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BANK OF AMERICA COLONIAL

May 22, 2004

Steve Flesch

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I'd like to welcome co-leader, Steve Flesch, to the Bank of America Colonial media center. Steve, thanks for joining us for a few minutes. You were one of three Crestor Charity Challenge winners this week, along with Chad Campbell and Brian Gay. This week, $50,000 will go to the Cook Children's Heart Center, locally here, courtesy of Crestor and Bank of America Colonial, and you three will split $50,000 to go towards the health-related charity of your choice. So congratulations.

STEVE FLESCH: Thank you.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And if we could start with some comments on your round today. 7 of 18 greens, but you managed to squeeze a 67 out of it. That was a pretty good short game, I would assume.

STEVE FLESCH: It was a scramble. I'm sure you heard this from Chad and Brian, but pulling clubs out there with the wind swirling was tough all day. I was hitting it well, albeit I only hit seven greens, but it was just tough. I really hung in there well with my short game. I realized once I got through 5, I guess I was 2-under par, which I think the first 5 sets the momentum for your day. I was 2 under through 5, I was really relaxed and playing well.

I put a new putter in play today. I made a couple of good putts with it, so I was really relaxed. I didn't worry about missing greens because I figured I would get it up and down. That's how I played today. I hit a lot of great bunker shots and made a lot of great 7-, 8-footers for par, a couple of 10-footers. I was just relaxed.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I noticed you working late yesterday on the putting green, was that something with the new putter or were you working on something specific with your stroke?

STEVE FLESCH: More stroke related. I've got about five putters in my locker, but none of them -- the one that I used today hadn't seen any game time at all. I hadn't even practiced with it until about 15 minutes before I teed off today.

I was in the locker and kind of fiddling around before I was going out to warm up, and it looked all right, so I took it out to the putting green, hit some putts, went to the range, warmed up, came back, hit a couple of more putts, went to the tee.

Q. So you worked the Platoon system there?

STEVE FLESCH: I tell you, if I was married to a putter, I would be divorced many times by now. That's one club that is always on waivers in my bag.

Q. How many putters did you take to the putting green this morning? Just the one or just the two?

STEVE FLESCH: No, four this morning. I got here about an hour and a half before I teed off, because I got tired of sitting in the room. Since I'm not with my family, I'm killing time, basically. I took two -- I have four in my locker and I have two more back in the hotel room, but I took two of them to the putting green early, and both of those, I hit some putts with both of those and bagged them. They went back to the locker.

So then I went back to eat and I went to warm up, because it was time to go out and get ready for the round, so I took the one I used the first two days, which I'm tired of using, and I took this other one. You know, it looked good and every putt I hit in the room I hit the table leg, so I thought this had a chance. I took it out and warmed up with it, and that was it.

I'm tired of the one I'm using. I've made some putts, but I didn't feel good with it, so why go out there and feel like I'm struggling with it. I talked to Butch Harmon earlier in the week, on Monday before I flew down here, and I talked to him, because he knows I've been struggling, not so much struggling putting, but just wanting to look at something different. He told me, don't even take it with you, but I went ahead and brought it. He was like, don't even take it. Put something new in the bag and go with it. And I did that today and it worked out.

Q. (Inaudible)?

STEVE FLESCH: Callaway two-ball mallet. If I had a belly putter, I probably would have been using the belly putter, but I didn't have one with me.

Q. One of the perks to a win here is a big heap of Ryder Cup points. A, is that incentive for you, and B, just the Ryder Cup team overall -- I know it's down the road, but is that something you would like to achieve?

STEVE FLESCH: It is. I've talked to Chris DiMarco and David Toms a lot and they've shared some of their experiences and they rave on and on how great it is. That is something I'd like to be a part of. The only way I'm going to do that is play well. I don't see a sense in worrying about it or trying to look forward to it, unless I play well, it's never going to happen. It's a cliche, but I have to take care of business and play well. In July if I have a chance, then I'll probably get pretty excited about it. I would love to be a part of it, but bottom line, I need to play well.

