VALERO TEXAS OPEN

September 27, 2002

Garrett Willis

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Garrett Willis, thank you for joining us. Second round 61 puts you at eight under for the tournament. Talk about the round. Obviously it was a pretty magical round for you today.

GARRETT WILLIS: It's amazing. I just got off to a good start. I pretty much struggled all year with my golf, even though I've played some good rounds. It's been tough for me to keep it together for 18 holes, not to mention 36 holes. I got off to a good start, birdied the first three holes and just took it from there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I saw you working on the range last night, and I'm sure you do that in every tournament following your round. Anything particular that you found that clicked or anything in particular that you worked on.

GARRETT WILLIS: To be honest, I really practice that much after my rounds. I'm usually so disgusted with how I played the first round, I just kind of get out of there and leave it at the course and go relax.

Yesterday was probably one of the worst ball-striking rounds I've had out here on Tour. I only hit four greens yesterday. I drove the ball in play, but just kind of skanked it round, didn't hit it very solid. I've got my buddy from college, Brennan Webb, who plays on the Canadian Tour, he just finished with his season, and he came out and caddied for me. And he noticed some things in my golf swing that I wasn't doing when I was swinging well, because actually I played well in the pro-am, as well. I made six birdies in the pro-am and a couple of bogies. He noticed I wasn't making a very big turn. So we got on the range -- I was really short on the golf course, leaving everything out to the right, just kind of skanking it around, and I putted my butt off. I think I counted up 22 putts the first round and I hit only four greens.

Out of those four greens, I made two birdies on one, and chipped in for eagle on another, and two-putted the others. So the four greens I hit, and I was 1.00 for greens in regulation in the first round. But the work I put in on the range last night, it really paid off because it was real frustrating trying to get a bigger turn and get comfortable with my golf swing after making such a short shoulder turn. I was probably turning my shoulders 60, 70 degrees and ideally you want to get to 90. Anything past 90 is a bonus. It seemed to pay off today.

Q. You talked that you like to play aggressive a lot of the time. Where do you choose when to play aggressive and not to play aggressive here?

GARRETT WILLIS: I really never choose to not play aggressive, to be honest. I pretty much pedal to the metal. I go to broke just about on every shot. That's where I've really struggled with my game this year, trying to find the areas to pick and choose when to go for it and when to not. Pretty much today, I was hitting the ball a little bit better, so I chose to play some conservative shots.

Like No. 7, a perfect example. Last year and earlier this year, I would hit driver on that hole every day. The funny thing is yesterday, I hit driver right of the concrete wall, in the hazard, and that pin was front right and I dropped it. It went back in the hazard. I dropped it again, so I got to place it. I hit a shot over the trees, over the stone wall, to a tough pin, to about three or four feet, it was just ridiculous how good of a shot that was. I wish I had it on tape, because nobody would probably believe me unless you saw it.

For example, I made par yesterday , but I just played too risky of a shot, and that's what I'm trying to do, is try to find a little more high percentage shot.

Q. When you're in the middle of a round like you had today, do you think how well you're playing, or do you not realize it until after you're through?

GARRETT WILLIS: I do realize how well I'm playing, especially when I struggled to make so many cuts this year. Even though this is my fifth in a row, this is the most I've ever made in my career, the Buy.Com or this Tour. It's tough to stay in the moment, but I was swinging at it good. When I got over my shots, Brennan and I really worked on getting the right yardage and playing to the right spots, and it really paid off for me.

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