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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP


July 20, 2012


Brett Hull

Mark Mulder

Jack Wagner


STATELINE, NEVADA

THE MODERATOR:  We're joined by Mark Mulder, Jack Wagner and Brett Hull.
Mark, take us through your round.  22 points.  You and Jack are currently tied for the lead.  And Brett is two behind at 20.  Give us the highlights.
MARK MULDER:  I didn't have many highlights.  I had two birdies and two bogeys on each side.  And I was hitting my driver really well today.  So it left me with a lot of mid‑irons into these par 5s.  That really helped.  I took advantage of a few of those.
3, I chipped it.  I came up just short of the green, chipped it to a foot.  And then on 6 I hit it to about a foot again.
So it was kind of uneventful until the last, I bogeyed 7 and 9, kind of leaked a little oil coming in, but I played a little bit of a draw.  So 9 and 1 are kind of a little bit more of a difficult tee shot for me.
THE MODERATOR:  Jack, give us a run‑through on your round.
JACK WAGNER:  My round, I think I had 40 putts.  Normally that's the strength of my game.  I hit it close, what maybe six, eight times I was within 10 feet.
BRETT HULL:  You also made three 25, 30‑footers.
JACK WAGNER:  I forgot those.  Made a few 30‑footers.  I hit it really well.  Didn't make any putts.  That was it.  I made one weird par.  Sometimes that keeps your round going.  On 11 it's a drivable par 4.  And I hooked it into the water and I threw a wedge up there about six, seven feet and dripped it in for par.
And sometimes those are the kind of things that have to happen to keep your brain in there.
So I had a fun time today with Brett Hull and Billy Joe Tolliver; we're buddies.  And that makes it a lot more enjoyable when you're not making putts.
But really happy to be where I am given that nothing went in.
THE MODERATOR:  Brett.
BRETT HULL:  It was fun.  There was always something per hole between Billy Joe, Jack and I.  And that was happening.  Somebody was making it a bomb or someone was hitting a great shot, or someone was recovering from something.
It was an awful lot of fun out there.  And that is the best I have ever putted here at Edgewood ever.  The greens have always kind of freaked me out.  And I just have come to grips with them and keep your head still and putt them.
Like Jack said, it was so much fun.  I missed an eight‑incher, I think.  Before my putter hit the ball I was already passed the hole.
I guess it's one of those things you can't take for granted, and that cost me two points.  But sitting at 20 after day one is‑‑ it was great.  I think the guys in our group, we deserve kind of what we got.  Maybe could have deserved a little better.
JACK WAGNER:  Brett putted great.  He putted great.  And I've played with him a lot of times here.  And I was really tentative today.  It was almost like we switched roles.  I usually have confidence, and Brett putted awesome today.  It was great.  It was fun to watch.

Q.  How about each of you, what you did on par 5s?  I know, Mark, we talked about you bombing your drives.  How did the three of you feel on the par 5s?  Where did you get most of your points?
BRETT HULL:  I'll start with me.  First par 5 I hit a great drive, ended up making an eight‑footer for bogey to save.
Next one making pretty simple par.  Then the next one I, whatever one that is.

Q.  16.
BRETT HULL:  16, I was eight inches from being putting for eagle and make a double after the stupid little missed putt.
And 18 I have such a hard time turning it over that I always seem to be laying up and just made a pretty simple par there.
JACK WAGNER:  Par 5s for me, the first one, they're hard for me to reach No. 3.  So I have to really kill my drives.  And I did on 16.
But I dropped a bomb on No. 3, 30foot or something, and on the back nine‑‑ and I hit a bad drive on 4.  And the back nine I killed the drive on 16 and I had a rescue club in, which is a pretty big drive for me.  I didn't hit that well and I didn't get up and down.  I had about a six‑footer for birdie and didn't even reach.
BRETT HULL:  About a 12‑footer‑‑ on 4 you left it in the‑‑
JACK WAGNER:  Thanks for reminding me.  And I dripped it in on 18.  Somehow it was going right and came back left.  So I did not take advantage of the par 5s, but I did get two birdies.
Sometimes when you scrape around ugly, both these guys will attest, you can still around par or under par, and you just hope the putts will drop, if you still hit the ball well.
MARK MULDER:  3, I chipped‑‑ I hit it right in the front of the green and chipped it up to a foot.  4, I hit that one in two also and 3‑putted, missed about a four‑footer for birdie.  And 16 I had an iron in my hand and missed the green.  Hit it up and made par.
And then 18 I hit the green again in two and 2‑putted.  There really wasn't anything too special, to be honest with you.

Q.  Looking forward here, Jack, you've got champ on your side.  For Brett and for Mark, expectations?
BRETT HULL:  Well, you'd like to think that you have the ability to win, whether the six inches between the ears will let you.
When I first came here, I remember they paired me with Jack my first year here and I'm on the first tee.
And we're going, yeah, what do you have, a Titleist or whatever, and I got‑‑ he thought it was so funny:  What was that ball again?  And I was like I got a‑‑ my hands were shaking.  Now I've come to grips with the fact that it's more how badly I want to do as opposed to being nervous because I know I can play the game.
MARK MULDER:  That's the same thing.  This is just my third year doing this, and don't think for a second on that first hole I'm not‑‑ I'm just praying the ball stays on the tee so I don't have to try to pick it up and set it on the tee.  It's not a good feeling.
I've told people:  I can pitch in front of a million people but you put you out here on a tee box, it's something‑‑ I've got confidence in what I'm doing, but not in that way.
And it's a different animal when you're out there.
JACK WAGNER:  Try Dancing With the Stars.
MARK MULDER:  No thanks. (Laughter)

Q.  Jack, you started out first round in lead, first time somebody led through all three rounds.  29 points.  Today, 22.  Is the course playing that much tougher, or it is just putts not dropping or the game's just not where you want it or all above?
JACK WAGNER:  It's simply putting.  To score what I scored last year and Billy Joe the year before and Tony Romo last year, you just have to make a lot of birdies.  I made 18 birdies in three days last year.
So that's the name of this Stableford system.  And right now, as can you see the leaderboard, nobody has come out of the pack.  Nobody's hot at all with the putter or probably playing that great.  This is a two‑day tournament now.

Q.  Brett, we have an ex‑hockey player, we've got an actor and a baseball player, what's the call here?  Come on.  You've always stuck up for your hockey guys.
BRETT HULL:  There's no question.  You've got to represent and support your fellow guys.
So hopefully we can do it.  But you know what, we have so much respect for every guy.  We want the guy who plays the best and gets like the unbelievable bounces like on the par 3 fifth, when it could have been in the hazard.  And then it was 20feet.  I've never seen anything like it.  Remember that?
JACK WAGNER:  I don't remember that, no.  I got a break today.  I hooked it on that little par 3 and it hit the tree and actually kicked right on the green.  So I was looking at bogey, maybe double.
So, listen, it was a weird round.  The best way to describe when Brett and Billy Joe and I play together is that song (singing) roller coaster, roller coaster, whoo, whoo, well, well.  (Laughter)
BRETT HULL:  Billy said it best on No. 1.
MARK MULDER:  That shows you how the day went.
BRETT HULL:  Billy Joe said it best on No. 1 when we took a picture, we put me and Billy Joe on Jack's right and it looked like a hundred.  (Laughter).

Q.  That's a 1‑0‑0, guys.
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you.

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