VALERO TEXAS OPEN

September 25, 2003

Cameron Beckman

CAMERON BECKMAN: I guess.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: I'm sure it was a lot of fun playing here close to home.

CAMERON BECKMAN: It is.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Make a couple of comments and we'll take some questions.

CAMERON BECKMAN: About playing at home? I played well last week. I got a little confidence coming in. I haven't played well here in the past. The drive today was to make sure I played good. And actually, I had to withdraw from the pro am yesterday and didn't think I was going to play today. My back and neck are not feeling good. I never chipped today. I never missed one green. I got it loosened up pretty good before I played. I can only turn that far with my neck. So I'm out there looking like an idiot. I'm thrilled to death with how I played.

Q. There's a lot of low scores being posted out there. Can you talk about how accommodating the course is today?

CAMERON BECKMAN: If you're hitting a lot of fairways, you're going to have short irons into the holes. If you let the guys throw it at the pin, there's going to be a lot of birdies. There was no wind. We played pretty easy for an afternoon round. That's for sure.

Q. Do you play here enough to have this the home course advantage?

CAMERON BECKMAN: Before I got on Tour, I probably played here 500 times. I was able to practice and play here. I have played here a bunch. I play Oak Hills now. I would definitely say I have the home course advantage.

Q. What got your round going today? When you first walked out here and realized, well, you've got to get it loosened up?

CAMERON BECKMAN: I worked with my trainer. He got me feeling good and it felt good on the range. I didn't have any expectations and just hit the ball awesome. It was just a strange thing. I don't know if I'm more relaxed now, having got my card last week, but I felt really good out there, and I felt I was going to birdie every hole.

Q. Before you teed off, two guys fired 29s. Did you pay attention to that? Do you pay attention and say this course is there for the taking?

CAMERON BECKMAN: I had a good idea the scores would be low. Like I said, as soft as it is, these guys are good players, obviously, and the greens are good enough, you can make a lot of putts. It just equals good scores.

Q. What will you do to get your neck and back in shape before tomorrow's rounds?

CAMERON BECKMAN: I'll get it stretched right now and spend an hour at least getting it ready in the morning. I'll be okay, I think. It didn't affect me that much today. I'm actually feeling like I'm swinging smoother and hitting it nice. It might be good. I don't know. I only have kind of one gear. I can't really hit it any further than I'm supposed to.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Let's go through your seven birdies.

CAMERON BECKMAN: Sure. I birdied No. 2 from about 15 feet.

I actually hit it close on 4 and 5 and missed those.

And 7, inside of 10 feet. Real nice chances.

And I birdied 8 from about 15 feet.

Birdied 11 from about 15.

12, I hit it from the bunker about 5 feet.

And then I chipped up on 14, probably six, seven feet, made that.

15, I hit it to about 10 feet.

Missed a nice shot on 16.

And then I hit it a foot on the last hole.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: A lot of opportunities.

CAMERON BECKMAN: It could have been a really nice round today. It was still good, but I had some chances, just never had to chip. I putted from the fringe.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You mentioned chipping. Is that something that bothers your neck? You said you didn't have to chip.

CAMERON BECKMAN: It's surprising, I didn't miss any greens, with the way I feel. But I did it last week, I hardly chipped playing well last week, too. I'm just hitting it nice.

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