FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 30, 2002

Len Mattiace

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome our champion, Len Mattiace, champion of the 2002 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Len, I want to congratulate you on becoming the first multiple winner this season besides Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Not bad company there and you are have the largest come from behind victory of 2002 going back to Davis Love last year at the Buick Invitational, so great job. If we could just get some opening comments from you on how it feels to win today.

LEN MATTIACE: Well, thank you. It's a great feeling to win a second time this year. And to win here at the FedEx, a lot of guys know that this a special tournament for a special charity, St. Jude's Children's Hospital. So I'm just so happy the way I played over the weekend. I didn't make, I don't think I made any bogeys. And I was just, I had a great day today, probably one of my best rounds, probably one of my best rounds I ever played today.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay, we will go into questions. Please raise your hand. We're going to use the mikes for questions.

Q. Len, is this becoming a habit for you to come from behind. I know of a similar situation Tour win earlier this year.

LEN MATTIACE: Well, I guess it has been. I'm just happy to do it. I played well the first two days and I didn't quite score the ball as well as I felt like I could. So I was optimistic going into the weekend but I was pretty far back. I played well yesterday but I was still, I shot 6-under yesterday and I was still what, seven back. So I just played very solid on the weekend. And I made up a bunch of ground. I didn't look at the scoreboard at all today. I didn't feel like I needed to. I knew I just needed to keep making birdies, so why look. And I looked on the 18 green and saw that I had a two-shot lead at that time. And I was just trying to 2-putt, I guess. I tried to make it, but it was a tough putt. It was a tough pin there.

And no one wants to see Glen -- what did Glen end up with, 4-over? Yeah, no one wants to see that. I was hoping he would have a good round today. He's a friend of mine. We have known each other a long time. I was hoping he would play well. He had a great tournament. He played three great rounds. So I feel for Glen that he didn't accomplish what he wanted to today. I'm sure he will the rest of the year. I'm sure he'll do well.

Q. Did you draw on your experience in Los Angeles when you came from behind at all today?

LEN MATTIACE: Well, in a certain way I felt very confident going into today. And I know winning at L.A. had a lot to do with that. I played the back nine. I believe I shot 3-under on the back nine there. And I played real strong. So in a very pressurized situation with McCarron leading, so that taught me that, hey, I can hit the shots when it comes down to the last six, seven holes. And I just tried to take one hole today, hole by hole and hit the shots, and I did. And for a golfer that's a very good feeling, to have a good round going, to keep the round going. There's so many tough shots out there, on the back nine especially. Nine played tough and the back nine, just there's some tough shots there. 17, 18 are demanding holes. Everybody knows they're tough par-4's and I was, as a golfer, as a player, I was happy to hit those shots like I needed to.

Q. How excruciating was the wait for you? I know it was tough just to sit there and wait for the last few groups to come through.

LEN MATTIACE: Well, it was pretty nerve-racking. I'm not used to this. This is only my second win so I'm not used to all this stuff. But it was, it's more nerve-racking waiting and watching, and not playing. Compared to playing. Playing, you just are out there playing and you feel like you have control over what you're doing. And when I was waiting I -- even when I watched the replay of when I won at Nissan, it was nerve-racking. On tape. And I knew the outcome and I was still nervous. So but you can't do anything at that point. I guess that's why it's nerve-racking. You just have to wait it out.

Q. The shot on 17, that turns out to be the winning shot for you. And you said that's a pretty demanding hole. Can you describe the shot you hit in there and just how good a shot you think it was.

LEN MATTIACE: It's a tough hole. I don't know the stroke average on how it plays but it's probably the top third, the top three. One of the three toughest holes on the course. The tee shot's tough, you got two big trees on the sides, if you hit the fairway. You could hit it in the fairway and still be blocked out to the pin. So that's tough. I hit a great drive, I hit a 7-iron, I was in between 7 and a 6 and my caddy wanted me to hit 7. I wanted to hit 6. And I went back, I felt the adrenaline and I end up hitting 7. He was right again. And I hit it just the way I wanted to. A little right of what I wanted to be. But it was fine. That's the side you need to come in on. And I hit it pin high, about what? 12 feet.

So I hit it, I hit a very solid shot. I had a great read on the putt. I, it was a big right-to-left break putt from 12 feet and I saw immediately, I saw where I needed to putt it. And I did that. And the ball went in. So it's a good feeling. When you look at it, you see it, you putt it and you execute and it goes in.

Q. Ian's seemed to be the same line, did it confirm it?

LEN MATTIACE: No, because I saw it before he putted. So I, it actually broke about three feet. It was a break, pretty big swinger.

Q. You did put together some good rounds this week. What particularly was working for you especially today on the back nine with the birdies?

LEN MATTIACE: Well, I think that no question about my putter. My putter was good. I wanted to make quality putts. I just didn't want to get up there and putt and not feel like I could make it. I felt confident with every putt that I hit. My irons were very good. My distance was good. I was right around the holes with my iron shots. So I was happy with that. And the putts. Those are the two good things.

Q. You said you didn't watch the scoreboard, but did you still have any sense that they were coming back to you or were you blissfully unaware the entire time?

