Q. You compared video to what you were doing to what you are, but if you looked at that video and now, is it such a minute change that nobody would really see anything different?
BRANDT JOBE: For me it actually wasn't; it was a big change. What I was trying to do was -- you look at Tiger and he's got a great swing and every child coming up wants to model their swing after him, gives you power, a huge turn, all the positive things. I tried to do a couple of those things myself, getting the club in what they call the perfect positions, one, two, three, four. I couldn't get to position one. That threw me off. I can't do it that way. I have to do it a little bit different way in order to get -- otherwise I get the club face real shut at the top and I hit it hard left, and I usually play a little bit of a cut to a straight shot. My whole thing is if I can eliminate left I can play better.
Q. So it's the first part of the backswing?
BRANDT JOBE: The first part of the backswing is what I work on. It's been crazy. That's always kind of been my key. I think everyone kind of figures out -- some guys might have to work of transition from the top. Everybody has a different idea or thought that gets them in the right position, and that's just what it is for me. I've found that. I've spent two and a half years being lost basically.
Q. Do you think it's a common sin out here for a guy to -- instead of, as you said, try to do what he does just a little bit better to completely try to retool to get there?
BRANDT JOBE: No, there's a lot of guys. There's a lot of guys that probably wish they never did it. I wish I took what I had and tried to improve on that instead of trying to do something different. We're all trying to get better. I mean, that's the bottom line, you know, and sometimes, hey, it's great -- my situation, I was playing very well in Japan and had a low-world ranking, and I said, boy, I've got to take it to the next level. I was finishing 15th, 16th in the majors but I thought, I want to do better, and this is the right thing, and it didn't work. Luckily I hung in there and just kind of battled through it, but it's been a battle.
Q. How about the idea, in general, of guys changing their swings or picking up some fundamentals based on what Woods is doing. Obviously he's a tremendous model. Is there a lot of that going on, studying the swing and say I need to be here, here and here?
BRANDT JOBE: Probably it started with Faldo. He revamped his swing with Leadbetter and he was beating everybody's brains in there for a while with a beautiful golf swing, and that Tiger took that pretty swing and added power to it. There you go, I mean -- I think all of us -- the game has really changed in the last five or six years. It's just gotten so much -- look at this rough we're playing in this week. It's got to be five or six inches, especially a foot off the fairway. It just has really turned into a power game, and strength is just a huge key. You know, like everybody out here, we're all just trying to get better and sometimes we make mistakes by trying to change everything and maybe we just need to refine things.
Q. Are you a lot stronger now? You said I have to become stronger. Has that affected your swing at all?
BRANDT JOBE: No, I've been fortunate. I've always had pretty good length, so it's not something I've sat and worked on trying to get longer. If anything I've tried to get straighter. I tried to do some new things and have a better swing so to speak. It didn't work for me, and now I'm trying to get back to being able to hit the shots that I want to hit and having confidence that if I'm going to play a draw it's not going to go left, if I'm going to play fade, it's not going to go left. You get in trouble double-crossing. I'm nowhere near where I need to be, but it's definitely improving. It's nice. Seven cuts in a row, that's improvement right there. You know, one Top 10 in that stretch was -- you know, I need to keep working hard on what I'm doing, and I'm seeing results. That's what's nice.
Q. Are you doing anything better through that stretch? Is it just ball striking or are you making a few more putts?
BRANDT JOBE: Well, I think when you hit the ball -- when you start hitting the ball well you start giving yourself more opportunities. The more opportunities you get the more you're going to make, so it all goes hand in hand. When you're struggling and hitting all over the place and you're hitting 10, 12 greens but you're hitting 30, 40 feet there's no opportunity. Now you're hitting 12 or 13 greens and like I did today you're hitting a couple shots two or three feet, that's not much stress in there. I think yesterday I hit 16 greens or something, so it's getting better, it's just -- you've just got to keep working on it. I mean, today I didn't play all that well.
Q. Is that a departure then for you historically? You say I didn't play all that well, yet you're sitting in here and tied for the lead. If you'd have said that three months ago or this time last year, if you hadn't played well, would you have shot a round like you did today?
BRANDT JOBE: I missed the ball well. That's what we're talking about. I missed the ball very well today. The shots that I didn't hit well turned out fine. I made a couple good putts out there, but for the most part -- that's the other thing, you know, your misses. We're only as good as our misses, and I missed the ball pretty well today when I didn't hit a good shot.
TODD BUDNICK: Everybody good?
End of FastScripts....
