FBR CAPITAL OPEN

June 9, 2003

Duffy Waldorf

Q. When you found out, did that affect you on the back nine at all?

DUFFY WALDORF: I was kind of shook up because I just played some really good holes. I eagled 13 and birdied 15. I felt I was still in the tournament. Now I'm on the 16th fairway there on the edge and I'm thinking, well, if I have two shots and I'm four back I'm kind of out of the tournament. It was kind of tough to kind of get things together. I hit a bad shot there and made a bogey. And I then I thought I better finish strong here, because if I do have a two-shot penalty, I still might finish second.

And then on 17, I'm thinking about it, I didn't think I did anything wrong, I'm only two shots back, if I can get another two-shot swing on 18, maybe I can win the tournament, if I can plead my case well. It didn't work out that way. I have to take what I got.

Q. It seems like it's almost comical that something that picky would end up costing you two shots. Does it seem ridiculous -- (inaudible)?

DUFFY WALDORF: I argued with the officials. I argued that I thought it was a subjective call, as far as -- the rule says a reasonable distance from your line of play. I really felt like -- I had two things that defended me, but they didn't feel it was a factor, they just felt whether it was a reasonable distance from the line or not. I would have gone ahead and hit the shot if the cart hadn't driven by, so it didn't bother me then. I had the ball in my hand and I put it down, and it didn't bother me when I put the ball down, but that doesn't really help my case. It came down to whether they felt it was a reasonable distance from my line of play.

Q. To those who might not know, can you explain the timing of informing you on 16? Why not earlier or later in the round?

DUFFY WALDORF: You would have to talk to an official about that. There is really never a good time to tell somebody. I don't think they'd probably came to a decision -- I think they would have told me pretty much right away. They may not have figured it out -- you know, decided until that point. They obviously could have waited until the end of the round. But I think it was fine to tell me while I was playing. I think that's probably when they felt like there was a problem and felt like I probably would be getting a penalty.

Q. I'm guessing, but I'm thinking it may have cost you $150,000. Does it feel like there are now millions of experts looking over you guys' shoulders?

DUFFY WALDORF: Well, the real rules experts are the officials on the PGA Tour, and we have a good set of them. Unfortunately, if you're playing well, you're going to be on TV and everyone is watching. I don't know, I assume most people don't really care. There is a certain group that will see something. I mean, that rule, I think I understand the basis of the rule, but I've never read the rule.

If I had read the rule, if I had known the rule before I did what I did, I don't think it would have mattered. Maybe I would have done it just to be safe, but it wasn't really something I did -- I didn't do it with intent at first, and I didn't do it -- even if I had known the rule, I don't think it would have mattered. I don't think I would have been breaking the rule.

Q. (Inaudible)

DUFFY WALDORF: I think it was about three feet, I think, about a 3-foot area. I talked to them about it. The key is the line of flight. It could have been six inches from my ball to the right, and that would have been fine. The fact that it was kind of in front of me, then there's got to be some type of definition of that.

Q. (Inaudible)

DUFFY WALDORF: I guess it extends vertically. I didn't see that. That's what one of the officials told me. It extended vertically. If there had been a big stick in the ground, that would have been a problem, because it was low in the ground, it wasn't a problem for me. It didn't really bother me. Obviously, I wish I wouldn't have done it. I did it -- kind of when a batter goes to bat, he steps out, he kind of taps his shoes or kind of resets, and I kind of tapped the ground just to have something to do, and I tapped the ground kind of just to reset.

Q. Was that a bad interpretation or do you think, kind of like that football rule with the Raiders in the playoffs, was that a questionable rule?

DUFFY WALDORF: A lot of the rules are written in a general sense. They don't cover specifics. This one is written to cover all situations where that could happen, in other words, where somebody fixes a divot or fixes something around their line, then it's up to somebody else to make the judgment, as if that's a reasonable distance from their line of play. They write it generally so someone can interpret it.

Q. The marker was three feet from your ball.

DUFFY WALDORF: I think so, yes.

Q. How close was it to the line?

DUFFY WALDORF: Well, I told them, I said, you know, if I hit it directly over that mark, I would have hit it 50 yards right of the green. And I felt like that alone was enough to say, you know, it really wasn't in my intended flight of line, because I was aiming to the left of the hole, anyway, because the pin was on the right edge of the green next to the water. If I hit right over that mark, I would have hit it probably 40 to 50 yards right of the green. So I said, I don't really think that's a reasonable distance from my intended line.

Q. Was the decision made -- I assume you saw replays. Had they already made the decision or were you in a position to talk them out of it?

DUFFY WALDORF: Well, I was in the position to talk them out of it. I just didn't do a very good job of it. We reviewed it and I said, you know, it isn't really close to my intended line of play and they didn't agree with me. We don't have like a rules lawyer out here who can defend you at the end of your round. Maybe I need one.

Q. For those of us who thought you had a heck of round, other than that, can you talk about the rest of the round? The eagle.

DUFFY WALDORF: I started slowing today. I didn't get off to a good start. My swing was a little quick and then I started getting a rhythm late on the right side. I made a nice birdie on No. 7. I hit a shot in there about six feet and made the putt.

