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BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP

August 28, 2005

Brad Faxon

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome the 2005 Buick Championship winner Brad Faxon, congratulations.

BRAD FAXON: Thanks.

TODD BUDNICK: Your eighth career win and second title here in New England, a big fan favorite today. Talk a little bit about the win in New England.

BRAD FAXON: Well, this was really kind of out of the blue. I mean, Friday afternoon I was in my hotel room packing to go home because I thought even par would miss the cut. I actually bet Johnny Andrews $286.67 that I was going to miss, and I'll gladly pay him now (laughing).

I don't know what to say. Seven back starting the round, you have it outside of your mind if you shoot a great round something crazy could happen; 12 under was leading, 11 under was second, 8 under was third. So there was a little gap between second and third place. It's one of those things where I knew 61 was going to be the number. I love that line when players say that.

I had no idea what the number would be or if I could shoot it. But the first two days I played okay and never made a birdie. I made two birdies and two bogeys. Then something happened yesterday where all the putts started going in, and I just stayed patient.

Today I think more than any other day I've played in a long time, I didn't ever get ahead of myself. I've been notorious this year for when I've played well, starting to think about holes coming up or what could happen, and I did a great job staying in the present.

I honestly never saw a leaderboard intentionally until the last hole I caught out of the corner of my eye, saw the new leaderboard that had the stats, and I saw my 14 was first. So I had a tricky little two and a half footer there in regulation and made that. I kind of suffered as Tjaart birdied the last two holes, but I'm excited.

TODD BUDNICK: You're the first player since Jose Maria Olazabal in 2002 to make the cut on the number and win. Talk about that, how difficult that is to post 65 61 on the weekend.

BRAD FAXON: I could tell from the first day scores, there were a bunch of scores bunched in there between 67, 68, 69, 70, and this course, what I love about playing here is typically it doesn't take 25 under to win, and you always see a mix of players; you get the short and crooked guys like me that can do well and then you get the bombers that can do well here. But to see Corey Pavin play well, and I've never played with Tjaart before and he bombs it by me, I played with Jason Gore yesterday and he can kill it. All these guys have different types of games that do well here. I never could have dreamed making the cut that I'd be sitting here with you guys right now.

TODD BUDNICK: A 9 under 61, career best, no bogeys today. Kind of walk us through the day, not hole by hole, but your experience.

BRAD FAXON: You know, it was kind of spitting rain a little bit, a little bit windy, a little bit humid. I didn't really know what the course was going to be like. I hit two great shots into the first hole and missed about a ten footer, and rather than me get mad for some reason, I said, "that's all right," and I made a nice ten footer on the next hole, kind of set the pace.

Hit a good putt on 3 that lipped out, birdied 4 out of the left rough after getting a lucky drop. I had a couple nice drops off the cart path. The 4th hole was one of them and obviously 17. I kept hitting it in close and kept making putts, and they went in, a lot of them went in. I felt like I used to do that a lot.

Q. You hit an unbelievable shot to the green there in the playoff, and you turn around and watch Tjaart hit almost the same shot .

BRAD FAXON: It was really exciting. I mean, the crowd was into it. Tjaart seems like a really nice guy. Today is the first time I've ever talked to him. I know he birdied 17, birdied 18. His drive was leaking a little right and it got that nice kick that you need off there, and I said, "Oh, boy, I'm in trouble," because when I hit my tee shot it was hugging the left side and kicked left and went in the bunker. I thought it might stay up, but for a while I thought it hung up in the grass and then I was going to be in trouble, and when I saw it in the bottom of the bunker I knew I at least had a decent shot at it.

I had a fair lie, not a great lie, but a good yardage, similar to the yardage I had in regulation, and I knew it was the right club; it was just can you hit it straight, and it got there.

Q. You've been one of the better players for umpteen years

BRAD FAXON: More than that.

Q. When you see what happens on Sunday is traditionally the leaderboard tends to bunch up, especially at the top. When you found out you were ahead on the back nine, did you entertain any thoughts in the back of your mind that I might have a chance to put myself in the middle of this before it's all over?

BRAD FAXON: Well, when I birdied 10, 11 and 12, and to me that 13th hole is a tough tee shot, against the wind and water, there's OB, I wasn't driving it great, it was driving it okay, and I smoked a drive there. I thought, "If I can birdie a couple holes, the next few holes" you can birdie 13. I had an iron in there and I didn't make birdie. 14 I hit it in there ten feet, and 15 is obviously a drivable hole. I thought I could do something, but honestly I never saw a board, never knew how I stood.

But you get a feeling, you know. The crowd gets into it, and once you come back towards the clubhouse, when you get to 14 green and on, you can really tell what's going on.

