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FBR OPEN

February 2, 2008

Charles Warren

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Charles, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the FBR Open. Another great day out there, going along, a couple birdies. I know you're disappointed by that bogey on 18, but you've got to be proud of yourself and the position you're in going into tomorrow, and you should be very excited about it.
CHARLES WARREN: Yeah, absolutely. It looks like maybe in the last group tomorrow -- obviously bogeying the last hole leaves a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but it was getting cold out there, and with the wind coming from the left it really was an awkward hole today, really an awkward tee shot to probably the toughest hole location on the green. All in all, there's going to be some bogeys on that hole today. I should have backed off my tee shot. I wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked to have been, but that was really my only mistake that I felt I made all day.
Other than that, I played solidly. Things that I'd like to do tomorrow that I didn't do today. I didn't putt as aggressively as I'd like to. I left a lot of putts short on the first 12 holes. But all in all, it was a good day. My ball-striking feels good. I think if I just go out and stick to my one thought with my ball-striking and one with putting and just stay in a good frame of mind, I'll be fine tomorrow.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Any big par saves or birdies that helped you out during the round?
CHARLES WARREN: Just getting off to a good start. I think that's the key to this golf course, and especially tomorrow it's going to be the key to really anybody just making a move up the leaderboard. With so many guys from 10-under, 9-under and up, somebody is going to shoot 6- 7-, 8-under out of that group, and you know it's going to happen. You know it's going to take 16-, 17-under to win this golf tournament going into tomorrow.
I think the key was, like today, getting off to a good start, birdieing 3, 4 and 6. I gave myself chances on pretty much every hole. I really kind of just stuck to my game plan and it went well.

Q. Was there awareness of how many people were out there and could you feel it when you were playing?
CHARLES WARREN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can -- it's definitely -- obviously it's totally different than anything we experience, but even compared to yesterday, you could tell that there was a lot more people out there.
It's an unbelievable experience for us to come here and do this. Obviously you know going into it that you're going to have to back off once or twice. I really look at it the other way. I think these are almost one of the best galleries we have of the year. To get 180,000 people where we can actually play golf is almost unbelievable, it really is. So all in all, other than 16 being a little noisy, they really are great, the other 17 holes.
But 16, like I said yesterday, it's better than one person making noise. If there's 40,000 with a constant buzz -- you know, it's like playing with Tiger, it's a lot easier, because if one cell phone goes off, you probably won't even hear it. If we're out there in a normal group on Thursday and Friday, anything is distracting.

Q. How did the course play today compared to yesterday or Thursday?
CHARLES WARREN: I thought it played easier because I think the wind today was the easiest wind. Other than 18, you get 15, 16, 17 downwind. Obviously there were holes -- 18 was playing tough, 12 was playing tough. But I think this was a pretty easy wind. I don't know what the wind is supposed to do tomorrow or what the weather is supposed to be like, but if it's anything like today, like I said, somebody is going to shoot 64 or 65 and break away.

Q. You're on top of the leaderboard going into tomorrow. How will you prepare yourself?
CHARLES WARREN: I just think you keep doing what you're doing. You know, if I am in the last -- it's obviously -- being in the last group of an event like this is a little bit different than some of the ones that I've done it before in.
So having said that, I think the most nervous you are is just in the morning and at night. Once you get to the range the next day you're just kind of going through your routine. When you're in the last group you're playing well, so all you have to really do is just get in a good frame of mind and kind of stay out of your own way. That cliché you hear a lot, go out there, have fun in between shots and get really focused for the shots you've got to hit. I think that's the key for me tomorrow. And if I do that, I will play well tomorrow, and from there we'll see what happens.
Like I said, you can go out and play a great round tomorrow and not win, but I'm just going to go out and deal with what I can deal with, shoot as low of a score as I can shoot and see what happens. It is a cliché, but if you hop into our shoes, that's exactly what you have to reduce it to.

Q. Have you played with J.B. before?
CHARLES WARREN: Yes, I have.

Q. He's a big hitter?
CHARLES WARREN: Obviously top two or three in driving distance last year on TOUR. He can move it out there.

Q. Would getting your first win here be special?
CHARLES WARREN: Absolutely. This is an event when I look at the schedule, this is one that always -- I'm not going to say I don't like to peak for every event, but there's four or five on the schedule that I really get excited to go play because I feel like they suit my game. I've played well here in the last. I'm just comfortable here, I really am. I like this golf course. It's a comfortable surrounding for me, I don't know why, but I enjoy coming here.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Let's go through your round. Birdie on 3.
CHARLES WARREN: Birdie on 3, hit a great big drive. I hit a hybrid in there from 260 to about 15 feet, and then I left that one short. That was one of the ones I left short that kind of irritated me.
4, hit it in there about eight feet above the hole, a really good 9-iron, made birdie.
6, hit a good drive, hit a 9-iron -- or a wedge just behind the hole, made a good putt that actually tried to turn out of the hole at the end but kind of caught the edge and went in. Kind of played solidly but didn't make any putts there for the next six holes.
13, a really good drive. Hit a 3-iron -- what I thought was a great shot. I had like 270 hole or 265 hole and I hit a 3-iron and it went over the green and rolled over to where I was really short-sided, and hit an average chip to about 15 feet, and that was kind of the putt where I said, we're going to be aggressive the rest of the day. I really gave that one a good rap, hit it in the back of the hole and made a birdie there.
15, hit a huge drive on 15, hit it about ten feet, once again, left it kind of short in the jaws. I don't know if the greens were a little bit slower than I think or if I just need to change my mentality and be a little more aggressive. I left it short there and made birdie.
And then 18, I hit my drive right. Hit what I thought was a good second shot and a decent bunker shot, but it added up to 5. But at the end of the day 67 is a good score in the position that I was in.

End of FastScripts

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