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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 20, 2010

James Nitties

IRVING, TEXAS

THE MODERATOR: I had like to welcome James Nitties to the interview room. James shot a 2-under today and last here in his first HP Byron Nelson Championship he led after the first round, so he's got some good experience here, and James if you'll start off and talk about this course, there must be something you like about it, if you would talk about that?
JAMES NITTIES: Yeah, no, the course suits me out here. I like Texas golf because it's windy, hot and fast and it's one of those courses where I just feel comfortable playing.
It was one of those days, that was pretty tough early, actually, the wind was blowing around 15 to 20 and I was playing great, and I couldn't do anything wrong this morning. It was one of those things where we had the rain delay, and I don't think I properly warmed up and had a couple of loose shots on the back nine and couldn't get the momentum that I had running through the front nine, so it was a good day and little disappointing to finish bogey, bogey. The course is good, and I look forward to playing this course the next couple of days.

Q. You play this course much, when you're not in a tournament?
JAMES NITTIES: No. I mean, it's funny enough I live in Uptown, about 15 minutes away, and we tried to play here one day but we didn't book a time or something and then I just didn't get back here; it was one of those things. So I played at the Craig Ranch a couple of times, but I'd like to come out here and play a fair bit more to have more of a "home ground" advantage instead of just playing it last year.

Q. You play it like you play a lot of -- like you've played here.
JAMES NITTIES: No, as I said, it suits my eye, a lot of guys have courses out here that they have good memories of or good sort of feelings about, and this course, I have that around here; I feel like I can play well around here every time.

Q. Was it tough coming back after the delay? Sounded like you maybe lost momentum?
JAMES NITTIES: I definitely did. As I said, this morning was brutal, it was tough, and I was 4-under through nine, and then this afternoon was perfect conditions and I shot 2-over the back nine, so it was one of those things where I would have loved to have kept playing, but that's nature and that's the way it goes.
I tried to warm up well, and I felt good when I went out there, just a couple of loose 3-wood shots cost me, and I had a double bogey, sort of average double bogey there on the 3rd, and then I had a couple of birdies and got it back, and then just a couple of loose shots down the back and missed a couple of putts. It's one of those things where I felt like I left a lot out there because the nine that I played poorly on was the nine that was in perfect condition.

Q. Were you exactly at the turn when the siren sounded?
JAMES NITTIES: I hit my tee shot off 1, so I -- it was convenient, actually straight to the clubhouse.

Q. You said a couple of weeks ago that putting had been holding you back and it seems like the putting has come around.
JAMES NITTIES: You can look at my stats for this year and I've missed a lot of cuts, and I've only made four cuts. It was all down to my putting and my confidence. I've been hitting it the best I've hit it in a long time for the whole year, and it's just one of those poor starts where I missed six cuts in a row and four of 'em by a shot, and then the first cut I make I have a top-3.
So when I putt half decent and hole the putts you should hole, I'm up around the leaderboard. So it's encouraging to know if I can get my putting consistent I'll be consistently up around the lead.

Q. (No microphone.)
JAMES NITTIES: Funny you say that. I missed six cuts -- I missed 4 cuts -- missed 3 cuts, and then I went to Dave for three weeks, and everything he talks about is great, I just couldn't get confident with it, and it was the same thing. Then I went straight back to my old putting, the start of Puerto Rico and finished third, so it's sort of cemented in my mind that maybe it's not the -- it's just confidence.
I got a good tip off of the caddy for Ricky Barnes, he's a pro and he said something about my putting in Charlotte, and since then I've not been missing two-and-a-half footers and rolling in putts, and I holed some nice ones today, so I miss -- I was going through everything.
When you go through a bad run you look for the "quick fix" and you lose your way, and it's hard to be patient and wait. So obviously it's starting to pay off now, starting to see some results.

Q. Jason Day played well today. Did you cross paths much with him in Australia growing up? Do you know much about his game?
JAMES NITTIES: Jason is a little younger than me and he was always one of those kids growing up that was going to be the next Tiger Woods and a had an awful lot of potential and a lot of hype around him, and I think that hurt him a little bit when he started his career, and obviously over the last couple of years he's shown that he has the game to shine and play well out here.
I haven't played against him much, but I know him well. I've only started playing against him on a consistent basis out on the PGA TOUR, and he has a great game, was it 5-under or --

Q. 4 under.
JAMES NITTIES: But he's got lots of game, a big future ahead of him.

Q. Jason was going to be the next Tiger growing up. Who were you going to be?
JAMES NITTIES: It's funny because I don't think there is any such thing as the next Tiger Woods. There is the next Phil Mickelson and the next, you know, I don't know, Ernie Els, but I just don't think that there can be anyone born that can be as good as Tiger. Me? Probably Bruce Lietzke. He's a guy that used to play golf to make enough money so that he could take the rest of the year off.
I'm not quite that laissez-faire, but I'm similar to him in the way I play, and when I'm not playing golf and I've got a week off, I get as far away from it as I can. It's one of those things where the last thing I want to be doing in my time off is playing golf, and I know the enjoyment I get out of golf is playing with mates and competing.
The buzz that I get from competing is why I play golf. So it's my whole life -- golf isn't me; it's what I do. So in my weeks after, I like to relax, party, whatever, and that gives me enough time away to be pumped up enough to get out there and really work hard in the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before an event.

Q. The famous story about Lietzke putting his clubs away for the winter literally --
JAMES NITTIES: Exactly. That's me. Last year was my first full year at playing on TOUR. I've been practicing every week off, and every week off that I practiced I would miss the cut. In Charlotte I said to my caddie, you know what, I'm taking nine days off and not getting my clubs out of the car. And I came back and made the top-15, and I did that every week after I made the cut.
I'm not a golf nerd, but -- there are guys that can't not be at the golf course because they feel like they're losing their ability, but with me it's just -- now -- obviously I'll play with a buddy in my week off. When I go to the tournament the next week, I'll play with my buddy, but if I've got two weeks off I'm not touching the clubs for eight or nine days.

Q. Is there something about your swing like Lietzke that's repeatable?
JAMES NITTIES: I hit a massive cut just like Lietzke used to. I would like to play in Colonial and play a practice round with him. I'm still one out of Colonial, but if I can get in that tournament, I would like to actually meet him, see how he plays.

Q. What are fun places to go to in Uptown? And how do you like living there?
JAMES NITTIES: It's going to sound like I'm an alcoholic, but I love Uptown because there are a lot of nice, classy restaurants. On a Wednesday or Tuesday afternoon if you want to go have dinner and watch a game, it's a nice sort of cool place just to hang. For me it's perfect because everywhere is walking distance. I live close to a lot of places and, so -- you've got TopGolf, which is a nice casual way of playing with a couple of buddies. I don't know if you want me to tell you where I like to hangout in Uptown but --

Q. That would be fine.
JAMES NITTIES: PM, which is a club downtown that's a bit far from my house, but -- it's good because I walked home from the American Airlines Center after going to a concert, so it's handy, and anywhere on McKinney, and some places that are good on specific nights that you can catch up with a couple of friends and still be in bed at eleven at night and have had a great time.
As I said, I'm one of those guys that in my weeks off would prefer to be living in a city than on a golf course. If I'm going to practice I'll make myself drive half an hour and stay all day instead of being around the corner.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, James.

End of FastScripts

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