THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

November 1, 2002

Len Mattiace

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you for spending a few minutes with us in the media center. Probably not the way you wanted to end the day, but you still had a great round and you are in a great position going into the weekend.

LEN MATTIACE: Yeah, thanks. I'm happy with the score today. It was tough out there with the wind, and the greens got very, very fast, that back nine, with the wind blowing. I'm happy with where I am.

Q. Take us through that last hole?

LEN MATTIACE: Last hole, it was a 3-wood for me and I just missed it a little bit. I didn't put that good of a swing on it. Missed it a little bit. In the bunker I had an uphill lie, 40-yard bunker shot, and it's one of those where it's a difficult bunker shot. Anybody that's had it knows, and I just hit it too thin.

The ball hit somewhere off the rafters, I don't know. It came back, across, all the way back down the green, down the fairway. Had, I don't know, about a 50-yard chip. Chipped it up to about four feet, and thank God I made it.

Q. Can you just give us an idea of what's going through your mind, as soon as you know you catch it thin and see the flight of this ball?

LEN MATTIACE: Well, normally, the thing hits somewhere around the tent, and now I've got an impossible shot. So that was what I was thinking.

I thought with -- there was a little bit -- there was not a lot of sand, there was a little bit of sand in the bunker. I thought, this ball is going to come out fast, which is okay, though, because I had an uphill lie. So that kind of off sets trying to hit it about -- just trying to land the ball just on top of the ridge and I just hit it thin.

Once you see the ball go over the green, you know that now it's impossible. In a way, I got very lucky that the ball hit the -- whatever, and came bounding backwards. Because if it stayed over the green, it would have -- I mean, I would have had an impossible shot. I'm sure I would have made 5 or 6.

Q. If I may, you've been walking around all week looking so calm and confident. Any particular feeling that you had this week or on the range that you kind of had hold of it this week? I wonder your thoughts?

LEN MATTIACE: Last few weeks, I've been liking the way I've been playing. I just really haven't been scoring the ball that well.

My instructor came in the beginning of the week, Jim McLean, we went over our things. He liked what he saw, and we worked hard on our short game, my putting and chipping and bunkers.

But I've been making more and more putts, so that's fun. When you make putts, it's fun. It's fun to see the ball go in. That's what we're trying to do. I had not seen that the last couple of weeks.

Q. With the wind and the green speed and some of the ridges, do you get a sense that there's a conservative style of play out there today? The scores, top to bottom, are very crammed in there. No one is really going low and no one is really going to tank.

LEN MATTIACE: I don't know about the play. I don't know how guys are playing, their style, I don't know. But it's tough. It's playing difficult. I mean, the wind makes it play difficult. Everybody is talking about how we are lift, clean and place, and we really need to, because we are still getting a lot of mud on the ball.

If we didn't play lift, clean and place, it would just be a luck shoot. It would be totally -- balls would be flying everywhere.

The wind makes things difficult. It makes things -- the greens quicker. They will get firm, I'm sure. But it makes the irons tough to get them to pins. So, if the balls are not going at the pins, it's probably because of the wind. It's tough to really dial in to the flag.

Q. Do you find yourself playing defensive?

LEN MATTIACE: Sometimes. The greens are so fast that, for me, I mean, there are a few places around the course for me that I don't -- I don't go at pins, and I'm sure a lot of guys are like that. There are some pins that there's no need to, and then there are some that you go.

And a lot of it has to do with where you are. If you've got a 9-iron into a green, you can certainly go at it, but if you've got a 4-iron or if you've got a 7-iron out of the rough, it would not make sense to do that.

Q. Can you talk a little bit just about this year and how it's been for you?

LEN MATTIACE: It's been my best year. (Smiling).

(Laughter.)

Q. Can you be more specific?

LEN MATTIACE: Two wins. It's been my best year so far. People have asked me why -- what happened, why are you winning? What's happening? And I really can't put -- I can't tell you, I really can't say, oh, it was my, blah, blah. Nothing in particular. It was just a little bit better play overall.