Q. Was that your best shot ever, the shot under pressure on the playoff hole?

BRAD FAXON: Ever? Automatically it would be Top 5. But to hit it that close in that situation in a playoff, yeah, that's crazy.

Q. You must favor being the hunter.

BRAD FAXON: I don't know. I mean, I sometimes think what happens when guys like Justin and Ben were playing together, maybe sometimes you feed off each other, sometimes like during the last group, not playing good, they're uncomfortable, maybe that kind of works into guys' favor out in front. But the last few holes, it was ideal conditions. There wasn't much wind playing the last five or six holes. The greens were still receptive. They're perfect to putt on. There was no marks on them at all. So that helps.

You know, I played with this kid Spencer Levin, who's going to be a great player; this kid's got some game. Nice kid. I had heard some stories, but he was great to play with, very complimentary, and that helps sometimes, being in a good group. I don't know who Tjaart played with or if that affected him at all, but sometimes that makes a difference.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: I don't know. My wife said I was going to have surgery on my knee in two weeks. I have a torn ACL and kind of had resigned to the fact that I was going to just do it and suck it up, and then my wife says, "If we don't go to Kapalua, I'm going to kill you." So what do you think (laughing)?

Q. The recuperation is six months did I hear?

BRAD FAXON: It depends on the individual, but minimum of three and a half to four, could be up to six. So if I did it in the middle of September, I wouldn't be at Kapalua.

Q. Only a couple of guys have ever played here more than you. Can you talk about your loyalty?

BRAD FAXON: Well, I've been here actually I've played Wethersfield. There aren't many guys that played Wethersfield. I did that in '83 at the qualifier. I live close to here. Obviously I'm from here. It's too far to drive from home to here every day, but I've seen the changes this golf course has gone through when it was all kind of the old I don't know what it was called before TPC. TPC of Connecticut, right. And it's kind of evolved, and I think it's a really fun golf course to play.

I know this area is sports starved. People get excited about this tournament, and I love playing close to home. Nobody on Tour would ever tell you differently. I mean, they love playing close to home, they would love to win at home. Maybe people think there's too much pressure, too much going on, but I mean, I can't wait for these two weeks. I mean, back to back, being able to be this close my father came today, my aunt and my uncle, my cousins are there, great friends are here. It's just awesome.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: That's a good question. I was playing the front nine as my back nine on Friday morning, and I had played pretty well on Thursday. It was kind of a windy day, and I had that late early time. I wasn't playing great. I couldn't get a putt to fall. I thought maybe that even par was going to make the cut, and I made a nice putt for birdie on No. 7. I hit a great drive and a 9 iron to maybe six feet, and when I was even par, I said, "Please, don't do anything stupid," because I can do a lot of stupid things. I almost birdied 8 and 9.

I've probably made or missed I would say a minimum of ten cuts right on the number this year. I mean, I've been all over that cut line, which is not fun.

You said it was Olazabal in '01? '02? It doesn't happen very often.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: Nothing hurts right now, let me tell you (laughter).

Q. Will you spend the weekend with your family?

BRAD FAXON: No, you know, both these tournaments mean so much to me, and the last thing I want to do is go home before another big tournament at home. You know, the Deutsche Bank tournament starts on Friday, so that would be six days of hanging around, and I don't know how many times I would have had to go up there and hang it's a long time. You know, four rounds is a long time. Waiting six days to play another tournament, I would have gone psycho.

Q. The drive from here to home, how long is it?

BRAD FAXON: I can't make it in under an hour and a half. I made it in an hour and 10 once (laughter).

Q. Any other connections with Connecticut? As a junior did you play much down here?

BRAD FAXON: I remember playing Hartford Country Club in like the New England something, juniors or something, but no.

Q. Which knee is it?

BRAD FAXON: Right knee.

Q. Can you talk about your drive on 17, and then when you realized it was rolling down the cart path?

BRAD FAXON: Well, everything happened in slow motion there. I was aiming at the bunker trying to hit a cut shot. I was hitting one of those utility looking things. I felt good with this club, and I creamed it, and it was just drawing a little, and I'm like, "Oh, it's going to hit the path." You can tell. It was all over the cart path, and actually somebody's cart was right there, and I know that left hill is terrible, and I was just hoping that it would somehow get to the right.

And then I heard the crowd and then it was kind of like the guy in the 10th frame that's going to roll a 300 game. You can hear the ball is going down there, and you could hear them all yelling. My biggest worry when I was coming down was will the ball be enough on the right side of the path that I can drop it on the right side instead of up on this thing. Because there's no way if the ball were a foot further left that I could have knocked it on the green. I would have played it from the cart path.

Q. A lot of the players say that you've got to have some lucky breaks during a round to win. That was a pretty lucky break.

