TARGET WORLD CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY WILLIAMS

December 7, 2005

Michael Campbell

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Michael, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Target World Challenge Presented By Countrywide. Last time you played here in the United States was at the AmEx in Francisco.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I can't remember the last six months. It's been fun. I've been traveling the world. Shanghai to Japan, Japan to Hawaii for the Grand Slam, Hawaii to Australia, played the Australian PGA, and here.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You logged a couple of miles.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Exactly. It's been a very, very busy last six months, really. It's all part of the package of winning a major. I'm not complaining. Bring it on. It's amazing how 12 months can change your life.

12 months ago I sat down and wrote out a list of my thoughts for the year, 2004, and they're pretty negative things. And I didn't have any goals set in 2004. The last thing I wrote down was, "I've had enough of this game."

It's amazing when you sit down I had a week off somewhere around Christmas and I wrote down these thoughts and I thought, "This is pretty negative." I ripped the piece of paper up and from that point on I changed my attitude or my life really.

People have said to me, What's gone on the last six months or close to a year. Basically, I just changed myself. Every thought I had, every step I took was more positive. And it takes a long time. It's like going to the gym. When you go to the gym it takes six months to see a difference. Same thing with your mind, mentally,.

After missing five cuts in a row at the start of the year, I knew I was close to playing well. So the combination of that and employing my coach full time. 12 months ago I was 140th in the world, whatever it was, and pretty much had enough of golf. But here I am, 12 months later winning two big tournaments. World Match Play and obviously the U.S. Open.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Absolutely, I finished fifth or sixth at the PGA, too. I've had great major appearances. I wasn't good enough to play Augusta this year. I was outside the top 50 in the world so I had no chance.

Besides Tiger, I had the second best record in the majors, the first, the fifth, and the sixth. Every year now my mental mindset really is to get out there and win, rather than try to make the cut now.

Even in America I had this thing about America for a long time now. I tried to play here in 2003 and failed miserably, and didn't make a cut, actually. I played 11 times and didn't make a cut, maybe one.

Once again, it was just one of those mindsets I had. I wasn't good enough to play in America. And now the week of Pinehurst, I thought, This is bullshit, Michael. It's time to play golf. You are good enough to win.

So that whole week of Pinehurst, I just convinced myself I was good enough. It's amazing when you have a positive mindset, which I did that week. Things fell into place so easily.

I recall standing on that 10th tee, it was a par 5 down breeze that day and reachable in two. I thought, Michael, this it in. This is what you've been dreaming about. This is why you hit all goes golf balls on the range and all those hours of practice. You can take two paths here, one is to consider yourself not good enough to win a major, or you can say I am good enough to win this major.

I took obviously the second path. From that point onward, from the 10th tee, every single thought I had was about winning. It's a hard thing to do. There's always something in the back of your mind, a little man or some sort of conscious thing saying, "Michael, you're not good enough." It's a matter of knocking that person out and just focusing on positive affirmations. I was talking to myself every single step to make me feel that I've actually won the tournament already.

So it's been an interesting last six months, about myself, working on my golf game and what works for me. And now I found a great recipe, a formula that works for me now. I have a coach with me full time and that sort of stuff.

Q. Would you change your schedule next year?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, unfortunately I'm only allowed to play 10 events in America next year. It's the rules and regulations of the PGA Tour. I'm a little disappointed that I can only play 10. I wish I could play more. Due to the fact that I completed my 15 events in 2003, so for the next, I think, three or four years after that, you can't play more than 10 events.

For me, I had a meeting with the PGA Tour and we had discussed about maybe playing around 12 events. I want to play Memorial, but I can't play that now because of my restrictions. I feel that my wings have been clipped a little bit. I want to be a global player. I want to play in Europe and Australia and different parts of the world, and obviously America.

I couldn't commit to 15 events next year in America. I wanted to keep the same thing going, play the European Tour and play as many as I can on the U.S. tour. If you think about it, I've got four majors, three world events, Mercedes, the TPC, that's nine, Bay Hill, which is 10. That's it. That's all I can play.

