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TRANSITIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 17, 2010

Derek Lamely

PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA

MARK WILLIAMS: Derek Lamely, thanks for joining us. Maybe in the last such couple of days, a bit of a whirlwind for you after winning the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular. It was your 12th start on TOUR, and to win and be the first rookie to win since 2008, I mean, that's obviously something that probably means a great deal to you. Just talk about your victory last week and what you're looking forward to here.
DEREK LAMELY: Yeah, last week, it was ideal, obviously. I haven't got off to a very good start so far for the year, a couple physical problems from the end of last year.
I mean, last week was great, just the sheer fact that I went through six time zones and 15 golf courses or so in about two months. So I was a little beat up and tired. So I played in Puerto Rico last year and played well; so gave me the opportunity to rest with the rain delays and whatnot and really helped with just finally feeling rested and feeling good again. So I think it really helped me play better and play good again.
MARK WILLIAMS: You had a great year on the Nationwide Tour last year, winning in Columbus, and beating Rickie Fowler in a playoff, and he's been getting a lot of publicity, etc. Do you feel like with Alex Prugh playing well and Rickie playing well and now you winning, do you feel like, okay, people are starting to notice me now?
DEREK LAMELY: Yeah, they might now. Like I said, I didn't get off to a very good start and they both played well so far. So I mean, they deserved everything that they have gotten. So it's the same thing. You've got to play well to get them to notice you. I really haven't played well so far this year.
MARK WILLIAMS: Before we open to questions, you have played here at this tournament, in 2008 and you did make the cut; what are you looking forward to this week, and do you have any memories from that event?
DEREK LAMELY: Yeah, I've got a lot of good memories from this one. I don't think I Monday'ed in in '07 for the event and I got in in '08 for here. God, I mean, the golf course is awesome. It's probably my favorite golf course I played in a TOUR event so far. It was a big learning curve for me, so when I played here, it really let me see what was good, what was bad, and what I needed -- how I needed to move forward from there.
So in respect to that, I mean, this was -- I mean, this was a perfect event for me in '08, because in '08, after I played here, I struggled on Sunday, and it really let me see when I needed to do, especially playing against the best.
MARK WILLIAMS: Winning last week obviously gets you in here. So welcome to the Transitions Championship.

Q. What does it feel like going from not knowing where you're going to be able to play to just when and where you want to play?
DEREK LAMELY: I get that question two years in a row now I would imagine. So last year it was the same thing. I think this year, I'm still going to have to play a lot just because I've never played any of the golf courses other than last week and this week.
So in that respect, I'm still going to have to play quite a bit, because you know, with all of the guys that have played out here for years, I'm still -- I'm still a rookie. I still don't know any of the golf courses.
So in order to set my schedule for the future, I would imagine I need to play not quite as much now, but still I'm going to have to play 30 events I would imagine in.

Q. What you was talking about, really, was the relief of the pressure that now you know that you can play and for two years have that, because of your victory?
DEREK LAMELY: Well, that's just -- that's priceless. I just don't even know how to quantify it and put it into words. I have no way to do it.

Q. Does it feel different, or do you feel different now that you've won?
DEREK LAMELY: I've always thought I could win out here, but you know, it's pretty cool to actually do it. Thinking you can do it and doing it, that's a whole new ballgame. So, yeah, it's fun.
But I still -- with respect to that, I still found some things that I thought could get better from last week playing. And that's just what I mean. It's just a great -- it's such a good tool, you go play against the best and you go and play on really good golf courses every week. So you just get to learn so much every week. It's priceless out here.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the reaction to your victory and what the last 48 hours have been like?
DEREK LAMELY: The reaction to the victory? God, that was just -- I mean, it was so awesome. Especially I've known Steve Wheatcroft since the end of the year last year playing Nationwide. So I really liked seeing him play well. I know Kris a little bit, so I mean, there's two guys that I know a little bit, so it was nice to see them play well. But God that was so nerve-wracking. I was way more nervous sitting in that media room watching than I was playing. It was really hard. It was really hard to watch.

Q. And did you go fishing yesterday?
DEREK LAMELY: You know, I tried to but it was too cold and my phone would not stop ringing. (Laughing).

Q. Where were you?
DEREK LAMELY: I was home in Fort Myers.

Q. Where do you fish?
DEREK LAMELY: I just go out on the boat and I'll go fishing in the river, I'll go fishing out in the back bays.

Q. Freshwater?
DEREK LAMELY: No. Saltwater.
MARK WILLIAMS: So instead of fishing, you just took a lot of phone calls.
DEREK LAMELY: Yeah, unfortunately it was a lot of phone all day.

Q. You mentioned you weren't playing very well coming into last week, did you figure something out? What changed, and is it going to carry over?
DEREK LAMELY: I hurt my back a little bit at the end of last year and I didn't get to practice really all winter until almost Christmastime is when I finally got to start hitting balls again. So I really only had about maybe, maybe if I was lucky, two weeks, to really start trying to get ready for Hawaii.
And you know, maybe it was from hurting my back a little bit or whatever it was, some things got off and it just took a while to get them to come back.
So actually I played significantly better at Honda. Scores definitely did not reflect it, but that was a very difficult golf course. You know, I could see things coming back. I putted well all year, except maybe for an event here or there. So I could see things kind of going in the right direction.

Q. What specifically did you do to your back?
DEREK LAMELY: You know, I don't even know. I pulled a muscle in the lower right side of my back.

Q. During a tournament or working out?
DEREK LAMELY: I did it in Soboba, yeah, when I was playing. So it kind of got worse the last couple of weeks, but I had to improve my number as much as I could for Nationwide, so I could play more events out here; so I played the last couple of weeks and it was not fun.
MARK WILLIAMS: Sadly the victory does not get you into the Masters but it does improve to give you a good amount of FedExCup points. Going forward, do you look at it any differently trying to finish as high as you can and accrue to more points to get to those Playoff events, or do you look to win again as soon as you can? How does that change your perspective?
DEREK LAMELY: No, I mean, it's still the same perspective. I want to see if I can just keep getting better. And if you can win, yeah, same as everybody -- almost everybody out here I would imagine. You want to put yourself in the position as many chances as you can and see what you can do with it. I mean, it's fun to be nervous like that. It's fun to come down the last few holes and start seeing Mark Lyle come out there, because I've known Mark for a couple of years and saw him on the cart and started laughing. It was fun. I loved it.

Q. When you showed up here, what did it feel like? Were you treated differently? How has it been? I know it's only been a few hours?
DEREK LAMELY: I was going to say, I got here ten minutes ago. (Laughter).

Q. Did you get one phone call that really sticks out that maybe surprised you or that you enjoyed more than any other phone call?
DEREK LAMELY: Not off the top of my head, no.

Q. They were all good?
DEREK LAMELY: They were all good, yeah.

Q. Who was the first call you got, or what was the first call you got?
DEREK LAMELY: First call I got, I got my parents; I got my girlfriend; I had my teacher. It was cool, just everybody. So I got my good buddies. It's been fun. So I got some buddies that are still playing mini-tour golf. They are trying to get out here, so I've talked to them. I've talked to all of my friends and family and everybody else. It was awesome.
MARK WILLIAMS: We are pleased to have you here at the Transitions Championship, and good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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