BUICK OPEN

August 9, 2001

Brian Henninger

BRIAN HENNINGER: Yeah, true. Without getting too many questions on my year, I just -- I have been struggling: I have been working hard the last month and made a few swing changes and I knew I was getting close. I was at an event this Monday and Tuesday so I got hammered by the press from my hometown about my struggles this year and kind of tired talking about that, so if we could let's focus on the 64 because that's where I want to stay.

BRIAN HENNINGER: Yeah, 10th hole hit a good drive, 8-iron about four feet. Made the putt. 2nd hole hit a good 5-iron on the green, 2-putted. 3rd hole hit it in there about eight feet, made it. 4th hole, hit it in there about three feet, made it. Next hole drove it almost on the fringe, chipped up there to about 5 feet, made it. 6 good par 4, hit 6-iron in there about ten feet made it. Par 5 in two on 7 and 3-putted. That was a little bit of an irk. Then parred -- hit on the green 8, parred. 9, I guess I hit I don't know what I hit there. But I hit it about 15 feet, made it. Hit 10 in two. Then parred around. There was one pivotal up and down, hit it into the trees, did not have much of a shot, so I -- played into the bunker and got up-and-down for par. Then parred the last hole. So it was a real comfortable -- I kept the ball in play. Hit my driver solid and pretty far. The fairways are running big-time and that really helps somebody like me. Then the greens are very, very soft which seems almost impossible because there is so much heat and the fairways are firm that the greens can actually be that accepting to shots.(INAUDIBLE).

BRIAN HENNINGER: I don't know. I guess some great drainage in their greens really. A way to hold moisture because they are holding a lot of moisture and I don't know how they can do that. The golf course would be quite a bit more difficult if those things were firm.

BRIAN HENNINGER: I did leave a couple out there. But if you look at my past history, I like to shoot low. I am not uncomfortable with that at all, I string lots of birdies together and I am probably in a negative way too much of a momentum player. So you just get real comfortable. It's fun to be ahead. I am good when I get ahead. I am not so good when I get behind. I really get into the one-shot-stay-in-the-present thing when I am playing well. And that enables me to keep hitting good shots. When you are 5-, 6-under you are pretty satisfied, so each one after that is a big bonus. I think that's the easiest way to put it.

BRIAN HENNINGER: I don't think you can treat any competition like that because usually when you do, you end up shooting a high score. The one thing that you can do is you can manage yourself around and you know there's quite a few holes out here where you can be pretty aggressive. You have got almost all the par 5s are almost reachable. If you can stay patient, you have got some short par 4s, there is no reason you can't shoot low. But to expect low scores, that usually -- you usually shoot yourself in the foot. But you know you have got to play good. Usually just one shot at a time. It sounds simple but the guys that play good today they have never got ahead of themselves, never thought about a score, they just kept taking one hole at a time.

BRIAN HENNINGER: Absolutely. And I have talked about it a little bit, not just you know, not just with the media, but you know, family, everybody is a little bit worried about my hand. I am healthy and I feel good and you know, I just got -- you get a little negative. You are working on -- sometimes you are working on some things in your swing that are incorrect and they escalate into not being real athletic with your game. And I am very athletic with my game if you watch me play. I lost some of that, but I am getting it right back right now, I feel good. I haven't done anything very well. Haven't driven it well, have not hit my irons very well and have not putted well. But in the last month I have seen all aspects of my game improve. I kept staying baby steps and I going to get there.

BRIAN HENNINGER: Never surprised at that, no. I am not surprised if everybody in the field is shooting good scores. We are all very talented players. Most of time we are just in our own way. I have been that way most of the year. I came out very relaxed this morning. I felt good. Part of it was being at home this week playing at home, you get so much sport there; especially me being there that I was very relaxed there and I think I just carried it over here. I put so much pressure on myself this year that I finally just said, you know, that's not worth it.

? BRIAN HENNINGER: Was pretty breezy the whole time. It never was not breezy. Maybe the first couple of holes or so but the greens -- there's no way knows greens can get hard today. They may get hard on the weekend but not today. You are going to see some good scores this afternoon. The golf course is in tremendous shape. I mean there's no reason -- I don't know the fans must enjoy good scores. I do. I know the players do. Why not. It's not a bad thing.

BRIAN HENNINGER: What has made the difference? I don't know the history. I have been on Tour ---

BRIAN HENNINGER: Oh, well, I don't think -- oh you want that -- that's the question. Oh, no, I have been talking about it all year. The Tour has changed immensely in the 10 years that I have been out here. There was a year in about 1994, pound for pound I was kind of a longer hitter and I averaged about, I think, 274, that was top-30 on Tour. Well, now I drive it, I don't know, close to 280, between 277 and 280 probably, and I am like 280 something. It's incredible how far guys are hitting it. And not so much just one or two, it is just everybody is hitting it far. For some guys it is clubs and some guys it's the ball. But I think the ball has changed the game more than the clubs have. Absolutely.

BRIAN HENNINGER: He's picked up enormous -- that's a combination. Some guys, it is a combination like I know he uses a big Taylor Made driver with the Titleist ball, I think he is probably hitting it on the seam which is -- there is a considerable difference between hitting it on the seam and those letters on the Titleist, I have done it, have hit it. But all those golf balls are pretty good. I use a great golf ball in the Callaway ball and it is a strong-get-going-Jesse ball too. So, I don't know, you feel inferior sometimes though and the game is, you know, some of the chipping and keeping the stuff on the ground and trying to work the ball, I will tell you some of that is just gone and you know, used to be pretty strategic off the tee because the clubs and the balls used to spin quite a bit more. Now I am telling you we just take these short par 4s, we don't even -- we don't take about laying up. You used to hit irons on some of these short par 4s keep yourself in play -- the ball -- they don't go off target. Some of these balls you can watch them go out there, you see them kind of self-correct. That is just an observation by me too, I don't know the physics and stuff behind a lot of this equipment. But it is changing the game, good or bad, I don't know. We are an entertainment group out here. We are out here, people love to watch us hit it far. They love to watch us make birdies. I don't know if anything is wrong with that, really.