JOHN DEERE CLASSIC MEDIA DAY

June 6, 2005

Mark Hensby

MARK HENSBY: Well, obviously it's great to be back here. Obviously it's my first Tour win and obviously exciting for me to defend this year. After last year, I had a pretty successful year, finishing 15th on the Money List, which was really exciting for me, and I think this tournament obviously spurred me on to do so well. So far it's been a pretty rough year, but I had one good finish at The Masters, which obviously if you're going to have a good finish, that's probably the one to have it at. But overall excited to be back here. Obviously John Deere is a brand name on the PGA TOUR, been out there for a long time, and I'm looking forward to defending.

MARK HENSBY: My first event was the same year as Tiger, which a lot of people don't know (laughter). I Monday qualified in 1996 and obviously made the cut. I think I was putting out on 18 when Tiger made his 8 or something on No. 3. So I've been coming here quite a while. Obviously living in Illinois for five years, it was really exciting for me. I had so much success there and obviously success here.

MARK HENSBY: That didn't take long, did it (laughter)? You know, we've been talking about it obviously amongst the players a lot on Tour. You know, there's sponsor's exemptions for reasons. Do I agree with her playing in the tournament? I'm not sure about that. A lot of us probably don't feel like she deserves to play in the event, but sponsor's exemptions are open, and if they're going to give her a spot, she's an exciting young player, so, you know, I wish her well.

MARK HENSBY: (Smiling) yeah. So she can hit it by me all the time (laughter)? Obviously I'm not going to get paired with her because she's an invite. As I said, she's an exciting young player, and I think the tournament is obviously going to bring in a big crowd for it and it's all the better.

MARK HENSBY: How do I remember it? I remember being in a playoff against a crazy man (laughter). You know, I mean, obviously it was exciting. I had won three times previous on the Nationwide Tour. Honestly it didn't feel too much different. But obviously it was pretty exciting with John in the playoff because he's such a great guy and he's got a lot of enthusiasm. But it was definitely a lot of fun.

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, I was actually looking at the DVD same as you were. I know what I was thinking, I was thinking you don't get too many chances to win a golf tournament, especially on the PGA TOUR, and I just figured to myself, "Well, I'll just hit it and if it goes in the water, it goes in the water, I don't really care because you don't get a chance too often. So just go ahead and hit it." Obviously it turned out all right.

MARK HENSBY: Well, there's some favorite ones and there's one I dislike a lot (laughter). I would say that the most memorable hole out here for me is No. 11 because you have to hit a very good tee shot there, and then your second shot, it has to be pretty much where you need to hit it. That's a demanding shot, especially leading into the back nine, early into the back nine, and then 18 is obviously one of the toughest finishing holes on Tour that I've played, no doubt.

MARK HENSBY: You should know, Mike. I don't know, probably a little bit more mature than what I was back then. I used to practice a lot more, didn't really know what I was practicing. But I used to practice a lot. I wouldn't say it's changed too much. Obviously I was a little longer back then; I'm a little bit shorter off the tee now, but I'm probably a lot better putter now than I was when I first came over here. Obviously getting used to the rough here is something difficult because in Australia we grew up on sandy no-run kind of rough and you learn to chip and run the ball up, and you don't do that over here too much except for at Pinehurst in a couple weeks. I would think I'm a much better putter than when I first came over here.

MARK HENSBY: I think on any course if you hit it 300 yards, it's an advantage. You know, the Tour has changed a lot since probably the mid-90s. You know, accuracy meant something. Now it doesn't really matter too much. You know, the top four players in the world are all over six foot tall and they all hit it 315 yards on the fly. You know, they've got the best short games, so to compete against those guys is very difficult. I've played with Vijay quite a bit, and where he drives the ball, it's kind of like not fair (laughter). It's kind of the way the game is going. It's like any other sport, the guys are getting bigger and stronger and the guys are hitting it further.

MARK HENSBY: I'd have to say Vijay. He helps everybody, especially players. There's a lot of bad press he gets, some of it deserved obviously and some of it not. The trouble is once you get a bad name, it's pretty hard to get your name back. He's doing a good job, though. I think that he's making it a lot easier to be accessible for the press. But he's definitely the easiest guy for me to play around, especially of the superstars. He's very approachable and he's just a good guy.

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, I kind of got burned over that one, didn't I? It was kind of -- it was a catch situation where it was like obviously now you look back, even if I had have gotten there Wednesday, I probably should have went. But, you know, and then for John obviously not to be able to get the position, that made it even worse. There's no way, I had my passport in Phoenix. As I said, I probably could have got there. As it turns out, Todd Hamilton turns out winning the tournament and he actually got there late, too. When I look back on it, maybe I should have went. It actually took a little bit off this win for me because I copped so much all over the world, not just like in America but in Australia especially. It did take a little off the win, but you can't keep everybody happy.

MARK HENSBY: No. I'm only kidding. Yeah, of course I am. Yes, I'm going to go over as soon as this is done, I guess. Hopefully we finish on Sunday. I'm definitely going over this year.

MARK HENSBY: Have a $10 million purse maybe, I don't know (laughter). You know, it's hard because we were talking about it earlier, you know, you've got so many big events out there now, and the big name players, they just don't care. They're playing in the big tournaments and that's all they want to play in. Obviously if you have a very big purse -- it's just difficult to get the best players to come these days because when you get four World Golf Championships they're guaranteed playing in and guaranteed money, you know, they're not going to give up those events to come and play in a smaller event. I'm not saying the John Deere is a smaller event, I'm not saying any of the events are smaller events because if you win, you win, and it's a win. It's a pity, though, because guys who win the smaller events like Tucson, the big name players look down on it almost because it's not -- they weren't there or so on. You know, I don't really know the answer to that. It's something that the Tour is definitely going to take a look at, I'm sure, in the next years, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of these events do kind of disappear and go down to the Nationwide Tour, which is kind of what we've heard.

MARK HENSBY: Not the John Deere. I don't think that will ever go down there.

MARK HENSBY: It's a hard question. I mean, a lot of the guys don't want to go over there early because they don't really want to get too climatized with what they have to deal with over there because it is a different setting. I think if it didn't, it should, there's no doubt. I think Chris DiMarco and a few of the other guys are still going to stay and play, Stewart Cink maybe. I think more and more it may happen, especially if the winner this year comes from this tournament, too, because it sets a trend. You know how golfers are, they're a little superstitious. We'll see. Hopefully.