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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC PRESENTED BY WAL-MARTOctober 30, 2007Ted PurdyLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome Ted Purdy to the interview room here at the Children's Miracle Network Classic. Ted, you got off to a good start earlier this year. You struggled a little bit later in the year, find yourself this week 125 on the money list. How does that change things this week in your approach going into Thursday? TED PURDY: Well, I've been trying to win golf tournaments all year, so nothing's changed. But it just, it's really made me focus on I got off to such a great start. Making seven, the first seven cuts and I've been around the top 130 when I looked at it. Now I've got to reflect on how to get it done one week to try to keep my card. You know, the top 30 play for, I mean, you guys the media can probably look this up. The top 30 guys are exempt from the tournaments worth probably $250 million or more. The next tier guys, the top 70 to 31 are eligible for over $200 million worth of prize money. Then it goes from 70 to top 125. And I think we play, that category plays for considerably less. Then after the top 125, playing basically for the scraps of the tour. So each tier is so important, because of the dollars that you play for each week on the PGA TOUR. The top 30 guys play for a higher percentage of the purses and deservedly should. I mean, that's just the American way. But getting into the top 125 is an important situation. I've had to reflect on my game, and basically my physical abilities there. Last week I was top 10 in fairways, accuracy, top 10 in distance, top 10 in greens in regulation, and I finished 51st last week. So I think the physical part of the game is there, I'm just losing concentration. I've never really worked on concentration, never worked on the mental side as much as I -- I think this position is a blessing, because I now really have to focus on the mental side of the game. I have been getting distracted easily with those big Mitsubishi scoreboards out there flashing. My life story up there, and everybody else's life story. You know, playing with Calc. Oh, Calc, I didn't realize that about you. But anyway, it's just there are a lot of distractions out there that I'm not handling very well. It's probably a blessing in disguise, because I need to work on being more focused. Have more concentration, having more will. STEWART MOORE: Questions for Ted. Q. Is one reason you might be mentally exhausted is going along with your physical misfortune. Looking at your stat sheet, you've been on tour six, seven weeks in a row. Is it just the grind, and mentally you're just not where you need to be as opposed to the beginning of the year? TED PURDY: Yeah, seven in a row. And the only one responsible for where I am on the money list is me. I didn't plan on playing the last seven events. In fact, I was hoping to beat Hunter Mahan in the top 30 and not play any of them. There's been a huge dynamic. I think the PGA TOUR, and Tim Fincham have done a great job. Because this is exciting for me, and hopefully for the fans in golf. It gives the guys that have earned it some time off. And it gives the rest of us, you know, and guys that haven't had opportunities to play as much this year a chance to get in the top 125. So it's been kind of an interesting dynamic that this FedEx Cup has created. Unfortunately, the last seven events last year, there were three people that had been to the top 125. This year it's been three people a week for the last six weeks that have been in the top 125. So it's been exciting. The money, obviously, $650,000 made it last year, and I'm at $758 thousands. So the money to keep your card has gone up $100,000, so I think the formula works for the Tour. Q. Do you find yourself playing to make cuts? Is that kind of like playing defense in golf? Obviously, you said at least half seriously, I'm playing to win golf tournaments every week. And I know in the back of your mind that's your goal, but now you're in a situation where you're just trying to make a check. I'm wondering whether that might not be the way you normally play, but tough now, because that's your position? TED PURDY: Yeah, I mean that's one of the distractions that I'm dealing with. I have not been able to concentrate well. I had 36 putts on Saturday last week. That's not because I'm a bad putter, it's because I'm not mentally there. I'm three-putting and not making the birdie putts had I have the opportunity. I need better concentration. I think in Phoenix I was 3 or 4 under on Friday knowing the cut's going to be even par. Then I made it back to 1 over very quickly with 3 or 4 holes left. So I am kind of focused on that cut, and you can't make money if you don't make the cut so. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if I was in contention to win the golf tournament this week, so that's where we want to be. If I make the cut, that doesn't guarantee me finishing in the top 125 either. Because Shigeki finished second last week, and guys are coming out of the top 125 with great finishes. I made the cut and lost a spot. So there is no guarantee that just making the cut's going to give me a card. Especially I think J.B Holmes is only a few thousand dollars behind me. So it's not -- it's in the back of my mind, but you can't be shooting for that. I need to shoot to get mentally focused. I need to work on my mental game. It's been killing me. And I was not aware of it until I started working a little bit with Bob Proctor. And he fortunately was able to watch a couple rounds last week and give me his two cents. And he really thought, Bob is a master of the mind I guess you could call him. But his analyzation was my focus, my concentration, my will, is lacking. And, you know, I've never been told that before. My wife probably told me that, but -- STEWART MOORE: That you weren't concentrating? TED PURDY: That I wasn't concentrating, yeah (laughing). So just he made an observation last week that Bob Proctor made an observation that I don't have the will. I don't have the concentration that is necessary to compete winning is more the norm than not. That's where I need to be. Q. Couple things, did he give you a prescription? This isn't a drug testing question. Just curious what kind of advice he gave you to fix it? TED PURDY: Oh, yeah. No, basically he told me to concentrate. And he gave me a drill to practice concentrating. Basically get in a quiet place, and focus on a spot on the wall, try to concentrate. Light a candle, focus on the flame. Just try to get in a quiet spot and train your mind to focus on a spot for as long