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FUNAI GOLF CLASSIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT


October 21, 2004


Tom Lehman


LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Tom, for joining us for a few minutes. Great round, great start to the week, 6-under, and I guess you're kind of getting used to coming in here and seeing us.

TOM LEHMAN: Well, I feel more like I used to feel, that's for certain. It was just another good day on the golf course. It's fun to play well. I drove it nicely and made some really good putts. The ones that didn't go in looked like they should have gone in, so it was one of these days that, again, I've had quite a few of lately where the game felt pretty easy.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM LEHMAN: Well, tee to green there's no difference. I played just as well the entire year as I'm playing right now. The only difference is I changed drivers to the R7. I may be driving it a little straighter, maybe not a lot straighter, but another extra fairway a round or a fairway and a half a round, but probably the biggest difference is I went to the long putter, so I'm making a few more putts.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM LEHMAN: No, I would say about the 10th hole last week I was fine. I just couldn't stop thinking about what exactly I thought I might have seen. More than anything, it was such a quick thing and a small and tiny fraction of whatever it was that you sometimes just don't quite know. If the ball would have just turned over -- the ball moved. Once I kind of got that out of my mind, I felt satisfied that I made the right decision. Even for a couple holes afterwards I still was a little bit nervous and shaky, but by the 10th hole I was okay. It's happened to everybody at some time or another.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM LEHMAN: You know, who knows. All I know is it looked like it wasn't totally stationary. It was either oscillating or just starting to move right as I was making impact, so it wasn't like it was there, did something, then I hit it. It was just right -- it was only an eight-or ten-inch putt tap-in.

Q. It's five years ago the plane went down on Monday. The fundraiser is Monday here in town. Looking back at him as a player versus as a person, do you think he was more important because of his marketability and his visibility because he wore kind of a little funky suit and all that to sort of help bridge the gap between Tiger, Norman, Watson, or just as a player just with his golf clubs? Can you separate those two?

TOM LEHMAN: I think his style of play was very much in line with his personality, so you really can't separate those two, the way he dressed, the way he played, the way he was. It was all very, I thought, consistent. I think he brought a lot to the game in terms of just -- he added a lot of flavor, a lot of color to the game, especially when we'd come to Orlando.

When I come to Bay Hill and Disney I try to give his wife a call and take her out for dinner. There's definitely a lot of times that go by when you do think about Payne Stewart. Every time I get on a small plane I think about him. I think that's only natural.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM LEHMAN: I was with him for 12 years and it just seemed like things had just gotten difficult, not in terms of relationships as much as just my game just felt stale, not hitting it well, not making any putts, and that kind of wears on you after a while.

I think it wore on him, as well, and it got to the point where we weren't talking much on the golf course. We were out there to play golf, and it was me and him and just the birds chirping, and that was about the only sound going on. I wasn't having any fun, so I made a bit of a change. Sometimes that's a good thing.

He went to Badds for a while and David Gossett for a while. I missed his friendship more than anything out there on the golf course, and obviously he's a great caddie, so just having him out there with me, the friendship we have, the talks we have, it was kind of a nice move to get back and do it all over again.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: When did you put him back?

TOM LEHMAN: In Scotland actually. He did two weeks in Scotland, and then I think he actually decided -- he made a decision to make a different direction change for himself. He was with David Gossett, and that might have been sometime in late August.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: So it was just recent.

TOM LEHMAN: Yeah, a month and a half.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM LEHMAN: I'm hoping they're at the Magic Kingdom. I won't answer that question. I actually personally enjoy Epcot and MGM. I don't enjoy the Magic Kingdom.

Q. Why?

TOM LEHMAN: You know, it's so dang crowded. I try to avoid that park. When they say they're going to the Magic Kingdom, I say, okay, I'm going to practice (laughter).

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: On that note, why don't you go spend time with your family.

Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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