THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 9, 2001

Chris Smith

CHRIS SMITH: San Diego.

CHRIS SMITH: The golf course played a lot harder today, actually. It was yesterday, early in the morning it was calm, the greens were soft, and, you know, you can get away with some stuff yesterday. Today, by the time we got around to our last nine holes, the greens were brown and crusty and fast and the wind was blowing the ball around on the green. I mean, it was tough today. It's kind of one of those days where you try to control each shot and hopefully you won't have anything real bad happen, and I was able to pretty much hit every shot where I wanted to or close enough that I had a chance. It was tough. It was 18 hard holes. Even when we got downwind, the greens were so firm and so fast with the wind in your back that it was hard to play the downwind ones, too.

CHRIS SMITH: I don't necessarily think so. You know, even if I felt like there were an advantage, I don't think I'd ever want to leave Indiana anyway. But the greens are so good here that it's not like you really are worrying a lot about the green. The fairways are so tight that -- the rough is very similar to what you have in the north. I don't think it's that much of an advantage here. I think at Doral, being a person that plays and practices in the south helps. But I don't think so much here. I kind of look forward to it because only get a couple chances a year to play in Florida and I enjoy playing in Florida. So it's something that I look forward to and I try to get excited to do it because I enjoy being down here.

CHRIS SMITH: I am. And that was here. That was on the par 5, I believe. I was the last group off in a twosome on No. 10 on Sunday, in last place and the wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour. And I hit a big drive. The fairways were so fast and everybody was hitting 385 that day, and I happened to hit a good one and hit it 420-something, and I've got a lot of mileage about that, no pun intended. It was the par -5, the 600-yard par-5.

CHRIS SMITH: I hit actually a driver, wedge and hit it over the green. Made a par.

CHRIS SMITH: Oh, it's just funny. Everywhere -- actually the clothing company, I'm with Crystal Springs Clothing and they used it as their ad campaign for me last year. You know, everywhere I go, somebody asks me the question: "Tell me about that drive, how many cart paths you hit." And you hear all the comments; it's made it so I'm known for something. I'd rather be known for winning tournaments or something like that, but it's been fun. Everybody asks me about it. And honestly I hit it right down the middle of the fairway. So I didn't hit any cart paths, didn't roll along the cart or anything.

CHRIS SMITH: I was playing with my best friend and we were standing on the tee for ten minutes. We were waiting all day because we were waiting behind all threesomes and we were laughing before hitting, and he just said, "Let's swing absolutely as hard as we can and see as far as we can hit it." We were going to finish last or next to last. He hit his good, too, and he went first. But I rolled it right up through those -- there's cross-bunkers up there that are like 400 yards off the tee, and I asked my caddy, "How far is it to those bunkers?" And he looked at me and said, "What are you talking about?" I said, "It's a strong wind."

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, it was a little downwind today and I was trying it hit it down the right side. And I hit it in the bunker. It was right up against the lip and I had to wedge out. I had 220 yards for my third shot on that hole. Every time I get on that tee, even on the practice round, I thought about that shot, and I look at those cross-bunkers and thought, "How in the world could I get in the cross-bunkers?"

CHRIS SMITH: Oh, boy, that's a good question. It had to be a Titleist. That had to be when I was hitting my Titleist driver. I hit my Titleist driver the whole year actually.

CHRIS SMITH: They didn't use it at all. I thought I would get something for sure, but they didn't use it at all. It has been something that, actually, believe it or not has helped me get, you know, get some deals with some companies.

CHRIS SMITH: That is absolutely true.

CHRIS SMITH: That guy -- we were playing in this Skins Game. It's fun, and my kids are out there and, you know, they love Divot the Clown. And I was getting beat by Divot the Clown. He was hitting it -- he had the best partner, too. So, I mean, you know, he's hitting in the middle of the greens and making his bombs across the green, and I'm like, "This can't be happening." He's in full clown garb. He had the big shoes on. He had everything, the red nose, the wig, the baggy outfit, everything. I think he got every skin but one. And I was bitter. I tell you, I was bitter at Divot the Clown.

CHRIS SMITH: That's true. I was dejected. It was awful. And another bad thing about was that he wouldn't talk. He was one of those clowns that wouldn't talk. And when he's making his putts, he's honking his horn, and I'm just like -- "This is not right. This can't be happening." And he was loving it. It was making me mad.

CHRIS SMITH: Those are dry beans. It's a company in Indianapolis that they are -- it's a privately-owned company that they are into golf, and they knew when I was through Indiana golf and may have been -- it's been great. It's been a great deal. They have been very supportive and my wife loves their beans. So we have some of the best 15-bean soup in the State of Indiana. And she loves it. She likes that a lot better than the money part of it.

CHRIS SMITH: You know, I think -- I tried the whole time I definitely have played well on the BUY.COM TOUR and I never played -- I've never had a year out here where I felt like I played even close to well, but I really tried every year. I tried hard to learn something and try to figure out what it is that is keeping me from playing the way that I want to play. And it was hard to stay positive, but my wife helped me a lot. She kind of kept me going, and luckily, she's smarter than I am and was able to help me kind of digest all the information I was getting over the years. And I really feel like, you know, I've grown up a lot on the golf course and I feel like I'm a lot more comfortable out here. I think my golf game has gotten better. I've been able to have a caddy this year that I'm really comfortable with. And that's another thing that you have to learn is try to figure out exactly what kind of caddy you want and how you want them to react with you. You know, I feel like I've got a really good caddy. I've got a new teacher that has been excellent for me, and I think all of the things in the down years I was able, for the most part, keep them positive and I think it's really helped me a lot, this time around, knowing what I want to do and handling things a little bit better and trying to play the way that I know that I can. I feel like I've gotten a little bit better each week. And I've been on the road since January the 4th and I get to go home after this tournament. I'm looking forward to that. It's just been a good start. I really feel a lot more comfortable and I feel a lot more mature, strictly on the course.

CHRIS SMITH: I've been a friend of Joe's a long time and I knew that when he started making putts that he would shoot 35-under. And he's always hit the ball as good as anybody out here. And when he putted good, he had good tournaments; and when he didn't put good, he didn't have good tournaments. This year he's hitting it like he always had and he's making putts. I felt like for last two or three years that I could be competitive out here. I've been around it enough now and played with the guys enough to know that I can do this, and I think that's all part of the growing up process.