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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

October 10, 2008

Matt Jones

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Matt Jones to the interview room. Matt, with a 6-under par 64 today. Just talk a little bit about your round and how things went.
I noticed you hit fewer greens today than yesterday but putted a lot better.
MATT JONES: I actually hit it probably better yesterday and missed a lot of putts but today I hit it worse but made more putts so go figure.

Q. Did the greens yesterday, there was a lot of talk about the bermuda being a little thatchy and bumpy.
Did they improve a little bit?
MATT JONES: Teeing off at 7:30 is always going to be better. You can definitely hear the ball rolling on the grass. You can hear the grass. It's not very nice. I think yesterday I missed five, six, 8-footers but today I made them.

Q. So was the course appreciably different today, conditions any --
MATT JONES: Yeah. Wind was down. I think the wind is going to come up this afternoon but it was playing similar, similar to yesterday. The first nine where I played well it was perfect.

Q. Are you real familiar with this course?
MATT JONES: My first time here.

Q. Most of the guys coming in who have played it for the first time, obviously it's legendary for tough walk and those kinds of things. Lot of really great scores are always posted here over the years.
Did you know coming in I'm going to have to shoot really low to have a chance at this tournament in particular?
MATT JONES: No. I didn't have a clue what the previous year's scores are at all. I have no idea what the scores of the tournament were.

Q. What's your thoughts then after a couple of rounds out here as far as the course itself?
MATT JONES: It's good. Just got to keep it in the fairway and hit the greens. If you hit it in the rough you're going to struggle to move the ball or control the ball. Chipping out of this stuff is awful, especially bermuda. You hit a good chip shot. So --
Q. Can you talk just a little bit about your background, growing up? I'm not exactly sure where you're from.
MATT JONES: Grew up in Sydney. I played Junior Golf there until I was 18 and then I came to college over here at Arizona State and lived in Arizona ever since.

Q. Growing up in Australia, is it like -- were you a Greg Norman person, Geoff Ogilvy person?
MATT JONES: Every Australian would have been a Greg Norman person back in the day. I don't know if they would have been nowadays, especially the age group, Adam Scott. I'm sure Ogilvy was, all those guys.

Q. I just wondered if you were, too.
MATT JONES: I was, yes, definitely. We would wake up every year and watch the Masters and watch him -- every Australian be up watching him and watch him lose it somehow how.

Q. We watched a few of them.
MATT JONES: Yeah.

Q. With the proliferation of Australian golfers over here and doing well, how does that play into, you know, your psyche, you know, coming into this year and just, you know, being apart of it?
MATT JONES: Gives you a lot of confidence. I grew up with playing "Greeny" and Ogilvy, played amateur golf and Adam.
Seeing them doing it, it's good, knowing their background. Took me a little longer than it took them but finally here so hope hopefully I can make the most of it.

Q. Nathan a couple of guys that were in here from Australia talked about the effect this course kind of reminds them of the courses back home.
MATT JONES: It definitely does, especially where I grew up, New South Wales and right on the coast, if you could cut it off and put the coastline there it would be very similar. The grass wouldn't be but the outlay of the course. The tops of the trees around, definitely reminds me.

Q. It's a good wedge and putt game here?
MATT JONES: It does. It's not a long course. Depends on the wind. But you need to be hitting your wedges good and hitting putts or getting a lucky break on greens.

Q. Was there a shot today that defined your round at all?
MATT JONES: It was actually the second last hole. I hit a terrible tee shot in the hazard and to be able to get up and down, sank a 10-footer for bogey, that easily could have been double and I played well, done a lot of good work to get to 7-under for the day and to throw it away a double on a par 3 wouldn't be too happy.

Q. Was that on 17?
MATT JONES: Yeah.
JOE CHEMYCZ: What did you hit there, was that the right club?
MATT JONES: Hard 6-iron, and just a nice 5. Came out of it.

Q. Left or --
MATT JONES: Right: The wind is into off the left. Pin is on the back.

Q. It is different than yesterday a little bit.
MATT JONES: Yes.

Q. Did you look at this as, you know, the fall finish is kind of a time where Jason Gore was even talking about it yesterday, you know, the big guys aren't here, it's really a chance to make a season?
MATT JONES: It is, but I mean anyone out here playing could win any tournament in any week. I don't have my card for next year so I need to play well the rest of the year. Hopefully have a nice little break for the rest of the year.
JOE CHEMYCZ: 124 on the money list, I think?
MATT JONES: I don't know. I know it's right around there:
JOE CHEMYCZ: You started well at the beginning of the year and had some ups and downs and then I noticed you missed 6 cuts in your last 7 starts.
Anything to that?
MATT JONES: Probably just lack of playing. I mean we've had so many breaks in between that we go -- you had FedExCup and three weeks off and play Jackson, Mississippi, week off, and it's just hard to get into a routine.
Normally takes me one tournament to get started. Normally I miss my first cut and start playing well. This is my second tournament in a row. Three, four in a row is normally perfect for me and I need breaks.

Q. So you feel comfortable at 124 right now?
MATT JONES: It doesn't bother me. There's plenty of tournaments left. There's Q-School. I'm not phased by it at all.

Q. So Q-School doesn't bother you?
MATT JONES: No, not at all. I've done it a few times and -- actually I've never played well at Q-School but I don't mind six days of golf. It's enjoyable being out there. Playing is fun.

Q. That doesn't happen very often. We don't hear that very often. It's like, "Oh, my God, no."
MATT JONES: Probably because I've never been in contention to deal with it. I've normally played terrible at Q-School.

Q. Is this season kind of a break-through?. You look at it as a break-through season for you that you played well and you are there and if you have to go back, so be it?
MATT JONES: I haven't reached -- I haven't reached the goals I've set this year yet. There's still plenty more weeks to play for and achieve those goals. It's good to be out here. Hopefully I can finish off.

Q. Are you basing yourself in the States or are you going back?
MATT JONES: I live in Scottsdale.

Q. You're not going to Australia?
MATT JONES: I'll play the Australian Open in December and then I'll be back here for Hawaii in January, start back up again.

Q. I just didn't know if you were going -- like Adam goes back and plays quite a bit.
MATT JONES: If I played like him and could set my schedule like him -- I have a little different schedule (laughter).

Q. Maybe this week will take care of that.
MATT JONES: I'll go live with him in Switzerland, too.

Q. You be Steve Elkington, come over here and next go back.
MATT JONES: No, I would always go back. I love it back there. I'll always be back there. Like the other place here.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Okay. Alright.

End of FastScripts

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