I wanted to play Jack's tournament, Memorial, the week before the U.S. Open, and I wanted to play a few other events, too, but they wouldn't let me. It's a shame.

I want to come over here this is the main stage, the PGA Tour, the main stage of golf, and I want to play over here. I can't commit myself next year. Maybe in 2007, maybe I might join in. But right now, for 2006, I just want to be a global player.

Q. Why didn�t you fill your obligations in 2003?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I played shit. I played shit. I missed every cut. I had no house to go to. I was traveling with the family. Two kids. It made me crazy. So I went back to England, to the European Tour, and I won about a month later the Irish Open. That told me it was time to, you know, pack up my bags and get back to England.

It's cost me, but winning the U.S. Open has obviously opened a door to me, I have a 5 year exemption on the PGA Tour, which I will do in the future, but right now I'm happy with just playing in Europe.

Q. I followed your play at the British in 1995, what happened in the years since then?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I had the wrist injury, basically. I couldn't even hold a pen at all. So basically I just played too much. I played eight weeks in a row in '95 and played around the world in seven different countries.

My last trip, my last tournament of the year, it went bing on me. I couldn't play for like probably three months. When I first started playing again, after my injury, I had to change my swing completely.

I've seen the ball go left to right for 20 years, and then now. I'm standing on the first tee and visualizing a right to left shot, which is very hard to do as a golfer, as you know, when you go out there and play, like I'm playing now, I see a left to right shot all the time.

But when I first came back off my injury, I couldn't swing my old way, I had to swing a different way, because I was coming over the top and cutting the ball a lot. Then I had to sort of swing from inside out and draw the ball. That really took me like a year and a half to get used to.

Over the years I've gone back to my old ways of left to right shots, and it takes a long time to get used to.

Q. Tiger was talking yesterday about wanting to have this as much as possible kind of a global field reflecting the international scope of the game. Could you talk about some of the reasons why more players outside the U.S. are contending more?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I think for me personally, when a person like Tiger comes along, and what he's done for the game has definitely raised the bar for all of us around the world globally. It's a global sport and it made me work harder and that's why I'm here, because of him.

I can speak for most of the players out here. Most of the players would probably agree with me that the reason why I think we've improved so much over the last five or six years is because of Tiger. We had to. He came out all guns blazing and he was like streaks ahead of us. We had to do something.

Vijay, for example, working out every day. He has a personal trainer. I work out as much as I can, nearly every day, as well. I think he's just raised the bar a lot and we try to follow.

Q. How did you change your mindset and overcome any negative thoughts?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Simple things. Have you read the book by Louis Haye? That book changed my life. It's called How to Heal Yourself. And if you read that book, it's all about thoughts. Every time you wake up in the morning you thank the bed for a great sleep. You always try to fill your life with positive thoughts. It's all about just basically you as a person, looking yourself in the mirror stuff. It's quite heavy stuff to do. I basically applied some of her philosophies to my life and it's definitely worked for me. You would have to read the book to understand.

Q. Do you have a mental coach?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: His name is Nick Hastings. He's English and he's based, obviously, in Europe.

Q. I'm from Europe.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: England, North London.

Q. This time of year you guys jump around so much across the world. Does all the travel affect you?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, I had a very interesting letter from Jack Nicklaus. He wrote me a letter after I won at Pinehurst, and he said to me, "Michael, from now on you have responsibilities to promote this game around the world." And that's what I'm doing. I feel I've been labeled a major winner. You need to promote this game.

Tiger, the first time in China. He was in Japan. He has gone around everywhere too. I think it's really important for guys like ourselves to go around and see different parts of the world and to promote this game around the world. I've always been a global player. I enjoy playing in different environments. I want to share my success with people from different parts of the world.

Q. (No microphone.)

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Just beating him was good enough for me.

Q. What are your goals for next year?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Goals next year? I haven't decided. I haven't even thought about it. It would be nice to cap off with winning with a strong field once again. A lot of foreigners, a lot of Europeans, so a very strong field. It would be nice to finish off the year by winning this tournament, definitely.

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