It's been fun doing it.

Q. Was that, "oh, it was my blah, blah"? I was just wondering, Charles Howell has been picked; anointed, I guess, as one of the next-wave of guys. Have you played with him much, what's his game --?

LEN MATTIACE: I've played a little bit with Charles, gotten to know him over the last year and a half. He's a quality, quality person, first of all, and he's a great player. He hits the ball a long ways. He obviously hits his big clubs long, the driver and 3-wood, but his irons are very long. Probably one of the longest iron players, distance-wise.

But he's a quality player for such a young age.

Q. Sort of elaborating on the winning thing, do you think there's any truth with you or, I guess players in general, that if you win once, it's easy to do it again?

LEN MATTIACE: I think if you win once, the best thing to do is to win right after you win. I've heard that before. The best time you win your second is right after your first.

I think for me, I knew that when I won in L.A. that I should keep riding it out, keep playing and keep expecting good things because things were going my way and I was swinging the club real well. I was putting well.

After L.A. for me, I went to Florida and had a really good chance to win at Bay Hill. I played well at Doral as well.

Yeah, I would agree with that, sure.

Q. Your thoughts about heading into the weekend, where you are, and also, what this tournament means to you as a player?

LEN MATTIACE: Well, it's one of the biggest we play because of the quality of the field. Being the last tournament of the year, you'd like to play well, to finish up the official year.

I feel like I've been playing well up to this event, so I was feeling good coming into it; I was feeling confident that I was hitting the ball well and playing well.

So, I like where I am. I mean, it's been tough for the last two days. I think it is important to stay patient with the wind and the greens. There are putts out there that downhill are very, very, very fast. It seems like each putt you have to think about. You really have to grind on it because of the speed and the slope, the combination.

So it really keeps you on your toes. I feel good with where I am.

Q. If I might, you mentioned putting. But how did you putt today? I hear the greens are just super -- the fairways might be a little messed up but I hear the greens are just super?

LEN MATTIACE: Yeah, the greens are wonderful. Thanks for asking. I putted well. I putted well today.

I made a good amount of putts, and it was fun doing it.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Can we go through your birdies and bogeys. You started with No. 3.

LEN MATTIACE: I hit it in the right rough off the tee and hit a wedge short of the green, a flyer that didn't fly. I had about a 25-yard chip and chipped it in.

Birdie on 6. I hit a 6-iron to about eight feet. Made that.

Bogey on 8. I hit a -- I was in the middle of the fairway with a 7-iron and I hit it too much and it flew over the green, just over the green. I actually had a simple chip and chipped that by about 15 feet and missed it for bogey.

Birdie on 11. I hit 5-iron to about 30 feet and made it.

The next hole, I hit a driver, pitching wedge to 15 feet and made that.

Q. How often does an incident like 18 happen to a player of your caliber?

LEN MATTIACE: Well, just miss the 3-wood into a bunker?

Q. No, the second shot?

LEN MATTIACE: (Laughter.) Just hitting over the green in the bunker?

Unfortunately, the 40-yard bunker shots is one of the toughest shots we have in golf. It's a very difficult bunker shot. I had an uphill lie, not much sand. It's a tough shot.

Basically, one of three things are going to happen. You're going to chunk it, you're going to hit it nice around the hole or you're going to skull it. So it's one of the three. I happened to hit it too thin.

Q. How often do you do that, like once a year, twice a year?

LEN MATTIACE: I hope once a year. (Knocking on wood). I hope once a year.

Q. When you see something like that, do you immediately think, "Oh my God, how could I do this"?

LEN MATTIACE: Yeah, yeah. Because it's not what you are expecting. I mean, you know, it's unfortunate for me because I practice that shot a lot. I can hit any club -- as golfers, we practice that shot a lot.

I practice with a sand wedge or a pitching wedge, even 9-irons. I practice that shot with all of the different clubs, just to work on it. I just missed it. That's it.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Len, for joining us.

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