WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 11, 2000

Mark Calcavecchia

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, I got off to a great start, and then a couple things didn't quite go my way. Then I hit a couple bad shots. It all added up to a 69, which is still a good score on this golf course. You know, I'm in the hunt for tomorrow.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Absolutely. I am playing good. Tomorrow is a different day. And, again, I seem to get off to pretty good starts every day. So hopefully I can go out tomorrow and start making some birdies right off the bat.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: It looks like I'm going to be playing with him, so that's good. Tiger's -- we're good friends. We both had the same teacher in Butch Harmon, and spent a lot of time practicing together. So tomorrow should be fun; I'm looking forward to it.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Maybe six or seven rounds since he's been on Tour. But I probably played 15 or 20 practice rounds with him, so I'm familiar with his game.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: It comes from Chris DiMarco, who's also in this tournament. His hand is more on top of the putter. And, yeah, I haven't putted well over the last three or four years. (Inaudible).

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, it's going to be great. Tanaka is obviously playing some good golf. Every time I turned around, he was right down the middle of the fairway. Nick Price, Tiger -- really anybody, I think, probably all the way going back to the 2- or 3-unders has a shot to win this thing. Look at what Mike Weir did today. He's right there at 8-under. So if you shoot 7-, or 8-under out here tomorrow, you can come from nowhere and still win this thing.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, he's a good man. He's funny. I call him the Duffmeister. He's got his colorful shirts and flowered hats. He's a wine connoisseur. He's fun to hang out with.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, he's great to play with. He's very personable, and just an all-around good guy.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Well, I'm not going to pay much attention to it on the front nine. Obviously, I know I'm going to have to go out and shoot something in the 60s to have any chance to win this tournament. So I've got to look at it that way. I'm just going to go out again tomorrow and try to play a good round of golf and make as many birdies as I can. I'll see when I'm standing out in the middle of that 17th fairway, and decide what I'm going to do from there.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: No, actually I wish I'd rather had shot about 30 in the back nine, and had a 7-shot lead, to tell you the truth. But I didn't, and it's going to be interesting. The crowds came out today and saw a lot of great golf. The same thing will happen tomorrow. There's going to be a lot of great golf for us tomorrow.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: You know, that hasn't really bothered me too much. Sometimes the only thing that really bothers me is I'll be looking at TV and I'll see "other notables," and they won't list me under even the "other notables" category. But I don't think about that. I know I'm going to win again, especially the way I've been taught in the last six months with this new putting grip I have. It's going to enable me to get in the hunt again one time pretty soon, just not tomorrow.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, my hitting's good. I've consistently been up there in total driving in greens and regulation. And that tells you I can get from point A to point B. But I haven't been able to get in the hole. It doesn't take a dummy to figure out you have to putt well out here. And I haven't done that in the last four or five years. But my hitting's still pretty good, and I'm just thankful I found this putting grip that's going to make a big difference in my career coming up in the years.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: I did get off to a pretty nice start. I really didn't play bad on the back nine. I just got it at a few spots where I had a hard time. I didn't have a club for 17. A 3-wood would have been over the green, and a 2-iron, no shot. So I think I'm going to throw in my 5-wood tomorrow, and hopefully that might save me from the 17th hole. Maybe I can birdie that hole and power myself on to greater things.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: I don't know anything about Tanaka. I know his name, but I've never played with him. I know who he is, and obviously he's playing some great golf.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, I think so. You know, as good as he is. I noticed in the computer today he's hitting about 85 percent of his fairways because he basically hits a 4-iron off of every par 4. He's hitting up in the 3-irons and 4-irons, and hits driver on the four par 5s. So that's about it. So he's going to be in play. Tiger Woods is going to be able to hit a fairway with a 3-iron. And as good as he putts, I expect him to play well tomorrow. So I think somebody's going to -- whoever wins this thing, including Tiger, is going to have to take a beating.