VALERO TEXAS OPEN

September 28, 2002

Garrett Willis

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Garrett, thank you for joining us. Third round 66 puts you in a three-way tie with Loren, Roberts and Frank Lickliter. Talk about your round today. A lot of birdies and a couple of bogeys, but all in all you've put yourself in great position for tomorrow.

GARRETT WILLIS: Once again, I got off to a great start. Birdieing the second hole, I hit it in there about three or four feet, and made it pretty easy, but then I slipped up and missed about a 4- or 5-footer on the next hole for par, which caught me by surprise because I've been putting pretty well. My game is in good shape. I'm working on my golf swing. I'm getting more comfortable the last couple of rounds with my golf swing. If things continue to go the way they have the last two rounds, I felt pretty confident going into tomorrow's round.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 70 putts through three rounds. Have you been hitting it close or great putting or a combination of both?

GARRETT WILLIS: I either hit it close or miss the green on the fringe and get it up and down. It's a little misleading, but it's something I'd like to continue -- I don't know what it is for the Tour record for the least amount of putts, but whatever it is I'd like to give it a pretty good run tomorrow. The way I've been putting, I had eight birdies yesterday and an eagle and eight birdies today. I left some putts out there this afternoon. Coming down the stretch I didn't give myself a great opportunity to make par on 17 and 18, but -- I missed two putts today inside of 5 feet that I thought I wouldn't normally miss, but that's golf. I'm just happy to be in this position.

Q. After the great round yesterday, did you come out today thinking I've got momentum I have to keep it up, or do you come out thinking today is a new day and what I did yesterday...

GARRETT WILLIS: Today doesn't have any relevance. Yesterday doesn't have any relevance on today, other than the fact I've put myself in contention. Whether I shot 61 yesterday or 71, I'm still in contention in a golf tournament.

All I can do is go out there and take care of each hole. That's what my attitude was today. I just wanted to go out there, play smart and play low stress golf. I did that for about sixteen holes.

Q. Tell me about 18, your thoughts on the second shot.

GARRETT WILLIS: It was just poor thinking, kind of what I've done all year. I had 153 yards to the pin. I only had four or five yards on the top shelf where the pin was. I thought the wind was blowing right to left. It was a little uphill, but after hitting a 6-iron so far on 17, I hit it 200 yards, which I normally hit it 180 yards, I thought take it right at the pin, hit an aggressive nine right at it, it would draw right at it and I had plenty of club. I had 160 yards to the back of the green. Hindsight being 20/20, I'd like to go back and hit an 8-iron from the exact distance. If the shot came out perfect, I would have a reasonable putt. If I hit it too far, worst case I have got a 20-footer or maybe something in the fringe. It was just a pin I shouldn't have been going at, and I gave myself too small of a margin to hit a good shot and I just didn't pull it off.

Q. You had your struggles this year coming into the tournament: Eleven cuts, withdrew from five tournaments. What's been the overriding problem for you this year?

GARRETT WILLIS: Just frustration. I've worked really hard on my game and put everything into it. With the diet and personal training and practice regimen, it's just been real frustrating putting that much time and effort into it and getting so little out of it.

This week, I've made some minor swing changes. The first round, I hit it pretty crappy and hit four greens and somehow got a round of 71 because I putted so well. I think the big key this week is the fact I'm putting well, which is carrying over to the rest of my game. My buddy who is caddying for me, Brennan, we worked on my golf swing Monday and after the round yesterday, working on my shoulder turn. That's allowed me to keep the ball in play. You can keep the ball in play all week long, but if you don't make any putts it really doesn't matter. Making eight birdies and an eagle yesterday and eight birdies today, it's pretty good.

Q. What about those withdrawals what happened?

GARRETT WILLIS: I considered myself suffering from mental anguish. (Laughter) I wasn't doing myself any good or my playing partners any good to come back and finish my round when I was so far out of it and so mentally fatigued. It just seemed to be in my best interest to go ahead and withdrawal, try to clear my head than to fight through the negativity and the bad thoughts I was having out there on the golf course.

