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CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 21, 2004

Dana Quigley

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

DANA QUIGLEY: She watches all the West Coast games. She's 91 today as a matter of fact. I just wished her happy birthday. Her back is bad. She can't sit for three hours. She's got to get up and walk around so she doesn't go to Fenway. We took her last year and it was too hard on her, but she watches every game.

She was born in 1913, so she saw the World Series. She was five, she didn't know about it, but she saw it. She grew up in Boston, worked in Boston. She's 91 years young today. I said, "the Red Sox have one more present for you next week."

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I said, "You're not going to sleep tonight, are you?" She said, "Oh, no, don't worry about me."

I don't get home very often. I go to a game on the road if the home team is in town. Every week I go to games, my wife and I. We just love baseball.

Q. You've thrown out four pitches?

DANA QUIGLEY: I just threw out Baltimore three weeks ago with the Red Sox in town on a Friday night.

This is a great story. I got interviewed by a Boston channel that happened to be there, and I know the sportscaster very well. New England sports channel, Baltimore channel and The Golf Channel all broadcasted, so I did all these interviews. Here's Jim Palmer sitting there, and I said, "Jim, I'm choking like a dog. Give me some advice. What do I do?" He said, "Don't bounce it." I almost died. I got up on top of that mound, and Rick Dempsey was my catcher, and I felt like I needed my reading glasses, he was that small, so it was unreal.

I threw a ball pretty good on the line, and that was the most nervous I've been, I think.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Yep, threw one there last year. Somehow they didn't make as big a deal as they did here with all the TV channels. All I had to do was think about it. It was awful but it was great.

Q. You play week after week but never really get up there unless there's a tournament in that area.

DANA QUIGLEY: That's right, Fenway. The whole week we were there this summer, the last week in June.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: No, golf is No. 1, no question about it. If it happened to be an off week it would be pretty good. I did a thing with Cal Ripkin at Baltimore, the two Ironmen supposedly, and we took pictures and that was pretty great, but I've really had a good summer and it was a good diversion from golf.

Q. Brad Faxon, Billy Andrade --

DANA QUIGLEY: Yeah, they don't come visit me. Wakefield is a good player. They've got a bunch of great players on the Red Sox -- you've got to understand, Andrade and Faxon have been famous 20 years. I'm just an infant here. This is seven years for me. I mean, I had to sneak into Fenway seven years ago. Now I think I can pretty much afford my way in. It's a whole different thing for me. I was a club pro all my life up until then, so I didn't really get to know any Red Sox. I had absolutely no reason to be known.

Q. The fact that you were a club pro and did not play the regular Tour full-time, is that one of the reasons you play so well now?

DANA QUIGLEY: No. I played as a club pro every day of my life. I lived at the golf course. In the morning, we opened at 8:00. At 7:00 I'd go out and play some holes before we opened. I always left my golf bag on a golf cart. If I didn't have lessons in the morning I'd go out and play two, three holes, and then at 12:30 every day I played, and then when I came back in I'd play until dark if I didn't have lessons. I played for nothing as well as playing out here. I'm not trying to make up for lost time, although this is a pretty nice way to do it.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Yeah, I think I'm going to look into that for next year. We haven't had much to brag about in the few years, though.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: No question. Believe me when I tell you, he was absolutely telling the truth. I told my wife Angie this morning, I said, "I felt different today than I have felt any first round." I'm usually pretty nervous before a first round, but even at my age with all the golf I play, I'm still nervous before I play on Fridays. And I told my wife Angie this morning, I felt different. I couldn't pinpoint why, but I'm sure it's because we were going to the World Series. My mind is somewhere else. It's not worrying about how you play golf, you know.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: My mind is on the Red Sox, no question about it. I love talking about it. I talk about it with my caddie all the time. We talk about who's going to win the game tonight, who are we going to play against. We'd love to see Clemens come into town and play against us. He's 3 and 7 I think if it goes like that. It really has taken my mind off of being nervous about golf, I guess.

Q. (Inaudible). Getting there isn't breaking the curse, winning it.

DANA QUIGLEY: No question. I've been asked that question a lot. I know how I feel. I truly don't believe in the curse. I think sports writers have made the curse a curse. There's some people in Boston that really believe it. I don't believe it. They've just been outplayed. The thing I can't understand is they won the division this year -- the Yankees won the division and they favored us to win the American League championship. How do you figure?

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: If that's the case, why didn't we win the division?

