LynnBlakeGolf Forums - Traveler's Championship

Friday
June 22, 2007

Jay Williamson

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Jay Williamson in with a second consecutive 66. A little background on Jay, this is only his second start on the PGA Tour this year. His previous start was at the Honda Classic where he missed the cut. He has had 12 starts on the Nationwide Tour, made nine cuts and six top 25s and earned his first career win at the Fort Smith Classic earlier this year and is currently No. 7 on the Nationwide Tour's money list.
With that, Jay, obviously you're playing great this year. And today 14 of 14 fairways, it looks like everything is going well for you. Talk about the day.
JAY WILLIAMSON: I wish it was Sunday. I was warming up this morning at 6:45 and I could hear the wind whistling through the trees. It sounded like a freight train already. I didn't think it would be as tough of a day as it really was. This is a course, the way the wind was blowing from the north today, you know, there are a lot of holes right into the wind and there are a lot of holes downwind. So you really have to take advantage of the holes where you've got some help. Obviously I drove it well. I mean, you cannot play a day like today out of the rough. I've always been proud of my driver. I drove it well today, even though I had a screw loose on the 12th hole. We can talk about that here in a little bit. I kept it below the hole. I made some really good, four, five, six-foot putts to keep the momentum, and here I am.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Screw loose, meaning on the driver?
JAY WILLIAMSON: Well, some could debate that. Yes, it was the strangest thing, I hit a good drive on 10, put the club in my bag, then 11 is a par 3. Took the club out on 12 and set it on the ground. I use one of those R7 Quads from TaylorMade, and I think it has five screws. I set it on the ground, and I either thought the driver was broken or I knew that one of the screws was loose. I didn't have the little skew repairer, and I wasn't sure -- I've never seen that happen, it's never happened to me. I didn't know what to do.
So I called the rules official. I thought really I wasn't going to be able to use the club anymore. I wanted to be sure. I was in decent shape. I didn't want to hit the driver again and be DQ'd for using a screw loose driver. It almost felt like it could have been a commercial. Turned out we got it fixed and I was off to the races.

Q. (How did you fix it)?
JAY WILLIAMSON: One of the rules officials, he had a Swiss Army knife, and one of the things he had fixed it. And then Jeff lent me his little -- the wrench actually, as George Lopez calls it, he gave me the wrench.

Q. Talk about the Nationwide Tour and grinding it out, trying to get back here, what's that been like?
JAY WILLIAMSON: You don't really want to know about the Nationwide Tour. The Nationwide Tour, really has been the greatest thing for me. Obviously I didn't get the job done, had some knee issues, but I really -- I just, quite honestly, wasn't good enough.
And I've told my wife for a while now, I'm just good enough to think I can play out here. In fact, I think I told her that last night. A day like today certainly helps, but the Nationwide Tour has given me an opportunity to feel like I'm a golfer again. It's given me some confidence, but I'm telling you, it's as hard out there to make a cut as it is out here. We don't play bad golf courses, they're not as difficult, but they're good golf courses and there are a lot of hungry players out there that want to take people's jobs out here. It has been a great opportunity for me to work on my game, but it's not easy at 40.

Q. Is that stark reality that any golfer has to face, you look in the mirror and say, I'm not good enough, and go back down to the minor league, as it were?
JAY WILLIAMSON: Well, it doesn't happen to everybody, but you know it's happened to a few guys this year. I think I have the game to play out here, but it's just not a place when you wake up at 40 that you want to find yourself. Did I make the cut this week? I guess I did. I think I've made close to 140 cuts out here, and if I would have made 150, I would have had a little bit more cushion, I would have been able to play out here as a veteran member. But I really woke up at the end of last year with very limited status. Nationwide status, and that was actually kind of a gift, to be honest with you. They don't make it easy out here to keep going if you don't perform. It's pure capitalism.

