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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC PRESENTED BY WAL-MARTNovember 5, 2008Brad AdamonisLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA CHRIS REIMER: We want to thank Brad Adamonis for joining us here in the media center. First, maybe we'll start with a couple comments about your season. You're about 120 The Money List, so you gotta feel okay, but y'all still have to play well this week. Start with some comments there. BRAD ADAMONIS: No. I feel pretty good. Most guys are probably a little nervous about it, but I'm a rookie on Tour. It's a great opportunity for me to play well in this tournament. I'm just happy to be here. My kids are here. They get to see Mickey Mouse for the first time, and hopefully I can end the season on a good note. It's been a pretty good season all in all, and I think about where I was a year and a half ago, barely getting by on the Nationwide Tour. And to be on the PGATOUR and have an opportunity to close off and be exempt for next year would be great. CHRIS REIMER: It did take you some time to get here. So has it been everything you had hoped since it's taken you some time to get here? BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. It's been awesome. I mean getting a free car every week, driving a luxury car, free dry cleaning, playing all these great courses, meeting all the people. It's been awesome. CHRIS REIMER: Now, that's kind of the reason we had you in. Obviously Erik Compton is a sponsored exemption this week, and you're good friends with Erik. Just take us through how your friendship started and comment on what it's like to see him here and everything that he's been through. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. I met him playing golf down in Miami at International Links with a good friend Charlie DeLucca and became good friends with him because we played on the Nationwide Tour together, and we used to play practice rounds and even roomed together. He had a heart transplant a long time ago, and I never really thought about it, and I was actually playing with him in a Nationwide Tour event last year in Boise, and he ended up making a 9 on a hole and he was about to make -- he made the cut easily. He made 5 over on one hole and missed the cut by like a stroke, and it turned out that he went back to Miami, and I think it was Sunday he had a heart attack. So if he was in Boise, him and his caddy were planning on maybe going fishing. They decided to go back to Miami, and that was probably the best cut he ever missed because he was right there where they took care of him, and they said he would have died if he waited another 30 minutes. So it was just to get a new heart and be able to have an opportunity to come out here is unbelievable, and playing at a high level, too. Q. (Question inaudible). BRAD ADAMONIS: Q. (Question inaudible). BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. I saw him in the hospital when I came home after being out West. I think we went to Oregon after that. Or no, I think that was the last -- CHRIS REIMER: Yeah. I think we had a break. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. A week off. So right before I went out on the road I saw him at the hospital, and he had great spirits, had a great attitude. Most people that their heart wasn't functioning they wouldn't have a great attitude, but I think that positive mindset helped him get through it, and here we are today. He's on his third heart, and competing against the best players in the world. Q. Were you actually in the group with them when he made the 9 that day? BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. I was. I was like, what an idiot. (Laughs). You know, I was thinking, God, he could have easily made a bogey or a double bogey, and here he is, he makes a 9. And it turned out that was a good thing that happened. Q. Did he call you when he found a heart? Were you one of the guys that he called on the way to the hospital? BRAD ADAMONIS: No. I think he called his buddy Rob who was caddying for him, because I was in Boise. And then I found out about it, and he's pretty much out of commission. So I went to go see him at the hospital. And then a couple weeks later I won a tournament. And he gave me a call, told me to go out there, and what do I have to lose, you know. He's in the hospital, and so that was inspiring to me, you know. CHRIS REIMER: To clarify, he went on to win in an eight-hole playoff in Midland, Texas is what Brad won that next week. Q. Was your dad in the same hospital? BRAD ADAMONIS: No. My dad, he was up in Holy Cross Hospital, and then he went to Mass General up in Massachusetts, Boston area. But he's had a lot of medical setbacks, too. But he's doing okay, too. So those guys are survivors, luckily. Q. (Question inaudible). BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. He had lost quite a lot of weight, you know, and now -- you know, when he was in the hospital a lot, he just looked a little sicker. Now he looks healthy, you know, like normal, I would say, and put on weight. He's worked hard, I know, lifting weights and playing golf, and here he is. I think it's a good opportunity for him to play in this tournament. I think he can do well in the tournament, obviously, and also, just to get another tournament in, because here's a guy that was playing at a really good level on the Nationwide Tour, you know, one of the best players out there and then not to be able to play for a whole year. He played Q School. That was basically his first tournament. Now he gets to play in this tournament, it's second stage. I think he has a legitimate chance to get on the PGATOUR this year. And qualifying through the Q School. Who knows. Maybe he'll do real well here. It's a good opportunity for him to get more experience before he plays next week because he's probably a little rusty still from lack of play. It's unbelievable, third heart. It's amazing. Q. Did you think there was any chance he could be playing, you know, competitively like this so soon? BRAD ADAMONIS: No, not really. I figured he'd have to wait another year or so. I don't know much about it, but he said that when he got his first heart, you know, it took him a couple years to get better and feel like normal, but now with all the technology they have, you know, here he is. I think being able to use a golf cart certainly helps him out. He probably wouldn't be able to play if he didn't have a golf cart. And you know, I don't know if he feels 100 percent yet, but here he is, you know. It's pretty unbelievable. Q. I don't know if he feels 100 percent. His whole life he's never -- 100 percent for him is probably 80 percent for you or me. I was going to ask him how are you feeling. I don't know that he can really answer that question. I guess every day he feels different. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. I guess we can't empathize with him. Who knows. But I went out playing golf with him, and he's hitting the ball well. He's putting well, and hopefully he can put it together for this week and Q School so he can join me on the Tour. (Laughs). That would be nice. Q. Didn't he use a driver this time? BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. He used a driver, and we were playing yesterday. He was hitting it pretty good, but it was going nowhere, so he got a new driver. He has a new Titleist driver. It's going 20 yards further. He's pretty happy about that. Q. What driver did you give him? BRAD ADAMONIS: They hooked him up. No. He's just been out of the loop. We're lucky enough to get a lot of nice clubs out here from the manufacturers, and he hasn't been playing for a year, so I gave him a club and he was hitting it pretty well, but now he picked up this club. He's hitting it even better. Q. He gave all his stuff away. He wasn't sure he was ever going to play again. He had a garage full. For a guy who's just getting a heart transplant get more shots, hey, I'm brand new here. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. That's what he tried to say, but I wouldn't let him get away with that. Q. Can he play? BRAD ADAMONIS: Oh, yeah. Q. The game, he's been one of those guys who's kind of got stuck at the triple A there, like a baseball metaphor. Played at Doral a few times, made the cut there I think four times in his career, so obviously he's had his glimpses of it. He's been a minor league guy. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. Well, I mean it's been a mystery to me, you know, a guy like him, he hits the ball unbelievable. He has a great golf swing, unbelievable short game, and he's not on the Tour. I'm sure he sees a lot of guys that are successful on Tour, and he realizes he can do that. And I think it's just a matter of time and maturity. And you know, of course, he's got some health problems that kind of set him back, so I think he'll definitely, you know, if his health is okay, I think he'll definitely be on the Tour. And I think he could win some tournaments eventually. Q. What's the best part of his game? BRAD ADAMONIS: He can do it all. It's pretty amazing because I've been lucky enough when I first met him, and he's always helped me out with my game, and he just seems to be a natural talent and understands the game and the swing, and he's a good teacher also. But he hits the ball long, 300 yards, hits his irons good and a great chipper and putter. Q. (Question inaudible). BRAD ADAMONIS: I know. It's unbelievable. Q. Hit golf balls at the wall. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. Exactly. Q. Brad, you talked about both your father and Erik having these kind of health setbacks and the things they go through in their life. Do you look upon that as inspiration? Do you think, well, here I am relatively 100 percent healthy? Has that helped you in the last two, three years to get where you are now? BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. I think so. Those guys have persevered and they've gone against the odds to live, just to be here talking to us, or anybody, you know. And certainly when you're on the golf course, as you guys know, you guys play a little golf, too, you get frustrated out there and you just have to suck it up, and it gives you a little perseverance, you know, and you forget about what -- you just try to move on to the next shot, and I think that's helped me out quite a bit. Q. Do you live near him down there in Miami? BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. I live about 20 minutes away. I play with him sometimes, yeah. Q. He set the course record last week. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. That's what he told me. That's pretty good. Q. Yeah. Which is a golf course that gets some play from some pretty good players. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. All the pros play out there, Raymond Floyd and Robert Floyd and all the guys over there. Q. Were you following how he was doing at Q School, and what was your reaction when you saw him in? BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. You know, I thought he was going to make it pretty easily, to be honest with you, but I was a little disappointed. I thought he was going to make it. He's having a baby, and he's married now, so it's pretty important, you know, for his career, I think, to get a card. But I called him up and said, hey, you didn't play that great, but it was tough conditions. But who cares. Just try to play a good round tomorrow, and that's all that really matters, and you'll probably make it. And luckily he played a great round, because I understand the conditions were impossible; windy, rainy. Q. All the above. BRAD ADAMONIS: Yeah. Q. Talking to him there, did it remind you of why you don't want to play? BRAD ADAMONIS: Exactly. (Laughs). I definitely don't want to go back there, but whatever happens happens, you know. CHRIS REIMER: We hope you and Erik are in the final group on Sunday. That would be nice. BRAD ADAMONIS: That would be unbelievable. CHRIS REIMER: Thanks, guys. BRAD ADAMONIS: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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