LEN MATTIACE: Yeah, that's a good word for it. No, I didn't know. I knew that when I birdied 16 that good things were happening. And I was just, from what the crowd and the people were doing, telling me, but you don't know how accurate that is at the time because you're right in there playing golf. But I knew that I was doing good things and I wanted to just keep doing it and not get in my own way. And I said to my caddy, we kind of joked on number nine, I said, he said, "you know, I just looked at the scoreboard." He goes -- I don't like looking at the scoreboard because he's been out here 10 years, Jeff Weber. He goes, I've always looked at the board, and he goes, "you know what, today I'm not looking at the board," and I said, "you know what, I'm not looking at the board either. I'll look at it when I come up 18." So that was on nine. And over the last three or four years I don't really look at the scoreboard most of the time. At times you look but when things are going well there's no need to. You just keep going. Unless you're on 18 and it's a very choice-type hole. Where you need to hit it over here, over here, go for the pin. Not "you're in the last group, everybody's done." You know, then obviously, you would look at it, see what you need to do. But me being what, I was in the fifth group? Something like the fifth group in, those guys were still behind me and they were doing whatever they were going to do. Whether they make birdies or bogeys. So I just needed to continue my play. And I really believe that that helped me on 16, 17 and 18.

Q. Would you spell Jeff's name and then also would you talk a little bit about the company you're keeping now with Mickelson and Woods.

LEN MATTIACE: W E B E R. That's the easier of the two.

Q. And the first name is regular spelling of Jeff?

LEN MATTIACE: Jeff. Yeah.

Q. G E or J?

LEN MATTIACE: J E F F. Yeah. No, I am just happy to win two times this year and it's not July yet. So I'll continue -- we have a birthday coming up July 4th. Gracie will be five. I'll continue to do my things and try and continue my good play the rest of the year. It's a great feeling to know that I've won twice that I've won a second time in the first year that I've ever won a tournament. So that's a great feeling. And that I've actually won a second time in the same year.

Q. How good a year overall? You've won twice, you got to go back to Bethpage, play a course that you've grown up on and like you say, it's not even July yet. How special is that how nice has this been?

LEN MATTIACE: Well it's been a great year and I've told a lot of people this is my best year so far. I saw good things in January, February, March. I saw that my play was better. I feel like I'm a better player overall. And I've done a lot, I've done a lot better things on the golf course this year than I ever have in the past years. And the results are now showing it. So I'm very pleased to have won twice and like I said, I'll just continue doing the things that I've been doing and hopefully do some more good things.

Q. You're pleased but are you surprised?

LEN MATTIACE: No, I'm not surprised. No. I'm pleased. I'm happy. Yeah. But no, not surprised. It's funny, because, yes, I mean everybody sees it. Sometimes the putts go in, sometimes they don't. A guy wins, a guy should have won. But no, I'm not surprised. Not surprised. Very pleased though.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could go over your birdies, 7 on the day starting on number two.

LEN MATTIACE: Number two I hit a pitching wedge to two feet.

Number five I hit a big drive and a 5-iron. Par-5, to about 25 feet. 3-putted.

No. 11, I hit a 9-iron about six feet. Made that.

12, I hit a 3-wood off the tee, and then a sand wedge to about 15 feet and I made that. That was a good feeling at that point. I felt good that I've got a sand wedge in, I didn't really hit it that close, at 15 feet, and I made the putt. So that was a good feeling.

I made a great par on 14. I felt like that hole was playing tough. The pin was never in the back of the green for the first three days. Today it was. And I hit a very solid 4-iron to the middle of the green and I had a huge swinging putt of about 40 feet and 3-putted. And that was big. I made about a five-footer for par.

The next one I hit 3-wood, 3-wood sand wedge to about 15 feet. Made that.

16 I hit -- I laid up in two. And hit a pitching wedge from 115 yards to about eight feet. And I made that.

17, I hit driver, 7-iron to about 15 feet.

16 was great as well because I didn't hit that solid of a drive, guys I know were hitting irons into the par-5, I didn't hit it that solid and I couldn't get there in two. So I felt like my best chance for birdie is to lay up. And it worked out.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay. We will take a couple more questions.

Q. What's your schedule looking like for the next few weeks?

LEN MATTIACE: Birthday party next week.

(Laughter.) Going to go swimming tomorrow. British Open will be the next event. British Open and we will see after that.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Anything else.

LEN MATTIACE: It's funny, because I was always playing, I was always going to play the Western and not Memphis. And about two weeks ago my wife and I decided that it would be nice to be home for Gracie's birthday, fifth birthday and not be in Chicago celebrating her birthday. And I thought I've been playing well and maybe I should play the fourth, I played Westchester, U.S. Open, Hartford, and maybe I should play Memphis, because I've been playing well and continue playing. And it was a good decision.

Q. I wanted to ask you about, you mentioned the cause here, and I knew you have is it Len's Friends that you do, is it a tournament, can you talk about that a little bit?

LEN MATTIACE: Yes, I have a foundation, my wife Kristin and I started a couple of years ago. Two years ago. And it's a foundation that is really a place in Jacksonville, Len's Friends Foundation, that we put on charity tournaments or if I play in pro-ams and designate certain money to the foundation and then we give it out to charities in Jacksonville. So we had seen from time to time if I make a certain appearances, where they ask, where would you like this money to go, just now the foundation, it will go to the foundation and then we can designate which charities in Jacksonville to give it out to.

Q. Just about the experience of playing Bethpage and what that was like. Having grown up on that course?

LEN MATTIACE: That was a special place. I played in 7th and 8th grade there. And on my high school golf team. And like a district play in order to go to state. So to come back, kind of to come back and be around where I grew up and see where I shot 80, 78 and played the best I could, is really, that was really neat. That was really special. And probably one of the toughest golf courses in the world. The way it was set up.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Anything else? Congratulations and best of luck the rest of the year.

LEN MATTIACE: Okay. Thank you.

End of FastScripts....