BRAD FAXON: What are you talking about (laughter)? That was a lucky break. It seems like guys do stuff when they win that they do things to win, whether it's a lucky break like that or somebody else messes up for them. You know, it's much more satisfying to win it this way in a playoff. Don't get me wrong, I would have rather not had a playoff, but it feels better like this. I had a lot of lucky things happen. Does it balance that I didn't have a lot of lucky things happen early in the week? It looks better for television.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: Oh, yeah, I was really worried. My caddie looked at me like, "What were you doing?" I said, "I thought it might jump." I thought I had to take a gorilla swing. I had 109 yards out of a pretty thick lie, but I thought I might get a little bit of a flier with that sand wedge. I had 80 yards to the front and I was pretty sure I could carry it. Maybe it was more than that, 88 yards, and when I hit it, I thought, "Oh, my God, this is going to go in the water." It carried onto the green. It wasn't as close as I thought, but I was very happy with it.

Q. The surgery you have scheduled (inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: If you had asked me that in February after missing four cuts in a row to start the year, I might have said yes. But I believe a lot. I never thought I was wiped out of this thing. I never wanted to use the knee as an excuse for not playing well because obviously I can still walk and I can play. But it's kind of the other stuff that you like to do that you can't do, the stupid stuff.

Q. Dancing?

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, dancing, that's what I do (laughing).

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: If I had to drop it, I would have had no choice because there's no way dropping it up on the hill I could have hit it on the green. I would have hit it off the cart path. It would have wrecked my club. I would have done it. There would have been no doubt.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: On 18 in the playoff, 158 to the front of the green, nine on, 167. It flew 165, flew a yard or two short.

Q. What did you hit?

BRAD FAXON: 7. The club came out of the bag as soon as I heard the yardage.

Q. Who is Johnny Andrews?

BRAD FAXON: He's in the scorer's hut, and that's how much money I won in the Pro Am, and the top ten guys in the Pro Am make some money. I was tied for 8th place, $286.67, and I told him I'd bet him that. He said I would, I said I wouldn't. I'll write him a check.

Q. Have you paid him?

BRAD FAXON: Not yet. I haven't seen him.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: Well, how cool is that? You're sitting here with two guys playing in a playoff, one guy has just stoned it. He's nervous, I know he's nervous, he's never won a Tour event, and he hits a shot and it hits the pin. The crowd went bananas. How could you not like that?

TODD BUDNICK: Let's just go through all those birdies. No. 2?

BRAD FAXON: No. 2, 3 wood, 60 degree wedge to ten feet.

No. 4, driver, 7 iron to four feet.

7, driver, 7 iron from the bunker to four feet. 7 iron was a winner today, wasn't it?

No. 9, driver, wedge to ten feet.

10, driver, 7 iron to 30 feet.

11, hit iron to ten feet.

12, driver, wedge to 30 feet.

15, driver over the back, chipped it to six feet.

16, 7 iron to three feet. I'm going to bronze that thing.

Then 7 iron on 18 in the playoff.

Q. How far was the putt in the playoff?

BRAD FAXON: Three feet, just in the throw up zone.

Q. Hour by hour here, can you talk about what your responsibilities are starting tomorrow?

BRAD FAXON: I've got Theo Epstein at 9:00 o'clock on the first tee. I heard he can't play, either, which I don't really care about. I'm probably not going to sleep a whole lot tonight, which I don't mind. We'll be driving back in caravan because my wife is here in her car, my caddie is here with his car. He's staying with me. My dad probably left already.

But it's going to be a big week. I have an outing for Fidelity on Tuesday in Massachusetts. Wednesday is some panel discussion with that Rosaforte guy in the morning. If we don't get the rain from the hurricane, the practice round is on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I know I've got something. Oh, a Titleist commercial, 4:00 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. Pro Am on Thursday, sandwiched between lots of dinners and functions. We have a big fundraiser for the Tour Wives Thursday night. It's a fun week, a great week.

Todd said, "You should have had par, par on 17 and 18 for 59." I hit it close on 1, missed the putt there, 3 was a lip out. 15 was 13 was probably eight, nine feet, maybe ten feet. Ten feet on both of them. But good putts, kind of not throwing up kind of looking at the leaderboard gags, good, solid putts.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAD FAXON: You know, I've actually driven it pretty well for me a lot of the tournaments this year and hit terrible iron shots, but this was the best irons I've had in a long time. You know, you've got to get it on the green. You've got to get on the green to make putts. They were going that 7 iron I hit to 16 was the best shot of the you know how everybody has played this game. Everyone knows when one melts off the center of the face and flies like you want it to. I felt like on 16 it was one of those you just pick up the tee and you just kind of say, "Be the right distance," like when Jack looked at 16 at Augusta that year, he just picked the tee up because he couldn't see that far.

TODD BUDNICK: Congratulations, Brad.

BRAD FAXON: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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