THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ AND MICHELOB

November 1, 1997

Brad Faxon

BRAD FAXON: Saying what everybody said today, today was totally different, wind reaction. A bear of a start. First four holes playing straight at you as opposed to straight down. You know, this course, the first few holes, it's not wide open. You've got to hit it on the fairway to get at these pins. You know, I think you're seeing a little bit more what the Champions is like with the tougher pins and a little bit more wind, the green speed is a little bit faster. The swirling wind, it was tough. Tough to get your distances right, get the right club. But you got that breather on the par 5s today. All of them were very reachable with the irons. I played very well. I think I hit every fairway except for maybe one, a lot of greens. I putted pretty good. I made a couple good putts, a couple good saves. I just thought it was a hard day to play. I think the low round was 3-under par. I really didn't know the last few holes, didn't see many score boards. I knew 10 or 9 was leading the whole time. I didn't know when I finished that 8 under was leading. The manual score board on the 18th hole was a little back. I think I just saw Furyk and Hoch both bogeyed the last hole?

BRAD FAXON: That's what I just saw. Four guys at 8, then 6 is the next.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, I still don't have enough money where it never creeps into my mind at any other tournament. You know, it's an extra incentive here. Shoot, it's a lot of money to play for, I don't care who you are. I think what gets more guys excited about playing here is the strength of the field and the quality of the players here. Everybody wants to make a big deal out of how much money you make for last. It's not really that you make $64,000 for finishing 30th as much as you make $64,000 for being in the Top 30 at the end of the year and not playing that well. It's not like one week you're making a lot of money; you've earned your right to be here. At the same time, if you're looking at moving up the list as far as money list, so any rank, world rank, whatever you want to call it, this is a nice tournament to win. There aren't a lot of the best players in the world that are skipping this tournament.

BRAD FAXON: Greens got a little quick. I don't know that they're cut a lot shorter. They're drier. I think they're starting to move them -- you know, they're getting them more towards the corner, a little more grain on the corner, fall away, a lot more break. I noticed a lot of putts today had a lot of break. I expect tomorrow, if we get a similar day, that the pin placements will be very, very difficult to get it close.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah. Wins are important.

BRAD FAXON: I think any event. You know, majors count more than just one win, obviously. You know, it's hard not to vote for Tiger because of his popularity, too. I mean, a lot of people are just going to say, "It's automatically Tiger Woods." You know, if Davis Love wins this tournament, did he win other than the PGA?

BRAD FAXON: He won the Southern Open, too. You know, I --

BRAD FAXON: Money titles are important, stroke average would be something I'd look at. You know, it's probably one of those things that people are going to look at it, maybe like they look at football when you're looking at the rankings, if you peaked toward the end of the year. If Davis has won the PGA, Southern, won here, hard not to say he's a contender. Tiger's winning the Masters was unbelievable, but he did win three other times, too, hasn't he?

BRAD FAXON: So it's hard to pick. I mean, I think Lehman's win last year gave him the Player of the Year, didn't it?

BRAD FAXON: I mean, I changed my vote because of how he played and how well he played. So to say that this tournament doesn't have any influence, I wouldn't agree with that. I think it's a big influence.

BRAD FAXON: I'd vote for myself Player of the Year (laughter).

BRAD FAXON: To win?

BRAD FAXON: Oh, it would be great to win. I could move up to third or fourth, second or third, third or fourth on the money list, which would be my best. I'd like to win two in a year, again. It would be great for a lot of different reasons. Kind of tie up a nice -- kind of a loose year, too, you know.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, I agree that length is an advantage on any course you play. But on a great course, on a great course like this, length is a factor, but you also need to hit it in these fairways. I think it's very important for distance, control with your irons, to get your shots on the fairway. It makes the rest of the game so much easier, so much less pressure on your game. I see things when playing with Davis today that are kind of scary: driver, 7-iron to the 13th hole. I don't think many guys do that.

BRAD FAXON: 4-wood (laughter). I could have hit a 2-iron. It went over; his was short. I know you're going to write that in big print, 4-wood versus 7-iron. He had just come off a double bogey, so he was mad. I had an easy 2-putt-par, so I hit an easy drive.

BRAD FAXON: I noticed. I said to Davis on the seventh or 8th hole, weird not seeing anybody at the towers. You usually have people milling around, you always have a camera guy and mic guy, always kind of waiting to hit the shot, waiting till they get settled. So it didn't feel like Saturday really, except for the crowd size was gigantic.

BRAD FAXON: About what?

BRAD FAXON: He has surgery every other week, seems like. Remarkable how good he can play after missing so many tournaments, so much time. Did I hear he's going to have another surgery?

BRAD FAXON: Gee, done a pretty good job. As long as it's not like bionic surgery or something, because he'll get really strong, Steve Austin.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah. No. 4, I made bogey. Hit a 3-wood long and right, didn't get it up-and-down. Didn't have enough club to hit an iron there, I didn't think. 7, I made a nice putt. 7-iron in there about 30 feet. No. 9, driver, 5-iron, about 40 feet, 2-putted. No. 13, driver, 4-wood, 2-putt from 75 feet. That was the longest putt I've had all week, front to back. I think I hit just about every green, the front 9 -- I mean the back 9. Really hit it good.

BRAD FAXON: Not really. I mean, aside from the 4th hole, I think I missed one on the green really.

BRAD FAXON: Oh, not very. That was 75 feet. On 13?

BRAD FAXON: My putt? 10 feet. Left it pretty far short.

BRAD FAXON: Thank you.