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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

February 12, 2010

Paul Goydos

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Paul Goydos, thanks for joining us after a 65 over at Spyglass Hills; seven birdies and no bogeys. Great round. Maybe some opening comments about a good day for you.
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah, it was a good day. I started out the day, I would say in an abnormal fashion in the sense that I got to Spyglass and realized I hadn't put my golf shoes on. So I hit a few putts and got back in the car and drove back and got my golf shoes.
Got back and and hit a few balls and went to tee off. It was an interesting start. Don't write that. I don't want anybody to think I'm an idiot.
It was a good start. Really probably the first one I hit an okay drive, okay second shot, okay third shot, and made a 30-footer and kind of set the tone for the rest of the day. It was a good, solid day.
I birdied 6 -- I get to shuttle twice. I shuttled ten yesterday and then tomorrow. Then on 6 I hit a pretty good drive and what was basically a 4-wood for me, a rescue, to about four or five feet and made that.
7, I hit a driver and a layup and a wedge to about a foot. Very nice there. By the way, 6 was my first birdie ever on that hole big improvement.
And then 8 I hit a driver and 6-iron to about 15 feet and made that. I had never birdied that hole probably either. So I'm working on my eclectic score to Spyglass to improve tremendously today.
11, I actually knocked it on the green in two and never done that before on this golf course. Two-putted from about 35, 40 feet.
Then I birdied 17, right? 17 I hit drive, and actually hit a pretty poor lob wedge and spun it off the front of the green and chipped it in. There was a comment that it's usually not a good sign when you hit the same club two shots in a row, except if it's the putter, and I chipped in.
And 18, hit an okay drive and a 6-iron to about 25 feet and made that.
Obviously the greens are challenging, but, you know, just got to hit your putts and mine went in today. My career low score at Spyglass before today was 70. I don't have to look it up. I know I had never broken 70 at Spyglass. I know I had shot 70, but I never broken 70 there, so I improved that by 5 shots. Pretty funny.
I mentioned it, and Kevin -- playing with Kevin, of course -- and when we get done, he says, Well, you broke 70 finally out here. I think the most amazing thing of the whole round was the fact that my amateur held me 7 shots. He shot 58, boys and girls. So, that's by far the -- we've had 14-under. I know I've had the amateur make the cut a couple times. 14-under would probably be the third-best score I've ever had for three rounds with an amateur out here.
Bob Stuart from Hertz. He played great, too. He parred 2, 3, 4, and 5. He's an 18 handicap. Yesterday he played like that, today he didn't. But 58, my God. That's more impressive than a 65.

Q. You're tied for the lead after being named Ryder Cup assistant captain. You got to be thinking about making the team?
PAUL GOYDOS: Well, yeah. Obviously you set goals. You should set, you know, easily attainable goal, marginally attainable goals. You should have different levels of goal-setting throughout your year, and that's obviously one of the high ones. But you do set goals, and I played well. Who knows what's gonna happen.
Also think those kind of things kind of iron themselves out after the U.S. Open. Not too concerned about it right now.

Q. What's the difference between easily attainable and marginal?
PAUL GOYDOS: Attainable, for me, the goal is always to be a better player in December than I was in January. That's goal one. No, not easily attainable. I'm trying to figure out easily attainable. Upright throughout every round would be the easily attainable one. The Grand Slam would be probably the less easily attainable one, and the rest of 'em are in between those two.
You do set -- you know, depends on how you're playing. A lot of the more easily attainable goals are along the lines of when you're struggling, you know, hitting in the middle of fairway, hitting it in the middle of the green and two-putting for par.
Things like that, those are more short-term goals, while over the course of the year you have your long-term goals. But that's a good question, by the way. I did not have an answer to that. (Laughter.)

Q. You know, guys today were charging on every course, and it's kind of a cluttered leaderboard.
PAUL GOYDOS: Cluttered?

Q. Five or six guys up there. What do you think, you know, if the weather is not playing in to each course, what will be the difference the final two rounds? Just a hot player hitting the putts or...
PAUL GOYDOS: Um, yeah, I mean, you really have to play all three courses before you really get a feel of what's going on. Then, you know, I don't know. You're asking the wrong guy. I won twice in 432 times. If I knew the answer to those questions, I probably would have won more often.
It's gonna be the guy that makes some putts and kind of keeps it going. 10-under? I don't know. When you have that par 70 course that throws me. Yeah, it's gonna come down to playing the back nine on Sunday, as it usually does every single week.
The reason they're cluttered on top is probably because of the abundance of talent that plays the PGA Tour, more so than the weather or anything else. The softness of the golf course is gonna have something to do with that, too. If you were playing and the balls were bouncing, I don't think you'd see the same clutter you see right now.