Q. Do you think sometimes people focus on the withdrawals and kind of the temper and that stuff, and overlook your overall talent? Is that something you have to work on or how do you see that whole situation?

GARRETT WILLIS: I look at my overall talent. Whatever I've done in the past, some things I'm not proud of, but I'm not going to dwell on that. My goal is to come out here and play as well as possible and keep my job. If I'm putting myself in the position where I'm not going to get better, I'm going to try to remove myself from that position. It might not be the most professional way of doing things, but I'm 28 years old, it's my second year on Tour. I'm learning as I go. I'd like to be able to be in a frame of mind where I can gut out those first round 75, 76s and shoot one or two under and still make the cut, but just to be able to gut it out and handle it immediately.

Q. You alluded to things you're not proud of. Can you cite an example?

GARRETT WILLIS: Shooting 80 the first round and not coming back to finish, it's probably not the most professional thing to do. I have a great opportunity to play out here. I would hate for this to pass me by, two or three years down the road and the fact that I had 20 withdrawals or something. Something I'd like to put a stop to, but the maturity process is going to allow me to make better decisions.

Q. Did it in a way shock you or slap you in the face where when you read the Sport Illustrated article when guys went on the record saying, I think, and I don't have the player, but said that you're the most immature guy they've seen. Did that shock you that you would see that in print?

GARRETT WILLIS: It was the most least likely to play with. And actually I tied with Scott Hoch. So I don't own that right myself. Any time you come on a new scene, and I have a lot of confidence, I'm very outgoing. I'm kind of loud. I enjoy myself on the practice range and on the putting green. Any time you're in a new surrounding and you stick out like a sore thumb, it's going to rub people the wrong way.

This tour we live in a small town of 400. It's like a traveling circus out here. Everybody has a microscope on you. When you have a new guy coming in, they're going to be as critical on them as someone that's been out here for 20 years. I can probably see myself 20 -- if I've been out here 10, 20 years, and I see somebody acting the way I did, I may not ostracize a person for doing the things I did, I would maybe take them under my arm and say you could do this a little better, do that a little better. It's a dog-eat-dog world. This Tour is a tough life and people try to do whatever they can to get one ups on you. I hate the fact that I was the recipient of that, but I learned from it, I'm just going to move on.

Q. Were you misunderstood, do you think?

GARRETT WILLIS: Who is understood? That's pretty bleak terminology. I mean, I understand myself. My friends understand me. My wife understands myself. My relationship with the Lord, he understands me. But the people that don't know me, they probably misunderstand me, but there are a lot of people that I don't know that I might judge by seeing them on the side of the road and by one single act.

Q. Yesterday we documented your caddie, Brennan's, woods out of your bag on 7. Did anything like that happen today? Did you guys have any interaction like that?

GARRETT WILLIS: After I missed that putt on No. 4, after I made a bogey on 4, I said if I don't birdie the next two holes, I'm hitting a driver on 7. He said, "no, you're not." I can make birdie no problem. So I birdied the next hole, actually two holes later. I said, "Now I have one in the bank, I can definitely go for it." He said, "Let's not spend it. Let's keep it in the bank." I ended up laying up and making birdie again today. I actually holed it from the fairway. After we walked off the fairway, I said, "Can you believe anybody would use a driver on this hole?"

Q. How do you feel about fighting for your spot pretty much on the tour, or this tournament?

GARRETT WILLIS: I'm in a pretty fortunate position since I won last year. I have a free pass going into next year. It's a good learning experience for me, maybe I'm in this position next year where this tournament -- it's obviously important, but I don't have the pressure of trying to finish in the Top 25. I'm going out and playing as well as I possibly can play.

Q. How do you feel about tomorrow? Does it look like it's pretty wide open? It would appear that way with 30-some players within a half a dozen shots?

GARRETT WILLIS: You never know on this Tour. There can be a guy ten shots back and shoots a 61 like I did. You never know out here. I'm putting pretty well and if I can just keep giving myself opportunities and play smart, I'm going to give myself a chance to compete at the end.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you, very much.

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