JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 26, 2002

Tim Petrovic

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Tim Petrovic. 65 today which ties his low round of the season which he also done at the first round of FedEx where he finished second place, his best career finish on the Tour.

Tim tied the back nine course record with his 30 today. Let's go ahead through the round, if we could, first starting with your birdie on No. 2.

TIM PETROVIC: I hit a really good tee shot on No. 2 and just bombed it over the bunker and I had about 240 I think to the hole or 245. I hit a 2-iron about 20 feet, an easy 2-putt birdie. Nothing much happened after that on the front. I think I was hitting fairways and just wasn't -- my speed was off on the front nine with my putts and I just wasn't getting them there. They were just breaking off. I made a little adjustment on the backside and started to be a little bit more aggressive. Some putts started to go in.

TODD BUDNICK: Bogey on 7.

TIM PETROVIC: Just made a terrible swing. My glasses were fogging up a little bit, and it was just a concentration thing. I just took a 6-iron and just hit it dead right, right of the green, had no chance of getting up-and-down. Made a good 4 there. That was really the only questionable swing I made all day, just a concentration thing.

TODD BUDNICK: We started all right on 10, birdie.

TIM PETROVIC: 10 I could have gone for. I really hit a long tee shot. I decided to lay up. It's a really small target. That green is really not designed to accept a 3-wood or a 2-iron. It's more of a sand wedge green. I laid it up again. Hit a pretty good sand wedge. Got a bad break, spun off to the right. I left myself about 20 feet. I made that one. That kind of got me going.

12, I hit a great -- I cut a high 5-iron in there about, I don't know, twelve feet left of the hole and just tried to be aggressive with the putt and I buried it. Instead of it breaking off, it stayed in the middle of the hole.

14, I hit a 3-wood down to the left, left me a blind shot, bunker on the left, I couldn't really see. I played a conservative shot there. The only place you don't want to hit it there is over. I left it about 25 feet short. I charted that putt. I looked in my book. I have the putt right in the book so didn't have to line it up. I just hit, it went in. So that was a little bit of a bonus there.

Then on 16 I hit a pretty good 8-iron in there about 15 feet right of the hole. Just put good speed on it, stayed in, just stayed up and went left center of the hole. So that at this point, it was really the speed of my putts was pretty good, so I was pretty confident that I could make it.

Eagle on 17. I hit a 3-wood; driver yesterday, hit it through the fairway. I wanted to keep it in the fairway because I know if I could get it to the green without a problem. Took a took real aggressive (inaudible) off the tee took it over the trees in the left. I think I had 250 yards. I took a 2-iron, kind of ran it up there, landed it just short, ran up to the right. Had about probably a 40-footer. I actually had that putt in my book also. I looked at them, saw it. I said this goes a little left. It sounds crazy but that's how simple it is. It just goes a little left and I hit it up there, put some good speed on it and it just went right in the middle. So then I just hit a terrible tee shot on 18. Missed the 9th fairway left yesterday with a driver. I said okay, I will hit a 3-wood today. I hit -- I hit it right. But I got a good break. It hit a tree and kicked back in the fairway. But it left me this just terrifically, I would say, tough shot. I think I had 215 yards. I had to kind of hit it low and cut it under that tree, that overhang, because I was so far back. The water is right there. I told my caddie I am go to go have to aim this at the pin because I am going to make sure we miss that tree. I wasn't really concerned about the water. I was more concerned about hitting the tree. I probably should have been concerned about the water but I wasn't. I missed the water I think by about five feet, landed just in front, rolled up about 25, 30 feet.

Q. When you look at putts on Tuesdays or maybe Wednesdays, do you go around the greens?

TIM PETROVIC: I do do it Wednesday. I go -- I do it Tuesday right now, I do probably nine holes on Tuesday and then Wednesday I go in the morning right before the pro-am goes off about 6:30 because this year -- this is my first year so all the courses are brand new. I think it real important that I learn the greens, get comfortable with the greens. Just kind of know which way the balls are going on different parts of the greens. It helps me become more familiar with the golf course in that respect. But that's something I have been doing and I didn't do it earlier in the year. I started doing it probably second half of the year and I think it is helping.

