys.com Open and I played with Rickie earlier in the year in his first TOUR event, we got paired together the first two days in Hartford and obviously I knew about his amateur career and he's just a great kid. Rickie's a great person and it's going to be great for this TOUR.
He's just a nice guy. He's very approachable and he's got one heck of a game and he plays with no fear, so you can only expect some good things coming from Rickie.

Q. I apologize if this was asked while I stepped out.
MATT BETTENCOURT: No worries.

Q. What's it like to come to the last tournament and not have all the grinding for the last couple thousand dollars to keep your card? What's this week like for you, because I'm sure you've been on both sides of the coin.
MATT BETTENCOURT: Yeah, I have. It's just a lot of fun. I've been hanging out at the parks. This is the coolest place on earth or the happiest place on earth. It will be for me.

Q. Since you have a job.
MATT BETTENCOURT: Since I'll have a job next year. Yeah, it's just been laid back. I played two quick rounds, practice rounds Monday, Tuesday and just kind of relaxed yesterday and hung out, and I'm really enjoying the week here, and I hope the weather gets a little bit better.
I was looking forward to going over to the park this afternoon, but it's a little chilly out there right now. But it's been very relaxed and I'm just enjoying myself here. It's a great town.

Q. What was key for you today to produce the round you did?
MATT BETTENCOURT: I hit the ball in play all day, hit it really well off the tee, more than maybe two tee shots, and I kept the ball below the hole and hit it pretty close all day.
You know, I think my furthest putt that I made was about 15 feet. I didn't chip a ball in. And so that always helps, you know, keep the momentum going, but other than that, I hit them really close, and 67 probably was about as high as I could have shot.

Q. How did the weather and the conditions affect your approach?
MATT BETTENCOURT: You just have to be patient because, you know, swirling winds out there, and it was cold. And you know, it rained quite a bit, or you know, heavy mist, I should say, for about five or six holes today. So you know, it's just -- it's part of the game. You just have to stay patient. I played in bad conditions, seems like quite a bit this year, our TOUR did. We brought a lot of rain.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Matt. Good luck the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts

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