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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPENOctober 1, 2011Robert GarrigusLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: Robert, thanks for joining us here. 8-under par 63, that equals your career-low round on TOUR, which you also set here I think at TPC Canyon in 2007. Just talk a little bit about a great day. ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, I started off on fire. It was just one of those days where everything was going in early, and I knew if I could sprinkle in some late, it would be a really good day and it ended up being nice. And birdied the first four holes and made a 30-footer on 1 and a 20-footer on 2 and dusted on 3, then 4 i made a putt that broke about five feet, and I was like this could be pretty special, and I lipped it out on 5 and kind of put the brakes on there for a little bit and made a great putt on 9 and 10. I was just stroking it well starting it on line. And these greens are perfect and the course is in perfect shape, so there's going to be a lot of low scores. THE MODERATOR: Your 500th round on TOUR, too. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Wow. That's not bad. I'm glad I was able to have a 500th round after the beginning of the week. Q. Can you talk about what happened that day? You come out here now and play as well as you played, because it's been hot here. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. On Monday night I didn't think I had a snowball's chance in hell of getting here. There was no way I was thinking about playing golf. I was thinking about just trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me. I didn't know what it was. They said dehydration, but I had shortness of breath. The guy said, you are so dehydrated it was shutting down your entire body. So I was pretty close to the edge. They pumped me full of about three bags of saline and I didn't end up going to the bathroom at all, so it was pretty bad. Q. I think you had heart palpitations. You thought you were having a heart attack, didn't you? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah, absolutely. He said that's one of the side effects is like what happens when you get dehydrated, your veins shrink and your heart has to pump super hard to get the blood through. Because your veins are shrinking, they don't have any water. He said your heart's going to speed up and you might think you're having a heart attack. Q. What hospital was it? ROBERT GARRIGUS: It was Chandler Mercy. Yeah, yeah. I live in Phoenix. I'm just glad I got to the hospital in time for them to pump me full of fluids because it could've got bad. I was light-headed and it was off and on. I wasn't thinking right, my brain wasn't working right, nothing was working right. I'm just glad I was able to get to the hospital and get it taken care of. Q. So once you got out and you got here, did you have any goal in mind in terms of how you were going to perform? In other words, when you think about it, I'm just going to do the best I can because I owe the TOUR because let me play or did you think I'm going to really take advantage -- I guess here's what I'm asking. Did you see this coming where you could come in here a few days after laying in a hospital with an IV hooked up to you and shooting the best round of your life? ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, I didn't really have any expectations, and when you do that as a golfer, sometimes that ends up to be really good things. You know, I shot 10-under in Maui. I think that was probably the best round of my life. This one was pretty good. It's right up there. You know, there was a lot of rounds that you shoot even par it might be the best round of your life. But the golf course is fairly easy. Like I said, I didn't have any expectations. I didn't even think I was going to be here. And I thank Slugger for letting me miss the Pro-Am and being able to play. That was a very classy move by the PGA TOUR, and I thank them for it. But that's why they put that rule in there, just in case you need to miss the Pro-Am and come and play the tournament if you couldn't be there. So that was nice. Q. The fact that you were in a hospital Wednesday morning and now you're playing the tournament that raises money for hospitals for kids, does the irony, has it kind of caught you a little bit? ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, I really haven't even thought about that, but it is kind of funny. It's just -- it's amazing what happens when you don't have expectations. My coach told me, he's like, hey, beware of the injured golfer. I was like I'm really not injured. I was just kind of dizzy walking around out there. I really didn't stop being light-headed until about No. 6 on the first day. So it's one of those things that the Children's Miracle Network last year and then this tournament this year, you know, Shriners Hospital is a good event. Justin Timberlake has done a phenomenal job with courtesy cars and treating the families and getting them tickets to the tournament and to his concert. That takes a lot of work that a lot of people don't understand, and it's nice to have that. Q. Do you have a little more appreciation for just the simple fact that these hospitals exist, these kids -- given what you went through, you had a very scary episode. These kids are fighting for their lives every day and these hospitals -- ROBERT GARRIGUS: You know, I've taken tours of these hospitals, and they're unbelievable how much medicine and finding diseases early now can save kids' lives. And that is so important. I can't imagine my kid having a disease. You know, I think of my child, and I always get choked up talking about it because I can't imagine what these parents go through, you know, having these kids have diseases, and it's unfortunate, but you know, it's unbelievable in what these hospitals do. And you know, thank God. Q. You know, you're a professional golfer and you're always out in the sun and dehydration can come along at any time, but how did it get to the point where this one time it got to the point where you had an episode? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah, I caddied for a buddy of mine, Jason Thompson, and he was playing in prequalifying for Q-School at PGA TOUR at Southern Dunes. And I caddied for three days. I thought I drank enough water. I really didn't think about it. I got home, I was really tired on Saturday and Sunday. Didn't really think about it, didn't drink much water on the weekend and then went and practiced Monday morning with my coach and J.J. and his dad, we all went out and played and practiced the TPC. And I got home that night and I was done. I was dizzy and my chest was tight, and I didn't know what was going on. So I mean I think the fact that I went out and practiced and didn't drink a whole lot of water then either got me and got me good because I was dehydrated already to start. And I didn't know how to take it, so I just went to the hospital and they told me I was severely dehydrated. Q. One other thing. Now that (indiscernible) on the greens, your putting and your putter, everybody now is using the long putter and you're likely the opposite end of these. How many inches is that? ROBERT GARRIGUS: 29, 28 and a half. Q. Do you ever have -- watching everybody run to this thing, it seems like everyone wants to give it a shot, but you're happy where you're at? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. I'm totally happy where I'm at. I've been putting with a short putter ever since I was 19 years old. I can't putt with anything else. I've convinced myself of it, so there's no reason for me to try anything else. I told everybody I went to a belly putter in the PLAYOFFS, and it was 31 inches. It was one of those things where I tried it, it didn't work. I didn't like the longer look, didn't like the longer feel. I feel like I hang over the ball and I stroke it just fine the way I am. I could be a better putter if I worked a little more on it, but it hurts my back, so I don't and I just deal with it. I stroked it well today. I didn't stroke it very well tomorrow, but hopefully I putted today like I want to tomorrow. I'd really like to start stroking again like I did the middle of the year towards the U.S. Open and all that stuff. That's when I was putting really well, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Q. Every year we ask guys sitting where you're sitting, you're in contention, and every guy we ask will you do anything differently. But now tomorrow is a whole different tournament itself. How do you approach tomorrow in terms of your trying to give yourself a chance to win? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. You know, with today's round I did give myself a chance to win because I figured if I shoot 6 to 8-under today, that would be perfect to get myself in contention, you know, and tomorrow is not just another day. There's going to be a little more pressure. But we're teeing off early, so we don't have to worry about an afternoon time sitting around all day. You know, it's going to be fun. I treat these opportunities as it's a lot of fun, just because you're pumped up. Cameras are on. You know, you're enjoying the moment, regardless if you play good or bad, this is where you want to be. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Should be a lot of fun. THE MODERATOR: Robert, thank you, sir. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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