84 LUMBER CLASSIC OF PENNSYLVANIA

September 21, 2003

J.L. Lewis

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome J.L. Lewis, winner of the 2003 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania.

Certainly good things happened today, I almost don't know where to start, but let's start with the fact you moved up to 17th on the Money List and this win should qualify you for both THE TOUR Championship and your first Masters Tournament next year. How excited are you about that?

J.L. LEWIS: I'm elated. When I started this tournament, I had aspirations of doing well, but I didn't know it was going to be this good. I'm sure glad we came. We enjoyed it. The course is in as good of condition as it could be in. The resort is a great place. I had fun out there today. I enjoyed myself.

TODD BUDNICK: Two great back-to-back weeks: Runner-up finish last week and you come through with a victory this week. A 10-under par 62 in the final round is your best career round, and the best finishing round by a winner this year; talk about that.

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I learned a lot last week. I led the tournament every day, and in the fourth round, I didn't play as well as I'm capable, but I learned a lot. I watched Vijay, and he won that thing easy. He won it easy. Nobody put any heat on him, but what I noticed the most was he didn't put any heat on himself.

So today, I was behind and I just wanted to keep getting into the flow of the game. I was striking the ball well and got fortunate to hole one out and made a few putts, and the putter got better as the week wind on. I just tried to keep my wits about me and go ahead and get it done.

TODD BUDNICK: The guys talked about 36 holes yesterday, they all had a figure of what you had to shoot today, not necessarily what the finishing score was. 14-under, that had to be a number or round you were guessing.

J.L. LEWIS: I told my caddie after 18 holes, I said, you know, we made a bogey on 16. I missed it to the right and got on the green and 3-putted. We were a little upset there. I said: "You know it doesn't even matter because it's going to take 22-under to win." I was right. (Laughter.) So that worked out good.

I was just out there thinking, you've got to get to at least 20 or 21 (under) to have a chance, because, you know, the greens are soft and it seems like guys seemed to make more birdies at the end. I was lucky, I made some birdies and I hit a good shot on 15. It was just a little too far and I made a good bogey there. And I just thank God, and my wife and everybody, it just worked out.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I holed out a bunker shot in a playoff in '99 and that might have been as good, too. That was one of them. I was really happy to get it up there. I knew if I hit it to the middle of the green, it would roll back to the hole. And I was just lagging the putt to be honest with you, and it went in. We'll take it. It was pretty decent; that's why I went ahead and hit it. It was not bad for a rough shot. Had to hit it about 90 yards, so it worked out good.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I've kind of learned not to get down out here. You can get pretty beat up if you play a lot and you don't win a lot. So I just try to learn from the other players and from my own mistakes, and I try to grow and I try to just get better, become a better player; that's really my ultimate goal is to become a better player for me. I know that I can't be too concerned about, you know, other people's aspirations for me. I just kind of keep doing my own thing and I try to be best I can be. That's how it goes.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I think it was like a sign, when things start going in from 100 yards, you know, or 95 yards, you know it's a good sign that things might be going your way.

There was a couple other things. A couple drives, I pulled one on 2 or 3, the par four with the water on left, I pulled it a little bit, but it caught the left fringe and kicked a little right.

Then the shot on 16, I didn't want to hit that left of the pin and it stayed in there. Those kind of things have to happen when you win.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: Yeah, I think training and just experience. I've been through a lot of these tournaments and it's controlling your nerves, basically. If you get yourself a chance to win, that's what it comes down to. I think the older players have done more of it.

Like I said, with Vijay last week, he could -- you could not tell the difference between a practice round or a last hole of the tournament with him; he's that calm. I aspire to be that calm. And I think that the age helps with that.

In my case, I didn't get on TOUR until I was 35, so really, this is like the prime of my career.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: Not till the last hole. I figured 21-under was going to have to be it, or 22. But I knew that you had to get to 21 to have a chance, so I was trying to do that.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I knew I was in the Top 3. I looked once and 20-under was tied. And then I made a birdie on that hole and then bogeyed the next hole, and so I figured, well, I'm going to have to do something coming in here because somebody else will if I don't.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I think the facility is fantastic. This golf course, they can do a lot with this golf course. They can narrow the fairways down. What is it, 7,700 yards long from the tips? They could make this place play as tough as they want.

