BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 29, 2003

Dave Stockton Jr.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Dave Stockton, Jr., 7-under par 65 at La Quinta Country Club.

Talk a little bit about your play today. I guess it's nice sleeping in your own bed, isn't it?

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: Yes, it is. It's 0.8 miles from my house to the first tee. The traffic wasn't bad this morning. It was easy to get over there.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You're obviously playing well.

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: It's just kind of come around the last couple of days, actually. Last week I had actually played La Quinta Country Club and played a practice round, and I think I shot 1-over and hit the ball all over the map and could not keep it in the fairway.

I found something about five or six days ago, and just a minor, minor adjustment. Switched from a 9.5-degree driver to an 8.5-degree and hitting a lot of fairway, hitting it long and straight and putting well.

Q. When is the last time you had a round like this?

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: Yesterday I shot 64 at Bermuda Dunes. I had it fresh in my mind. But I think in competition, the 68s that I shot at the finals of Q-School, there's a lot more pressure on me to shoot a couple of those the last couple days were big; felt like 65s.

Toward the end of the year last year, I was really playing well and at Rancho Cucamonga, I had a really good week there and lost in a playoff.

But this tournament, for some reason, I've always -- you would think I would play really well sleeping in my own bed and knowing the golf courses as well as anybody. I think I just put too much pressure on myself in the past. I told myself this week that I was going to be focused by going out and having fun, and not try too hard. Just go out and hit the shots I want to hit and believe that I can hit the shots.

That's what I did today.

Q. When you see what's going on on TOUR like the obscenely low scores in Hawaii, and then guys talking about putting together combinations, do you feel that you are caught up in that draft? Are you comfortable with that?

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: Yeah, I am. I've always liked -- I don't have a problem making birdies. Today I made nine, and I left a couple out there. That's how much fun it was.

Obviously, you don't go out there to make nine birdies every day, but every tournament, it seems like you have a couple of guys each week, each day they are making seven, eight, nine birdies a round.

It's just that when you have conditions like you have here in the desert, which is perfect, and the golf courses are better than any courses in the world, condition-wise, it's going to lead to low scores. And that's why this year -- or that's why this week, you always have low scores at the Bob Hope - and Hawaii, the winds were down both weeks.

I'm not big on bermudagreens, putting on bermudagreens, though some of the guys from Florida have a little bit of an advantage putting on those bermudagreens.

Yeah, you kind of get a mindset, you've got to go low. My dad made a comment to me today. I was 4-under par through ten holes, and he said -- he told my sports psychologist who was walking with him, "Well, he's at a crossroads right now where he can either go make one birdie maybe the rest of the way, shoot 4- or 5-under par and have a nice solid day but know he left three or four out there. Or he's going to keep going and make birdies."

I had two chip-ins on three holes in the back side and made a 20-footer and a couple short putts for birdie. I just kept trying to play smart, keep it on the right side of the hole, and the way I've been putting, give myself opportunities, I'm going to make a bunch of them.

Q. Is that still a challenge for you, as they say, not be afraid to go low? How do you work past that?

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: You have to be comfortable. There's a comfort zone for everybody. You hear amateurs talk about, "Oh, I went out and shot 38 on the front nine." The guy is a ten handicap, well, he's going to shoot 50 on the back because he's out of his comfort zone.

There's guys out here that have no problem going low. And there's other guys out here that they get 4- or 5-under, 6-under, and they might not play the course the exact same way. There's not many guys like that anymore looking at the scores these guys are shooting.

You just have to do it. You have to get comfortable shooting the low scores, especially this week. You've got to pretty much average at least 6-under a day, and that will get you -- that might get you Top-10. It's a crazy week.

JOE CHEMYCZ: In this regard to last year, how did the BUY.COM TOUR help you as far as that mindset?