Q. After a very nice round today, are you planning on forgetting your golf shoes tomorrow?
PAUL GOYDOS: No. No, that's why I'm wearing them. But, yeah, that was a weird deal. I kind of got down there and they're both the same color. They're both black, and I guess in my eyes they looked similar when you're looking down at 'em. I was putting and I'm like, God, they look shinier than they normally do. Wow, wet courses. Tried to sheepishly go back, and luckily there was a guy right there for me.
It probably took me 12, 15 minutes. I got to Spyglass maybe five, six minutes earlier than I normally would have, you know.

Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL GOYDOS: It wasn't a big deal. I'm usually waiting to kill time before warming up anyway.

Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL GOYDOS: I haven't played Pebble yesterday. I would guess if you asked me that question Monday before I got here, I would say Monterey Peninsula. Having played in the first group off the 10th tee and the greens were perfect, I changed my mind at that point. I would say that, yes, but I think you can go look at the stats. In relation to par, I they're we're gonna be so close all week.
It's just so soft right now, and it's a little bit like shooting darts. Playing the ball up. The weather is good. I think it blew about three miles an hour today. Just no defense at these golf courses.

Q. When did Corey first approach you to discuss assisting him?
PAUL GOYDOS: He briefly talked about it last year. I was like, Is he insane? He came back to me at Sony and asked me do it, and I said, are you insane? I was flabbergasted. I was astonished. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what he sees, but he's a pretty smart guy. I have a lot of respect for Corey.
Yeah, it's gonna be -- it's a great honor. Hopefully I can live up to the expectations he has.

Q. What do you think you're supposed to bring to the table?
PAUL GOYDOS: Right now he told me. He wants me to just watch players and evaluate talent. Right now, he's looking -- really, until you get there, it's captain's picks. He's got four of 'em, and I think he's got to evaluate the eight guys that make the team after making the PGA, and then maybe have a couple weeks, maybe a playoff event or two, and then go make his picks.
He's got to find -- I'm not making the picks. You know, I'm more like a caddie. He's making the picks. He's got to figure out what he thinks is the best way to blend in those four guys, what's the best mix.

Q. Paul, what would you say if Corey came to you as a captain's pick to be on the team, or if you were close?
PAUL GOYDOS: I think it would be like the NCAA tournament. They'll kick me out of room when you talk about my team.
My guess would be 46-year-old rookie who has never played international competition as a captain's pick might be looked upon with some interesting comments. I mean, my guess is that for rookies with something like this, you need to earn -- you better be in the first eight would be my guess.

Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL GOYDOS: Right, my guess. But I think that's -- you know, I think that's gonna be the deal. Corey talked about -- they asked him about the President's Cup and the Ryder Cup, and I think his comment was, This isn't the Presidents Cup, pal. Something along those lines.
So, I mean, he's gonna pick the four guys he thinks blends into the team best. Again, 46-year-old, short hitting, never played before, I know where my butt's going.

Q. How would you evaluate your record through the years in California tournaments?
PAUL GOYDOS: Hit and miss. I played well up here at times. I like the Hope. I had good rounds at the Hope. I hadn't played Riviera in nine years until last week. '01 was the last time I had played. I missed four cuts in a row there. I think they have redone the greens, and I thought kept general shape and did a -- quite frankly, it was as good a golf course as I played when I was -- I was just about as stunned as when Corey asked me to be assistant captain.
How did I do it, I Riviera played. And I played good. The golf course is in phenomenal shape. My bathtub doesn't drain that well. I mean, the superintendant there deserves a raise. I mean, that golf course is phenomenal.
You know what, I don't know how many guys of you guys were there and went out on the golf course, but they have about six or seven holes on the temporary green. I think the members there have enough commitment to the L.A. Open to where they'll play some temporary greens leading up to the tournament.
That's pretty impressive. There are not many memberships in the country that are gonna do that for their PGA Tour event to make sure that's the best it can possibly be. I think we ought to -- you know, I have a newfound respect for the golf course and the club there for how they treated us, how important it is for them to have the golf course in that kind of condition that you don't play it. I mean, that's pretty good dedication to that event.

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