BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

February 1, 2003

Tim Herron

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Fourth round 65 ties you with Joe Durant for the 72-hole record. That's all well and good, but I'm sure you'd like to have another great day tomorrow to wrap things up.

TIM HERRON: Yeah. I actually had a pretty good chance to -- well, I can't complain about 65.

I bogeyed the first hole today. I hit a shot in there well about 17, about five feet and missed that. Other than that, I made some bombs. I made a long putt on 16.

Enjoyed the day, enjoyed the amateurs. Really didn't know what was going on. I don't even know -- I think I'm probably tied for the lead or something like that, but there's still some golfers out there.

Yeah, I've got to shoot low tomorrow. It's kind of the moral of the story in this tournament.

Q. Right now, it's a four-shot lead. What amounts to an insurmountable lead here?

TIM HERRON: Well, I've been driving it in the fairway and hitting some good putts. You know, I didn't finish the way I wanted to today on 17 and 18, but at Indian Wells, it was blowing pretty hard into us on the 18th hole. It would have been kind of a touchy little shot to even go for that green because the green is so small.

When you have a 4- or 5-iron with no wind, 6-iron, it's not that difficult of a shot. But when the wind picks up, you're going to hit a 3-wood. So I elected to lay up and had a chance for birdie.

Q. Because of the nature of this tournament, everybody is shooting low. When do you start feeling comfortable with the lead or what kind of lead do you have to have to feel comfortable on the last day?

TIM HERRON: Think you need a ten-shot lead. I shot 65 over here yesterday, and I'm like, "Man, that a course record?" And I'm like, "No, David Duval shot 59."

That's not even a course record, the lowest score I've ever shot.

So if you're within six, eight, ten shots of the lead, you have a chance to win the golf tournament. Of course, you'd rather be in the lead and give yourself a chance that way. Maybe you don't have to play quite as well.

This golf course sets up pretty well for me. I'm confident and if I can just stay patient out there, I'm going to make some birdies tomorrow.

Q. Not that you have a lot of experience backing up a 61, but they say it's hard to do that, back up a great round. Was it difficult to go out there this morning?

TIM HERRON: Well, it kind of was. I hit a great drive off the first tee, and it ran kind of just right into the first cut of rough. So I had 107 to the hole, 100 yards. I hit my sand wedge about one hundred yards, and I'm thinking it is going to fly out of the rough. Never really flies and it's short and I end up chili-dipping my chip.

I stayed patient and ended up hitting it close on 2, 3, and 4, and missed them. And then I made about a 10-footer for birdie on the par 5. Kind of started going. I think I birdied the next three holes, so I birdied four in a row.

You just have to get on a roll and get in the zone. It's strange, because usually after a wait, I usually don't hit my next shot that well. I really tried to focus after a wait.

There was a three-group wait on 10 and I decided not to go hit any golf balls, just relax, and then really got focused. That's probably one of the hardest holes out on the golf course, and I birdied that hole today.

Q. 29-under, 72 holes, you win every place except here.

TIM HERRON: I know, five rounds.

Well, you know it coming in. I know there's another round. I'm not going to look at it that way.

All you can do is try to look positive. This game will beat you down very quickly, and you've just got to somehow stay positive and just notice some of the positive people around you that are positive golfers. That's kind of, you know, "One more round, I'm playing well." And when you're playing well, it's actually a very fun sport. (Laughter.)

Q. Along the same lines, playing a five-rounder, is there any opportunity to be drained physically after that or is that overrated?

TIM HERRON: Well, I'm probably not in the best shape, but I think adrenaline will kick in. I'll be fine.

I play a lot of golf. I usually play a month and I only take a day or two off per week. So I play a lot of golf.

Q. Do you think the fitness craze on TOUR, is there too much emphasis placed on it or does it give guys an advantage?

TIM HERRON: I think over the long haul, yeah. I've gone through it, up and down. My weights fluctuated. You know, it's important probably to stay happy, too.

If you're doing too much, if your golf game is not good and you hit balls for three hours, and then you've got to go workout, you just don't have time for yourself or your family. You've got to kind of put your priorities -- depending on what kind of person you are.

Q. Going out tomorrow, how do you approach it in terms of, let's say you are up by a couple of three strokes. You know that there's low scores out there, but do you have to temper that with playing smarter or do you change your perspective at all, having the lead on the last day?

TIM HERRON: Not really. What I said yesterday, when it's in my wheelhouse, when my number is perfect, I'm going to go for the pin.