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: You know, it did, last year, playing on the BUY.COM. The courses are not as tough as the courses we play on the PGA TOUR. Most of the time -- there were a couple of courses we played where I was very impressed and it was tough. But by and large, most of the courses did not have a lot of rough, weren't as long, and so it led to lower scores. The guys playing that tour, there's some kids out there that are going to be stars out here in four or five years, maybe sooner.

I got comfortable shooting lower scores, especially as the year went on, because the second half of the year was a lot better for me. I think that carried over to Q-School, maybe a little bit of a killer instinct on the golf course, where you finish it, you finish the round.

Today I shot 3-under on the front and 4-under on the back, even with the bogey on the last hole. So I improved on my back nine and I made more birdies on my back nine.

That's what I look forward to doing, where my back side is better than my front side. I've made some adjustments on the front, and it turns over and creates more opportunities for birdies on the back side and finish strong.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Take us through your round real quick. Pars on the first four holes before you get to 5.

DAVE STOCKTON, JR.: Yeah, easy par on 1; 2.

2 is a tough hole. Left it 30 feet with a 4-iron and just missed a birdie.

3, that's one I should have made. I hit a 5-iron from -- I think we had 208 or something like that to the hole. I hit a 5-iron about eight or nine feet from the hole and lipped it out so, that was not what I wanted.

But I made a good up-and-down for par on 4. I short-sided myself in the bunker and made about an 8-footer for par.

Then the par 5, I hit driver, 3-iron right on the fringe just short and chipped it up to three feet and made birdie.

Then the next par 5, 6, I hit a good drive down the right side and hit a 4-iron on the green about 35, 40 feet, pin-high from the hole and threw the ball right over the edge. Actually thought I made the eagle putt, but I made an easy birdie there.

7, I got a little too aggressive with the right pin. I missed it a little right and it went in the water. Chipped it up. Had a tough chip, and put it about 18, 20 feet from the hole and made that for bogey.

There's certain things in a round that give you a little bit, even though it's a bogey and it's a bad hole, making that 20-footer kind of kept the momentum going.

I went to 8 and hit a good 3-wood and hit a pitching wedge to about ten feet and made birdie.

I hit a 3-wood off the tee and hit a pitching wedge to a foot and made birdie on 9.

10, we had to wait, which usually you do in this tournament. You have to wait at the turn because you run into the groups that teed off. Waited for about 20 minutes and got up and ripped a 3-wood down the left side and hit a pitching wedge on 10, in there about two feet from the hole to make birdie there.

11, I made par. I hit the trees on the right just off the fairway, and so I could not get home in two. 2-putted from 40 feet.

12, the par 3, put a 4-iron in there and missed the putt.

13, I hit it down the right side and hit a 3-wood, just caught the right bunker. Proceeded to hit that over the green, and then I chipped it in for birdie.

It was great because I had been working with my dad the day before on my chipping from around the greens, and he was sitting behind the green talking to my sports psychologist who was leaving after that hole. He said, "No, no, this is okay. Watch this, he's going to chip it in."

I had my caddie pull the pin out and I holed it. So that was a good way for him to leave.

Made a good par on the next hole, and then the par 3, 15, I missed the green just left and chipped it in again. A little different chip sitting down on the grass, but it was fun to see that one go in. It might have gone five or six feet by. The chip was about 30 feet.

Then 16, I hit a 3-wood down the middle off the tee and then a 7-iron to about 20 feet and made that.

Then I hit a 3-wood on 17. Hit a 9-iron from 150 to three feet to make that.

Then hit a 2-iron off the tee, 159 to the hole, cut 8-iron in there and it went about 165, 166 and didn't cut; so I had about a 45 footer. I only misread the first putt by four or five feet, and then I had a 6-footer for par and I misread that one, played that straight, and it broke a little right and lipped out.

It wasn't quite how I wanted to finish, but, you know, I was proud of how I committed to all of my shots today. If I can keep improving each day, I'll be in a good spot.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Dave, thank you. Play well the rest of the week.

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