as you can, that was one of those prescriptions. Q. Like yoga? TED PURDY: Yeah, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. Q. One thing I was going to ask you, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but when we went into the Fall Series you were in about 79,000, and I think you were 110 on the money list. You made close to $50 grand, and here you are. Does that surprise you? And why do you think it happened? Not related to your playing, necessarily, but the fact that you could drop that much? TED PURDY: Yeah, well, the Fall Series is just a totally new dynamic. The top players are not playing. The world ranking system, and I bring this up, but the world ranking system does not, if you're a top 50 player, it is not in your best interest to keep playing. It's one of the downfalls, I think, with the Tour. Is that the world ranking system does not encourage players to play. Especially, if the prestigious awards for the top players are playing, because there's less points to be earned. It counts as an event played, which if you don't play late, it hurts your world ranking. So the top players have no desire to play, especially if they're in the top 50. But that being said, we're still playing for a lot of money, And those top players are not playing. I mean, Hunter Mahan is a great example. Hunter Mahan was nowhere to be seen on the world ranking. He has a great month, plays a great British Open, wins Travelers, his world ranking elevates quickly. He's played a lot of events so that is hurting his world ranking. So he decides I'm not going to play the last seven events to try to improve his world ranking. He finished top three, and was exempt for everything next year. And he's basically not playing the last seven events because he doesn't need the money, and he's trying to improve his world ranking. Now that's allowed more players to have an opportunity to play. The last several events somebody in the media was saying everybody from 110-170 on the money list is in the filed this week. Hunter Mahan had played 110 or 169. I mean, there's just more guys getting into the field. So when there are more guys outside the top 125 playing in the field. There's more opportunity for guys like Shigeki. Guys like Mark Hensby a few weeks ago. Guys that played great, and played themselves into the top 25, they might not have been in the field had the top guys been playing. So it's a great dynamic. I think it's great for the Tour. It gives more guys an opportunity to play. It's put me in a precarious situation, because my play hasn't been great. That kind of situation hasn't been great. But I think it's great for the Tour. I mean, everybody's making more money. And the world ranking system, there's no incentive for people to play. I mean I played as many or more tournaments than most players. So if I was in Hunter's situation, I would have taken the time off, too. Just to try to get my denominator down, because I played too many events to get up in the world rankings. But we're here, and I feel good about where I'm at, and I'm excited to win. Q. Did this year feel any different? You had the luxury of being a PGA TOUR winner for a while, and you were fully exempt. This year when you're back in the pile with everybody else, did it feel different at all? Knowing -- TED PURDY: If I wasn't exempt next year? I don't know. Again, I had lofty goals starting the year out. I thought I'd have a chance to play on the President's Cup. I thought I'd, you know, I played great. I didn't have any -- never was I worried about keeping my card until the last couple of weeks, really. I kind of let the distraction hurt me coming down the stretch. I mean, I started last week into the weekend. I finished 51st. If I finished 30th then 120 on the money list, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. But I played my way into this situation, and I'm looking for it to change. Q. Just talk about getting through this last tournament to secure this spot. Kind of take your head out of the game for a little bit, and how are you going to celebrate that? TED PURDY: That's a good question. I need to come up with a big reward for myself. And my family, because my family's going through hell, too. That's a good question. I need something big. I've got to reward myself with something big. Q. A large candle? TED PURDY: A very large candle, yeah. I don't have anything in mind, but it's going to be big. Q. Is your family with you? TED PURDY: My wife and kids are here. We were hoping to have a fun family weekend, but the stress is making it more difficult. Q. The circumstances of the tournament have kind of changed a little bit. Sort of a reward at the end of the year for family guys, and now there is a hint of desperation in the air? TED PURDY: There is, exactly. It's going to be a fun week. We're going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, looking forward to that. You know, after I leave here, I'm going to the pool with my son to ride the slide about 300 times. Q. How old is he? TED PURDY: Sam is 4, and I have a 2-year-old, Andie. Q. If you keep your card, they're going to make you come back here every single year for the rest of your life? TED PURDY: If it pans out similar to this year, I'll be in this event next year. Because I think it goes into the top 150 category or close to it. I'm sure I'll stay in the top 150. But, you know, I'll have opportunities to play on Tour next year if I do not get in the top 125, it's just the amount of opportunities. The money just drops off considerably what you play for. Maybe I should do some research and just see. I'd like to see what that is. I mean, the top players are exempt. The top 30 are exempt from these events for X. The next guys are exempt with X. The top 71 to 125 are exempt. I bet it's probably a huge disparity between top 30, and the 125th. And there is probably a huge disparity from 125 to 126 in just the amount of dollars that you play for. Q. Would you say just playing with the guaranteed money alone? TED PURDY: Just the guaranteed money. Q. You're ahead a quarter of a million dollars just starting with everybody right now? TED PURDY: Exactly. The year I was in those events in '05, you know, $50,000 and I could use that $50,000. Q. Did you send in your money for Q-school? TED PURDY: I did. Q. You did? I'm just wondering since this has been fairly recent that you've moved down the list, I wondered if you were looking that far ahead? TED PURDY: No. I mean, I was hoping to get a refund quickly. They have not refund it yet. But at the end of the week they'll refund it. STEWART MOORE: Thanks so much. End of FastScripts |
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