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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

August 4, 2011

David Toms

AKRON, OHIO

Q. I did want to ask about the specific moment on the 72nd hole. Would you mind walking me through the tee shot beginning with the approach?
DAVID TOMS: Obviously it was a tee shot that you need to get in the fairway, and I hit it just through the fairway. I mean, I think I was about a yard through the fairway, and I was in some light Bermuda rough, but I was on the side hill, downhill lie, so ball above my feet but a little bit downhill. So the ball was going to come out low out of the rough, had to hit it over water with the bunkers behind. So I really needed probably a 7-wood, which a lot of guys were carrying at the time. That was kind of a popular club during late '90s, early 2000s. Even the big hitters, a lot of them had 7-woods because it was easy out of the rough. So I needed that club, but I didn't have one.
So I took my time, had a conversation with my caddie, and we're like, what's the best way to make 4, because that's what I had to do. Said, well, we need to lay up, and not only do we need to lay up, we need to play up to a good yardage. We don't want a half wedge in there and we don't want too long of a shot, and I hit a perfect lay-up with a wedge and I hit a full 60-degree sand wedge in. It couldn't have been any better as far as the way I laid it up in a good spot. Didn't hit a very good 60-degree wedge to be quite honest, and with a soft green from the middle of the fairway, it wasn't like it was a great shot or anything. And what I remember most about that was -- and what was in the back of my mind was it was the first full shot that I had hit with that golf club. It was a brand new wedge that I had put in this week. I had hit it on the range but not in the competition. I had hit a lot of 50-, 60-yard shots with it, chipped around the greens, bunker shots, but I hadn't hit a full 84-yard shot with it. That's probably why I didn't hit a great shot because I had in the back of my mind it was going to be pin high for me, I wasn't quite sure. But that putt was perfect. It was downhill left to right, which is not the easiest putt in the world, but just the kind you have to get started. You don't have to hit it very hard, you just get it started on line, and I did that.

Q. Do you remember the yardage for the third shot?
DAVID TOMS: Yeah, I want to say I was in the 208 range, something like that.

Q. And you laid up to?
DAVID TOMS: I laid up to about 84 yards, but I guess I hit a 120-yard shot or something like that with a pitching wedge. But they've changed that hole. There's a bunker in the lay-up zone now and the water comes in on the left on the tee shot more.
I mean, I remember that tee shot, you really couldn't see the water. You knew it was there. It was further left. Now it's further out into the fairway. I hit driver, 2-iron there on Monday, 2 hybrid when I played it on Monday. I drove it 293 and I had 225 left, so it's quite a hole.

Q. How does the hole look now compared to then?
DAVID TOMS: You know what, condition-wise, you won't hear any complaints whatsoever. They have put zoysia grass in the fairways which are absolutely beautiful, and now it has Bermudagrass on the greens. They were rolling 13 on Monday. I just remember the uphill putts being fast on Monday. So now you'll have a situation where you'll -- I'll still have long shots in because almost every hole is 15 yards longer on average, some of them are 30 yards longer, and what's going to happen now is you're not going to be able to spot the ball with those long clubs as close to the hole as you were before. You know, the par-3s that are over water, there's three of them that are over water, and I just don't think you're going to be able to stop the ball like we were before and go at some of the pins. I think you'll see a lot of people hit the middle of the green, try to hit on the middle of the green.

Q. Is this your first time back?
DAVID TOMS: I've been through a few times, but it's the first time since they've changed the golf course, since the greens were new and they added length and everything. First time back since they changed it.

Q. Talk about just being a major champion. It always strikes me, when I look at guys, that guy is a major champion. What does it do for you?
DAVID TOMS: It does something for your insides. I mean, when they announce you, a lot of tournaments now announce you on the first tee, hey, 13 victories, including the 2001 PGA Championship. Every time they say that and you're playing with guys who are players who might have won the same amount of times and they don't have one, it's just a little -- it's an elite group. I mean, there are not too many guys out here that have played as long as me that have one, and certainly in the time of Tiger winning every third one or something. I mean, it's been a tough thing to do.

