CHRYSLER CLASSIC OF GREENSBORO

October 19, 2003

Brad Faxon

TODD BUDNICK: Brad, your third runner-up this year. Let's talk about today. You birdied your first five holes, so does he.

BRAD FAXON: I did it on top of him every time, I really never put the pressure on him. I felt 3-under after 5 would be a great -- it is a great start, but he played well. He putted extremely well the whole round. If you want to hindsight and second guess something, if I make the putt for birdie on No. 9, a two-shot swing and a one-shot lead, does that make a difference? Maybe. But he still played well on the back nine, he made a birdie on 11, and great putt for birdie on 13. And great bunker shot on 15. I think that was probably the end right there.

Hats off to him. He played great golf. I shot 17-under par, which is pretty good around here. I don't know what to say.

TODD BUDNICK: One bogey over your last 40 or so holes.

BRAD FAXON: I played solid golf. I lipped that putt on 17. I was trying to see if I could avoid a bogey on the last few holes. It was meaningless in the scheme of things.

Q. On 9, did you, when you missed that putt on 9, did the air come out of you?

BRAD FAXON: Not at all. I actually was very surprised that the putt didn't break to the left. My putt up there broke to the right, so I was disappointed, but by no means was I going to lose control. I've seen too many whacky things happen in this game where you can make two or three shots up on a hole or two, but he never made -- did he make a bogey today?

TODD BUDNICK: One.

BRAD FAXON: Does that change the whole scope of things if I made it? I don't know.

Q. What does it do to your attitude when he's making longer putts than you are and he makes the one on 6 from 20 feet to save par there?

BRAD FAXON: That was a huge putt there. Again, I had a 6-footer for par, as well. I was never frustrated. I felt good with my game, my swing, felt good with my putter. I misread a putt on -- actually both putts on 14 and 15 that were 15 feet, probably, 15 feet, 12 feet. It gets me within two. But if I made the one on 15 -- and he had a 4-footer for birdie there. Maybe it just wasn't in the cards.

Q. How far were you with your approach shot on 15? What happened with your second shot?

BRAD FAXON: I had a side-hill lie. It was an awkward sort of shot. I was trying to hit a high one, high straight shot, maybe get it in the bunker to the right a little bit. That was a tough pin. He had a pretty easy bunker shot from where he was. He hit a nice shot. I kind of hit it heavy. That fairway, I think that fairway and green is the least mature of all. I made a bag swing. I had a heck of a third shot.

Q. How far were you?

BRAD FAXON: I think I could have gotten far enough. I don't know if I could have stayed on the green. If I flew the green, I don't know if I could stay on the green.

Q. How good is 22-under, one guy within 7 shots?

BRAD FAXON: That's some low scoring, averaging 66 and a half, right, if I did my math right. That's some pretty good golf. You can't just go out there. It's just not going to happen. You have to hit good shots and good putts. He said this is the best he's putted in a long time.

Q. Hard to believe he's 130 in putting after what you saw today?

BRAD FAXON: Yes, you would definitely not believe that.

Q. You mentioned it's your third runner-up this year. How do you feel about your game?

BRAD FAXON: I feel good. If you're finishing second, you're doing pretty good out here. Obviously you want to win. It's frustrating. You could think about a million things. I played good golf this week and he played great golf.

Q. When you do that, you're coming off a year when you perform well like that and you're getting ready to end the season and go into next season, do you think how many more opportunities you get when you're out here to win tournaments?

BRAD FAXON: I really don't. I'm trying to keep things in the present all the time. I know that if I stay in good shape and keep trying to improve, I'm going to be able to play well for hopefully a lot more years. There are a lot of guys who have done it that are well into their 40s, I feel like I'm still getting better every year. That's a good positive time.

Q. If television was right, he's only the fourth guy to win three years in a row, the last three years in a row on Tour. How good of a player is he and how good a player can he become?

BRAD FAXON: He's obviously a great player. He's won a lot in Japan. I think if putting is his weakness and he continues to putt well like this, I think he's going to do extremely well over here. He drives the ball fearlessly and hits driver on a lot of holes and hits a nice little cut shot to keep it in play when he needs to. And he hits it far for a shorter guy. He's got an all around game. He can spin it up in the air and spin it with his wedges. He's the best bunker player I've seen.

Q. What do you define as getting better every year, improving your game? What do you use as a gauge for that?

BRAD FAXON: I think there's a lot of different ways you can gauge. I think your consistency, your ability to handle yourself under pressure, knowing your tendencies. When you get 20 years out here, I'm starting to learn a little bit about this is what I can do and this is what I can't do. I can work on things and still get better out here. Statistically I'm a terrible player, but I'm not a big statistics guy. I could go, boy, I need to hit it 20 yards further and hit it 14 percent straighter. I can do that. I know there are areas in my game I can do that. And in the last five or six years it's been an off putting year for me. I found my rhythm in my stroke again in the last month and it's shown in the way I've played.

Q. The next year or two with the rough?

BRAD FAXON: The bermuda, we've never played here in bermudagrass. It's obviously overseed, and it played pretty short compared to what it used to, because the ball was running for a long ways, but I don't think this course needs a whole lot of rough to play difficult. I wouldn't want to hit flyers into these greens because it will be difficult. I think the greens were set up to not have a lot of rough around them, to let the ball run away from the green, which is nice. We don't get to play those kinds of shots.

TODD BUDNICK: Brad, your birdies.

BRAD FAXON: No. 1, sand wedge from 75 yards to about eight feet.

3-wood, second shot on the green on No. 2, tough 2-putt from 70 feet probably.

5, I birdied the 5th hole every day, sand wedge to 10 feet.

13, I hit -- they put the tee up on 13, 3-iron off the tee and 5-wood on the green and 2-putted from 60 feet, probably.

My lone bogey was 17. I hit it in the bunker, and missed about a 17-footer.

Q. That tee on 13, still too far, can you clear it?

BRAD FAXON: It's nuts to do that.

Q. That's what Davis's idea was, that you may be able to clear it from there.

BRAD FAXON: I think it's great. Most of the guys still hit an iron or 5-wood or 4-wood or whatever it is up there and knock it on the green anyway. You're going to make four a lot of times from a tee up there. When you're hitting your driver over there, you can make a 7. I think it's great that he did it. There's a course I play at home, a short par 5, you drive it and you hit a wedge. You can hit a 3-wood and a 4-iron on the green. But I think it's great. Everything here was vastly improved. The quality of the field here is very good and it's going to keep getting better.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Brad.

End of FastScripts.