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CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 21, 2004

Hale Irwin

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Anyway, I think the scoring is low, the course was moderately difficult today, a lot of forward tees. It didn't surprise me a bit that the scores are the way they are.

Q. Birdies?

HALE IRWIN: At 2, making about a 12-foot birdie putt. Do you want saves at all?

Q. Yeah.

HALE IRWIN: Save at 1. I drove it in the right rough short of the green and pitched it about six feet from the hole, making that for par, and I made the birdie putt at 2.

I drove it in the left rough at 3, put it in a green-side bunker. From there made about another six-foot putt for a par.

I birdied 6, I missed a short birdie putt at 5, I guess about seven feet, and then I birdied 6 from the right rough. I hit a nice shot in there ten feet from the hole, making that for a birdie.

Again a nice save at 7, probably another six-foot putt for a par.

I missed a short birdie putt at 8, and then I hit it close at 9, about three feet, made that.

A save at 10, drove it in the right rough short of the green, pitched it past about seven feet, made that.

Missed the green at 12, pitched it up, three-foot putt for par.

A two-putt birdie at 13 from about probably 55 feet.

Hit it just over the back edge of the green at 14, hit a great pitch shot down there about four feet from the hole, making that for a par.

I birdied 15, hitting a little 5-iron, second shot, to within about seven feet of the hole, making that.

A two-putt birdie at 16, hitting a 3-wood on the green to about 25 feet away and hit a very poor first putt but made about a five-foot putt for my birdie.

Then I missed a makeable putt at 17 and two-putted 18. Although my second putt at 18 was about four feet.

Q. Did you miss the green from that rough?

HALE IRWIN: I hit it in the right rough short of the green, pitched it on.

Q. Where was the tee shot on the par 3?

HALE IRWIN: 7, I hit it short left, pitched it past about six feet.

Q. So you had six par saves?

HALE IRWIN: Yeah, it was really ugly, not a well-played round by any means, and hopefully that will improve. I'm kind of surprised at the way I hit the ball today compared to the way I have been hitting the ball, which has been pretty good. Yesterday in the Pro-Am I didn't miss a fairway, hit a lot of greens, and today it was a real struggle.

Whatever I worked on yesterday afternoon, gone, out the door, forget that thought.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Well, what I've done, I changed putters this week. The putter I've been using is -- the two are nearly identical, one has a little different insert than the other. These greens are a little bit quicker than perhaps what we've played on over the last several weeks, and I just felt like I wasn't getting the touch that I wanted. This putter the ball comes off a little bit softer, and consequently, I think that I had a little bit better feel.

But as far as the length and everything else, the putters are identical, just the insert is a little bit softer.

Q. What is the putter?

HALE IRWIN: It's a Taylor Made, the same model, just a different insert. One is just a little bit harder than the other. This one that I used today, I used at The Legends, when I won at The Legends, and on the slower greens I have a difficult time getting it to the hole; that's why I went to the other one and putted with it all summer, and this is the first time I've used this since The Legends, so it's got some good stuff in it, just personal preference on how it feels really. This one feels a little -- the ball may come off identically, it just feels like it comes off a little softer, a little more feel to it. But they weigh the same, same head, just a different insert.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: 6-under, whatever that is.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Oh, it was. I got a whole sack of flour to make some bread out there today. I was grinding. If I was using a grinding grape machine, we could have some wine. It was a grinding. It was not pretty by any means.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Yeah, I mean, that part looks good, but still, it was not the kind of round that you just say, boy, your swinging well into tomorrow. You think, boy, it's time to get off the property before you fall over and hurt yourself. Look out for the Bambino.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: I was only born in Missouri. I grew up as a kid in southeast Kansas in Mickey Mantle country really, then moved to Colorado where I met my wife, and then we lived in St. Louis for a long time. She's born and raised there. We now live in Phoenix.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: St. Louis? Oh, yeah, nothing goes by St. Louis without the approval of the baseball team. I guess that's why the Cardinals, the football team, got run out of town. You can't have two teams with the same name.

Q. I know you're a big golf fan, but (inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Yeah, he played for the Cardinals and we've met him on the ski slope. He's a good guy, a standup kind of guy. I'm curious to talk to him, see how after all these years how he's managing for Steinbrenner. He's a classy guy, Joe Torre.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Well, Joe did. Joe was down on the south side. That's where all the Italians hang out.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: He and Torre, those guys always go down to The Hill where they're in town.

Q. The last couple weeks have you felt more like your old self?

HALE IRWIN: Physically you mean?

Q. Well, just the quality of your play.

HALE IRWIN: I didn't play real well last week. Last week's course was one on which you didn't have to hit the ball real long, you just had to kind of keep it in play, and that's what I was able to do. I didn't putt well at all, but here again, we have a course that's got some length. Like I say, we had a number of tees that were forward that kind of took the teeth out of the golf course really, but saying that, you still had to put it in the fairway because the roughs were very tough, and I was fortunate that when I did get it in the rough I could get it up around the green somewhere and make some nice par putts. I don't think I had one tap-in putt today. Everything was grinding, grinding, grinding. I'm ready to chill out. That was too much work.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Especially when that sun angle gets down and those prints look like the Grand Canyon. Again, it goes to show that if you stroke the ball and hit it solid and get it started well, you'll make far more putts.

End of FastScripts.

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