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BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2004

Woody Austin

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome the champion of the 2004 Buick Championship, Woody Austin. Something about Buick tournaments and you?

WOODY AUSTIN: I guess so. I don't like the nine and a half, ten years in between the two, but it's a quality win because they're a quality company, and they are our main sponsor as far as the most tournaments, and they give us all our courtesy cars every week. I couldn't ask for a better win.

TODD BUDNICK: It had been a while, but along with the Buick tie in there, there's a playoff tie in, as well. You won your first one.

WOODY AUSTIN: I've had three chances and all three having playoffs. The first one I was fortunate enough to win, so I'm happy to be on the positive side again, two out of three, but it's amazing how it seems to work out that Davis chipped in on 18 at Harbour Town to get in the playoff last year that I lost, and then the problems that I had, it was just kind of deja vu so to speak. I did a good job of not thinking about that and played a really good 18th hole in the playoff.

TODD BUDNICK: You made the turn at even par, and nobody was getting away from the group there, and then you run off five birdies in your next six holes. That's the key to your day today.

WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, I did the same thing yesterday. I played quality golf the whole front nine yesterday and today and just could not get the ball to go in the hole. Yesterday I birdied the first four in a row on the back nine to get me going, and today I did the same thing, hit a great shot into 10, and when that putt went in, I was like, okay, maybe I can do the same thing, and then I birdied 11.

The putt on 13 was probably the biggest one because he had hit his in there close for eagle and I made my first, and then another one on 14 and 15. I just hit so many good quality shots and gave myself enough chances, and fortunately for me the putter worked today and I made all the putts I needed to make.

Q. Were you aware of the fluctuating leaderboard at all or were you not paying attention?

WOODY AUSTIN: I'm a scoreboard watcher; I always watch. I wasn't really aware of the top guys as far as where they were at 11 or 10. I saw that Corey or Freddie had gotten it to 11 early in the round when we were still on the front. But when we were in the 12th fairway, I was thinking about getting to 10 at that juncture just to get up there, and then when I birdied 13 and 14 and then birdied 15 to get to 11, I was like, "if I can just play good solid three holes and get in at 11, if I get one more," I felt like I had a real good chance.

When I came off 17 green and I saw the board there and I saw just me and Tim at 11 and everybody else was 9 or less, I looked at Brent and I told Brent, "4 and it's ours." It would have been 4 and it would have been mine.

Q. How was the lie going into 18?

WOODY AUSTIN: It was in a pretty big divot, but the problem with it was it was in the beginning part of it, so the grass was above the ball. If it would have been in the front part of it, it wouldn't have been any big deal. It was just the fact that it was in the first part of the divot, and the fact that it was in the first cut of rough, the grass was above the ball behind it, so I felt like I had to get in there steep after it, and we played the right shot. I took a full gap wedge and was just going to beat on it and I didn't stay on top of it enough and I hit one groove too low. I didn't hit it head high. At least I got it up in the air.

Q. After nine years did you think this day would never come?

WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, sure, I've had those I'm a little bit of a pessimistic person, I guess, when it comes to my golf game. I feel like deep down I've never showed the true talent that I have. I feel like I'm one of the best players out here and I've never proven that or showed it, so I've been pretty down for a while as far as that goes.

I certainly wanted to feel vindicated after my victory, my rookie year and then winning Rookie of the Year and pretty much haven't done anything since. I feel like last year winning Harbour Town and now this year winning, I feel like I'm starting to be vindicated again. I feel like if I can get my confidence back, I can show that I haven't shown you anything yet.

Q. Why do you feel like you haven't played as well yet?

WOODY AUSTIN: Unfortunately for me I'm just a very nervous individual and I don't allow my talent to come out. It doesn't show like it should. I've done a really, really good job the last three tournaments of being patient. My patience the last three weeks has been just the best they've been in a long time, and I think that's just because I had success last year, I've played good again this year, and I'm starting to calm down a little bit as far as I'm not having to worry about my job. I went for seven years in a row of having to worry about my job every single year for seven years in a row, and now for two years in a row, I haven't had to, and so the anxiety of losing my job, I've been able to be a little bit more calm, and the last three weeks I've been very patient.

I've made a lot of mistakes the last few weeks, but I've been able to not get it down and I've been able to come back, and I did it again this week.