Q. Did you change any part of your game this year playing on the Nationwide with an eye towards, all right, if you can get this in order, then I might be in a position to move back in next year?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I'm really working on my outfit. I just wasn't sure -- I'm going all white shirts out there, you know. (Laughing). That's a good question. I didn't really -- gosh, the last couple of years, I was kind of caught in between two fundamentals in my golf swing. Unfortunately, I kind of hit that stage while I was on a medical exemption and so I had limited time, but yet I was trying to work on something, like all guys do out here. But what I was trying to work on was not really, well, I'm working on my grip or I'm working on my posture, it was pretty fundamental on how you release the club. And I fought it for a year and a half, and I'm trying to get out of thinking about my golf swing and just think more about the target. Basically all I did was I recommitted to what I had played with out here before. So it's a good question. I'm just working on my wedges. Like I told my daughter, she's trying to be an athlete. I just tell her, just try to get better every day. That's really what I'm trying to do. Today is confirmation of what I've been doing.

Q. Did you have a sponsor's exemption?
JAY WILLIAMSON: Yes, sir. Thank you to Ted May and Nathan Grube and Jay Fishman and those guys. I would be in Knoxville, probably, if I wasn't here. I think the purse in Knoxville is $450,000 this week. It's nicer to be here.

Q. Talking about missing the cut last year, you're playing so well the last couple of days, do you feel better about your game overall mentally at this point? Do you feel you're a much better player than you were one year ago?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I have more confidence in what I'm doing. I feel more confident with how I'm actually trying to hit the golf ball. I'm driving it well. I've always driven it above average. I made some putts today and yesterday. No long ones, but just putts that I should make, putts that keep the momentum going. I'm no real different than I was two or three years ago, I'm just kind of recommitted to what I have been doing with my golf swing.

Q. You talked about waking up with limited status on the Tours, not feeling good about your game.
JAY WILLIAMSON: Every day.

Q. Was there a point where you thought about bagging the whole Tour and becoming a teaching pro?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I can't imagine having to teach this game. I know how we all are in the locker room. It will drive you nuts. I can't imagine trying to teach it. But yes, to be honest with you, every day I thought about it, and I still do, quite honestly. It's a tough road. I have three great kids, a great wife that I never see. I spend more time with my caddie than I do at home.
Especially on the Nationwide Tour, you wake up and you can't quite remember where you are, and you're like, "What am I doing?" It's just nice to be here. I've learned there's one place to play golf for a living and that's on this Tour.

Q. It sounds like you've reached an assessment of yourself at some point, does that kind of bring inner peace? Does that put less pressure on you that you've reached a point, as to where you belong?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I think it does in a way. I've never -- people close to me can vouch. I don't really like the lifestyle. I'm not really into being on the road for my life. If you're going to be a golfer, though, you have to figure out how to get pretty good at that. It's just a lot easier to be on the road and going through the ups and the downs playing this Tour than it is any other Tour. That's just the bottom line. Playing for a little bit more money covers up a lot of the problems with being on the road.

Q. (No microphone).
JAY WILLIAMSON: No, absolutely not. It's interesting. I mean, maybe a couple of years ago I would have sat up here and probably cried and said, I can't believe what I'm doing. But the Nationwide Tour is really, I guess the word is toughened me up in a way. It's kind of given me this -- it's kind of shot me down this road, like, well, you ain't coming back now, so you better figure out how to deal with it.
And that's quite honestly how I felt on the 17th tee. You stand up there on the 17th tee with the wind blowing 25 miles in your face off of left, which isn't the way I really like it, you better figure out what you're doing real quick or you're going to embarrass yourself.
That's one of the things I hate about what we do. It's easy to feel that way. Aaron Baddeley handled himself so well at the Open. I was walking through the airport watching him, and people were, oh, look at him, he's -- but he handled himself so well, and I don't think enough was really made out of that. You better learn to have some thick skin out here, and that's what the Nationwide Tour has really helped me with.