Q. You are playing or just go out to the greens?

TIM PETROVIC: I am playing. I will putt three balls to each corner of the green or each side of the green where I think the pins are going to be just to get a general idea how fast the putts are and which way they roll. I basically draw some arrows in my book. Pretty general, but it really -- it helps. It sounds real simple and it is but it really helps me a lot.

Q. Two long ones you made you said had you charted, any break to them at all?

TIM PETROVIC: They were both right-to-left putts, yeah. Sometimes when you actually look down I can actually remember putting the ball because I look down I see the arrow, I can actually remember rolling the ball up there. You can remember how much it went. They were probably both about 1 and a half foot breakers, two-foot breakers. Then it's just a matter of putting the right speed on it.

Q. Played British?

TIM PETROVIC: Yes, I did. I had a great time over there. I missed the cut by a couple of shots. I actually -- I kind of did something not kind of stupid -- I decided I was going to be a hero and took my luggage out of the car dragged it up to the second floor of my apartment, and that kind of messed my thumb up on my left hand, really sore up 'til Thursday. I really couldn't get any leverage and that's like the worst finger to get hurt if you're a right-handed golfer because the club sits right on it. I didn't even play Tuesday or Wednesday just to rest it. It was better Thursday, Friday was a little better, but I was still hit hitting everything to the right. On that course, you are just -- I shot a couple of 73s. I hung in there, missed the cut by a couple shots. The hand is better now not and not an issue at all now. The golf course is great. Experience you can't -- I mean you can't buy that kind of experience just to go there for the first time and play it your first year on Tour is a big thing for me.

Q. You packed heavy then; you had a lot of stuff?

TIM PETROVIC: Well, not really. We had left the kids at home this time so it was just my wife and myself. We only had 4 bags. If we had more bags probably wouldn't have been able to play because I probably would have broke a couple of fingers.

Q. How were you exempt for that tournament; how did you get in?

TIM PETROVIC: I think they keep track of money after the U.S. Open through the Western.

TODD BUDNICK: It's actually is THE PLAYERS Championship plus the 5 events leading ---

TIM PETROVIC: Top 7 I was 4th on that money list following the Open. And then they took, I think the top 8 at the Western. They took me from the money list. I didn't -- even though when I finished the FedEx that I got into the British I was so focused on trying to win the tournament I had no idea. They told me afterwards I think you just got in the British. I am like, okay, great.

Q. How close did you come in FedEx?

TIM PETROVIC: I didn't make any bogeys. I just failed to make one. I needed one more birdie somewhere, and I gave myself a putt on 18 probably about 30 feet missed it probably about and inch to the left.

TODD BUDNICK: That's when Len Mattiace came from 7 back.

TIM PETROVIC: I guess he birdied 17. So I mean, if you are going to birdie 17, par 18 you are probably -- won the tournament. He didn't -- nobody handed it to him. He won it. He won it. If you are going to birdie 17, you deserve to win. That was probably the hardest hole to birdie that day.

Q. This course playing pretty, I don't want to say easy, but is it out there for a lot of birdies?

TIM PETROVIC: The reason the scores are so low because the fairways are rolling, they are hard and fast and the greens are soft. You combine those two and not having really a lot of rough, you are going to get some low scores. These guys are reaching, I think you are reaching the par 5s, except for 10, most guys are probably going to go for that green. But it's pretty benign out there right now because just the way the greens are. The ball I am holding 2-irons, so...

Q. I wonder if they don't want to push them maybe the greens because they are fairly young --

TIM PETROVIC: I am not a greenskeeper, but well the first half of the year the greens other than Pebble, other than the AT&T I thought the greens have been really firm. Actually really on the firm side. I remember hitting sand wedges and bouncing them over the greens that's how hard they were.

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