ASAHI RYOKUKEN INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

September 22, 2001

Kris Tschetter

KRIS TSCHETTER: Well, it feels good. That's always kind of the goal, is try to get yourself in position and have a chance going into the last day, and I haven't done a very good job with that. I haven't done it as much as I would like to. But I'm actually -- I'm feeling really good this week, and that is always a plus for me. I've struggled a little bit just with my back and my hip this year, and it's been week-to-week, kind of depending on how I feel.

KRIS TSCHETTER: I think the people that are in my situation that got this flip, it was a definite advantage. We got better greens and I don't -- I'm not really sure how the course played yesterday. But from Pro-Am day and our practice rounds to tournament rounds, the course has played a lot softer. The greens have been a little bit slower and more accessible, because I thought that even par was going to be a good score on this golf course. I just really thought that we were going to be playing defense all week, and with the rain, the greens have become a little bit easier. So I don't -- I still think that when we come back in years to come, depending on the condition, there's going to be some years where even par is a good score. It just -- with the conditions this week, that didn't happen.

KRIS TSCHETTER: Well, actually I visited my physical therapist about three weeks ago, and we -- he tested me and found some weaknesses I have really been working hard the last three weeks with strengthening. And then I also work with a guy who is down in Columbos, Georgia who is with the Houston Clinic (ph), does work with backs, and he happened to be in Columbia on Wednesday. So Kim Williams and I both work with him and drove down and got a little adjustment. So that helped.

KRIS TSCHETTER: Hills don't bother me. More, it's the length of time I'm on the golf course, you know, standing -- which we've been on the golf course quite a bit this week because this course plays slow. But I carry a chair, so I sit. And that really helps me. It makes a big difference.

KRIS TSCHETTER: It wasn't so much just having day off, but playing more than 18 holes is always a stress for me. I've had to it a couple of times this year and it's really hard. I had to play 35 holes in the Open one day, and that's hard for me. I'm getting old. (Laughs).

KRIS TSCHETTER: Yeah. I'm surprised that I haven't won more than I have, but, you know, I don't really have an answer for it. I'm not -- I'm not the most consistent player in the world, and I don't -- I haven't given myself probably as many chances. You know, like I was saying, just giving yourself a chance, going into the weekend; you look at the top players and they give themselves chances just about every week. So, you know, I just think that that's more than anything, what you need to do.

KRIS TSCHETTER: Not really. It's not so much the amount of days I play, because if -- I end up playing anyways. I end up -- it's really more the amount of swings I make. I mean, playing is probably better for me than standing on the range and hitting balls. So, you know, I prefer 72-hole events. But I really have to learn to really pace myself.

KRIS TSCHETTER: Right.

KRIS TSCHETTER: Yeah. What's frustrating for me is I'm really -- I'm limited in how much I can do. I'm really not able to practice as much as I want to and as much as I need to, and that's just one of those things. You know, everyone has something that makes it more difficult, and that's mine. I just have to be really careful with how much I do. So, you know, I hurt myself kind of in the middle of the summer and I was not able to practice there for a couple of months and that's made it difficult. But, I'm really feeling good this week, which has been nice, and it's just unfortunate it's the end of the year I'm starting to feet good again.

KRIS TSCHETTER: It's my left hip. I had a labrum and torn cartilage and -- undiagnosed for two years, where I had pain and it was affecting my swing and they just couldn't find it. They did MRIs and they didn't see it. I finally found a doctor who said -- who finally told me that the best MRI of the hip is only 75 percent accurate, and he was the first one that said that. If I had known that -- I knew there was something really wrong with it, but when you go in for an MRI and they say to rule out a tear and they don't see it, you just think, "Okay, well, maybe I am crazy." But finally, you know he said: "I don't care if we don't see it; I think you've got a tear and we just need to go in and get it." Unfortunately, it was not only a labral tear; I had some cartilage damage. My recovery went from six to eight weeks to six to eight months because the labrum, there's really no healing involved. They clean it up and that's it. With the cartilage, they drill little holes and try to make it regenerate so it ended up being a much longer time than I thought. I had it, end of June last year. But I'll tell you what it's amazing how much better it feels. I mean, it's just might night and day different.

KRIS TSCHETTER: I knew that I would be back. It was just a matter of how long was it going to take and what other road was I going to have to cross to get there. Probably the most frustrating was when they kept telling me nothing was wrong and I knew all along, I knew that there was -- I knew that I was going to figure it out. I just wasn't sure how long that was going to take, and it could have taken, you know, who knows. I mean, it was fluky the way I found out about this doctor. There was an article in the paper, and a woman saw it, called me, got my number, called me and said: "You need to see this doctor," and I was grasping at straws, anyway. So I flew right up to Boston and that's where he was.

KRIS TSCHETTER: No. She's become a very good friend now.

KRIS TSCHETTER: I think time 10-under. I could be wrong, I don't know. (Laughs.) You know, I'm not really sure. Because the course can play so differently depending on kind of what happens, and so I don't really like to predict. But I'm just going to go out and try to shoot another really good score.

KRIS TSCHETTER: I have a little bit of hip dysplasia, which is your hips are not quite covered, and it's really not even that bad. But I think the wear and tear of playing, and I'm real, real loose-jointed, so I was able to really compensate and just continue to, you know, just keep going and just really stress my joint in my hip.

KRIS TSCHETTER: I think it was just over time. And I just continued to go because I didn't think anything was wrong.

KRIS TSCHETTER: I probably started noticing it end of '98. So I played with it -- '98, '99 and then 2000 before I finally got it done. I started on 10. Didn't hit a good iron shot in. I missed it way right on that green and 3-putted from about 60 feet. Then 12, I hit a sand wedge to 10 feet and made it for birdie. Then I hit a pitching wedge up 10 feet and made it for birdie. 16, I hit a 3-wood on the green and just left it hanging on the lip from about 30 feet -- 20 feet, even, and so I just had a tap-in for birdie. Then No. 1, I made about a 15-footer. I hit a 9-iron from 130. 2, I hit an 8-iron from 140 and made a 12-footer. 3, I missed it right and chipped it up about eight feet and didn't make it. Again, both of those, like my two bogeys, are situations where I just left myself in such a difficult place to 2-putt from or to get it up-and-down from, and that can really happen on this golf course. 6, I hit a 7-wood into that green and made -- I had just a little chip. I actually putted it from the fringe and I 2-putted from about 20 feet. Then 7, I hit a 7-iron from 154 to 12 feet and made that. 9, I tried to hit it in two, came up a little bit short and just pitched it up there about a foot and a half and made it.