Q. Would you do the Bruce Litsky thing and maybe play a little less and try to just do well and make money and give yourself a chance to stay home a little more?
JAY WILLIAMSON: Probably not, not for a few years. I would be on that first flight to Flint. I would rather going to Flint than Peak and Peak, I'll tell you that. (Laughing).
It's Friday afternoon. A lot can happen. I've been in situations out here where I've had chances to win and haven't been able to do it. Basically I'm just in a position now to see where I am. I mean, if my putter holds up and I keep the ball below the hole and in the fairway, I'll be all right for the next couple of days. If I don't do that, then I won't play very well.

Q. (No microphone).
JAY WILLIAMSON: Maybe a little bit. But you know what, when I was in school, I didn't even know there was a golf course here, quite honestly. I didn't play golf. I did a little bit, but it was just for fun, it was to keep my sanity, I guess. But Goodwin Park, I've played more golf at Goodwin Park than I did down here. Like I said, I didn't know there was a golf course here. A PGA Tour event, I didn't really even know what that meant.

Q. You played golf to keep your sanity (No microphone).
JAY WILLIAMSON: Well, that's a good point.

Q. Will your win on the Nationwide Tour help with your mindset over the weekend?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I can draw back -- I shot 63 on Sunday to win. I can draw back on it a little bit. There's not a day that goes back that I don't think about it. Will it help me? Sure, it's certainly not going to hurt. It also gives me status next year on the Nationwide Tour, which is good. Hopefully that's not where I am, but at least I've got a job. At the beginning of the year, I didn't have that luxury. If I didn't play well, I was headed to another tour. I don't know where that one was, though.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Just so that you all know, Jay is 7th on that money list, and the top 25 this year will move up to the PGA Tour. No bogeys today.
JAY WILLIAMSON: I was thinking about Tiger's round on Saturday at the Open, and that was, I'm sure, a round he was really proud of. It gave him confirmation he was doing the right thing. Today was a similar round for me. Again, it's Friday, not Saturday. I could have shot 75 today and not played well. I was even thinking about it standing on the 16th tee. Those holes are not easy coming in. To go birdie, birdie on 17 and 18, that's something I will always remember.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Jay, thank you. Good luck this weekend.
End.

Saturday
June 23, 2007

Jay Williamson

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Jay, for joining us here for a few minutes here at the media center at the Travelers Championship. Another great round. You started out really well with two birdies and two bogeys, you handled it and you have a one-stroke lead. What are you going to do tonight?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I don't know. I was okay last night and this morning I woke up and I was nervous. We went to the dinosaur park today and kind of hung out doing that. Maybe we'll go to the dinosaur park tomorrow. (Laughing).
Playing with David is certainly a pleasure. I think that really helped me today, because he's such an even keeled guy. He has so much success and I really just tried to hang in there. I think we both were. It was not an easy day, thank God I hit it in the fairway. My putter is a little suspect right now, but I really feel good over the ball. If I can make some putts tomorrow, I like my chances. It was an interesting day. I never really thought I would be back at Hartford like this. I mean, this is -- you know, hopefully it will hit me Monday morning.

Q. The last time you were in the final group on Sunday on the PGA Tour?
JAY WILLIAMSON: That would probably have to be at the Kemper Open with Steve Stricker, and I don't remember the year, 2002. It's been a while.
Unchartered territory, certainly, but I'm driving the ball well. My irons have been good. I'm thinking well, I'm not getting too excited. I didn't feel great on the first couple of holes today, but that's to be expected, making a birdie or two really helped. We'll just do it again tomorrow.

Q. Your story and everything, playing well the first couple of days is one thing, but standing tall today and what might happen tomorrow?
JAY WILLIAMSON: Well, today really helped.

