WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 8, 2003

Charles Howell III

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Charles, thanks for joining us, 2-under 70 in the first round of the Wachovia Championship. If we could get some opening comments from you, no bogeys and two birdies. Pretty solid round for you.

CHARLES HOWELL III: Well, first off, the golf course, could you have a U.S. Open here tomorrow. The golf course is fantastic. It's definitely the toughest PGA TOUR golf course I've played outside of a major. It's fantastic. Every hole is tough. They have got some birdie holes out there, but, yeah, it's a heck of a golf course.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: While it's drying out right now, maybe talk about the conditions. We had a ton of rain earlier in the week. How effective is the golf course?

CHARLES HOWELL III: With the rain, it's probably quite good because it's got the rough up. If it were dry, it would not have been bad at all. But the rough is up a bit. It's a little damp in the mornings. The greens are starting to dry out a bit. The fairways are still a bit soft this morning, but I doubt they will be soft much longer. It played a little damp this morning but other than that, not a bit, no.

Q. Did you get everything out of today that you wanted? Did you play the way you hoped to play?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Well, my main goal was just to make a bunch of pars. I thought going into today that par would be a heck of a score. You know, a lot of times you think that and it proves otherwise. But it's showing so far that par is a good score. You know, obviously, you can always -- left a shot or two out there, but I played well today. I'm very pleased with 2-under today.

Q. What's most important thing on this golf course, keeping it in the fairway or being on the right side of the hole?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Driving it off the tees, no doubt about it, most important. Because if you drive it well, you can take advantage of a few holes. For instance, hitting driver on 9, you can hit it way down there; driver on 11. Yeah, you've got to drive the ball in the fairway. That's the key to this golf course. I knocked it on three of the par 5s in two today. With doing that, obviously if you're not in the fairway, you can't.

Q. How tough were the greens today, and now with a round under your belt, will you approach tomorrow any differently?

CHARLES HOWELL III: The greens surprisingly were more slow than I thought they would be, and I think that was from the moisture but I don't think they will be slow any longer after the winds and sun gets on them.

Tomorrow I will do the same thing. I still say driving the ball in the fairways is the most important thing here. If you can do that around this course for four days, you'll be just fine come Sunday.

Q. David Toms was just saying 20-under is not going to win. Do you think the scores will be similar today to Sunday's winning score?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yeah, I can see the winner being 10- or 12-under, no doubt about it. It won't be 20-under, I don't think, but of course I didn't think the cut last week would be 5-under.

No, this golf course is just fantastic. It rewards good shots, but it makes you walk off the green making a par and you actually feel good about yourself.

Yeah, I seriously doubt that 20-under par -- it will win the golf tournament, but whether somebody will shoot that, I don't know.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we can go over your score card.

CHARLES HOWELL III: The 6th hole, the little short par 4 I hit 2-iron there to about 15 feet and 2-putted and made par there.

I birdied the 7th hole. Hit driver and two iron on the green, 2-putt birdie.

I birdied the 15th hole. I hit a driver and a 3-wood in the left green-side bunker made birdie there.

I 3-putted the fifth hole for par. Drove it through that green and then 3-putted for par.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: How much of an adjustment is it from playing English Turn last week where 21-under gets you in a playoff where 10-under par might win this week? Is that a mental challenge or do you like the change?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I used to play golf courses like this all the time, to be quite honest. It's nothing against an English Turn or a golf course like that, but the golf course like an English Turn has almost got outgrown a bit. I say that hitting driver, 9-iron to the 11th hole which a par 5 two days; and I hit driver, pitching wedge at 15, which is another par 5 at English Turn. This golf course, there is no worrying about technology outgrowing it. This one's safe.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Any particular great par saves out there that kind of kept the round going?

CHARLES HOWELL III: I made a good up-and-down for par on the fourth hole. I drove it about a yard into the left rough, hit it in the green-side bunker got up-and-down there. Then I parred, got up-and-down on the last. I hit driver, 8-iron on 18 into the right green-side bunker and got up-and-down there.

Q. Have you been happy with your game since the playoff at the Nissan? Is there anything that you are working on now?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Actually, no. I haven't been very happy with it, no. I played okay at THE PLAYERS Championship and I played good at the Masters, apart from my third round. I haven't been that pleased and I worked extremely hard on it. I took the week of Houston, I spent about eight and a half hours a day at the golf course. I missed the cut at Hilton Head, so eight straight days just working on it.

Yeah, I wasn't pleased with the way I was playing, and last week at English Turn I shot 8-under and it was better. Yeah, I'm headed in the right direction. I've spent the time working on it and all that, but yeah I'm finally starting to get more pleased with it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Charles, thank you very much.

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