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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 20, 2006

Chad Campbell

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

TODD BUDNICK: Another nice round today, 4 under 68 at the Palmer course, three rounds in the 60s so far, a nice four stroke lead heading into round four tomorrow. Talk about the day today and your position heading into tomorrow, please.

CHAD CAMPBELL: Today was another good day. Started off real well. I played really well on the front nine. Didn't quite play as well as I'd like on the back nine, hit a couple of bad shots, bogeyed the eighth. You know, just didn't hit it quite as well I had the previous holes, but looking forward to tomorrow and the next day. I like my position, even though I didn't play as well on the back nine today, I'm still happy with the score that I ended up with.

TODD BUDNICK: You took advantage of four of the par 5s today, I think you've done that all week so far. Talk about the advantages to doing that.

CHAD CAMPBELL: Yeah, it's crucial to take advantage of them, especially out here, they have been really reachable, so you know you really need to you really need to make birdie on them, kind of keep the momentum going and hopefully with that momentum, you can carry it over and make a few birdies on the other holes, but you definitely need to get the par 5s.

Q. Some people find the desert kind of boring. What have you done to make it exciting and where have you been eating?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I like coming down here. The weather is great. We went up to the Bear Hunter a few times, went to Morton's one night, didn't do much last night. But I like it here. It's relaxing and I always enjoy coming back.

Q. You play the Classic Club tomorrow and I'm sure you've heard so many guys talk about the course, is there any first of all, did you play a practice round here, and secondly, is there any trepidation of coming to this place after you've had three pretty decent rounds?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Yes, I did play a practice round. I played out there on Tuesday. You know, obviously it's been the hardest course, I believe. I don't know, today there probably wasn't much wind out there either, there wasn't any over here.

Looking forward to playing it. I think if the wind is not blowing, you can make some birdies out there. In turn, if the wind is blowing, par, a couple under is great score.

Q. What's a safe lead at this tournament?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I don't know if there is one to be honest with you. You can have some guys playing Bermuda Dunes tomorrow, I think that's probably the easiest course, you can shoot some good scores out there. Pat (Perez) shot 60 out here at the Palmer Course. I don't think you can really say I don't think any lead is safe. You have to keep making birdies.

Q. It's been an awfully long time since you had a bogey, did you even remember the last one and how did the bogey happen on No. 8?

CHAD CAMPBELL: Honestly I don't really remember. I'm sure it was in Hawaii, the final round in Hawaii somewhere, I can't remember exactly. I hit a bad tee shot. I hit it in the fairway bunker, and then I caught it a little heavy and hit it the in bunker short of the green, then missed about a 20 footer for par. So it was just kind of a nightmare hole for me.

Q. You were talking about how much you wanted to be more consistent, one bogey, a couple bogeys in 90 holes is pretty darned consistent. Can you talk about how you've managed to be that consistent so far this year?

CHAD CAMPBELL: You know, I think my short game has been a lot better. I think I've been getting balls up and down. It's really been keeping the round going, like on 7 today, I hit a bad tee shot on 7 and ended up in the front bunker and chipped it out to about 15 feet and was able to make it and kind of keep the momentum. I still hit a bad shot on 8. More than anything, being able to get the ball up and down, that helps a lot.

Q. You're pretty low-key, but how excited are you about these first three rounds, four shot lead, obviously there's a lot to play, but you're not going to jump up and down and show a lot of emotion, but how excited are you?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I'm excited. I'm excited with the way I'm playing. It's nice to get the year started right.

Also, you know, we're only three rounds into this tournament. We've got two more rounds. We're just about halfway. There's still a long ways to being, a lot of holes to be played. So definitely happy with where I'm sitting at right now.

TODD BUDNICK: Chad, if you can just go through the birdies you had today, starting with 11.

CHAD CAMPBELL: 11, driver, 3 iron to about 40 feet. Putted down there to probably two feet.

14, the par 5, hit driver, 3 wood just short of the green, chipped up to about two feet.

16, hit 2 iron, sand wedge to about six, eight feet.

18, hit driver, 5 iron probably 35 feet away and 2 putted. Made just about a one footer.

2 was driver, 5 iron just short of the green. Putted it up to about three feet.

TODD BUDNICK: What did you hit off the tee on 8?

CHAD CAMPBELL: On 8 I hit 3 wood.

Q. Mickelson had not played in four months, had six practice days in those four months, this is his first tournament, he's got three rounds in the 60s, is that a pretty good achievement?

CHAD CAMPBELL: I think you know that's very good. A lot of times, we play so much golf, a lot of times it's better when we take off. And we can just totally get away from it. That's what I did for the first month. I think I played one time in that first month. I didn't really want to play. You just want to relax and get away from it.

Leading up to the start of the year, I started practicing a couple weeks out, but it is pretty impressive to be able to do that only practicing six times in four months, come out here and shoot those scores. That's pretty impressive.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you very much and we'll see you out here tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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