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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 26, 2005

Ted Purdy

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOE CHEMYCZ: Ted, nice playing today, 8-under par over at Tamarisk, and this is your first trip to the Hope, correct.

TED PURDY: Yes, it is my first trip.

JOE CHEMYCZ: First trip, first round. That's a pretty good way to start. Talk about your day.

TED PURDY: Well, it was just a great day. I mean, the weather turned out to be nice. I had three great amateur partners that cheered me on, and it was just a fun format and I'm really enjoying it.

Q. This being your first trip here, you can't be all that familiar with all four courses. Did you specifically go over to Tamarisk knowing that was where you were going to start and do some work?

TED PURDY: I spent about the same amount of time on all four courses. I did Tamarisk and the Palmer on Monday, which was difficult because we finished late on Sunday in San Diego, and then on Tuesday I did the other two courses. But yeah, I mean, there wasn't much preparation done. I actually didn't even play a practice round, I just rode the courses and hit an odd shot and a putt here and there.

Yeah, playing four courses is difficult to prepare for.

Q. That being the case, are you surprised with the 64, given that you really didn't know the golf course that well?

TED PURDY: I'm not surprised by it because of the fact that the greens are so good. I mean, if you have a reasonable length birdie putt, you expect to make it. It's a short course, so I didn't have very many long iron shots to contend with.

No, I wasn't surprised with the round at all. But it is hard to shoot 8-under, and it sure is nice to do it.

Q. You've got amateurs that you're played with today. How was that? Did you have anything unusual happen with them?

TED PURDY: No, it's great. The amateurs are the ones that pay my paycheck. They're the ones that support our Tour. I mean, this is a great opportunity for us to play, and it's great for the people that support us to get to play with them. I think it's a great format.

The guys that I played with today, I have yet to have an amateur partner I didn't enjoy. And golf is such a great game, it attracts great people. This is one of our ways of giving back to them. I'm glad they're here.

Q. Were they pretty conscious out there of what you were trying to do, and did they kind of keep a safe distance from you?

TED PURDY: Well, I'm their teammate, so they're grinding and cheering me on as much as they can because my birdies help their score. Absolutely, they're conscious of it. Most golfers are in general very conscientious. They're just a great support, different than when you play in a threesome on the PGA TOUR where the other two guys in your group are not necessarily rooting for you. Your only real support is your caddie inside the ropes.

So it's a different format, meaning that the guys in your group are supporting you, which is fun.

Q. Why haven't you played here before? Any specific reason?

TED PURDY: I've never been eligible. This is my first year I've been eligible to play. I had my card last -- this is my third year on Tour and the first time I've been eligible. It's a smaller field, and they only take 122 players, so the rookies or the guys out of Q-school tend to not get in the field.

So the reason I haven't come -- I've tried to get exemptions in the past but have not been successful at that. I earned my way in this year.

Q. Given the reputation that I'm sure you know about this tournament, I mean, 30-under wins it, do you think to yourself, "Boy, I'd better start making birdies right from the beginning," or if you make a bogey, do you think to yourself, "Oh, my goodness, what am I doing?"

TED PURDY: Golf is a game of patience. When you start forcing birdies, they don't necessarily come. I was fortunate to make the putts when I had to this year. I birdied three of the four par 5s. I only missed one green, and I got that up-and-down out of the sand trap.

Yeah, golf is a game of patience. You can't force anything or it's not going to come.

Q. Given the five rounds here, I mean, is it even more important to be patient?

TED PURDY: Yes. I noticed today, it was a six-hour round, and coming down the stretch, I'm going, "Oh, man, my feet are starting to hurt a little bit." I'm sure by the end of the fifth round it will have been a long week. You have to try to stay in the moment because it is a long tournament, a long process.

Q. You went through last week at Buick, you had a set of circumstances where you had some long rounds. So did that prepare you at all for today? Last week we had fog delays, today you just had the amateurs?

TED PURDY: Yeah, fog and amateurs, what the heck. You know, it's just part of what we do. It's not that big a deal. Hopefully we're in shape enough to hack it. I don't think I'm going to get too much sympathy complaining about playing golf for a living, no matter how long it takes.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Take us through your birdies if you would, starting on 1.

TED PURDY: You're going to have to remind me. 1, I hit a driver and a 3-iron just left of the pin, and I chipped it, got it up-and-down for birdie.

4, the par 5, I hit a driver and a 5-wood on the green and two-putted for birdie.

6, a driver off the tee and a sand wedge to about six feet, made the birdie.

8, a driver and an 8-iron to about four feet, made the birdie, five feet.

11, the par 3, I hit a 5-iron to ten feet, made the putt.

15, the par 4, I hit a driver and an 8-iron to about six feet, made the putt.

17, I hit a driver and a wedge to about 20 feet, made that one. That was my longest putt of the day.

Then on 18, I hit a driver and a 5-wood on the middle of the green and two-putted for birdie.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Ted, thanks. Play well the rest of the week.

TED PURDY: All right, Joe. Appreciate it.

End of FastScripts.

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