CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 25, 2003

Tom Watson

THE MODERATOR: Every one in your group at 204. A couple of general thoughts on the round.

TOM WATSON: I didn't play nearly as the well today as the did the first two days. I didn't drive the ball particularly well, but I scrambled pretty well and the short game was good, because it kept me within shooting distance of Jim and I'm still in the game. It was a scrambling day for me rather than an easy day of golf. That's just the way it is sometimes. I didn't feel all that awful with my golf swing, just three or four swings got away from me today. My driver was not right on where I needed to put it on several holes and I struggled because of that, not putting the ball in play. If you drive the ball well in the golf course you're going shoot low, if you don't, you're going to struggle, like I did today.

I birdied the third hole. I hit a pitching wedge in there about ten feet and made the putt.

Bogeyed the sixth hole, put it in the left rough and hit it over the green, chipped back to two strong about 15 feet, 2-putted for bogey.

I got it up and drown on No. 7. I was in a bad place, it was left in the hay, hit it off the downslope and made a ten-footer to save par there.

No. 8, I put it in the rough again off the tee put it right rough, put a 7-iron, unlike the first round where I put the 7-iron in the left rough and hit a sand wedge two feet for birdie.

No. 9, I hit a driver and the second shot hit the pin and rolled about 12 feet left of the hole, and I made that putt for a birdie. I hit a sand wedge.

Any struggles here? At 11, I left it short 30 feet.

12, I got it up and down over the green. That was a good up-and-down, again in the hay on the downslope, and hit a nice, little shot there that went about three feet from the hole to save par there.

15, I hit a bad drive to the right. I had a pretty good shot at it but I failed to make the ball move left to right. I hit it in the hay to the left of the green and left it about 15 feet short, 20 feet short, and 2-putted for bogey.

16, I hit in the right rough, knocked it off an awkward lie but a pretty good lie, and I knocked just straight out of the green and pitched it two feet from the hole and made a beautiful pitch there for a birdie with a sand wedge.

17, knocked it over the green and used a sand wedge to about three feet make the putt.

18, I hit a three-footer. I made a lot of three-footers to save par today. A lot of three-footers, so all in all, it was a -- I had to say it was a pretty good round considering the way I hit the ball. 2-under par the way hit it, I pleased with that. On the other side of the coin, I'm not pleased with the way I hit the ball because I'm going to have hit the ball better than that tomorrow to have a chance to beat Thorpey.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go through some questions.

Q. There were a couple of 66s out there today, but it seems like everybody, nobody really made a move today. Hale had a 66 but among the leaders, nobody made a move like they did the first couple of days. Any particular reason for that?

TOM WATSON: I don't know. Obviously you have to put the ball in the fairway. The greens were a little bit firmer today than they were the first two days. I felt the ball bounced a little bit more. It's an unfamiliar golf course. It would -- we played five or six tournaments and if we had a day like today there were be more scores in the 60s like you're talking about.

If you look at it, there hadn't been too many scores under 67, put it that way. How many have there been? We had the 63, I had a 66, 66 by Jenkins, and I was the low scorer yesterday with 66, so the 66s is a heck of a good score.

Q. Would you have thought shooting 70 today that you would hold your spot?

TOM WATSON: Honestly no. I thought I would lose ground shooting 70 today. Fortunately we all made some mistakes and we all kind of fiddled around there and nobody got off and running.

Q. Two par 3s on the back I think you hit long off the tee, 14 and 17.

TOM WATSON: 14, I hit long. I hit a good shot at 14 but I didn't hit it hard enough.

Q. 12, the iron was short, maybe something with the iron where you weren't quite dialed in?

TOM WATSON: No, actually 12, I hit a flyer from the right rough and hit it over. Again that's a judgment shot there. I didn't judge very well.

I didn't have the touch today. Fiddled around. How do you spell that? I don't know spellcheck. There you go. That's all we did today. A couple of 66s and people are in the tournament, but it's still Jim's tournament to win or lose, not a question. He seems like he has a pretty good command of his long game, and that's the critical thing. He he's got to put the ball in the fairway, drive it straight.

Q. Tom, you've played in the five senior majors and the four regular majors, does this tournament feel as taxing as those or does this have a different feel?

TOM WATSON: It does have a different feel because this is a limited field. When you play in a limited field sometimes you get a break because maybe the chances of you having to shoot your lowest score in a limited field are not as good as when you have a full field. When you have a full field, you've got to be on because there are going to be some people out there who are going to make the move every day.

As you said today, a couple of guys made a move today. The leaders didn't make a move, and we didn't lose any ground. If we had a full field, we probably would have lost some ground.

Q. We talked yesterday about this being a stare-down contest. Do you like the situation of having to play with the guys --

TOM WATSON: Sure.

Q. Did it go like you wanted to today?

TOM WATSON: I don't want to have stare down Thorpey (laughter). I guarantee. I will not try to stare him down. I will look the other way. Let my clubs do the staring.

End of FastScripts.