Q. There's been some pretty big names who have won this tournament over the years, Michelson, Sergio Garcia, Nick Price, what would it mean to have your name included on the wall, as well?

STEVE FLESCH: Naturally, to win with the caliber players that have won here before would mean a lot, especially because it's the type of golf course that really fits my style of play. You know, in New Orleans where I won -- New Orleans is a great golf course, but I'll tell you what, length really is important there. There's a lot of short holes, but you have to take advantage of the par 5s. Bombers really tend to win there. Here, it's not necessarily a bomber winning. Nick Price, you know, he's one of the guys I've always looked up to because he kind of picks a golf course apart. I consider him probably one of the best ball-strikers, shot-makers, that is on the Tour today. To follow in his footsteps winning here would be great. I consider myself more of a ball striker than I am -- I'm never going to overpower a place. If there's a good chance of me winning, it would probably be at Colonial.

Q. Were you watching the board at all or looking up and seeing Campbell's 9 under for the day, Gay's 8 under, and you out there struggling in the wind? Were you wondering if they were on the same golf course?

STEVE FLESCH: I think I was on the fourth hole when Chad was finished. I saw that 9 up there nice and early. What time did Chad play? I left my hotel at 8:30 this morning to go get coffee, and I'll tell you what, it was blowing really hard where I'm staying. I figured if the wind was blowing all day, that's remarkable, a 9-under around here.

If you get it in the fairways and you have just a good feel for what the wind is doing, you have control of your trajectory. The greens are soft enough you can get the ball within decent range to hit some good shots. They're definitely holding. If the greens weren't holding, even par would have been a great score today. Fortunately, they're soft enough where you have a chance. I didn't answer your question, did I?

Q. (Inaudible)?

STEVE FLESCH: I think it would have been harder to stay patient if there was no wind at all and it was just more or less a shoot-out, but if you don't stay patient with conditions like they are today, you're going to shoot a million, because you know it's not going to be easy.

Chad shot 9 under, but you have to forget about that. It was hard enough getting the ball in the fairway and picking a club without worrying about what someone else did. I had enough on my plate out there just trying to get the ball in play.

Q. Excuse my ignorance, what is your roll or title on television?

STEVE FLESCH: I don't know. David, do you know what I am? Guest analyst, maybe, co-analyst, I guess. I do that segment on The Golf Channel called In the Flesch. I don't know, what would you call it? Just a weekly guest spot. Every week that I play, I do that spot.

Q. Live?

STEVE FLESCH: Usually live on their 7:00 pregame show. Lately, I've been on the post-game show this week. It's one of those things where I think they've realized how much I enjoy doing it and I'm pretty much willing to do it whenever they want me on there. My role, I guess, is more of give them a player's perspective about what's new and different going on on the Tour, instead of having a reporter say what's going on. They want to know what the inside-the-ropes kind of stuff is. I can pass that along without offending anybody or getting myself in trouble.

Q. Is this something you want to do?

STEVE FLESCH: I would love to. Dave and I talk about this a lot, my manager David Winkle back there. It helps me get away from thinking and worrying about my game all the time. It's a good release for me. I love going in there and talking about, you know, the golf courses or what other players are doing, or teachers, kind of what else is going on on the Tour. Because otherwise, if I go back, I'm sitting in the room or out here beating balls or wearing myself down. Sometimes it helps to talk about it and just exchange with people what's going on.

I'm having fun. It's more fun to me than anything. I'm just having a good time doing it. If my career would totally end or whatever, or when I'm finally finished playing, I would love to go into that area. I just enjoy it.