Q. I know we asked you this maybe at Quail Hollow (indiscernible.)
DAVID TOMS: I don't know, but I still have it. I know where it is. It's in kind of my golf club room. Yeah, I have it. I have it. But it's pretty worn out. I used it for a long time after that, but now I can't use the 60 because of the grooves. I can still use the 5-wood, but it probably wouldn't perform very well, either. The balls have changed enough spin-wise, I'm not saying they go any farther, but they seem to be harder and the spin and everything is different, and all of a sudden the 5-wood about four years later just didn't seem to work.

Q. I'm specifically asking because I'm doing something on your swing coach. You go back a long way with Brian.
DAVID TOMS: Yes.

Q. What is it about him that helps you, that connects with you?
DAVID TOMS: You know, I first met Brian when I was in college. He was real good friends with my roommate my freshman year. Just been a friend along the way. He's kind of done different things with his teaching, but since he really started perfecting the track man thing, I've been very intrigued by that, and we've done a lot of work on the track man just because it tells you -- it's incredible the amount of information you can get off of it, not just -- everybody has used it a few years out here trying to fit clubs, but there's so much more you can do with it, and I've been intrigued by that. To be quite honest, I've had a lot of people that have helped me along the way that have -- I've picked up a lot of things from teachers along the way, picked up things from players out here. It's amazing because usually when I look back on events that I've either won or had a chance to win, it's just been a little tip here or there, and it's not necessarily from your swing coach. It could be anybody. It could be another player that says, oh, your grip is a little weak, or it could be somebody that says, oh, you're too open with your stance and putting, and anything that clicks. Not necessarily about your golf swing, it could be one of your friends out here on TOUR that says, oh, your swing is a little long, and that's all they tell you.

Q. How do you filter it out because you probably get a lot of that stuff? How do you know what's good?
DAVID TOMS: Well, I think you have to go out and play, so not only do you have to -- you get instruction on the driving range, but all of a sudden you have to go out and hit the shot. And not only do you have to hit the shot, you have to aim for the shots that you're going to hit. A lot of guys have trouble aiming, and not everybody sees everything the same. You need a little tip, and it's not necessarily when you hear somebody swing -- changing coaches or whatever. It's not necessarily always about that. They don't always play great right after they change.
It's more about something that clicks in your game, and it could be from anybody. I mean, I got on a putting deal that Marius had at Colonial this year right after I just almost won the TPC. I'm there on the putting green late one afternoon, and he says, will you come hit some putts on my machine just for feedback because you're a good putter. I want you to -- so I got on there, and he said, well, you want to see the results? And I said, yeah, sure. He says, well, stats show that you aim a little left and you're cutting your putts right now a little bit. He said, you need to square up. I'm like, well, I can't square up. Every time I try to square my shoulders up, I feel like I'm aimed to the right. He said, why don't you open up your stance and aim your shoulders square, and I did that and I won the tournament. All of a sudden I made a few putts doing that, but I mean, that's just somebody asking you to get on their machine for their benefit, and all of a sudden it helped me.
So that's what you're talking about when you talk about what goes on out here on TOUR.

Q. Brian was a regular public course guy and the next thing he's dealing with you. What sort of skill does he have to be able to live in both worlds?
DAVID TOMS: I think it is a skill, just like you said. It's a skill to be able to teach -- to be able to help people that play at a high level and to have some idea of what they think about and to be able to help your average guy that's just trying to figure out a way to break 80 or break 90. It's a special talent, and not only do you have to have the eye and the ability to read machines and so forth, you also have to be able to communicate. So he's a special, special talent.

Q. Winning the PGA in Atlanta, was that something special for you?
DAVID TOMS: Yeah, I've always played during my career, played well in the south. It's just a fact. Only thing I am bummed out about is I've never won a tournament in Florida. I guess it would have helped -- just one of those things, I've always played well in the south. So Atlanta, I've won at Callaway Gardens there just south of Atlanta. I played well at the BellSouth many, many times. And then to win a PGA there in Atlanta, it's been a good town. I love going there.
To be honest, I like going there more for the SEC championship game than you do for the TOUR events. I have a lot of fond memories, whether they're about golf or football or anything, I was a Braves fan growing up, so it's just always been a fun city for me.

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