Q. Why do you think the field ahead of you was folding? Was it the course, weather, the ages? What do you think?

WOODY AUSTIN: I think the wind had a little bit to do with it, especially early. It was blowing pretty good. When you get a golf course that's in good shape as far as on a Sunday where the greens are firm, you've got rough around the greens where if you just miss the green it's not just a simple chip shot and you get them pretty fast, I think the best thing as far as a tournament for me is the guy that's hitting it the best is going to win.

If you take some tournaments where let's say a Bob Hope or something where you go up there knowing you've got to shoot 64, then guys aren't going to come back, but when you play a golf course, when you stand on this first tee on Sunday, you know that you'd better hit a quality golf shot on every hole. It makes it a little bit tougher obviously to hit that perfect shot. I just feel a lot more comfortable in that environment than I do in any other.

Q. Did you then feel that you were in a good spot then because you weren't at the top looking down; you were down and looking up?

WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. You don't feel like you have to hang on. You've got to tell yourself you've got to hit those shots. Obviously you've got to make birdies to keep going. The fact that I didn't make birdies and was even par through the turn, I knew I had to make birdies. You've just got to start pressing. Fortunately for me I was playing good and it was just a matter of putts going in.

Q. You call yourself a pessimist but you don't lack confidence, do you?

WOODY AUSTIN: If I had let's see how I can say this. I consider myself, like I said, deep down, I feel like I'm one of the best players. I'm definitely one of the best ball strikers around, but unfortunately for me, like I said, I'm a very nervous individual and it shows on the greens a lot of times so I don't get out of my rounds what I should, so therefore, I'm very down a lot of times. I feel like I waste a lot of shots.

If you look at my career over the ten years, I've only cracked the Top 135 in putting once; once. It's a tough gig. If you can't putt, it's a tough gig. Even my rookie year, when I won Rookie of the Year, I was 130th in putting. I mean, it's a tough game if you can't get the ball in the hole no matter how good you hit it. You guys talk about how Tiger might struggle in putting and yet he's still in the Top 5. Put him down at 180th or 165th like me every year, and now we'll see how the scores change a little bit.

Q. Have you discovered a way to overcome that?

WOODY AUSTIN: No. That's just my fortunately for me, now that I'm 40 years old, I've just grown more and more accepting of it. I know that's my personality. That's my physical makeup inside or what have you, and some days I'm really good at battling it and some days I'm not good at all.

I mean, I don't know if you saw like yesterday, I was playing a great round of golf yesterday, had a 5 under going into 18, and I didn't hit the hole on 18 from that far. I missed the whole hole from that far. I do it all the time. It's a tough feeling to get over. Sometimes I do it and sometimes I don't.

Q. How nervous were you over the putt in sudden death in comparison to against Davis last year?

WOODY AUSTIN: I think I was pretty much in the same mold. Like I said, fortunately for me the putt there on 18 was downhill to where I really didn't have to hit it, I just had to get it started on line, whereas the three footer I missed last year against Davis was pretty much flat or uphill, and I felt like I had to hit it, and I pulled it. I'd like to say fortunately for me that putt was a lot easier in the way the putt was.

Q. Did you hear the clown in regulation on 18 just before Herron putted yelled out something about "Make it and he'll jack it" or something?

WOODY AUSTIN: I thought he said that in the playoff. I heard him in the playoff. I didn't hear him in regulation. I heard him say, "Timmy, make it and he'll choke it." I did hear that.

Q. You putted pretty quickly there for the game winner. You sort of got up over it and knocked it in the hole. Is that accurate? And two, have you found that just kind of getting up there and simplifying it helps?

WOODY AUSTIN: I've tried to figure out anyway possible on a short putt to get it out of the way, there's no question about it. I've tried to do things a lot quicker. I've tried to just be decisive as I possibly can.

But as far as that putt being hit pretty quickly, it might have been hit quickly as far as after I marked it or whatever, but I had a long time to he hit two putts, we were trying to figure out who was away, so I had plenty of time, and me and Brent conversed on the line, and we knew exactly what we wanted to do, so as soon as I put it down and we conversed again and said, "Yeah, it's right at that ball mark there," and there was no question about it.