Q. Last night by the second inning --

DANA QUIGLEY: The sixth game, fifth and sixth game where we used those pitchers, yeah, we went 14 innings without letting any runs score. For that to happen from us, from Boston, and then they come back with Derek Lowe last night pitching like that, he didn't pitch once like that this year, did he dominate. He had a decent year, but he never dominated like he did last night any time this year. That's why sports are so great.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I was in the Pro-Am here last night, and true story, I got 20 phone calls. From the time of the first pitch to when Damon got thrown out at home and then Ortiz hit the home run, I had 20 calls, and I got someone from the Tour calling up and telling me to turn the phone off because it was bothering the amateurs. My amateurs were all in it big time. They were screaming and laughing as much as I was. It was wild.

I was on the 9th green when Damon hit the grand slam. I came walking up the hill and one of the caddies yelled out, "Damon is up," and then I was getting ready to putt and I heard screaming, "Damon hit it out of here." With the Red Sox it's never over, like Yogi says, until it's over, so you've still got to sweat those last seven innings.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Absolutely.

Q. How did you play today?

DANA QUIGLEY: I played as if I was -- when I was out there and I got to 6-under on the real tough hole, 15, I said, "Well, what am I going to say to the press about how I played?" Last year I thought this course was extremely hard, and today was maybe the easiest round of golf I played on Tour this year. I never, ever fretted or sweated on one shot, and because I think my mind was in a good place, I think that's what caused it to be honest with you.

Now I'm thanking the Red Sox for a good round. But I really do think it was the first round I can remember in quite a while where I didn't try too hard. Bob Rotella talks about that all the time, right down from the best putter in the world, who says he tries not to make putts, tries to get a ball rolling on line, doesn't try to make the putt.

I spend my whole golf life trying too hard, there's no question about it. Today for some reason I felt like I was back at Crestwood, my club, and I was playing a game with the members. I'd love to be able to pinpoint how to get back there, but that's something I'll be talking to Rotella about. I'll probably call him tonight and see if we can figure this out.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I mean, I am so bored to death until baseball comes on. I'm a baseball addict. I watch TBS from Atlanta, so no matter what city we're in I get to watch baseball. I hate the football season when it comes in because we lose one or two of the televised baseball games, no matter what the team is.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Oh, I play way more golf. I've got to play in a thing Monday at home at Bear Lakes in Palm Beach. I play more golf in the off season by far than I do out here. I'll play 36 to 54 a day every day. I'm on the golf -- I'm the first one on the golf course at Bear Lakes every day. My son comes down Christmas Day and we play for a month, and some days we'll play in the 70s.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Thanksgiving, we're going to play a lot of golf in those four days, and then he comes back at Christmas and then we really go. Brett is in town and my family is in town. You'd swear we were playing for our houses, and we're playing for nothing, not a penny, but the bragging rights are killers.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Lately I've been kind of a little bit hurt. I haven't played -- I missed five days in a row twice this season. I couldn't tell you when. Obviously if the weather is bad -- I didn't play here Tuesday. By choice, not very often. At no time do I wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, I don't feel like playing today." There's never been that day. That's the God's honest truth, that I don't want to play.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I probably will more this time. I always know where they are and when they're playing, and if it happens to be an ESPN televised game -- I hate traveling Sunday night because a lot of times we miss the Sunday night game. I'm probably going to miss tomorrow night's game to be honest with you. I mean, Sunday night.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I grew up in Rhode Island, same place as Billy Andrade.

There are a lot of Yankee fans. Most of the old Italians jumped on the Yankees when they were winning everything and they became Yankee fans. I was just talking to Jack Russell, the chairman and director from New York, and he said there's a lot of Red Sox fans in Long Island because out on Long Island you hear a lot of Red Sox games.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Well, they do in the winter. You have to understand that. Boston has a different kind of a fan. It's really -- I'll tell you a great story. An Italian friend of mine from Rhode Island, Dickie Choi is his name, we had a bet $5 an inning during this playoff. There's 73 innings and there's a $5 change over in money. I called him this morning, "How do you like that?" After the 2nd inning he turned on Everybody Loves Raymond. He's a Yankee fan. I said that's the difference between us. We suffer through it all nine, Yankee fans are going to watch Everybody Loves Raymond. I said, "You've got to suffer through it like we have." There are a lot of New England Yankee fans, no question.

