THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 8, 2002

John Riegger

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome John Riegger to the media center.

John, a great day today, a long day, but you shot rounds of 63 and 69 playing 33 holes.

JOHN RIEGGER: Thank you. It was a very long day, especially with the delay this morning. I've been on my feet since 5:00 this morning.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Questions?

Q. Is it fair to say the 63 this morning was easy and the 69 this afternoon was hard?

JOHN RIEGGER: You know what, they actually weren't that too far apart. The wind blew a little bit harder later in the afternoon. It was a lot easier to hit the ball closer to the hole this morning with the winds down, and not only with the wind, but fatigue was setting in for me the last five or six holes.

You know, I was still trying to make birdies, but I hit a few bad shots, just from being a little tired.

Q. When is the last time you played 33 holes in a day?

JOHN RIEGGER: You know, this morning, I was trying to think about that. I guess last year at the tournament in Pennsylvania had to play 35 holes in one day.

Q. Was that last year?

JOHN RIEGGER: Yes.

Q. Where were you at when play as halted yesterday?

JOHN RIEGGER: I was in the middle of 13 fairway.

Q. Have you ever done two media interviews in one day, two separate sessions?

JOHN RIEGGER: Well, I didn't do -- didn't have time to come in here this morning. But, you know, I've been in here before, so it's nothing new to me.

Q. How many course records do you have?

JOHN RIEGGER: You know, I have a few, but just off the top of my head, I can't tell you. I know it's probably over seven or eight.

Q. You mentioned the one this morning, Timacuan, there's two courses by that name, there's one in Jacksonville and one in Orlando.

JOHN RIEGGER: It's the one in Orlando. It's actually Lake Mary, Florida.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could go through your afternoon round. We went over your morning round this morning. You started on No. 1 with a birdie.

JOHN RIEGGER: Right. I can't remember what the yardage I had to hit. I hit a 9-iron in there about ten feet from the hole and made it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Bogeyed No. 5.

JOHN RIEGGER: Yeah, they had the pin way left. The wind was into you right-to-left, and I hit a little iron shot, a little knock-down 4-iron 20 feet from the hole and I knew the putt was going to be really quick. But I've been rolling the ball so well, I tried to make it and I ran it by about six feet and placed that one coming back.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: On the back side, you birdied 10, 12 and 13.

JOHN RIEGGER: Yeah, I hit probably the best shot I hit all day, 10 and 13 both, probably, but I had an in-between yardage on 10 and the wind was blowing hard right-to-left; and I cut an 8-iron and hit it right at it and hit it about five feet.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: No. 12?

JOHN RIEGGER: I hit a 5-iron in there. I made probably about 23, 24 feet and made that.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 13?

JOHN RIEGGER: 13 was another shot I was talking about, another one I was between a hard 9-iron. 8-iron was really too much and the wind was blowing hard and hit a really good shot there. Cut an 8-iron up against the wind and hit it about six feet there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Bogey on 15.

JOHN RIEGGER: Bogey on 15, I was really between a two and a 3-iron, and I kind of had the mental picture in my head that I was going to hit a 3-iron, and hit it right at the hole and just let it go with the wind. Then I backed off and took a 2-iron and tried to hit a different shot than what I had actually visualized, and just hit a poor shot right in the bunker. Didn't hit a very good bunker shot and bogeyed.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Then you came back with an eagle on 16.

JOHN RIEGGER: Yeah, I had 240, I think, to the hole there, left-to-right wind and hit a really good 2-iron, I would say, 17, 18 feet. I actually had a pretty easy putt. And it helped that Grant Waite had basically the same putt; putted right in front of me, and I really got a good read off of his putt and made mine.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And then 17, a bogey.

JOHN RIEGGER: 17, I pulled my drive into the left rough and caught just a horrible, horrible lie. Got it up into the right green-side bunker, and actually thought I hit a really good bunker shot there, spun it and just -- every bunker shot I hit today I just stuck because the greens were soft. That green was a little firmer and just hit and released. Missed about an 8-footer there for par.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Any more questions?

Q. How much do you attribute working with the sports psychologist to your round today?

JOHN RIEGGER: You know, I've been working with him for almost two weeks now. And when I called -- I've never met him in person. I'm going to see him next week. He's out in Santa Barbara, California. When I talked to him on the phone, he said to me, "You're going to be easy to fix."

Because my problem has always been the first couple rounds of a tournament. Any time I've ever got myself in a good position in a golf tournament, I've always played well. Two years ago, playing the BUY.COM TOUR, I had -- I can't remember off the top of my head, eight or nine Top-10 finishes and every time I had a chance to win, I always played well, somebody just outplayed me.

Last year, I had a really good year, my best year I've had out here in five years playing on the Tour and finished 140th on the Money List and had to go back to Tour School. I didn't really have a lot to lose, because I knew I was already going to be playing 20 to 25 events out here. But I had a lot to gain by being in the Tour school category, being able to reshuffle up and possibly play more events.

And going into the last round, I was one shot out of the -- out of the top 35. And knowing that I had to play a good, solid round, I shot 4-under the last day, and I have just always, my whole year, any time I've been so-called back-against-the-wall, I've always played really well.