Q. When you hit the second shot on 17, did the thought cross your mind that it was going to go in the water?

WOODY AUSTIN: No. I thought I hit the right shot. Like I've told everybody, that 17th hole, the second shot all week, had played short. I was hitting 9 irons from like 160 something into that green earlier in the week, and one time I had hit it over the green with a 9 iron from 150 something I think it was, and yesterday I hit 8 iron from 173, and I hit my 8 iron 155 maybe, so the hole was playing short. I was right in between my sand wedges. Unfortunately I was right at the extreme for my lob wedge and not close at all for my gap wedge, and if I hit the lob wedge and it comes up short, it spins right off the green. So we went with the gap wedge and I thought I hit a perfect shot, I just probably didn't hit it high enough to ride the wind by hitting it so easy.

Q. Were you shocked then when you saw it

WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, I was. I was playing for the middle of the green, which was where it was shorter, and I was just trying to get it in the middle of the green there. I didn't want to blow it in the back of the green and have that putt, so I thought I was playing the smart shot and I thought I pulled it off. Unfortunately I didn't hit it high enough.

Q. Because you had just seen him put it in the water?

WOODY AUSTIN: That's the good thing and the bad thing about the match play portion of it right there. I saw him do that, and I said, "Okay, now you have to play a smart shot." You don't have to make birdie, so I didn't have to be aggressive. I tried to play smart out in the middle of the green 20 feet from the hole, and I thought I hit the shot, but unfortunately it just didn't work out.

Q. How close were you to the water? How much did it clear it by?

WOODY AUSTIN: It probably cleared by about three or four yards.

Q. You talk about your problems with your putter. How long has the putter you're putting with been your putter?

WOODY AUSTIN: This one?

Q. Yeah.

WOODY AUSTIN: I think I putted with this one they just came out with that center shaft, so I started with this one at Moline, Illinois, at the John Deere.

Q. Is this as long a marriage as you've had with a putter?

WOODY AUSTIN: No, I putted with a belly putter last year, which is kind of strange. Last year was my best year ever. I broke the Top 100 for the first time ever, and I putted with a belly, with a Futura, and I putted all year with it last year, and I started out this year and I couldn't kick it in.

After Doral, me and Brent decided we'd just go ahead and go back to a short putter for a while, and I finished tied for 4th at the Honda, so then that worked for a little bit. But the problem I have with the short putter is I really miss the short ones, so that got to be a problem, so then I went back to the belly for a while. The problem with the belly is I couldn't make anything from 15 or 20 but at least I didn't miss the dinky ones.

So I've gone back to the short ones and I've led in birdies the last so many weeks. The problem is I just have a hard time when I get it around there.

Q. When was your Credit Union teller and Eckert Drug days?

WOODY AUSTIN: I tore the ligaments and cartilage in my knee in 1987. I had already gone through the first stage of Q school, so I couldn't get my money back, so I tried to go through Q school with a torn up leg, which was not a very smart thing to do, and when I found out the diagnosis of what I had, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to play for a while, took 18 months of just rehab.

So at the end of 1987, I started looking for a job. I'm pretty sure I started with the Credit Union in October or November of '87. I worked with them all the way up until finals of Q school in '94 when I won at Q school. I even worked if I remember correctly, I worked one week before the finals of Q school. I worked in the Credit Union.

Q. So seven years?

WOODY AUSTIN: Yes.

Q. What about Eckert Drugs?

WOODY AUSTIN: That was in the middle there. I worked full time when I was rehabbing, so I worked Monday to Friday 8:00 to 5:00 because I couldn't play golf. I did that for a couple of years. I started back trying to play again, and I had an offer to go to Japan for a little bit because I had won a college tournament in Japan, and these Japanese people in Tampa wanted to take somebody over there, so I went over there for a little bit but that didn't go well because I went over there before Brian Watts, so I went there and got treated not too nicely.

So I came back, started working again, and when I felt like I was ready to start playing again, I went to the Credit Union and they were awesome. They said, "you know, whatever you would like to do would be fine with us," so what I did was I worked Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at the Credit Union, and I played in Orlando at the mini Tours on Monday and Tuesday. Two nights a week I worked a graveyard shift at Eckert Drugs from 12:00 until 8:00 in the morning, and unfortunately once in a while that would come across on the Credit Union days.

I only worked at Credit Union for a couple months.

Q. That was all in the Orlando area?

WOODY AUSTIN: No, that was in Tampa. I only played the mini Tour events in Orlando. Then when the Credit Union went down, I started bartending. So then my schedule was Monday, Tuesday in Orlando on the mini Tour, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at the Credit Union, Friday night, Saturday night bartending, and then just kept on going. That was my circle for probably a year or two.