Q. Did you pour beer over your head?

DANA QUIGLEY: No, I'm even thinking about it now, my hair is thick enough. I don't get teary-eyed. I might after the World Series. My daughter called today, and said, "Daddy, if you can get me tickets I will pay anything. I will work double shifts, it doesn't matter what it costs." My two kids are fanatical Boston fans already.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: No, that's baloney. They'll make it tougher next year.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Absolutely. We like to suffer. Red Sox fans, if they're not masochists, no one is. I mean, we love them next year whether they win or lose, there's no question.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I'll miss it Sunday night. I've got to be there Monday morning in West Palm.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Two weeks ago my mother -- a lot of us don't have it on their head, but they've got it on their chins, noses, everywhere. I was going to get my hair dyed blond like Kevin Millar but I didn't have the nerve. I went to the salon and got in the chair but --

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: He did it for an ad. I almost did it, but I am growing the goatee and the mustache for the Sox.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I don't know what we're going to do. None of us in Boston know what we're going to do. Paxton is not going to shave until the Red Sox lose again, and my brother, same thing. There's going to be some hairy New Englanders around.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I don't know why. I think it looks terrible.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: He looked good this morning with no mustache. I thought the same thing, and Roger Clemens looks terrific without shaving.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: That's right, self-proclaimed idiots.

Q. Birdies?

DANA QUIGLEY: You're going to have to run them by me.

Q. 5 and 6.

DANA QUIGLEY: 5 I hit driver, 8-iron, 147 yards, about 12 feet, made it. Hit it pretty close the first four holes and didn't make it.

6 was down the hill, hit pitching wedge about 20 feet left of the hole and made it.

11 is up the hill. I hit driver and pitching wedge to about four feet and made it.

12, I hit a 4-iron in the right bunker and chipped it up about 10 feet and made it. That probably saved the round.

13, I hit it on in two and two-putted.

14, a great 5-iron straight into the wind about five feet right, made it.

Next hole, great 7-iron from 165 to about four feet, made it.

17, I hit a really nice soft high 9-iron, which isn't usually in my vocabulary, and I hit that to about six, seven feet. I had it in the hole on 18, driver, 7-iron about ten feet and it went down to the hole.

Like I said before, just by being so relaxed, I think I was really focused on playing good golf today. I'd love to jar it and be able to open it back up tomorrow, but we don't know if that's going to happen.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Names of players? Other than Red Sox, Cal Ripkin, I've got a ball from him. Bill Murray signed a baseball. Did you see his first pitch this year at Wrigley? It was the greatest first pitch in the history of baseball, right up in the stands. I mean, it was fantastic. That guy is so funny.

But I've got a bunch of stuff. I get them for my mother. Everyone likes an old lady. Carlton Fisk; I don't even want to say Bill Buckner, you guys will all give me a hard time.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Yeah, I know, but a Red Sox fan can't say that. Let's see, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Roger Clemens I have a baseball. They give them to me and sometimes I don't tell them they're for my mother, but I give everything to her. When she dies I've got to get all this stuff back.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Yeah, she's the greatest -- she's the longest time Red Sox fan, guaranteed one of the longest in the United States, only because of her age. She's lived in Boston since 1913. I mean, she knew The Babe probably personally.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I wish they'd rebuild Fenway to be honest with you. I was in Camden this year and it was about the most perfect ballpark you can imagine. All the stuff walking around outside is so cool. It's really, really nice, but still, Fenway -- but they should keep the Green Monster. There's a bunch of seats in there you can't see the field from. Right field and left field, those are unbelievable.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: I've suffered a little bit. I have a few wounds in me, but they heal up by next April, no question.

Cardinals are an awesome team. I don't know if they can beat Clemens, but they're an awesome team. Clemens has a great history of big games. It's going to be a great game. Baseball has gotten so great the last few weeks.

Q. How many games have you been to at Fenway?

DANA QUIGLEY: Probably 200.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Baltimore -- the years run together, but I think they were in Kansas City, they might have been in -- (inaudible).

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: No, that was Kentucky. That was murder. You can't imagine the rain that came through there. I mean, that bridge was ten feet under water.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: Believe me when I tell you, I played yesterday in the Pro-Am, and I didn't think I could break 75 out there today. True story, but I got on the first tee -- driving is everything here with this rough the way they have it. I got on the first tee and decided I wasn't going to aim my driver, just hit it, and it worked out pretty well.

Q. (Inaudible).

DANA QUIGLEY: That was our only bogey in the group today, he and I. He was lucky to have a good enough -- usually you have to lay it up if you don't get it in the fairway.

Q. Thank you.

DANA QUIGLEY: It was fun talking. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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