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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 3, 2010

Jeff Klauk

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

CHRIS REIMER: Welcome back. Do we even have to say that to you?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, right. No, I'm glad to be back here and looking forward to playing in the tournament again. It's always a special week for me and the family, and I have my brother John caddying for me this week. It's going to be great. I'm looking forward to playing.

Q. When is the last time John caddied for you?
JEFF KLAUK: Last year in Phoenix, the Fall Finish.

Q. Was that the only time?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, last year that was the only time, but he caddied for me a bunch.

Q. On the Nationwide Tour?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, Nationwide Tour.

Q. Does he work cheap?
JEFF KLAUK: Same as all the other guys.

Q. When you have your brother caddying for you and you also have a brother who's a pretty good player, do you ever second-guess?
JEFF KLAUK: No, John knows this course just as well as I do, and I think it'll be a huge asset to have him around this week. We know each other obviously better than anybody else, so he'll be able to help me out with my game.

Q. Is there a short answer for why you've been struggling with your game?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, there's a lot of things. I mean, from having another seizure after Pebble Beach, which is my third one. I had two like five years ago, and then back problems that I've had. I just really haven't been healthy, but I feel like I'm healthy now and been looking forward to -- I'm playing all right, although I didn't play well last week, but I feel like my game is -- good stuff is right around the corner.

Q. Is there some medication or something that helps you keep that stuff under control?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, absolutely, I'm on medication. Just have to stay on top of it.

Q. What kind of therapy are you doing for your back?
JEFF KLAUK: A lot of stuff. I mean, there's a lot of things. I've had to end up getting some cortisone shots in there to calm it all down. It's just one of those things most golfers have to deal with. At some point in our lives we all have -- it's one of the things if I didn't play golf it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal, but being that the golf swing just aggravates it (indiscernible).

Q. You were out there grinding pretty hard yesterday, then you got in here early and you probably hit some balls yesterday. The course conditions, obviously setup the week of the tournament is obviously different than what you see at any other time. Are you surprised it's in the shape it's in right now, such good shape, given the winter we had?
JEFF KLAUK: Well, I figured it was going to be in good shape. The guys, Tom and everybody, worked a lot of hours to get it in shape. Finally it gets warm here in North Florida for a change. The course is in good shape and the greens are great, and I think everybody will be surprised. I mean, the winter was obviously very difficult on every golf course around here, but especially here with the amount of play they run through here. Yeah, it's in great shape.

Q. When you say you're struggling, does coming here help you?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, absolutely. I know where to hit it on every hole. I really don't even -- I say I don't even need to play practice rounds, just want to go out there and see how the course is playing. It's going to be a lot firmer and faster than it is normally when I play it, but yeah, there's definitely a comfort level out there.

Q. How have you handled the mental part of things? Has it been frustrating?
JEFF KLAUK: I mean, it's been frustrating, but at the same time that's golf. I mean, you're going to miss cuts and stuff. The thing that's just been frustrating is I haven't been 100 percent totally. I've had to miss a couple tournaments that I normally wanted to play.
But things are turning the corner. I feel I'm going to play well this week.

Q. I don't know much about your seizure history. Is that the first one in a while?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, it's the first one in about four years or so. Yeah, they're not any fun. I usually have them at night while I'm sleeping, so it especially isn't fun for my wife.

Q. Not having it for a while, did that throw you for a loop a little bit?
JEFF KLAUK: Well, all of them do. Your body doesn't take to them very well obviously. It takes a long time for my body to get back to normal, especially since I play a feel sport. Yeah, those are behind me, and I'm feeling better, so looking forward to playing well.

Q. You are feeling good coming in here?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, yeah. I want to just put in a good three days of practice here with my coach, Cody, and I feel ready to go, get that confidence rolling and feel ready to go on Thursday.

Q. How close to 100 percent is your back now?
JEFF KLAUK: I mean, probably like 90 percent. You know, I feel pretty good.

Q. Are you going to a chiropractor?
JEFF KLAUK: I mean, I do a lot of stuff, but you know, it's not an excuse right now. There's no excuse for why I haven't played well recently.

Q. Is there one part of your game that's been struggling?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, my driving accuracy. Last year I drove the ball really well. This year I haven't driven it nearly as well. For me to play well on the PGA TOUR, I don't hit it as far as a lot of guys, and I need to hit it in the fairway, and if I'm hitting out of the rough, you know, I'm not going to play very well, and consequently if I hit it in the fairway I'll give myself a lot better chance to hit good shots into the green for sure.

Q. Speaking of rough, does it look like one of the offshoots of having a bad winter out there that they haven't been able to grow the rough as high or as thick as they want?
JEFF KLAUK: Oh, yeah. Normally during the wintertime out here the rough has some green in it, so it's still growing. This year it's pretty much -- it was all dormant. Then it kept being cold until just recently, and then they put the fertilizer down. Yeah, hopefully we don't get too much rain tomorrow and they firm up the greens because you don't need that much rough to make the course difficult. There will still be a little bit of rough out there.

Q. Is rough high enough to where you guys will catch fliers with V-grooves?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, you always catch fliers, especially out of Bermuda rough, especially if it's dry. You'll definitely catch some fliers.

Q. Is the prospect of fliers out here a little more scary just because you really don't want to be long into the greens?
JEFF KLAUK: I've played the same clubs. I've played V-grooves. I've never played square grooves, so for me nothing has changed from that aspect of my game anyway. I've always played them.

Q. If we're doing a story on pin placements, obviously you take that into account big time. How much goes into your preparation for the next day? Do you try to guess what they're going to do?
JEFF KLAUK: Well, there's a dot out there when we're playing. The first day there's a dot for the next day, so the caddies try to find them, and having set the pins here, not during tournament play, but having changed the pins when I was a kid and knowing the greens and all that stuff, I kind of have an idea where they're always going to be.

Q. Especially here knowing what you know, do you kind of breathe a sigh of relief when you see that dot in the place that -- you know where the bad ones are probably, right?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, you know where you want to miss it and where not to miss it and where you have a chance to -- the best side of the hole with the easiest putt and stuff is from. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't hurt having done a lot of stuff here through the years.

Q. When you guys go out there Thursday and see where the pins are going to be Friday, do you game plan that evening or early the next day based on where they're going to be?
JEFF KLAUK: Yeah, I mean, I try to. After each round I try to sit back and visualize what I'm going to do the next day, you know, on the certain holes, where the pins are going to be if I know where they are, and just try to get a game plan before you go out there.

End of FastScripts

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