Q. (No microphone.)
JAY WILLIAMSON: I tell you, the Nationwide Tour has done something to me. I can't really explain it, but it's doing exactly what they want it to do for me, they being, you know -- they being those that didn't want me back here. I'm not bitter about that. I didn't do what I needed to do. I wasn't good enough. The Nationwide Tour has made me better. It has made me, not necessarily a chip on my shoulder, but my skin is thicker and my game is better. Today helped. Today helped me and hopefully tomorrow -- I think I've told Joan before, I don't like being out here taking up space and I've felt like that before. I don't want to be out here if I'm taking up space, but I've proven the last three days, especially, today even, that I'm not taking up space.

Q. Dinosaur park with the kids, how long were you there? Did it kind of loosen you up?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I don't know if you've been there, it was a beautiful day, we strolled through the woods, and my little boy J.T. kept thinking we were going to see dinosaurs, and it was a good way to keep my mind off of it a little bit.
Again, there's a lot riding on this, obviously, if I really sat there and thought about it, I may be overwhelmed. I feel so much better now that I actually have a job next year. And I know that sounds really strange, but at the beginning of this year, my back was against the wall. Before I won on the Nationwide Tour I had no status. I never knew the next year where I was going to be. That's the toughest part about being a golfer out here until you've won, because you just never know. At least, you know, God forbid I have to go back there again next year, but if I do, my name will be on the list to play and I can make a living.

Q. Last year J.J. was sitting in the chair and you were sitting and talking about all the pressure being -- well having ties here in some form or another, he had ties here, you went to school here, and all the pressure of trying to win in front of people that know you. What would it mean to you if you were to actually pull a J.J. and win this thing, being another guy with Connecticut roots, are you going to start a trend?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I hope so, and I would be on the next flight to Flint tomorrow night. I'll play the Monday Pro-Am, I'll play Wednesday, I'll play whenever they want me to play. I can't tell you what it would mean, and I'm not going to go there until it happens. I have been in this situation a little bit before. It's not like I was out here picking up sticks for a few years. I've done okay. But it's time, you know, it's time to go to that next step. I'm not scared of it, because, to be honest with you, it would make my life easier. My life is way too complicated right now. It would make things a lot easier. I would see this guy a little bit more too. Right buddy?

Q. After all the years on the tour to go to the Nationwide, did you take it for granted?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I never took anything for granted, it's just really difficult to balance out here. We had our third child with George, who you probably heard over there. It's just -- I'm just pride myself on being a good dad, and it's hard to be a good dad and a good golfer. It's just really hard to do. And on top of that a husband and all that. It's not that I took it for granted, it's just that what you have to be out here, you have to be so selfish and you have to be so good, you just -- it's very difficult. People have no real idea, I guess.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Going back to the golf course, go through your round.
JAY WILLIAMSON: Did we play golf today? I hit a great shot on 2. I made birdie on 2, made about a five-footer.
Then I made a 10-footer on No. 3. I felt real good about myself, but I think I made the comment to you, I wish all the holes were downwind.
Then we get on 4 and 5. 5, I don't think there's any more room back there where they could put the pin. That hole played 243 and I made a bogey on 4 and a bogey on 5, so then I'm back to where I started. Didn't birdie 6.
Then hit a great shot on 7. I think that might have been the shot of the day for me. I hit a 5-iron about six feet on 7 and made birdie, and that was really important for me because I was kind of wavering a little bit.
I had some chances on the back. The golf course played a little bit easier because it was downwind. Hit a great birdie on 13, hit a great drive and 8-iron to 15 feet below the hole. I couldn't get to the hole today.

Q. Made another birdie on 15, I think it's been five years since I birdied that hole. The best short hole I think we play on tour -- or they play, I should say. Hopefully it's me tomorrow. It's a great hole. I finally made a birdie there and that was important too.
I made a great up and down on 18. Under the circumstances, it was one of the best shots I've ever hit in my life. I even got kind of excited on that one. That was almost like hitting a home run. Just for a brief moment there I felt I was just able to kind of breathe and be relaxed. And that's the kind of moment that I really look forward to and hopefully it happens tomorrow. If it doesn't, we'll go back to St. Louis and go to Peak and Peak next week. They have great water slides there.
End.