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FUNAI GOLF CLASSIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 23, 2003

Brenden Pappas

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

MODERATOR: Brenden, thanks for joining us. Maybe get us started 9-under, 63. Including seven birdies and eight holes. Nice run there.

BRENDEN PAPPAS: I am trying to find 14. I am trying to figure out why I didn't birdie that hole. That's the par 5. I am not really familiar with this course as you can tell. I started off on the first hole. I birdied, No. 10, par 5. Hit a nice bunker shot to about 12-foot out of the right trap. It was laying a bit bad, so it was pretty good bunker shot to be 12-foot. I rolled the putt in the middle. Even though it's early that's encouraging because you have read the green right and the speed right, so it's always important to get that first putt in.

11, I managed to bogey, pushed my tee shot and hit a pretty good recovery shot just short of the green and failed to get it up-and-down. Hit a good putt but misread it.

No. 12, hit 8-iron to about six foot behind the hole and missed that one. Misread it as well.

Then the fun and games started. I had been hitting my tee shots right starting out. I was very uncomfortable with the ball-striking and I hit one about 40 yards off-line on the next hole. And I hit the next one heavy in the bunker short of the green and this is probably the key moment in the round for me because it was a tough bunker shot, about 30 yards, and I chipped it up there about three or four feet just short of the hole and rolled it in.

The reason why I said it's key is because it just kept me even par. You know, you start out with a birdie and you are 1-over after four holes that won't sit very well with you. Made the par and then the miss. I am confused.

MODERATOR: Birdied 15, 16, 17, 18. Another par on 14.

BRENDEN PAPPAS: I don't remember birdieing 13. But I did, right. Yeah, then on 14 as well I hit a good drive but miss-hit it; not a very good third shot in there. I got it up-and-down from over the back of the green. Another momentum-saver.

Then 15, great par 3, really demands the best out of your iron game because the wind is into you off the right and the pin was on the front right today. There's a little slope there that's very subtle, but very quick and putting up over the hill from about 30 foot left I just drained it right in the middle of the hole. It was going at a perfect speed as well. But a very key hole in the round, especially when you are coming down on the back nine on Sunday.

MODERATOR: What did you hit?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: Hit a 5-iron. It was about 186 yards into the wind off the right. I played it about 30 foot left of the hole, pretty conservatively.

Then 16, hit another bad tee shot to the right, in the rough, but not too bad. Hit a 9-iron to about 12-foot right of the hole, just in the middle again with a putt.

17, I hit another terrible tee shot, blocked it right just short of the trap on the right; had about 175 yards to the hole but it was straight down out of the rough. I hit a 9-iron to about eight foot. Again, in the middle of the hole with a putt.

I putted unbelievably well today. It was just kind of a surreal feeling, you know, just standing over the putt, you feel like you are going to make it. You know you are going to make it. You roll it in. It's amazing.

18, so now we are standing on the 18th tee. I haven't hit a fairway in about five holes, but I hadn't been hitting my driver -- only fairway I had hit was with my driver. So I pulled a driver out, banged it down the middle about 310 yards, somewhere around there. That was basically the start of where I felt like I am going to shoot a good round today. The scratchiness with the driver was a bit puzzling to that point and once I hit that good drive down 18 I felt confident with the tee ball, so I felt like a good round was coming.

I hit wedge to about three foot and made birdie.

No. 1, hit 3-wood down the fairway. I had about 155 to the hole. Soft 9-iron to about eight foot. Made the putt.

2 is also a very good hole. Pretty demanding with a tee ball, wind is down off the right. I hit driver down the right-hand side and I thought it would be perfect but the wind didn't seem to push it at all and it caught the one tree and bounced down to the right, but I had hit it far enough so that the trees didn't bug me. I hit a lob wedge to about four foot, made birdie. Maybe five foot.

Then the next hole, the par 3, 165 yards, pin is 15, 6 from the right. Straight into the wind so it's pretty tough pin because if you miss it right you're dead. So I played pretty conservatively in the middle short of the hole so it gave me an easier putt just for basically a par. I wasn't trying to make birdie. At that point I wasn't thinking about career birdie streaks or anything. It was just about score.

No. 4, I hit a great drive down the left-hand side and trying to run a 2-iron hybrid 5-wood, one of those things, trying to run it up on the right, pulled it a bit into the bunker. I had another 40-yard bunker shot, one of those tough ones, you know, and I blasted out about eight foot by; made the putt coming back.

No. 5 is par 4, 448. It's a very underrated hole on the golf course. The line seems to be a lot further than what it actually is. I always played conservatively on that hole off the tee. Just happened I had a little bit of adrenaline and hit a 3-wood right through the fairway. Played conservatively with the next shot because into the grain up the hill and down the grain away from you. Hit a 9-iron, just didn't quite get it over the nob. Ended up about 30 feet, 2-putted.

No. 6, 6-iron to about -- must have been 45 feet short and right. Made the putt. It was incredible. I was laughing at myself there for a little, kind of enjoying the sensation of making so many putts.

No. 7, 3-wood wedge to about five foot, made birdie.

8, I hit driver, 3-wood just short of the green. I had about 30 yards to the hole. Didn't get it up-and-down. I was a bit disappointed there, kind of counting --

No. 9, 3-wood, 8-iron, middle front of the green and 2-putted. Sorry to bore you with all that.

