BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 7, 2003

Brad Faxon

LAURY LIVSEY: We are here with Brad Faxon, just out of a three-hole playoff and lost to Bob Tway.

I know it's probably a blur now with all the holes you just played. If you could maybe talk about the playoff a little bit and we'll open it up for some questions.

BRAD FAXON: It was a great day out there altogether. It's disappointing when you get this close and don't pull it off. I thought I played a very good back nine today and made some beautiful putts for birdie and for par. I had a putt on 17 that was to win, about five feet above the hole, and it's a hard putt. I mean, I've love to go do it again. I thought it was going to break a little left; it never did.

Hats off to Bob. He played well on the 18th hole. It's a tough hole. If you don't get it in the fairway, it's very hard to get it on that green. It's almost like I hit my tee shot on the last playoff hole just down the right side, and you are at the mercy of the bounce. I got it just where it was a bad enough lie where it made -- you saw what happened.

Q. The 5-iron on the third hole, can you remember a ball that last came off your club like that?

BRAD FAXON: I've hit a few of those. I'll forget it quickly.

I could see a lot of the ball. I thought I could have a chance to get a lot of the club on the ball and hit a low-runner up there. There was a little bit of club behind the ball that just turned the face down and I couldn't get it in the air. It's easy to say now: I should have hit a 7-iron instead of a 5-iron. I thought I could get it to the green. The grass looked like it was running a bit with me, but it shut the face right down.

Q. Could you talk about your feelings right now in regard to being a 40-something player? This is a little bit different when you're 20-something. Chances like this just don't come around all that often. Is this more of a disappointment because where you are in your career now, as opposed to maybe where you would be 15 or 20 years ago?

BRAD FAXON: You hate to get -- like I said, when you get this close with a chance like that and you don't capitalize.

But I tell you, I was really happy with the way I played. I haven't been in contention in a few months. I think last week I learned a little bit of lesson playing at home in front of all the people. The appreciation everybody showed me last week playing at home really kind of woke me up a little bit because I've been so hard on myself and beating myself up. I sensed crowd here was just happy to have golfers here and happy to have the Canadian Open here at Hamilton Golf Club.

Yeah, I would have loved to make that putt. And yeah, I would have loved to win. There's a lot more positives than negatives here, that's for sure.

Q. How good was that sand shot at 17? I know you didn't capitalize --

BRAD FAXON: I tell you, I'm probably the worst bunker player from 50 or 60 yards in the world. I had 56 yards, so it was right in that spot where I don't really like those shots. I don't know anybody that can't wait to hit that shot -- but I had a decent lie, a little uphill, and I just was determined there. I said, you know, I could get this on there, and sure enough -- I couldn't do that with a bucket of balls. I was very pleased.

The sand was firm underneath that. Always helps when you are trying to hit a longer shot.

Q. How much does playing well have to do with enthusiasm of the golf course?

BRAD FAXON: I think you could go through the field of players here, and there's not a negative comment about this golf course at all.

When you get here and you play your first practice round, you might not think that this is going to be as difficult a course as it was. If you look and take the example of last week's course, the TPC of Boston, that was 7,400 yards plus, and say, well, 20-under won there. And this course, could it be 8-under; you would have had a lot of betters against you.

Like I said, this course rivals Westchester, Riviera. It's one of the best courses we play.

Q. In regulation play on the 17th, you're in the fairway; it looked like the tournament was yours to win. Could you tell us what went through your mind and what happened with that shot?

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, that was a bad shot. I had a good yardage for my 5-wood. I have a 19-degree 5-wood and I wanted to take it off the right edge of the bunker, just draw it in and work it in that way. It's usually a bread-and-butter shot for me. I kind of pushed it out to the right too much. I was very lucky to make par, to tell you the truth, from where I ended up.

Yeah, I'd like to do that one over again.

Q. We saw there was so much jockeying. I think at one point there was five guys tied for the lead. The leaderboard was like that all week. You could sort of throw an umbrella over them. Was that a tribute to the field, the tightness -- the tightness of field attributable to the course?

BRAD FAXON: Absolutely. If you looked at the spread from 5-under leading after two days and the cut was almost 2-over, you never see a seven-shot differential in our cuts. Was the low round 65 this week? I don't think anybody shot lower than 5-under. Not many tournaments do that. Even the U.S. Open or Masters, somebody will shoot 5-under or better.

It's a great course. You could make these pins very tough, and then you've got to position yourself the whole way around. The back nine, after I birdied 15, I had not seen much of the leader board. There were a couple holes where I didn't see them or wasn't paying attention, and then all of a sudden I saw there were a handful of guys right there. It must have been good spectating.

Q. Can you talk about your putting, especially late in the round today, when you got three birdie putts in a row?

BRAD FAXON: I actually hit the ball very well today. The front nine was all over the cup, and starting from the first hole, just burning some edges. When Freddie made a hole-in-one -- I made a bogey on the hole he made a hole-in-one on. I just hung in there looked like a lot of putts were going to go in. I got a good break on 13, which was a monster par 3 all week long. I hit a good shot about eight feet above the hole and made that downhill, which was a tough putt; and made a 50-foot putt on the next hole; and about a 12-footer on the next hole.

I felt very good over it. I felt good over the putter and made a nice 4-footer for par on 16, and about an 8- or 10-footer for par on 17.

If the putter felt good -- I made a great putt on 18. Looked like it was going to go and stop about five, six inches short.

The good thing, I look at 17, I read it the way -- I saw it breaking a little left, and I hit it where I wanted to and it stayed out there. I would be much more upset at myself if I gagged over it and didn't hit it the way I wanted to. I would loved to make a 5 on 18 to tie. Who knows what would have happened. If I had made that putt, he might have made his.

Q. How much of the ball on your third shot -- inaudible?

BRAD FAXON: Almost none. I was 120 yards to the front of the green. Tommy just gave me the yardage to the front hole, hoping that's where I could get it. I honestly thought if I could get it up somewhere around there, maybe he's going to make five, maybe he's going to make four. That thing came out like a rocket ship. I was shocked to see that. I hit an 8-iron that had 140 yards up to the hole. I didn't see how it hit or where it hit but it wasn't even close. I had 118 and the pin was 21 , 139.

Q. There's been a few playoffs at the Canadian Open. Billy Andrade in '98 and then last year at Angus Glen and this year. All of them have been -- sort of unreflective of the play leading up to the playoff. They have been kind of sloppy. Why is that?

BRAD FAXON: I don't know. I don't have any answer to that, I'm sorry.

You know, there's nerves there. The golf course is tough. I can't speak for the other playoffs. You make a par on 18, that's a pretty good score on this hole. I would say that would probably be the highest-stroke hole -- I don't know -- for the course. And you would have thought one of us would have birdied 17.

LAURY LIVSEY: Thanks, Brad.

End of FastScripts.