Q. You said you were fighting fatigue these last few holes. How tough was it to keep those thoughts that you had been working on with your psychologist?

JOHN RIEGGER: That was really easy. The things that he has me doing is just basically saying a couple things to myself, just to kind of keep me more focused and relaxed.

You know, I really haven't had a problem. All day long, I didn't think about how many holes I played or how many more I had to play. I just tried to keep playing one shot at a time and just hit as many good, quality shots as I could. And if I hit bad shots, just not let it bother me and just go on.

Q. Are you saying anything out loud?

JOHN RIEGGER: It's just something that I incorporated into my pre-shot routine. Just something that I say to myself. You know, I probably said to myself more times than what he really meant for me to say to myself, but it was working and I just kept focusing on that.

You know, like I said, I don't ever have a problem when I get myself in a good position. I'm going to really find out I guess this weekend. I haven't been in this situation since '92 at this same event.

So hopefully I can learn from past experiences and just go out and keep the same mental approach and hopefully hit some good, quality shots.

Q. What happened in '92?

JOHN RIEGGER: '92, that was the second year I played on the Tour. I didn't play well on Saturday, then I came back and I played well on Sunday, but the guys kind of lit it up on the weekend. It was over at Weston Hills. I think I might have finished Top-25 or something like that in the tournament. I just had that one bad round on Saturday, and it was kind of a new experience. It was the first time I had been in that situation out here. I could have handled it better, but I was young and I went out and just didn't handle it very well.

Q. Were you the second round leader there?

JOHN RIEGGER: Actually, I can't remember if it was Corey Pavin or Raymond Floyd had a one-shot lead over me.

Q. So tomorrow's approach, after '92, after the sports psychologist, and you tee up tomorrow at who knows what time, what's that going to be?

JOHN RIEGGER: I'm going to -- like I said, since '92, I've come a long way. I've been in this situation a lot of times, overseas, playing on the BUY.COM TOUR, many tour events. I haven't been in that situation out here since then -- actually, last year at Memphis after two rounds, I was in pretty good position.

I'm playing well right now. I'm going to go out and try to continue to do the things I've been doing. They seem to be working pretty good right now.

Q. You play golf because it gives you time to duck hunt; is that right?

JOHN RIEGGER: That's kind of my motto. Obviously, this is my job. I tend to take too much time off in the wintertime. That's why I always struggle in the West Coast, I think.

And last year I told myself that I was going to play more golf. And actually, I did, but I still hunted just about every day.

Q. Able to do much hunting in Las Vegas?

JOHN RIEGGER: Believe it or not, I'm originally from southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and duck and goose hunting is really big around there, and Arkansas. And believe it or not, I found a place out north of Las Vegas about 100 miles that is as good as any place in the country.

Q. Could you expand a little bit about the entry in your bio Earl Strickland caddying, how that came about?

JOHN RIEGGER: Well, like I said, I grew up in southern Illinois. Metropolis, Illinois. And Buddy Hall was from Metropolis, Illinois and I've been playing pool ever since I was seven, eight years old. Learned to play pool, played with Buddy Hall, and I just got to know a lot of the professional pool players. They would come through town, and I got to know Earl Strickland and met him a few times.

And then I saw him in '98 at the Tucson Open, and they actually had an interesting little tournament. They paired a golfer with a pool player and we played alternate-shot in the pool match. Earl and I just became good friends like that. He lives in Greensboro; so when I'm in Greensboro, I usually stay at his house. Or we go out to eat dinner if I don't stay at his house.

Q. Have you ever played any other tournament pool?

JOHN RIEGGER: Yeah, I have.

Q. Won anything?

JOHN RIEGGER: No. There's a lot of guys a lot better than I am. I mean, I used to play a lot. I used to. I would say I played four or five times a week, but I haven't even touched a pool cue since '99, probably.

Q. The thing you're saying on the preshot routine, is it one thing or more than one thing?

JOHN RIEGGER: It's more than one thing. You know, I'd like to just kind of keep it to myself, what I'm doing. I mean, that's just something that's working for me right now at the time. Whether that's going to be the same approach I take six months from now or a year from now, I don't know. But I'm going to go with that the next two days, and hopefully it will continue the same as it has.

Q. When prompted you to go to a sports psychologist? Had you ever gone to one before?

JOHN RIEGGER: You know, no, I haven't. This is my sixth year playing out here on the regular tour. I've been playing since '87 off and on. You know, playing with the best players in the world out here, I felt like from my ball-striking and my physical ability was up there and as good as anybody's out here, and I couldn't really figure out what the problem was. I always felt like that I was mentally -- mentally strong because, like I said, when I got myself in a position where I needed to play good, I was always able to do that.

And so I just decided to call this guy up. My agent made the contact with him. I called him up and now I'm sitting here today.

Q. How do you spell his last name?

JOHN RIEGGER: Parent, just like your parent.

Q. Is this your first time leading after a round in a PGA TOUR event?

JOHN RIEGGER: Yes, it is. But I don't officially have the lead because guys still have to play tomorrow.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: All right, John. Thank you very much. Good luck the rest of the week.

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