Q. You played a lot this year, 31 tournaments. Any reason for that, get a certain place on the money list or --

BRENDEN PAPPAS: It is a very good question. Starting out the year, coming off a terrible year last year, and it just kind have happened that way that I played so many -- I am not really familiar with how to schedule my events so that I play fewer tournaments, you know, I am not really familiar with all the golf courses yet. I didn't play in Colonial, at least Hilton Head, Colonial, the Byron Nelson, and Memorial, which is right in the middle of the year. I hadn't played those courses yet and I should have taken two weeks off in that four-week period. But the fact that I hadn't seen them, I wanted to go out and play them and see them for next year, just to gain that little bit of experience of places that I hadn't played because, if you take the courses that I saw last year and see how I performed on them this year, it has been miss certainly better than the other tournaments this year. I guess that's the biggest reason why I played so many, and the fact that as I have progressed up the money list, my goals kind of changed and maybe I worked a little too hard to try and get my goals.

Q. You had a crack at 59 a couple of weeks ago and the Tour book shows that you shot 28 for nine holes in South Africa once. Has that been your history, that you can really go low when you are on your game?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: Yeah, you know, I am a very introspective person and when I get it going, you know, I am in my own world, basically. The fact that I am making a lot of birdies, that's what it is. It's just a lot of birdies. There's not a number to the birdies; just one shot at a time, finish the hole, go onto next one. You can never make enough birdies in this game (laughs). It's not something I try and do. It's something that just seems to happen and not often enough.

Q. You mentioned earlier that you had a poor year last year. At the point when you knew you had secured your card for next year, did you consider that a relief or how has it made playing these last tournaments at the end of the year better than a year ago?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: Definitely the biggest let-down was the week after I secured my card, mentally. I have played terribly. I forget which tournament it was. It was right before Westchester, I think, I missed the cut in the tournament. It was a tremendous let-down that I had actually allowed myself to think, well, I made my card now. It felt terrible. I basically just adjusted my goals and tried to work harder just in case I didn't work hard enough. Does that answer your question? I'm not sure.

Q. You said you adjusted your goals; can you tell us what your goals were at the beginning of the season and what you have adjusted it to now; what you are doing now?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: At the beginning of the season my primary goal was to get into the Bay Hill Invitational. You know, my overall goal is to get up 125. But in order to do that I had these intermediate goals that I wanted to set. The first one was the Bay Hill Invitational which is the top 70 from the current Order of Merit. Possibly top 80; I am not sure. I achieved that quite easily early on. After I did that then my next goal became the Memorial, which is also an invitational, you know, top 70. As I progressed through the year and started to earn more money, then I started thinking about top 70 because that gets you into all those invitational events the following year. Once I did that, then I started thinking about top 50, and primarily top 40 because that may get you into The Masters which would be like a lifelong dream of mine. So I have that to accomplish now. I have left it kind of late but I have been performing well the last few weeks, you know.

I am very comfortable out there with the way I am playing. I don't feel like I am hitting the ball nearly as well as I should be, but it just seems to come together.

Q. Could you talk about the fact that you said you didn't drive the ball well today but obviously you scored better than anyone else so far this morning. What is it about this course that set up well for you or what was it special with the rest of your game?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: I drove the ball extremely well on the front nine which was my back nine. But starting out the first six or seven holes, actually through 17, I drove the ball terribly. So even though I was 2-under at that point I was a little at ease. I just seemed to work through it. It wasn't that I drove the ball bad the whole day. It was just the beginning of the round. I want to be clear on that.

Then what kept me in the game to begin with at the start of the round was my iron played and my putting. It was fantastic all day.

Q. Do you spend much time back in South Africa or are you over here pretty much full-time these days?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: Pretty much full-time in America. I live in Ocala, Florida. I now own a motor home so I have some huge responsibilities over here. (Laughs). I don't have time to go back really as much as I'd love to. Two or three weeks ago -- I don't remember the tournament -- I wasn't there maybe the other guys were. 18th hole, 20-under, John Huston was 17.

Q. You bogeyed the last hole to go 19. How disappointing was it when Huston birdied three holes in a row to deprive you of your first win?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't disappointing, but given the fact that I was seven shots back starting the day, you know, I woke up in the morning and I said to my wife, I said, if I shoot 10-under today I am going to finish second. It wasn't a prediction. It was just a statement. It turned out to be this kind of eerie prediction because it's exactly what happened. Perhaps in that statement I limited myself to 10-under when I bogeyed the final hole. I was 11-under and I was like, well, I have done what I thought I would do.

John Huston is a seasoned veteran and he knows how to win. So I am not saying it's easy for him to birdie 15, 16 and 17, but he was certainly capable of doing it. So to answer your question, I think what happened you know, happened purely out of chance. Maybe it just lined up that way. I got a horrible bounce on 18 that put me in a bogey position and you know, I was quite happy with the outcome of the tournament. Finishing second is never bad on the PGA TOUR.

Q. It sounds like, A, you are a little superstitious in some ways, and B, is there anything that's keeping you in your own mind from winning out here?

BRENDEN PAPPAS: I still have a lot of questions I have to answer about myself. I am not superstitious in any way. I just -- I am pragmatic if anything. I haven't performed at this level for a long time over an extended period, you know, my track record shows that I have the ability to play fantastic golf but it never really sticks. This is the first year where I have kind of maintained the level of golf that I know I am capable of over an extended period of time. So like I said, I am extremely introspective and I have a lot of questions that I have to answer about myself. And I am not going to let you in on any of them, so don't even ask. (Laughs).

End of FastScripts.

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