So this week, some of the tees were up and the fairways were soft, so people were shooting scores. But the greens have a lot of slope in them and they are not easy to read.

I like the golf course. I like the facility. It was good.

Q. What was the bigger factor as far as you were concerned, having ball in hand or the wide fairways --

J.L. LEWIS: I consider myself a good ball-striker, so having wide fairways generally would not help somebody like me. I feel like the tighter the course, the better I play. But both the courses I've won on and some of the best tournaments I've had have been on courses that were pretty open. I don't know, I can't explain it.

I feel like I'm a good ball-striker and I feel that's one of my advantages. On the iron game here, it was an advantage this week with the irons, but not so much with the driver because of the width of the fairways. Hey, it's the same for everybody and you've got to go out there and play.

Q. Your approach on 18?

J.L. LEWIS: I had to hit it about 90 yards in the air.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I think 100, something like that. I think I got 85 or 90 out of it. It held a long ways, though. It was a lob-wedge.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I was hoping it didn't get up there on the bank. I was up there the other day and I didn't really have a shot. I was mad at myself because I kind of wanted to hit a 3-wood because I could hit 3-wood, wedge just the same. The fairway is big and I thought, well, surely you can hit it in this fairway but I couldn't. So ended up having to chop it up there out of the rough and it worked out.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: Yeah, it hit a hard spot. The course has finally started to dry out in a few spots.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: That was 15. I hit it back there--

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: That was 15. The first shot over the green was a 4-iron and then lob-wedge.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I rested a lot yesterday and I tried to pace myself today. Early in the round, I was trying to swing 75 percent because I knew that it was going to be a lot of holes. It's like a U.S. Open qualifier and you just kind of have to hang in there. And it's a grind, it really is.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: I was really trying to hit a solid 5-iron. I just pulled it a little bit and I was fortunate that the wind was helping me and so just kind of kept in play. My caddie gave me the right club and ended up being all right. But like I say, it was fortunate.

Q. Inaudible?

J.L. LEWIS: It comes from hitting the ball in the hole and from thinking you can do it, probably. (Laughter.)

I wasn't out there thinking about a score. I was trying to continue to put up birdies.

I think it's the most important thing that's going to happen to me is getting to play in that tournament. And also, the last tournament of the year, THE TOUR Championship. This gets you in the Tournament of Champions, too, right? Maui. My wife is going to like that. This is very exciting. At my age to be able to do it, it's a feat.

Q. How about Augusta?

J.L. LEWIS: Yeah, we are looking forwards t that. That's a great thing -- I've always watched it on TV. And I think we drove by one time, but I've never actually been to the course or played the course or anything. I'm really looking forward to that. That's a lifetime experience, you know.

TODD BUDNICK: If we can go through all of those birdies you threw in there today, just on the final round.

J.L. LEWIS: 2, driver, 6-iron and I made a putt from the fringe, about an 18-footer.

Then driver, sand wedge, tried to hit it 100 yards 123 backed up five or six yards. I must have read it right, I saw it go in. I kept telling my caddie: I'm going to make one sooner or later. Every year you make them from somewhere.

Driver, 4-iron, sand wedge, again it backed up a bunch. I hit the putt not quite hard enough, but it got in there, maybe nine or ten feet.

9, driver, 8-iron, and that was the good putt there.

Driver, 3-wood, lob-wedge from about 35 yards and a 4-footer and then a 6-iron on the par 3 just past the hole and made about a 12-footer there.

Then a 3-wood, sand wedge and another maybe 8-footer.

Then driver, 8-iron and about a 9-footer.

And then 16 was driver, 5-iron, 2-putt.

And then driver, lob-wedge, one putt.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, J.L., and congratulations.

End of FastScripts.