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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPENOctober 21, 2010Robert GarrigusLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: We have Robert Garrigus, 7-under 64. Just give us some general thoughts on conditions and on your round. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Well, you know, today, it was really soft out there. I've never seen the golf course this soft. Never seen it this green either. The greens are perfect. The first nine holes, you hit a putt online, it was going in. Didn't matter what, it wasn't going to hit anything. The greens were perfect. Had a great round. Conditions were perfect. No wind. When that happens, you can go low. I ended up making a bunch of putts and shooting 7-under. Great start. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: It gave me a big advantage. On a couple of the long putts, where my ball didn't hit any spike marks, ball marks, the ball rolled right in the hole. It's also nice to roll a couple in early and get some confidence. Jeff Gove shot four over. You can do it. I've done it before. I've been first out and shot 5, 6-over par. It's all about getting the confidence going, getting some momentum. I kind of stumped myself with the momentum on 16. Hit it in the water. Made like a 10-footer for bogey. That was a big putt, really big putt. That 10-footer got me to the next hole. I birdied the next hole. Rolling them in on the backside from right to left. That was a lot of fun today. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. Yesterday seems more like it was a bubble in Florida in a hurricane. Today is perfect. The weather kind of cleared up nicely for us. This is kind of what you expect in Vegas. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: No, not at all. I left a couple out there. No. 9, I made par because I had to go to the bathroom so bad, I couldn't even walk. I was walking down the fairway and I was thinking, I really need a restroom right now. But I didn't know if I was going to be tested or not today. Whenever I go to the bathroom on the golf course, they test me. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: I would have, but I was worried about being tested after the round. Once you go to the bathroom on the golf course, it's going to take me three hours to go to the bathroom again. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: No. I didn't, thank goodness. Ran in there, got rid of it. Man, if I could have felt like this walking down the ninth fairway, I could have made birdie. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, I feel good. I made some club changes in the middle of the playoffs when I was taking a break. I switched to some irons from TaylorMade, softer metal, help me spin it out of the rough. I'm getting used to those. I'm really excited about the putting because I cut my putter back down to where I started, 28 inches. I'm back to 28. I was 29 and a half there for a while. It just felt so weird. Man, I got to rolling today. I did not miss a putt from inside of I want to say about 16 feet today. I rolled a couple 30-footers that broke five feet. I rolled a couple of those in, too. My game feels good. I'm thinking well, too. You can get out there and make bad mistakes mentally. But, you know, I'm thinking really well and playing well. It feels really good. Q. I read some quotes it took you a while (indiscernible), but what does that do for you now as you go forward? Have you left it or do you come back to it at times and say, Let's not do this again, I approach life or golf different? ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, it was really a steppingstone for me. Like I said to everybody, I've never been in that situation before. I was really nervous, but I was playing well. I was kind of relying on the fact I was going to keep playing well, not going to hit a bad shot. But when that bad shot happened, I sped up, everything sped up. I kind of learned that when that happens, taking a couple minutes and don't think about anything and just relax, go to your next shot. It was really hard after Memphis. Everybody was like, Hey, great playing. I'm like, Yeah, I know, but whatever. Kind of nice when you have a job where you make a half a million dollars and you're furious. I've got one of the greatest jobs in the world. I look at life that way as well. I'm very lucky, very blessed. Memphis was just a steppingstone. I know I can win. I know I can do it. I know I can. If I can just get over that mental hurdle to do it, I'm going to win a lot out here. I feel like I can. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yes, she was. We had the baby on the 4th of September, baby boy. Q. How much did that help you let that go pretty quick? I think you can put things in perspective maybe better than other people have in terms of I lost a golf tournament, but that had to help you in some way? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Well, yeah. Back in San Diego when I went through the rehab facility when I was 25 years old, they told me that was the hardest thing I was ever going to have to go through in my life, and it was. Losing the golf tournament wasn't that bad. I've overcome bigger things than that. And to have the baby come into the world, I watched him come into the world, man, it really does put things in perspective. It's so much fun having the child there. It's kind of driving my wife a little crazy right now. She's not much for sleep and not much for good times right now. But, you know, it's going to be fun to raise him and to get him to do some things that my dad didn't do, be able to raise my child and be a father. It's something else. Q. When you're sitting on the couch saying, I'm going to do that, how far did you really get to go when you made it on TOUR? Were there goals in your mind? How far do you think you can go now? ROBERT GARRIGUS: I've come a hundred miles. It's unbelievable. Ever since I went through that rehab facility, the next year I made it on tour. I knew I was good enough to get there. I know my golf game is good enough to win. It's just getting my brain to slow down, because it's really hard to slow down when everything is going. It makes a big difference that I'm sober when I'm doing all this 'cause if I was doing all that stuff that I used to be doing, there is no way in hell I'd be able to go out and play every day and be healthy enough and be there for my wife and my child. It's a blessing to be, you know, in my position. I'm just so grateful. Q. (No microphone.) ROBERT GARRIGUS: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I kept my card on the Nationwide Tour for seven years. Just done. I can't even imagine what it would be like now. I can't believe how I was. It blows you away. That's the past. Then I talk about it with my buddies all the time, because I'm never going to do it again. People are like, Yeah. My agent says, Don't bring up the rehab thing. I don't care. I don't care what the companies think of me. I'm never going to do it again. I think it's a more positive thing than a negative thing. It's awesome to be out there playing on the PGA TOUR. It's such a great job. So I'm very happy. Q. Is it important for you to talk about it? ROBERT GARRIGUS: If I can help one person, I did my job, you know. I've had letters from people in prison. I've had all kinds of stuff. People just saying, Hey, thank you for telling me your story, regardless if it was in a newspaper or if it was on interview. I've had five or six people go through the program I went through and they got saved. They're clean and sober. It makes you feel good to actually help somebody, you know. That's really all what I tried to do when I talk about it. I want other people to feel like I feel. Q. What was the toughest part of winning one? You spoke about your father. What do you want to do for your son that you didn't get? ROBERT GARRIGUS: The hardest part was probably sucking it up and going there, admitting the fact that I need help. That's the hardest part about anything in life. Whether it's an eating disorder, whether it's anything. Hey, I need help. If you can do that, you're ready to do it, you're going to be able to do it mentally and your body is going to follow. With regards to my dad, he was there physically. He took me fishing, hunting, played baseball. We did all that stuff. He wasn't there. My folks got divorced. Just the emotional part. He never told me anything, never said anything. It's kind of nice to be able to try to right some wrongs that he didn't do. I'd like to be there for my son, to be able to tell him, Hey, doesn't matter who you are, how much money you have, you're the same as everybody else. I didn't really get that back in high school or anything else. I thought I was hot stuff. It's kind of nice to be able to have a chance to do that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. 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