BUICK CLASSIC

June 24, 2001

J.P. Hayes

JP HAYES: Yeah, I played very well again today. I drove the ball well, didn't miss the fairway. It's my second round in a row doing that. I gave myself a lot of chances for good iron shots, and I made some putts.

JP HAYES: Number one was a great way to start. I hit a so-so four-iron to the left center of the green and had a putt up the tier about 30 feet and made it. It was kind of a nice way to start that. Kind of a difficult putt. Number two I had a perfect number for my second shot with a pitching wedge, and I knew if I hit it perfect, it would be right below the hole, and if I didn't I'd still be right short. You don't want to hit past in there. I ended up hitting it perfect and had about five feet for birdie there and left myself 72 yards on number five for my third shot and pitched to about four feet and made that birdie. And nine I hit three-wood into the right bunker, and hit a so-so bunker shot and made about 15, 20 footer for a birdie there. Let's see, where are we? 12 is my only bogey. I hit -- I hit had a real good drive and a pretty good six-iron and just three-putted, left it about three feet short and hit what I thought was a pretty good putt. It whipped out on the high side. And then made a lot of good pars. After that, all the way in, except until 18, I hit a good drive and a three-wood and had a real good chance at eagle. I thought it was an important putt, in case we didn't get to play tomorrow. So I didn't look at the leader board till 18. I saw Sergio was at 10. I thought if I could go get to 10, it might be important. I ran about two feet past and made it. I probably had 20 feet for eagle off the fringe.

JP HAYES: Yeah, the greens were pretty soft and almost thought almost too soft. Well, I mean they couldn't do anything about it. I hit a lot of shots that I thought would have ended up a little better, but on the greens and I hit probably the best shot all day on 7 the sand wedge, landed about a foot from the hole. It skipped past and spun back down off the front of the green. The greens are a little firmer. That ball would have been pretty close. So, I don't really know what the scores were like, but I imagine with the soft fairways, soft greens it certainly doesn't hurt the scoring.

JP HAYES: I heard a lot of roars, I didn't know where it was coming from. I just -- it's not like I don't like to look at score board, I thought though it didn't make any sense. I did think on 18 it probably would be a pretty good idea and, you know, in case we didn't get to play tomorrow, something happened, you know, having the overnight lead might be pretty important. I did hear the roars but, you know, I don't know, with people all over the golf course using two tees today for a start you don't know where they're coming from really.

JP HAYES: Not really, no. I just went out and I made some putts right off the start and never looked ahead and just kept hitting good shots and got in with the good score. I usually don't when I go on the with the score I usually don't shoot it, so it doesn't work.

JP HAYES: It's a combination of a couple of things. I think, yeah, the course sets up well for me. I feel very comfortable, you know, with everything I do out here. And on top of it, I've come into this tournament several years playing pretty well. Those two combinations I guess help me out.

JP HAYES: 7 irons. You know, it seems like I hit the same club off, you know, each hole that I've hit every year in the past. I hit a lot of three-woods, and I hit a lot of drivers and it just -- started to drive the ball pretty well a couple weeks ago and had a real good week in Memphis driving, and so it's been getting pretty good. But, you know, when you can go three rounds in this one fairway and that fairway was in the first cut, chances are you're going to score pretty well.

JP HAYES: Yeah, I think it will. It certainly won't hurt. That was three years ago, and a lot of things change and the course is -- although the course is pretty similar, despite the changes they made, you know, I -- it will help. It won't hurt, but it certainly isn't going to get me through tomorrow.

JP HAYES: That's great. I like Sergio's company a lot, and Scott and I are good friends. I think it's a good pairing.

JP HAYES: 7 I always hit three-wood and it seems to be a perfect club. It gets me over the hill in the middle fairway and short of the bunker and leaves me with a sand wedge to the green. I've had a lot of success on that hole playing it that way. And 10 I've hit driver there in the past and you know unless the circumstances are really favorable, I don't feel comfortable doing that. I've made a lot of birdies hitting a three-iron and a sand wedge, and I've made, you know, I've made bogies hitting the driver, so, a lot of guys like it and you know pays off for them. I just think there's a lot of trouble up there.

JP HAYES: I had a lot of birdie putts, but they weren't very close. I did leave myself below the hole. Never really put myself in a bad position past the pin where I had a difficult chip, but I just for whatever reason didn't get a real close on the back nine. Although I hit the ball very well, sometimes the numbers aren't just perfect, and rather than hit risk hitting a longer club, just keep it below the hole. That's what I did well.

JP HAYES: Definitely.