BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 19, 2000

Rocco Mediate

ROCCO MEDIATE: Let's see, well, the changes to the golf course -- the golf course played pretty long and the greens are firm. I don't know if they are really firm, but they are not holding. I know that doesn't make sense, but they are kind of spotting and ticking off. It made it hard to get the ball close. I played the par 5s today -- I played pretty decent, but I played the par 5s very well. And I made one bogey on my 9th hole, the 18th. Boring.

ROCCO MEDIATE: The golf course -- I loved the golf course before and I still like it now. They didn't do anything bad to the golf course, just made it longer. The greens, I just -- it's been so long since I've been here before, but I remember having a little more undulation. I think they flattened them. I think they made the par 3s very long, the ones they could. I had a bunch of 3- and 4-irons, 6-irons and maybe a 7 on No. 8. It just played long and the greens just kind of aren't holding, but they are not very hard. Just making a lot of -- just skipping. It was tough to get the ball close. But the golf course is in really good shape, though. There's nothing wrong with it.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I played at Kapalua just a couple weeks ago; that was a wind tunnel. And I didn't play the next week and I came here. It was perfect out there today. We had about 15 minutes of about a 10-mile-an-hour breeze, which actually made it feel pretty good. That was about it. You always expect it to be nice here in the desert, but sometimes like you said, you get that wind. Like on last year, I think it was Thursday or Friday, it can make it a very difficult, which I don't mind that, either. But knowing that there's not going to be much wind this week, at least in the first couple days, it's going to take some low scores to keep yourself up there.

ROCCO MEDIATE: Well, like I just said, I've got three more different tests to go, and then back to Bermuda on Sunday. But, you know, if it doesn't blow, you've got to shoot 66 just about every day. And if you don't, you're probably going to lose ground. This golf course here will be the hardest. Not because I -- just -- I holed a pitching wedges on No. 5, I think 5 for eagle from about 110 yards -- 120 yards, excuse me. If something like that would not have happened, it would have been 68 or 60, or who knows what it would have been then. I think if you can get past this one -- the greens are holding a little bit better everywhere else, but it's going to take a bunch of 66s, 67s, 68s to win this one. If I can keep making 66 and 65, I'll be right there. I've just got too keep putting good. I putted very well today.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I just made -- and I missed -- I made one bogey on 18, my 9th hole and then I missed about a four footer there that's really the only put I missed today. I missed a few birdie putts, but that's go to happen. I made a couple good, 12- , 15-footers that were just -- I think on the par 5s I made -- I 2-putted -- I chipped it a foot on No. 11. Made about 4-footer on 13. Holed out on 5, and then I made -- I 2-putted 6. So it was kind of easy stuff there -- the hole-out obviously, there was some luck involved. But it would have been close to the hole, anyway; so that would have been another birdie. So it was -- I made 4 -- playing those holes 5-under there wasn't much work done there. I hit it close to the hole and I 2-putted. I made a couple of good birdie putts. I made a good birdie putt on 4, about a 12-footer up the hill, and No. 1, about a 4-footer, side hill, pin-high. That's it. I didn't hit the ball great today, but when I did hit good shots, I took advantage of it. I missed a few fairways and missed a few greens.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I'm just going to hit a few balls, actually, because I wasn't pleased. I know I'm playing Indian Wells which is one of my favorites; it always has been. I know if you play good, you can shoot a low score. But it can also beat you up if you're not driving it straight; that's why I'm going to the range. I think I played Bermuda Dunes and PGA West. PGA West, I played some decent rounds there. And Bermuda Dunes, I played some decent rounds. And I love playing at Indian Wells. You don't really have to prepare. I just know what to expect. I know how I'm setting up No. 1 tomorrow; it will be either a 4-wood or a 2-iron. I know what I'm going to have to do the whole way around. Just a matter of swinging. There's really no secret. I'm not going to think about it much tonight. I know when I get there, I know what I've got to do. I'll be prepared when I get there and see what happens.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I used to be in that boat kind of, and if I look on the leaderboard and I'm 6-under and the leader is 12-under and I've just made five pars in a row, that will kill you. That will eat you up. And it's easy for me to say, I don't do it, I try not to do it. I think that all of us will say that, but I've gotten better at that of the last couple years, as far as not letting that -- because at any given time, I was 3-under going into No. 5 and I left No. 6, 6-under. So it just happens that quick, especially on these golf courses. Par 5s are very accessible on every golf course; that's where you have to take advantage. One thing that will happen, if you make four 5s on the par 5s, you will lose some ground no matter what you do on the other parts of the golf course. That's the key this week. If you ask all the past winners, I guarantee they destroyed the par 5s here. That's common knowledge. That's what you've got to do. Tomorrow, I've got to play the par 5s well along with everything else, just to shoot 5- , 6- or 7-under again, and not make any mistakes. That's how it works, for me.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I drove it -- murdered it down the left side; just went in that bunker. It almost wasn't a drive. The fairways were pretty firm out here. Plus, it's a right-to-left hole and I'm a left-to-right player, so it doesn't really fit me that well off the tee. I hit it in the bunker, which I wasn't -- I had just birdied No. 4. So I figured if I can get it out there somewhere with a wedge in my hand, the way I'm putting, I'm figuring I can hit a wedge, I can make a birdie. I laid up 126 or 127 yards, I think it was. It was 122 to carry the little ridge. And that's what we were trying to fly. It flew like 123, hit, stopped and fell in. It was just, you know, worked out good. But like I was telling Pete, my caddy, the attitude did that. In the years past, if I hit birdie and then hit a bad drive in the left bunker, I'm mad: "Why can't you take advantage of it?" Because there's more than one way to make a 2 or 3 or 4. There's a zillion ways. I just took it easy and -- said, all right, taking it the hard way, boom, surprise. It was kind of -- most of the guys could reach that green easily. In fact, I could hit probably two 4-woods on that green today, and I don't hit the ball that far for a guy that hooks it like me.

ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah, pitching wedge.