BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 28, 2003

Patrick Moore

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Patrick Moore to the interview area for his first Bob Hope Chrysler Classic tournament.

Patrick, Player of the Year last year on the then BUY.COM TOUR, the nationwide tour, you've had two starts this year. Just talk a little bit about your first start at the Sony Open and what the feeling was to finally get on the PGA TOUR and get started.

PATRICK MOORE: The Sony Open, it was just exciting to be there. You kind of soak up the atmosphere. You see all the guys that you see on TV, watching Ernie hit balls on the end of the range. It was kind of a little bit of a surreal feeling, but I felt comfortable. I kind of felt like I belonged. I didn't play too well.

But Phoenix last week was a whole different story. You get out there, it's a visually different atmosphere than I've been used to over the last six or eight years. You look out on the fairway and you see nothing but white around the edge of the fairway instead of green. So it was good.

Looking back, I was glad I made the weekend there. I played so-so. Game is coming a little bit, but it was just good to see that and try to get used to that atmosphere.

Q. What do you think coming into the TOUR for the first full year is going to be your biggest challenge out here? Is it getting rid of that, "Oh, look, there's Ernie at the range hitting balls," or is it learning the golf courses or a little bit of everything?

PATRICK MOORE: I think it's going to be a little bit of everything. I think a lot of it is just going to be getting used to the atmosphere. You know, it was a good first time to see it in Phoenix. You know, obviously, I was not in the position where I was going to be around most of the -- just a lot of noise and different things that I haven't seen before. I don't think it's going to be that much different after you get in there a few times.

Hopefully I can get myself up in contention, hopefully earlier in the year better than late in the year. You know, I'm going to try to be patient with myself and just try to make it a learning experience when I get in it and play as well as I can. I think I proved last year that when I play well, I can play pretty well. You know, hopefully I'll give myself a few opportunities to show that.

Q. Last year as the season went along, I imagine you got more and more confident with your ability to win, with every win, do you have to reestablish that out here or do you still feel like, "Okay, I can win out there, I can win out here"?

PATRICK MOORE: I think if I play well, if I can put four rounds together, I think I can play with most anybody out here.

I just think the atmosphere, like I said before, just getting comfortable being in this atmosphere instead of actually watching it on TV and actually being in it. Golf is golf. If you can just make it that simple . No the matter where you're at, it's the same thing; you still have to make a golf swing, hit the golf ball and make a few putts here and there. When you can boil it all down, it's the same; it's just if you can eliminate everything going on around you.

Q. Is this a good event, the weather is good, the courses are really nice, is that a good opportunity, too?

PATRICK MOORE: Yeah, the way I'm looking at it now is the past years of my career, I've always been kind of a slow starter. I don't play much in the off-season. I'll do lot of practicing, but it's a lot different getting out there and learning and remembering how to hit the shots and playing shots instead of just standing on the range and hitting balls.

So I think this is going to be a good opportunity. I can get five rounds, in hopefully play well, get five rounds in and then take the next week off, and hopefully I can start getting into a little bit of a groove.

Q. Was there ever a time in the last few years when you were bouncing from this tour to that tour, wherever, that you thought maybe you wouldn't get here?

PATRICK MOORE: Oh, yeah, I'd be lying to you if I said no. But it just seemed over my career, no matter how bad a year I had, I could stay ahead of the game. I could make enough money where I could keep going, play good enough in enough tournaments where I never got myself financially in a bind.

I think that's a lot of the pressure going through the mini tours is being able to support yourself and make a living doing this. I was in Canada and we were playing for $80,000 purses. You had to play well to make any money. You finished fifth and you made $3,000.

There was definitely times I was wondering, "What am I doing out here?" I know I could always play. I just really wanted the opportunity to spend a full year on the TOUR where I could further my career if I played well.

And I've had trouble at second stage. I missed by a couple of shots and got beat in a playoff one year. Two years ago, I finally made the finals; didn't play well. But I knew I would have a place to play all year, where it wasn't a one-shot, Monday qualifier, had to play well to play the next week. I knew I was going to get into 20 or so tournaments that I could prove myself over a period of time.

Q. Was that really the key, being able to stay on the same tour and work on your game, rather than worrying about -- or was there something else that kicked in last year?

PATRICK MOORE: No. I didn't really do anything much different last year. The only thing I really did a lot better last year than I had previously was a eliminated a lot of the stupid mistakes. I went for a stretch of maybe seven or eight tournaments where I didn't 3-putt. I putted fairly well. I was very streaky. I had some tournaments where no matter what I did, it was going in the hole. I think if you do that on the Tour where you're around and you're playing week-in and week-out and you can get in some kind of a rhythm, you can do that.

Last year was really my first opportunity to do that.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PATRICK MOORE: I do. Tomorrow I'm at bermuda Dunes.

About seven years ago, I actually caddied in this tournament for an amateur. I remember I think it might have been -- when did Duval shoot 59? Was that '99? It wasn't '99. But I remember playing with Jonathan Kaye. I was caddying in the group year he shot 64, 82 -- the guy he was playing with that day shot 62, some guy from Houston, I can't even remember his name. I was living here, I had some friends in town. I would usually come out here in the wintertime, stay with them and practice and it was an easy 500 bucks to come out and caddie for five days.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PATRICK MOORE: Well, he made it look so easy that day. He made it look like anybody could do it.

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