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VERIZON HERITAGE

April 14, 2010

Brian Gay

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome the defending champion of the Verizon Heritage, Brian Gay, into the interview room.
Brian, first let's look back on what was a remarkable performance. Ten-stroke win last year. Just two bogeys for the week. Had to be a dream week for you.
BRIAN GAY: Absolutely. It was an amazing week. And pretty much had everything going for four days, like you said. I think I was second in fairways, third in greens hit and the putter was hot.
JOHN BUSH: This is your 11th start here, how do you temper your expectations, based on such a dominating performance last year?
BRIAN GAY: I think that will be the challenge this year is not live up to last year, just go out and do the best I can, and hit the shots that I hit last year, and not really put too much pressure on myself or too many expectations and compare it to last year.
JOHN BUSH: You started the year with five consecutive top-25 finishes, and you have missed the last couple of cuts. Talk about the state of your game.
BRIAN GAY: I think my game is about the same. Last week was a little tough being at the Masters for the first time, I think there's a lot to learn there, a lot of experience and course knowledge, guys playing there year after year. So that was a challenge, but my game is pretty good.

Q. You kind of mentioned last year that some of the grasses and stuff here are familiar to you, growing up in the South. And then I think you also talked about kind of the atmosphere. Is there something about this place that kind of lends itself to Southerners playing here?
BRIAN GAY: I think so. I think, like you said, the atmosphere, it's laid back, relaxing, a tree-lined golf course, ryegrass or Bermudagrass, what I'm used to playing on. This is the time of year that golf really gets kicking, springtime, and throughout my career I've typically played pretty well in the spring and early summer.

Q. Is that something maybe people underrate the importance of, being familiar with grasses and being able to read greens and stuff like that?
BRIAN GAY: I think so. Everybody gets accustomed to what they grew up on or played the most on in college, when they were younger. For me it's tougher to play up north on poa annua greens, I haven't played that much on.

Q. Is there a time maybe during the off-season or anything when you thought about this win last year and the margin of victory and that soaked it up and thought, wow, that's pretty special?
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, from time to time I think about it, when people ask me to sign the Sports Illustrated article and stuff like that, it's a reminder. And sometimes I kind of wonder -- guys say stuff to me, "How did you do that? Won by ten, that's unbelievable." It's cool to hear that stuff.

Q. Have you put it in perspective over the last year? How did you wind up doing it?
BRIAN GAY: I've been asked that a lot. Like I said I just think a lot of it was mental, along with being on my game at the time I was just really super focused the entire week, just very few mistakes and hit the ball really well.

Q. You mentioned about last week and how the knowledge you need to acquire throughout the years at the Masters to play well there. Is it almost impossible for someone there to play well the first time? And the preparation you did last week, did that help you play better this week?
BRIAN GAY: It's not impossible, but I think it's definitely a bigger challenge. Guys see a lot of the same pins there at Augusta and you know exactly where you need to hit your approach shots and places you don't want to be where you can't or have a tough time 2-putting or getting up and down. It's really getting in the right position around the greens.
Comparing last week, preparation to here, it's a totally different golf course. So I don't think it's that big a factor.

Q. Could you compare how you feel now compared to how you felt a year ago this week and what was ahead of you at that time? Is there any way you felt different now? Obviously you're the defending champion, but in terms of where your game is and where your head was at?
BRIAN GAY: No, I think it's pretty similar. Obviously I've got a lot more going on before the tournament this year. That's probably the biggest difference.

Q. Can you talk about, there was a story you tell about Ernie Els and you having an exchange on the course on some hole where he was just almost surprised that you were able to keep up with him, despite the difference in driving distance and such. Kip said that he was so far ahead of you he couldn't even tell what color shirt Ernie was wearing. Where did that take place?
BRIAN GAY: I believe that was at the BMW in Chicago last year.

Q. How did that story go?
BRIAN GAY: Well, Ernie was -- I'm trying to think, it was the third or fourth round, and Ernie is killing it, hitting it way down there, you know, 40, 50, 60 yards by me. And we got to 18 and that's a really long hole, as you probably know, I had a 4-wood into the back left pin and it landed right next to the pin. And he's down there with probably an 8-iron. And No. 1, I kind of hit my drive over to the right into the fairway, but it was a dogleg left and it's a little longer on the right side, I had a hybrid in and hit it in there, inside of him, and he had like a 7-iron. He kept looking back kind of laughing. He's like, "How the hell do you do that?" (Laughter).

Q. This tournament is looking to a title sponsor as you know, can I get your thoughts on if this tournament were to disappear and what the Tour might lose and what might it be able to replace the week after The Masters?
BRIAN GAY: I don't think you could replace this event. It would be really sad if that happened. It's a great event. It's really special to a lot of players, and it's a unique event in a small community where everybody really rallies together. I think somebody will step up and keep it going. It sure deserves to.

Q. I understand that your wife may have been mistaken for Elin Woods possibly recently. Is there any truth to that story?
BRIAN GAY: That's been going around.

Q. That's why I figured we'd let you dispel it or confirm it.
BRIAN GAY: A few photos taken at home, just some paparazzi people, I guess. Like I say, the same truck, and we live close to each other. So I guess they're on the lookout for her and mistaken her for Kimberly.

Q. Were they at a store or something? Where were the pictures taken?
BRIAN GAY: They were like on the main -- the circle there in downtown Windemere when she came around the corner and they had stopped and kind of scared her, and they jumped out taking photos. And she didn't get out of the car, she just said, "I'm not Elin."

Q. We saw at the Masters the relationship that Phil and Bones have. And it seems like you and Kip have a good relationship, as well. He was here with you at the opening ceremonies. What's the relationship like?
BRIAN GAY: We're good friends. We have a good relationship. Of course we haven't been together in anything as close as long as Bones and Phil; it's been almost four years. It's been good. We've had a lot of success. And we're pretty close on and off the course, so it works well.

Q. Kip and Kimberly kind of counterbalance you in personality, because Kip will talk your ear off, right?
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, he can talk. I think part of the reason we do well together is he's a good player, as some of you might know, on The Big Break and tried to play for a long time. But he brings out some stuff in me that maybe I normally wouldn't do. And then he's kind of a Jekyll and Hyde thing, I guess. He's a lot more aggressive than I am. But he knows the game really well. He's able to look at my swing and know what's going on. He's pretty smart on the golf course. But sometimes I have to hold him back little bit. "What do you want me to do that for?" But it works well.
JOHN BUSH: Brian, thanks for coming by. Good luck as you go for No. 2 this week.

End of FastScripts

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