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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 2, 2005

Briny Baird

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

TODD BUDNICK: 5 under 66 in the first rounds of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Briny, a nice day out there, six birdies and one bogey. Talk about today's round.

BRINY BAIRD: Today's round was solid. I played well, fairways, greens, made some putts. I played well. I played like the weather was; perfect.

TODD BUDNICK: You're 138th on the Money List and kind of looked like, make a few cuts, miss a few, you haven't been able to

BRINY BAIRD: Yeah, I haven't really gotten anything going this year. It's been somewhat frustrating, since the first event of the year. It's the way golf is. I'm not yeah, you think about it, but I'm not overstressed about it. If you play well, things take care of themselves. That's easier said than done sometimes.

I think I pushed the panic button somewhere around Honda, believe it or not, that early in the year and I was like, holy cow, holy cow. I've gotten off to good starts every year I've been out here, and this year just haven't hit it as good. Usually I'm ranked up there pretty high in greens in regulation; I'm not right now.

So things are turning around. I'm starting to swing at it a little bit better. It's not like this is an indication of things are turning around. I think I've been playing relatively well for the last couple of months, just the way the year has gone, a couple good events really, finishing 14th for the way the year has gone is a pretty good tournament. It wasn't good a couple of years ago and it's good now.

TODD BUDNICK: Is it the iron play in particular, you talk about greens in regulation.

BRINY BAIRD: It's a combination, it's greens in regulation, you know, it's missing a key putt here or a key putt there. It's something as simple as a couple of times I've actually hit a lob wedge in the water, two different events where you're like holy cow, what did you just do. It's things like that, you can't build on any momentum. I started to recently, just playing solid event after solid event, and actually played pretty good last week at Hartford and missed the cut by one.

Q. Talk about your late tee time yesterday, I noticed you got off the course very late, and a 6:50 tee time, can you just talk about the quick turnaround; do you like that, don't like that?

BRINY BAIRD: I'd rather not have that quick of a turnaround, but it happens out here, doesn't happen often. The TOUR does a relatively good job of trying to make sure that if you're one of the last tee times, you don't get stuck with one of the first tee times. I'm not sure how they go about making sure that doesn't happen, but it doesn't happen often, is all I can say. Obviously I'd rather get a little more sleep than that. It would be nice to be able to stay awake a little bit longer and play with both my daughters, but I have plenty of time now.

Q. So would you say it was a help today?

BRINY BAIRD: Oh, it's never a help to get off the golf course to get back to your hotel at 8:45 and get up at 4:30, that's never a help, but I don't think it bothered me. If I played bad, it would have bothered me.

Q. Have you played here both of the other years of the tournament?

BRINY BAIRD: Yeah.

Q. I thought. So is the course playing any differently? It was pretty firm

BRINY BAIRD: It's a little softer.

Q. How does that factor in what you think the scoring is going to do?

BRINY BAIRD: It's not going to make it play more difficult. You know sometimes I think we quickly judge the fairways are not rolling and the golf course is playing really long, but the greens are somewhat receptive and you can get the ball close. In years past when you were trying to hit the fairways, the ball would bounce so much, tumble; that a lot of times the ball tumbles no into the rough and when it's firm it's harder to hit fairways.

Right now the fairways are a little soft. They are drying quick. The other day, I think it was just on Wednesday, Tuesday or Wednesday I drove out here and No. 10 looked like a river was running right through the middle of it so the golf course has drained unbelievable. It's in great shape and the ball is starting to roll a little bit.

Q. You're still carrying the photographs on your bag?

BRINY BAIRD: Correct.

Q. Is Canon still sponsoring that?

BRINY BAIRD: Yes.

Q. Last time I asked you, I think you told me that they had found a couple of people as a result of that, can you update us?

BRINY BAIRD: They have never found a girl that I carried on the bag the week of the Byron Nelson, I think her name was Kimberly Dudley and this was two years ago, she was found on a tip unrelated to the golf bag. No one has ever been found looking at the bag, saying, you know, I saw that kid. No one has ever been found that way. That would be a miracle if that ever happened. It's possible and that's why they do it, but what I think the main thing they do is it raises awareness. You know, the phone number, 1 800 THE LOST gets out there and there's a chance you can see that kid and recognize them, but the awareness is just as important.

Q. There is a general feeling this is a long hitter's course, a bomber's course; do you agree with that?

BRINY BAIRD: Yeah, I've love to be a bomber. This golf course is set up perfect. The golf course is long, there's plenty of room to hit your driver on a lot of the holes. Yeah, I would agree with that. Doesn't mean a guy can't play it. I don't fall into the category of I'm not sneaky short either, so I don't think there's I've always said I don't think there's a golf course that is tailor made to my game. I just don't think there's any golf courses that don't suit my game. I don't hit it far enough to where you can call me a bomber and I definitely don't hit it short enough where you're like, look how short he hits it.

Q. Would you agree with the general feeling so many seem to have that only the ten percent, the longest hitters would be the favorites out here?

BRINY BAIRD: Yeah, I think the guys that hit it a long way are the favorites every week. That's my opinion. The guys that bomb it are the top players in the world.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through the birdies. No. 10?

BRINY BAIRD: 60 footer and hit the hole, jumped literally five inches in the air. Would have been 15 feet past the cup and that's not an exaggeration. Ask Ian; he laughed for five minutes.

TODD BUDNICK: What did you hit into there?

BRINY BAIRD: Driver, real weak 6 iron 7 iron, real bad 7 iron, just flared it way right, 60 feet right.

14, I hit a real good drive, perfect drive, got down to the level part and hit a 6 iron in to 12 or 15 feet, hit a good putt.

18, I hit a good drive, middle of the fairway. Hit a 5 iron, not a real good 5 iron to the front right and the pin was front left, so a good 2 putt from 60 feet or.

1, hit a 5 wood and a pitching wedge to probably about 20, 25 feet, nice putt. A slippery putt, one those your trying to hit down there somewhere close and it happens to go in.

Next hole, I hit a good drive and a really good 5 wood right in the middle of the green, and it rolled back, pin is up top right, I don't think you'll see too many balls get close for eagle. A real good 2 putt from 40 feet or so up over a big ridge.

Next hole I hit a 6 iron, it was a perfect club, to about 15, 18 feet.

Bogey on 5, I didn't hit a real good 7 iron, came up short, rolled down. You guys know the golf course, there's a lot of sections you have to hit it into the bowls and if you don't reach it, you're putting up over these big ridges. And I didn't hit a real good 7 iron and I hit just an awful first putt and had about a 10 or 12 footer left and missed that putt.

End of FastScripts.

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