BELLSOUTH CLASSIC

April 6, 2003

Bob Tway

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Bob, a second-place finish for you. You played well all week, runner-up finish, if you could just make a couple of comments about the week.

BOB TWAY: I guess the first thing is that Ben played awfully well the back nine. Ben must have played fabulous the back side. When I made the turn, I knew I had the lead and I just kind of told myself, you know, to just keep going and go as low as you can. If you shoot 2- or 3-under, which would be reasonable on the back side, things would probably be okay.

I meant to make a little putt there at 18, and then 11 was kind of a little unlucky. I was in between clubs so I took the longer instead of the shorter and the ball buried in the bunker; that's pretty important. I knew I wouldn't see any balls buried in that bunker. That was a bad bogey. From then on in, I just never got the ball close to the hole.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You played well all week, but you have to tip your hat to Ben. He shot 64-63 on the weekend and that happens once in awhile.

BOB TWAY: Like I said, most of it sounds like it was on the back side. It must have been fabulous. I'll have to watch the replay and see how he did it.

Q. Obviously, 12-under, second place finish is a disappointment, but when a guy posts 64-63, you can't really -- can you really put any blame on yourself at all?

BOB TWAY: I still put blame on myself. Obviously he played a very great round. If I could have continued -- all I needed to do was shoot 2-under on the back side and we would be tied. 2-under is not like you are setting the world on fire. If you make the putt at 10 and the ball doesn't bury at 11 -- would have, could have, should have. Things can change a little, but I had a good opportunity just short of the green there on 13. I didn't take advantage of the opportunities that I had. And then I had a bad 3-putt there on 15, and actually hit some good putts on 16 and 17. But I just didn't get the job done.

Q. How aware were you of what he was doing?

BOB TWAY: I really wasn't. I knew when I made the turn, I had a few-shot lead, and I was just going to concentrate on what I needed to do. Somewhere middle of the back side I could see that he was gaining, and then actually when I got -- when I finished 16, I looked over and he was at 14 and I go, well, geez, he must have birdied some holes quickly because I just made a bogey. He must have birdied the last two holes and I heard a big roar and I knew that was not going to be enough.

Q. Inaudible?

BOB TWAY: Not for Ben. It was blowing, but it wasn't like last year the last day when it was blowing a little bit harder. You could still play good golf.

Q. You had a chance to win all week, are you happy with the way you --

BOB TWAY: I thought I handled myself fine with how I felt. I could have hit a few closer shots and I could have made a couple putts there, but, you know, like I said, Ben shot a fabulous round. So I'm not going to kick myself in the rear, but I still have some improving to do.

Q. Your performance overall for the week, this close call thing, is it getting old yet? Do you take consolation out of second place, mixed emotions?

BOB TWAY: Yeah, it is. I played very well this week. I'm extremely happy with that. The only problem with it is it's not winning. But as I said, if he hadn't had such a low round, it probably would have been nip and tuck at the end there. So, you have to give him a lot of credit. I'll just have to build on this and if I continue doing what I have been doing, then I believe I'll get there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go over your score card. You started out with birdies on 4, 5 and 6.

BOB TWAY: I hit a nice pitching wedge on 4 and made a nice putt, probably 18 feet from behind the hole.

5th hole, I hit a nice 3-wood and a sand wedge to 15 feet and made that.

No. 6, I knocked it on the green in two about 20 feet away and 2-putted.

Made bogey at 8 of the probably didn't hit enough club. I hit 4-iron and came up short.

Hit a beautiful drive and a nice 8-iron at nine and made about a 7-footer for birdie.

11, we talked about it, buried in the bunker; didn't really have much of a shot.

Then the 3-putt at 15 was bad. I was behind the hole, and, I don't know, I guess I should have been a little bit more careful. I didn't realize it was quite that fast and I 3-putted.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you.

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