I missed a short on the next hole, No. 8, for birdie. And made a nice birdie on 9 from about 25 feet, made a nice putt.

Not too good a shot on 10, made a bogey. Came back with a nice shot on 12. Made a long putt for birdie, which is now a bogey.

13, I hit a beautiful shot in there with a 3-iron from about 235, and hit it in there about 15 feet, and made the putt after Rory made his chip shot. That got me going good. I knew I was hanging with him.

Then 15 hit a beautiful shot in there about eight feet, six, eight feet and made that for birdie.

Made a birdie on 17. You would have seen me a lot earlier if I had just parred 18. Then it wouldn't have mattered. I would have said give me the two shots, because then it wouldn't have mattered. It turns out that makes a difference for second place. So I was trying to finish second along.

Q. If whatever happened on 12 did not take place, if you don't get the penalty, it doesn't affect you on 16, you're in position, you could win this tournament. With what happened, what are your emotions? Disappointment? Anger? What is going on right now?

DUFFY WALDORF: I'm a little disappointed. I had such a good final round, and I haven't played a good final round like that in a long time. I felt like I earned second place. I felt like I gave Rory a good run for his money and had a chance to win. I felt like I distanced myself from the field enough to finish second, and then to finish tied for second, it's disappointing in the money aspect. I still finished second. It's going to cost me money. I have enough money, so I'm okay. I'm going to have to work another few months.

Q. You tried to compare the situation to a baseball player stepping out of the batters box. On a scale of one to ten, how would you compare your infraction to corking a baseball bat?

DUFFY WALDORF: Intentionally corking it? Well, unintentionally corking a baseball bat, it's in the same ballpark. If somebody handed him a bat that he didn't know had cork in it, it's pretty similar. If he had known about the cork -- it's just in a totally different league.

Q. You said you were playing very well on the front nine. What do you do to stay composed? When you missed that short putt on 8 to get your thoughts back. And then when you look like you're going to get the eagle with a good putt, when Rory chips in it's got to be disheartening in a way, what do you do to just say, I'm going to make this, but also talk about the emotions where it looks like you might gain a stroke but then ultimately you evened out there?

DUFFY WALDORF: You stay focused on what you need to do, your execution. To me, the important thing in playing well is executing and rely on execution to carry you through, because sometime you execute perfectly and you end up the shot doesn't come off. I've executed a lot of good shots and they lay up in the trap or I misjudged the wind or whatever and they don't come out right, but as long as you're executing well -- when you get in a situation like that, you know if you execute you're going to hit -- you may not make the putt, but you're going to put a good roll on it. That's what I was focused on, making a good roll. That one happened to go in. And I think all the putts that I hit coming in were all good putts. Some of them went in, some of them didn't.

Q. Can you remember guys fighting for the lead, dropping eagles on top of each other late in the last round?

DUFFY WALDORF: I remember one time I was in the third round at the Greensboro tournament, and Keith Fergus, he holed it out from the fairway from 150 on the 8th hole, and then I holed a wedge on top of him. Two eagles on one hole, that was pretty exciting, from the fairway. That doesn't happen too often. But that was the third round, though. This is pretty late in the 4th round.

Q. Is Rory a good guy to play with?

DUFFY WALDORF: Rory is a great guy to play with, very fiery. He kind of rides the roller coaster emotionally. He's up and down. He gets really mad out there when he does something wrong, and excited when he does something well. He's fun to play with, especially for someone like me. I'm kind of even keel and it helps me to get a little emotional.

Q. I wanted to clarify something. When you were told of the infraction, was it before your tee shot on 16?

DUFFY WALDORF: No, after my tee shot, before my second shot.

Q. How did that affect you as far as the second shot?

DUFFY WALDORF: I just was a little bit off my focus because I kind of -- before I was thinking about executing shots. And then at that time I'm thinking, you know, I don't remember doing anything wrong. I'm just thinking about what I had done on the 12th hole. And I'm also thinking about, am I two shots down or four shots down. It was hard to get from being told and then thinking those thoughts and then playing a 158 yard shot into the 16th hole. I didn't quite have it. I think I got it back by 17. I was fine. But I just kind of -- on 17, I realized there's nothing I can do about it, I just need to play well coming in. 16 was a little tough.

Q. (Inaudible)

DUFFY WALDORF: It wasn't a very good shot. I was obviously shooting for the pin. The first cut, it was a good lie, and I didn't make a very good shot. It gave me time to collect myself. I came back and hit a pretty good putt. I didn't make it, but I hit a pretty good putt on 16. Talk about execution, I hit a good putt there. I didn't make it, but I felt good about the next hole. I executed on 17 and made it.

Q. 158 yards doesn't sound tough. Did the pin make it tough?

DUFFY WALDORF: It's a tough pin because you can't hit it left of the pin. I had a hook lie with the wind kind of from the right. To get the ball close, you have to take a little chance. You have to aim to the right and try to let everything speed to the left. I just overdid it.

Q. (Inaudible)

DUFFY WALDORF: I was aiming to the middle of the green but trying to let the wind and the lie take it to the pin.

Q. (Inaudible)

DUFFY WALDORF: No, I've actually got a flight home tonight.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Duffy.

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