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BELLSOUTH CLASSIC

March 30, 2006

David Howell

DULUTH, GEORGIA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: David Howell, thank you for joining us after a first round 67 here at the BellSouth Classic at TPC Sugarloaf. If we could start with some opening comments on a good start to the week for you.

DAVID HOWELL: Yeah, played well. Obviously bitter end there bogeying the last from the middle of the fairway, the wind a lot more from the left than we judged. Didn't hit that bad a shot, so that made it all the more frustrating, really.

Yeah, very pleased and in good position.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Overall impressions of the golf course this week?

DAVID HOWELL: The golf course is great. I think I've read a little bit in the papers saying there was going to be a warmer forecast than there is. The greens weren't too quick here today but maybe they'll get a little bit quicker on the weekend.

There's a lot of similarities to Augusta around the greens, and I'm pleased to be here.

Q. Just comment about playing right before The Masters.

DAVID HOWELL: Originally I wasn't going to play. I was going to play Hilton Head after The Masters and then I made the switch about five weeks ago.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID HOWELL: I'm playing in China the week after Hilton Head. I had a week off, and China fit in there.

Q. Very encouraging, also looking into next week.

DAVID HOWELL: Yeah, I'm playing well. I played three nice rounds last week and had a freak day on Saturday. Yeah, I played nicely at Doral and the first events I played this year, played some nice golf, shot 5 under there maybe, not sure. I've certainly settled into the year here a lot quicker than I did last year. I feel much more comfortable actually; having my Tour card made a difference to me mentally as far as playing well. I certainly feel like I belong here, and I feel very comfortable this year.

Q. In the buildup to Augusta, your words were it was not your territory.

DAVID HOWELL: Well, I wasn't playing great. I just got off to a slow start over here. That was not having my card, that was just playing hard. But put the two together, playing nicely and being a member, yeah, I feel comfortable here now. I haven't got a lot of experience here in the grand scheme of things, so every time I put a good round on the board and make the cut, it's good for me.

Q. You're becoming more comfortable with your position in the game then?

DAVID HOWELL: Yes, I am. I've been playing well the last two or three years, 13th in the World Ranking position. Finally got a couple of wins last year, which was big for me, and I'm not really intimidated by anybody. I'm better than a few and not as good as a few others. I can stand on the tee with anybody, really, and look them in the eye. It doesn't mean I'm going to beat them, but I don't feel like I'm going to lose to them on the first tee.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID HOWELL: Well, when you're 100th in the world and you're up against the world's best players, you're up against it, when there's that many guys ahead of you really. I'm 13th in the world now, and I was 100th before because I wasn't that good, and that was right.

Q. Can you pinpoint the difference?

DAVID HOWELL: Yeah, I'm better now (laughter). I've just got better, just as simple as that. A lot of hard work, working with my coach. It's all coming together.

Q. The self belief quotient now compared to two years ago.

DAVID HOWELL: Two years ago I believed I was 80th in the world because I was; now I believe I'm 13th because I am. It's as simple as that, really. You can think you're as good as you want to be or you can think you're as bad as you want to be. Your results are how good you are at the end of the day.

Q. Did you believe you were better than you were then?

DAVID HOWELL: Well, you can say what you want, you are just as good as you are. It's that way. Obviously the way I saw my game, I used to get the golf ball around the golf course as well as I possibly could, but I didn't hit it as well as the top four or five players in the world, but I'm getting better. I knew I had lots of potential, but it didn't mean a lot. It's not an easy game to get better at. A lot of people try. It's easy to get worse at. I just keep doing what my coach tells me to do, and keep going on.

Q. Since Augusta National last year, given what happened between then and now, is this about as confident as you've ever been for a major?

DAVID HOWELL: Yeah, actually. Obviously you have to play to go to the Masters obviously, but you don't expect to play well. If there's one thing, you have to keep your mind in the right place and not have any expectations, really. I'm hitting the ball as well as I ever have really and doing everything as well as I ever have. 11th was a great result for me last year. I can do better than that, I'm sure, and I could easily do worse. I'm feeling good and I'm really excited about it.

Q. The last round here turned out to be (inaudible)?

DAVID HOWELL: Well, if you're going to get beat by one of the top players, obviously that's all the better. Yeah, that would be great. The more times you put yourself in pressure situations, the better. You come through one unscathed, a couple months ago in China I was probably in that position that Tiger was in when I beat him in China. You never know what's going to happen.

The next step for me over here is to try to give myself a chance to win a tournament. I haven't been in that position yet. Hopefully I can do that.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could touch on your round, seven birdies and two bogeys. Started on the back side, birdied the first two holes.

DAVID HOWELL: Yeah, hit the fairway on 10 and managed to wedge it to 16 feet at the end.

Beautiful shot on 11 with a 9 iron, nearly holed it, about 135, hit a nice turning 9 iron in there.

15, absolutely no idea what hole that is.

No. 1, okay, that was a sand wedge to a couple of feet.

3, short par 4, pitching wedge to five feet.

Bogey on No. 5, par 4, tee shot fairway bunker, hit a good second shot and then a poor chip left of the green to about 15 feet.

6, par 5, terrible second shot into the pine needles and got lucky with the third shot, hacked at it. Managed to get it to eight feet.

And then I played the next one nicely, 7 iron to 12 feet.

Bogey at the last, just misjudged the wind, pretty nice cut shot to five feet.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: David, thanks

End of FastScripts.

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