WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 5, 2003

Tim Herron

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tim Herron, thanks for joining us. Tough finish for you but you played well all week. Finished under par on a very difficult golf course. Talk about the day today, obviously a frustrating finish but it doesn't over shadow how well you played this week.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I finished horribly today. It felt like I had a chance to win. The putt up the hill on 14, I watched K. J. knock it by like 15 feet, so I'm thinking it's uphill-downhill. I hit a good second putt and that was my second three-putt of the day. I started off with three-putt and I kind of got things going and told myself I'm putting well. You know, I hung in there, I hit a really good shot on 16 out of the bunker that kicked down into the bunker, and other than that, it was on the green.

Probably the most disappointing part of the day was probably on 15. I had it up the hill and I tried to go for that putt because I knew I was kind of right there, had a chance to win, and I knew I probably didn't have too many other birdie opportunities and I kind of went for that putt and three-putted that hole. I had four three-putts on the back, which is disappointing because I feel like I've been putting pretty well.

Like I said, the greens get a little crusty and you're kind of playing for the heel prints. You don't know if it's going to bobble right or left, so you just set up and hopefully it's going to bobble the right way, especially on the downhill putts.

Q. Chasing Tiger is not an easy thing to do in the final round, but you made a move, a couple other players made a move and then he would make a move. Talk about that.

TIM HERRON: He was behind me. I couldn't really see his move, but I know I had to keep making some birdies and somewhat play aggressive on 17. Then I saw he went to -- after I birdied 17, I figured if you could birdie 18 and get to 6 I had a chance. He actually did birdie 17. I hit almost a really good drive on 18 and kind of overhooked it a little bit and took one hop into the left bunker and I saw it kicking around the bunker. Out of the left rough I probably wouldn't have had much shot at that point.

Q. Talk about walking off the green at 12 you were within 1. You had a big score board there to show you that in the fairway. Did you notice that and what were you thinking at that point about your chances?

TIM HERRON: Well, I knew I was getting pretty close. I had problems with the speed of the greens today. You know, I played conservative on the next par 3. I knew that was kind of a sucker pin. I did want to hit a 9-iron, one-hop it up on top and have a 15-footer. I hit a pretty good shot and it stayed down below and I had a good two-putt there.

I knew 14, if I still hung in there, I had a good chance. I hit a good shot on 15 and three-putted straight up the hill. So that was pretty disappointing.

Q. We're watching from television that late in the round, and it seemed like from that vantage point you were relatively frustrated with what was going on and it looked like you never gained control over the last couple holes. Is that a fair assessment?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, K. J. Choi had a ruling, we're getting timed, there was a lot of people in the fairway. I was getting a little flustered. That's kind of what I do. That's kind of how I release. When I get up to a shot, I try to commit to it.

Probably the shot I didn't commit to the most was probably 16 tee because that sets up perfect for me. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't hit it through the left side because I generally line up pretty far left there and hit a good cut, and I kind of started it down the middle of the fairway and cut it. I actually was in the bunker, and it was like, all right, there wasn't a big lip, but then I was right up against the lip. I hit a great 7-iron, got it up over the lip and one-hopped back into the bunker, and that bunker shot you can't even see the pin from in front of the green.

Q. The last ten guys off the tee, only one guy broke par. Does that surprise you or was the course playing that tough?

TIM HERRON: No, it doesn't surprise me. Like I said before, the greens change compared to -- when it turns like 1:00, for some reason they turn like brown, and it gets kind of crusty and the ball is really wobbly. Yesterday was the scoring day because everyone teed off at the same time and the greens were pretty green.

Q. Talk about the stretch of 14, 15, 16, been playing tough all week, and you just didn't get it going on that.

TIM HERRON: Well, I hit a 3-wood on 14, drove it in the fairway. I just knew that pin was a really tough pin, hit a great shot, and I'm trying to just hit it in the bowl there and for some reason it moved off to the right. I kind of had a restricted putting stroke and hit a decent putt up the hill and left it six feet short and didn't make it. I hit a pretty good putt, too.

Q. Seems like you've done enough this year to -- you've done everything but win this year. Could you assess the season to this point, how you would look at it?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I guess. You know, I guess tomorrow I'll probably learn from this. Right now I'm too disappointed and too angry to really think about it. But it's a good year. You know, when I was playing poorly, you know, I would have loved to be in this position, so I've got to remember that I put myself into this position and played -- I guess I'll just go out next year and play hard.

Q. Talk about Friday, a lot of people were complaining about the greens being too fast, too hard. You touched on them getting real crusty in the afternoon. Do you think that they've gotten better as the week has gone on and did you enjoy the course more?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I think they maintained them pretty well. They hand-watered them every night or something, but I knew from actually -- it happened even at the practice rounds because I played in the afternoon one day and they were just -- on Friday they were -- on Tuesday they were just as fast as they were today, so they were fast.

Q. Earlier in the week you said that second wasn't really bad out here. At what point will you feel that way after this event?

TIM HERRON: Huh? I don't know. Well, yeah, I'm not playing for second, though. I got myself in position to win, and I don't know if I even got the lead or what, I don't know, but --

Q. You were within one a couple different times.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I mean, it felt like I got a bad break. I guess I can always blame it on someone else. I don't know what I would have done, but being timed out there and kind of getting out of the routine and rushing, whatever, because we were up with the group. It took us 10, 15 minutes, and now we're out of position for TV.

Q. Where did you start getting timed?

TIM HERRON: No. 10.

Q. Did they ever tell you you were okay?

TIM HERRON: No, they said they were going to start timing you on 11, would you mind helping us out and speeding it up. By 13 we were getting timed, which was fine because I understand that you've got to keep -- for the TV and all that, I understand that. That's something that I have to deal with and learn to deal with.

Q. Did you feel you were out of position?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, we were, because we had to wait for the rules officials to make a ruling for K. J. Choi. It wasn't really our fault. We were in position until that happened.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tim Herron, thank you.

End of FastScripts.