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DEL WEBB FATHER/SON CHALLENGE


December 7, 2008


Larry Nelson

Drew Nelson


CHAMPIONSGATE, FLORIDA

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Congratulations Larry and Drew Nelson. You've won the 2008 Del Webb Father/Son Challenge. Larry, for you it's a third title. For Drew it's your second. And Larry, you've become the first dad to win consecutive events with different sons in this event.
LARRY NELSON: Yes.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Exciting day out there. First the Irwins made a run, and then the Loves made a pretty good run. First a comment from each of you about winning, and then take us through the back nine. Did you know what where you stood all the time?
LARRY NELSON: It was an exciting tournament. We kind of knew what we had to do today, but we didn't know what the conditions were going to be like, the golf course and all that. You really don't know.
You try to play as good as you can on the front side, and then you make the turn and see the boards and you find out really what have to do on the back.
Yeah, everybody kind of made a run at it. I don't know whether it gave us a little bit of encouragement or what, but we finished birdie, birdie, eagle the last three holes. So it was exciting to look up on the board. It's always exciting to see who's on what and who's playing well.
We were just happy we were able to finish as strong as we did.
DREW NELSON: Yeah, to kind of go off what he said on the back nine, when you're in this type of format, as long as you got enough holes to play you normally are okay. Every time we looked up we were either still ahead or tied, so kind of knew coming through 16 or 18, if we could play those 3-under we would be okay. Actually played them 4, so worked out and made it a little easier.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay. Down the stretch there, the Loves, I believe, eagled to tie, and then you came to 17 with a clutch putt. Talk about your putt at 17 to take the lead back.
LARRY NELSON: We really felt like 17 was going to be the pivotal hole. We didn't know that they eagled 16. We knew that they were 17- or 18-under or tied with us after -- while we were playing 16. So we didn't know if they eagled there or birdied 15, 16.
So after we made birdie, we knew that 17 was really critical. We didn't want to have to make eagle on the last hole, but we felt like we could make birdie if we needed to. So I guess I made about a 20-footer there. Drew hit a great putt the first time, so I had a great lie. It was just a matter of hitting it the right speed and on that line.
Mine went in and he lipped his out. We felt when we made that one that we pretty much had won the tournament.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: It was about how far?
LARRY NELSON: About 20 feet, I think.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Larry, maybe a comment about how special is this for you. You've now won three times, two with Drew and one with Josh. Talk about that.
LARRY NELSON: I think the whole week is special. It's just a great week. This place here ChampionsGate, the Omni Hotel, the golf course, we feel really happy to come back down here. We feel very comfortable here.
And even though we've won I guess twice here, we won it --
DREW NELSON: Al of them.
LARRY NELSON: All of them. We've won all three times here, so we feel comfortable and happy to be here. It's a big family thing whether we win or not. We were fortunate enough to win it three times. I don't know that this one is any more special than the first time I won with Drew. Just a special week all together.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Drew?
DREW NELSON: Definitely the week, we come down here early and take the kids to Disney World and do the whole family thing. We then get to spend the week together playing golf with my brother and then have the tournament. So the week itself is just a blast.
Winning, I think winning the second time is a little different. Probably not quite as -- it's not quite as exciting because you've done it before, but it's a little more nerve-wracking because you've done it before and you kind of enjoyed what it was like.
But the whole, like I said, is just a blast every year no matter what, how we play.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Questions.

Q. Drew, you mentioned you were a little nervous. Was it more of a relief there when your dad finally hit it on 18?
DREW NELSON: Well, actually, once the ball landed on the green on 18 and we know we could two-putt, pretty much the nerves are out of it at that point. I don't know if nervous is really the right word. Yeah, I guess relieved a little bit just to kind of be done.
You know, the first time we won we won by three or four, so it was kind of a whole different way to go about winning. It was a little closer and more scoreboard watching then the first time where we could 4-putt 18 and still win. So it was a little different.

Q. Drew, I was talking to Josh, and I guess he's maybe in the best position to make this point. He said that your dad probably played as well as he's played maybe in the last three or four years, certainly in the last three or four times that you guys played this event. What do you think about that?
DREW NELSON: Yeah, dad played great this week. I wasn't a whole a lot help today. Hit a few shots good. Kind of coming off a couple injuries and just actually was happy to be able to play this week.
For us to be able to win, dad had to play really good. I haven't seen him for two straight days hit the ball as good as he hit it. He didn't hit one bad shot when we needed him to hit it a good one. It was really remarkable how well he played.
LARRY NELSON: They said before I came down here that I should play well this year because it's the healthiest I've been coming into this tournament and the most I've been able to practice. That part has been really good.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Tell them about your hand.
LARRY NELSON: Yeah, I had surgery on my -- actually hand, which it was affected by my left finger. I had what they call a trigger finger and it would just lock. I lost a lot of strength in these two fingers, and it just got worse and worse and got to where I couldn't really hold a club.
So I went in and had surgery I guess in June, so I was out for about 12 weeks. Took me about three or four weeks to get back. The last four weeks I played pretty well on the TOUR, and coming in here I was getting healthier every week. So kind of good for me to come down here and actually be very healthy.
And the golf course played very difficult, I think both days.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Congratulations to you both. We'll see you next year.

End of FastScripts




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