Q. (Inaudible)?

STEVE FLESCH: Well, In the Flesch this week, we had Craig Kann caddie for me in the Pro-Am, get the Pro-Am experience. It was more of a mockery of Craig than it was anything else, just how he didn't really know all the nuances of caddying. A lot of weeks it's just kind of what's all the hoopla, what are the players really think about -- like last year, about the Annika Sorenstam deal here or Michelle Wie playing in Hawaii, we did that. I basically would say the players are worrying about themselves. Yes, it's great that's all going on, but the players are here working on their own games, because that stuff is out of our control a lot, it's more of a media blitz.

We've done some funny spots. In Hilton Head, we went around and I basically had my hat off, and we had a program of my picture from the Masters, and we're walking right up to people and saying, We're looking for Steve Flesch out here, this is Wednesday afternoon, and have you seen this guy. And people are like, no. You haven't seen him at all today, recently? And I'm looking right at them and they're not figuring it out. We've got the camera on them. We interviewed 20 people, and one girl figured it out. She said, "That's you." But not one of them could look at the picture and look at me and figure it out. It was just the incognito, more of Jay Walking from Jay Leno, just the mockery.

I'm trying to bring something funny to it. Golf is so series and it's the same stuff we talk about. I'm trying to bring a different side to it, a funny side. I'm a comedian.

Q. Are you better than Fehrety?

STEVE FLESCH: No, he's so quick witted. He speaks another language sometimes. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff. More than anything, it's just enjoyable for me. I have fun doing it. It's a good release for me.

Q. Let me ask you one more Ryder Cup question. Major League baseball players want no part of a World Cup competition, NBA guys are pulling out of the Olympics, NHL guys same thing. Why are people in your sport, on the other hand, so eager to participate in international competition to represent their country? Do you have any thoughts?

STEVE FLESCH: Well, without getting to controversial and bad-mouthing other sports, I just think a golfer is a different caliber of athlete, honestly. I think we've grown up -- it's all the old cliches, it's a gentleman's game, you take pride in playing your individual sport because it's all on your shoulders. I think as a golfer, it's an honor -- it's not that it's not an honor for other guys, but those other guys, we're paid well and we make a lot of money, but it's all up to us. There are times where we don't make a nickel, but those guys make so much money and they're guaranteed so much, I think sometimes they just think if I'm not getting paid to do it, I don't want to go. I know there is a pride factor and people are pulling out of the Olympics -- I can't blame guys for pulling out of the Olympics really, over there.

My answer in a nutshell, I think golfers are a different type of athlete. I think our game requires us to hold ourselves to a higher standard in terms of honesty and integrity. I don't really know where to go with that, other than that.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could touch on your round. You birdied the first hole, par 5.

STEVE FLESCH: Nice drive and 2-iron into the middle of the green, 2-putted from 20 feet.

3, I hit a driver in the right first cut of rough, hit a 5-iron about 35 feet, ran that in.

Bogey today on 12, perfect drive right down the middle, 145 into the wind, and I was trying to hold an 8-iron against the wind and just kind of pulled it and plugged it into the face of the bunker, blasted out about 15 feet and missed it.

Then made a 25-footer for birdie on 14.

Up and down on 15.

Chipped in on 16, after hitting an 8-iron just over the green.

Chipped in with an 9-iron from about 30 feet.

Up and down and 17.

And missed a 20-footer on 18 for birdie.

Q. (Inaudible)?

STEVE FLESCH: I tell you, since -- I had a chance at Wachovia, honestly, but that was kind of a scramble for me. I don't know if I went into the day thinking I really had a chance. Since winning last year in New Orleans, I don't feel like I've actually been in the heat of it that much. I'm excited about tomorrow. Today was big for me because it wasn't easy getting the ball on the green. I was scrambling well and I putted well, so today was big for me. And tomorrow, if I can hit some more greens, I have a great chance at it. I hope the wind blows again. I don't want it to be calm and it's going to have to be a shootout. I want it to be the same kind of test as today. I like my chances. I'm excited about playing tomorrow.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Steve Flesch, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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