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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 21, 2013Billy Joe TolliverSTATELINE, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: It was hard‑fought. I finally played the sympathy card with Rypien long enough he felt bad for all my kids I have and my wife and he just let me have it. Q. We heard that momma's already spent the money; is that right? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: There's a good chance with all those kids it was spent before we ever got here. You don't know the pressure. Q. You came out from about four points behind, I believe, to win this one. What were you thinking before the day started? Did you like your chances or what was going through your mind? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: Like I told you guys on Tuesday in here, that I thought first one to 69 might playoff and we might have the first playoff ever. 70 would probably win. And I was off by a couple. But the golf course was just in fantastic shape. And you start the day, and nobody was backing up. Rypien fires a little 33 on the front nine like it was nothing. And I was fortunate enough to make a couple of birdies myself. But I made too many bogeys but we all did. The entire field did. It's just a tough golf course. And the entire field's not the straightest drivers of the golf ball. We're not bad. I'll take these guys. I'll take every one of them in the top 12 and we'll go play somebody in the Ryder Cup, let's go, let's get it on. They're good players. And let's drop it back to the top 11 because I still want Romo on our team. Romo's good. Q. Take us a little bit through the round. Was there a point where you were saying, hey, I better start making more birdies or making eagle here? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: On this golf course, you're never out of it because 16, 17 and 18. Sometimes‑‑ I just came off of birdie on 14. Do you all want the rundown first to the end or you just talk about it? Q. Give us the highlights. BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: I just came off birdie on 14 and then I bogeyed 15. Like an idiot I pulled out driver like I always do. But you don't change who you are. That's what I hit. I go with it. But I made a bogey there. And I told my caddie, now we've got to birdie 16. And in my favor, none of those guys did. I was fortunate enough that Rypien didn't birdie it. Couple of the guys behind us didn't birdie it. And then me and Rypien both make bogey on 17. And we walk off 17 and I'm telling my caddie: You know, we either make birdie and Rypien makes par and we tie and that bogey will haunt us, or we make bogey and win the thing outright. If Rypien makes a birdie, it's over. And Rypien putted really well today. He didn't make everything. But his roll was really good. Elway, it was a birdie fest in our group. There was a bunch of birdies made so we got to feed off of that. I think today I'm not sure what the score is. I probably shot even par 1‑under, something like that. But there were five birdies, five or six birdies thrown in. And that's what you gotta have. The last two days, I didn't make anything on Friday. I played pretty decent. I hit some wayward shots but I recovered from them. I just didn't make anything. And then Saturday and Sunday I made a lot of putts. That's what you gotta do out here. Q. What were you thinking on that second playoff hole when Ryp nails one from about 275 on to the green? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: I've seen that movie before. I've been to that theater. Rypien's been out there. He's so big and strong and he takes that big wide stance, and he really goes down and gets the golf ball. And I knew he would rip that thing either up on the green or close to the green. That's why I was trying so hard off my tee ball to hit one down there to force his hand. And you know and I hit a good tee ball on the second one. The second playoff hole. And then he hit that shot. And I expected it. I knew he would. He's a powerful man. And it fits his game, too. He can hit that low burner that slides to the right, and me I'm not sure which way mine's going. I gotta keep it close to the edge. Q. How tough was it mentally out there during that playoff? Playing 18 four times in a row. BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: It's a grind. It's more of a grind in the fact that you just don't want to hit a shot‑‑ like Rypien, he's a great champion. He's a great player, and he hits that shot. Nobody wants to win that way. But you're standing out there, and it's not the trophy, it's not the money, it's how much grief your guys are going to give you when you get home. And that's all you're thinking about out there. You're thinking about just hit the green so my boys‑‑ and they'll be telling me: God, what was that first putt you made. It's just a constant needle in your side all the time. But the pressure of the game, that's the first time I've been in a playoff in this event. And especially for that long. We could have really just kept playing. It could have been ten times, who knows what it was. But it was a grind. It's very satisfying that after the first round of not making anything, I stuck with my discipline and didn't change putters. I rolled it well. I just didn't make anything. And it's satisfying coming back to win, coming from behind, the three times I won it before, I think I led from go to whoa or set the tournament record at that time. And I played really well during that stretch. It was good to‑‑ I mean for my own personal feelings‑‑ to win one from behind. Q. I was wondering, obviously you and Mark are good friends. Can you just say first off what went through your head when you saw him dunk that one into the Lake Laimbeer? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: When he dumped it in, me and my caddie both said: Oh no. And I looked right at Chip and I told him you never want to win one this way. And we're walking up there and I said I hope he chips it in; I hope he makes 5. I wanted so bad to make that putt on 18, just to have a 4, where at least he can take solace in the fact that, well, he made birdie on me, that's the way it is. But it was heartbreaking for Rypien. It was disappointing for me. You just want the best. And I felt for him. He's a really good friend of mine. Q. And Chip is your caddie, what's his last name? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: Chip Walsh. W‑a‑l‑s‑h. That's the only reason I ever win is because of Chip. I'm a roller coaster. Chip's flat lined all the time. He's always like you can do it. You see the shot I just hit. I'm not sure I can do it. Oh, yeah, you got this. Q. You also mentioned your kids. How many kids do you have? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: I've got five kids. But only Bubba was here. Bubba got reprimanded by the marshals in the playoff. Hey, kid get off the golf course. Hey, that's my kid. Relax, yell at me. I told him to stand over there. Q. How hard is it to win this the first time? We've seen a lot of multiple winners kind of repeat in the last several years. BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: It's just tough to come through. The guys have gotten so much better. I mean, look at Curry. I mean, that cat right there, he learned a lot today, I guarantee it. He led this thing‑‑ I mean, he was 50‑to‑1. I mean, next year I'm going to get on it. He probably won't be 50‑to‑1 next year. You can go down the list of these guys: Roenick Curry, Chandler, Rypien, I don't know about that Tolliver kid, Elway, Smoltz, Mulder, Lucas Black is playing well. Guys are getting so much better. And what did Quinn do the last two days? He's never out of it. He probably fired 25 points yesterday. I came in this morning thinking I need 27 to win. And I think I got 25 or something. But it's just a grind out there. And to win it your first time, to get out there, you know, you've got to get some breaks on this golf course. I got a big break. Joe Theismann found by golf ball on 11 with two seconds to spare. We play it and I gotta go to Mark the rules official afterwards, my caddie's telling me good four, not so fast let me make sure about this. And Joe identified my golf ball because I was 30 yards from it. And we had the watch on the minute we walked in there. As soon as I crossed that hazard line, my caddie's a stickler he drives me crazy. I'm like hey, dude, on Friday you've got five seconds. I'm like hey, man, why don't you let the rules official tell me I've got five seconds. As soon as Joe said he found his ball, I looked at my man and I looked at Dilfer first and I said, well, we're right on the time. What time you got? He said you're probably about two seconds, we're right on it. And that was probably the two seconds that it took me to ask him. And so Mark said it was clean. But those are the breaks you have to get. I mean, Joe Theismann's walking around here, he's already in my hip pocket asking for his five percent for finding my golf ball. But that's Joe, too, he's my boy too. Also to get into it some more today. I had a good pairing today. Playing with Elway and Rypien. That's not to say my yesterday group with Dilfer and Theismann‑‑ Trent Dilfer's one of my best friends in the world. I love Joe Theismann. We get along great. We can't ride in the same cart together because he likes to talk and I like to talk, so we have to separate all that. But the yardage disparity between me and Dilfer and Theismann is so great, you know, it's hard to get in a rhythm. But today I had a good pairing with Rypien and Elway in that our balls are similar distance. We're hitting it out there similar distance so there's not a lot of wait time. Q. We always do a media poll in here. Everybody puts in a few bucks. Nobody had you this year. BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: Hey, that's okay by me. I got no problem with it. I had me. (Laughter). But I'm a wildcard. I get it. You all don't hurt my feelings with that. But I'm going to tell you all something, when I come in here, tell you I'm playing good, you better jump on me. And I didn't tell you all this year. I didn't say it; I just found it as we went. Q. Nothing would be possible in the playoffs unless you made the birdie putt on 18 to get in? BILLY JOE TOLLIVER: I really didn't think that was going to be enough. I fully expected Rypien to make his birdie, hit that putt. Ran it right over the edge. He hit a good putt. Late in the day here, you know, there's a lot of players that have been walking across these greens and the poana, in this temperature, it's 90 degrees out there, it feels like, which at home is like 70. But that poana starts growing the hotter it gets, and late in the day you really have to be on and really have to get the right breaks to make some putts. And he hit a fantastic putt. I was trying like the dickens to make my putt for eagle just so we could end it right there. But it's just a battle. Every hole, the swings that go up‑and‑down, when you start, when you get to about 13, I mean a guy could get hot and birdie in from 13. And so you never know. You're never out of it here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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