Q. Could you play at all?

WOODY AUSTIN: I practiced at night at a lighted driving range if I had a chance, in my backyard. I got to play on Sundays every once in a while, obviously not in football season because then I would be bartending on Sunday (laughter).

Q. Good tips, though.

WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, yeah. You do what you have to. I was just keeping myself above water and giving myself a chance. It was pretty strange because I couldn't help but look at the guys that were having success out here and playing with them. I grew up playing with Lee Janzen and playing with him and Rocco. I played against Davis in college, and I knew I could play with them, but nobody is going to know that except yourself because you haven't been around. It just kept me motivated to watch their success and know that I was that good or as good as they were, and I just needed to be given a chance. I wasn't given a chance yet because I got hurt right out of school, and it's a very expensive game, and if you don't have anybody to help you out, and I didn't have anybody to help me out, it's hard to crack in.

Once I got that chance, I felt like those first couple years I proved that I belonged, and then unfortunately I went back down, and now I'm making my way back up.

Q. At what point did you think you could get out on Tour; was it '94?

WOODY AUSTIN: From 1986 until 1994, I never played any kind of a schedule. I never played for a month in a row. I never could play on any regular basis to work on my game. I was either like I said, even doing that weekly thing, I'm only playing Monday and Tuesday. I'm not playing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, so there was never any period of time where I could work on my game, and then when I finally made it to the finals of Q school in '93 to at least get my Nike card for '94, that was the first time that I was going to play on a weekly basis, was going to actually work on my game.

It's hard to look back, but if you look back on that year, the consistency came at the end of the year. I started making every cut, started playing good, finished 2nd towards the end, and it just led right into Q school. I won Q school, and right into '95 my game was making its way back, so to speak, and I played great in '95 and '96.

Q. And then your nerves kind of took over?

WOODY AUSTIN: No, they've always been there. I've always been that way. That's my personality. I'm a very jittery person. I'm one of those people that if you walk up behind and just go like that (indicating) I'll jump.

Q. How many people have asked you about Hilton Head?

WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, I get told about it all the time, all the time. It doesn't bother me. That's fine. I look at that as it was a crazy time, but I'm the kind of person who always will step up or take the blame for my mistakes. I'm never going to shuck blame. I don't like to make excuses. There's too many guys that make excuses for everything, and that's why I think a lot of times I'm looked at really strange, because I hey, if I'm the one that choked, I'm the one that choked. It didn't hit a spike mark. I think there's too many guys out here that are trying to be politically correct and saying, "well, it wasn't me." That's why I get mad at myself. I have control. If I screw up, I screw up. It's not my caddie's fault, it's not the gallery's fault; it's my fault.

Q. Turning 40 used to be a death sentence. Sounds like to me you must be looking forward to your 40s?

WOODY AUSTIN: After the previous few years with all the guys playing so well, sure. I've been razzing Jay Haas now for the past couple years telling Jay to play with people his own age and leave us young guys alone (laughter). He hasn't played a bad tournament in two years. He finishes Top 10 every tournament he played now it seems like.

In this day and age with all the things that go on and with the technology that golf has now, it doesn't matter. I can hit it with anybody. Just because I'm 40 doesn't mean anything.

Q. I think four of the Top 5 guys starting today were in their 40s.

WOODY AUSTIN: Like I said, if you put us on a level playing field, just like anybody, there's something to be said for experience. You don't have to hit it so hard every single time. The young guys nowadays with the technology, with the big headed drivers and the golf balls going so straight, a lot of them to me don't know how to hit golf shots yet. They just think, "well, I'll just hit a 9 iron harder." I still remember what it is to hit a golf shot. Under the gun, it's nicer to know you can hit a golf shot than take the club and swing at it as hard as you can.

Q. That's the way this course is?

WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. You've got to work your golf ball. You've got to play golf here. You stand up on 16 today, with that flag in the back right, you can't bomb it over that if you fly it to the hole you've got to shape a shot in there. 17 is the same way.

Q. Unless you get lucky like Lumpy?

WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah, that was

Q. What were you thinking there?

WOODY AUSTIN: That was a good bounce (laughter). I've said it all along. The person that wins usually gets the breaks when they need them. It's very rare that somebody is going to outplay 150 some other guys like five or six shots throughout the week and not get the break he needs down the stretch.

Q. Did you think maybe you got the bad one on 18?

WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. I felt like I was happy we weren't tied. I still felt like I could make 4 obviously, but it just made it that much tougher, but it was nice to have that little bit of a cushion.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your card today. You started with a bogey on 1.

WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah. I drove it just barely left down the left side. I mean, it was maybe four inches in the thick stuff, so I had a bad lie, so I couldn't carry it over the front bunker, and I played a smart shot right out to the right front. I had it right on the upslope of the green and I pitched it up to about five feet and missed it, which obviously isn't a very good start.

7, I hit a perfect drive and had a lob wedge downwind, hit it a little long, so I made about an 18 footer there. It was the first putt I made all day. That was nice. It got me motivated.

10, I hit an awesome 7 iron in there that hit just on the ridge that was short of the hole, so it didn't go over the hill and feed to the hole. It hit the hill and kind of stayed there, and I read the putt perfect and just poured it right in.

Then 11, the day before we had the exact same yardage, and I tried to kill a wedge and just keep it up in the air, and it didn't get there, so today I just told Brent, "I'm swinging at it good," and when I'm swinging at it good, I like to just play with the golf ball. So I just took a 9 iron and just chipped a 9 iron in there and hit it in there about five feet.

TODD BUDNICK: How far was the putt on 10?

WOODY AUSTIN: 10 was probably about 15 feet probably.

13, I drove it just out of the fairway on a downslope between the bunkers, and it was kind of a risky shot to a point to go for the green, but I felt like if I could get it all the way pin high to the right, it's a simple pitch down that green, whereas if you lay up and you hit your sand wedge you can spin it right off that green, and unfortunately there was a ruling in front of us, so we stood in that fairway for God, we stood there for at least 10, 15 minutes, and that's not what you want to do when you've got that downhill lie and you're trying to carry the water. I hit it really solid but I bailed out from the water and I hit it in the far bunker down on the right, so I wasn't in a greenside bunker but all the way up there. I just tried to get it on the green and tried to let it run all the way to the hole. I hit a pretty good shot and I was surprised it slowed up and landed as soft as it did. I made about a 12 footer there, just an absolute perfect pace, a really good putt there. That one was huge because that kept my momentum going.

14, again, just barely through the fairway to the right into the first cut. The wind was blowing pretty good on 14, and Tim had just been in the right rough, and his ball had just ballooned and it grabbed his ball and he came up way short. It was probably a 9 iron, but being in the semi cut on the side hill I didn't want to get it up in the wind. When I'm playing well, I like to play with the ball, so I choked down on an 8 iron and I hit this perfect low ball that never moved, went right at it the hole way, and it went about six feet behind the hole, and I poured that one in.

15, hit a beautiful 3 wood that just turned over just a hair too much, was right on line but turning a little bit and it hit and it kind of ran off the left side of the green over in the rough, but that was the perfect place to miss it on that hole. If you missed it right of that green, it's so hard to keep the ball on the green. Fortunately I was chipping right back up the green.

I had a pretty good lie and I thought I hit a pretty good shot, and it came out fat and tumbled, but I still got I probably only had about a six, seven footer there, but it was straight back down the hill.

Another one I hit just absolutely perfect pace. If it wasn't going to go in, it wasn't going to go anywhere. It wasn't going to leave me any kind of a tough putt.

18, the first one, I told Brent coming off 17, I said, "we make 4 and it's ours." The hole was playing downwind so there was no decision. It was a driver all the way because you could just blow it over the bunker and everything, and I hammered it, and I just a hair to the left. It hit those two big mounds down the left side in the first cut, and when we got there it was sitting in a divot. It was a good yardage so figured we could be aggressive with a gap wedge and just get it into the middle of the green, and I just moved on it trying to dig it out and hit it a little thin, and next thing you know, it made the hole real interesting.

Then the playoff, again, it was playing downwind, just let it rip. I had plenty of green to work with. No matter how far you drove it down there you were going to have plenty of green to work with to get it close to the hole. I hit a perfect drive, hammered it right down the middle of the fairway and drove it right down there across the cart path and had a perfect yardage for a lob wedge. I had 99 yards and my lob wedge goes 90 yards. It was downwind and had a little adrenaline. I could be nice and aggressive, and I felt like I hit the perfect shot. The ball actually bounced kind of right when it landed on the green, but it was a perfect distance.

TODD BUDNICK: Two wins in August, two wins in playoffs, two wins at Buick sponsored events. Congratulations and let's hope we see you sooner than nine years next time.

WOODY AUSTIN: Yeah. I don't know if I'll be playing in nine more years.

End of FastScripts.

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