There's a few times where the wind might be in and you play a little more conservative. But, yeah, I'm going to go out and try to play to win tomorrow, not try to make a mistake. That's when it kind of back fires.

So that's one good thing about this tournament is you've got to keep going. You know, I made a few mistakes today, but I just kind of kept plugging. Hopefully, I can keep that mindset throughout my career, or at least through the next month. (Laughing).

Q. Was your putting today pretty close? After you started it seemed like you missed a couple of makeables.

TIM HERRON: At Indian Wells, the first few holes, greens are pretty severe back to front. I had a few breakers, so I didn't get too upset.

I felt like the greens were a little firmer, and usually when the greens are a little firmer, the speed is up.

What's nice about this tournament is they have kept all of the green speed's pretty consistent. Indian Wells downhill is probably a little faster than any of them. But other than that, they have been real consistent.

Q. You told us yesterday you have not played here since '96. Are you now in the lead feeling strangely at home or pleased with your decision to come to a place you haven't been?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, very pleased. You know, I've made a lot of decisions that backfired. I knew I've been putting well and driving it pretty well. I just knew that this would be a good tournament. Like I said, I played Walt Disney last year, which I never play, and I shot 22-under, finished fourth.

When I saw the schedule, it fit perfect in my schedule and decided to come play a Pro-Am, because I enjoy them. They probably keep me more loose. That played into my decision to come here.

Q. How did you celebrate your 61 last night?

TIM HERRON: I went over to some relatives. I have second cousins that I didn't even know that I had. They just kept on coming out of the woodwork. My dad is right there. They are all his first cousins. They kept on showing up last night.

We had 12 people. It was a good Midwestern dinner, ribs and pork roast or whatever. It was good.

Q. If you win, you might have a lot more second cousins this week.

TIM HERRON: Yeah. (Laughing).

Q. You said this golf course sets up well for you. How so?

TIM HERRON: I don't know, I like the greens. I won twice in Florida, and they actually remind me of the overseed bermuda in Florida.

So the fairways are a little more generous where I can feel like I'm a little more free. I can reach pretty much all the par 5s, depending on the wind.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go over the rest of your score card. You mentioned the bogey to start out the day and then you came back with four straight birdies, 5 through 8.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, 5 I hit a driver, 5-iron in the right bunker. I hit it a little bit down the right side. So my main concern was to get up over the rocks. And I kind of just hit it a hair heavy. I mean, it was about a yard from being perfect. Hit it up there about ten feet and made a mice right-to-left curler.

On the par 3, I hit it about 15 feet right of the hole and made that. I hit a little 9-iron from like 130.

The next hole, I hit a rescue club off the tee and had 185 and hit a little sand wedge to about two feet behind the hole.

8, I hit driver, rescue in two. Had about a 25-footer, 30-footer and 2-putted that. Left it a couple feet short.

10, I hit driver, 7-iron to about 15 feet left of the pin and made that for birdie.

13, the par 3. I hit 5-iron to about 18 feet and made that straight up the hill for a birdie.

14, they moved the tees up on the par 5. Bombed it over the bunker. Hit 8-iron into the par 5 to about eight feet behind the hole and lipped that out for eagle. So I had a little tap-in.

16, I hit it in the left rough. Wind started picking up a little bit and I had 109. Looked like a flyer lie. Hit a wedge and just hit it short of the pin. I probably only -- I had a 40- or 50-footer and made that right in the heart. That kind of got me going.

17, hit it in there about five feet behind the hole and lipped that one out.

18, I elected to lay up and had about a 15-footer and missed that on the high side.

Q. You mentioned your three-group wait. How long in time was that?

TIM HERRON: I didn't really time it. It was a good half an hour, though, I would have to say - 20 minutes to half an hour.

Q. Is that the only wait you had?

TIM HERRON: No. We also had one on 13, the par 3. That was a group wait, almost a two-group.

Q. A few of the guys yesterday said they didn't think that the tournament really started until Sunday when the amateur portion was done. You've obviously played well with your amateur players and partners. How do you feel about that? Do you feel like it will be a little different tomorrow getting back into the normal routine of playing with the other guys?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, that's probably the most difficult part, because you've been playing with amateurs for four days and then now you're playing with your fellow competitors again. Where it's been kind of nice in one way is that you're just focused on your game and you're not watching anyone else.

That's just something that I'm going to have to bear down and just worry about myself, because I can't do anything about what they are doing, anyways. It's just go out and do what I can do.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you, Tim.

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