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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 30, 2005

Tim Clark

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Tim Clark to the interview area. Tim, nice round today, birdie at the last hole to tie for 2nd this week after a long trip and a win last week in South Africa. Maybe just talk about the last couple of weeks and how you're playing.

TIM CLARK: Obviously it's been a good couple weeks. I had a long break in the off season, went back to South Africa and really only started playing a lot of golf about two weeks ago. You know, I started practicing about a week before the South African Open, so really didn't expect a whole lot. Obviously the win last week was great. But then again, coming here so far, such a travel, I didn't expect much this week, either. But clearly my game is good at the moment, and I was pretty patient over the five days and obviously made my share of putts.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Pretty good for someone who hasn't played here before in this tournament. Talk about that, your first experiences with these golf courses.

TIM CLARK: I guess pretty lucky coming that the courses are pretty much straight in front of you. There's not really too many tricked-up holes, so I was able to sort of navigate my way around, just keep it in the fairway. And sometimes that's a good way to play, when you don't know what's out there, you just sort of try to make sure you keep it in play.

Q. How aware were you on the back nine of what your position was in comparison to Justin?

TIM CLARK: I kept looking at the boards, and I saw he started making some birdies and got well ahead, but it was pretty tough out there to make birdies. It was windy and the greens had firmed up a little bit, so really it was a case of trying not to make bogeys today almost, and making birdies was a bonus.

You know, 3-under I thought was a pretty good score today.

Q. The bogey at 16 looked like you got a little bit of a bad break there on the lie on your second shot.

TIM CLARK: Yeah. Also on I think it was 12, the par 4, where I made my other bogey on the back, I was in a divot in the first cut of rough and really couldn't do much with that shot, just kind of hit it in the front of the green.

That was a bit more unlucky really, the one on 16, I just tried to play a sand wedge from 120 yards and caught a bit of a jumper and it went long, but that's a tough shot at best at times.

Q. What happened on your eagle putt try on the 18th? And if you had made that, do you think you might have put a little more pressure on Justin?

TIM CLARK: Possibly. I really felt I hit a good putt. With two feet to the hole it was breaking straight into the hole and kind of went the other way right at the end, so a little bit disappointed. Obviously I got a little bit lucky to have that chance for eagle anyway. I think my second caught the rough there. Really it did look in and sort of snuck away at the end.

Q. What do you think has sparked this two-week display of golf? I mean, did you change golf ball or golf clubs or something like that?

TIM CLARK: Yeah, I changed equipment. I'm now with Srixon and I definitely feel like I've picked up a lot of distance. Even looking at my stats this week, I see I was like 31st on driving distance, and last year I was 170th. That's certainly made a big difference on getting up to these par 5s, like the last hole today, which in the past has been a bit tough for me.

Obviously last week was a course I knew and I had won the tournament there before, and I think this year I'm playing pretty much injury-free this year for the first time. The last three years I've always had some trouble with the wrist coming into the year, and this looks like a year where I'm going to be healthy the whole year, and I've really expected to do well this year.

Q. Justin didn't have a year like he wanted last year. What does his round today coming from behind and shooting a good score say?

TIM CLARK: Obviously Justin has been a great player for a long time. He was in contention at the PGA last year, so it looked like his game was coming back. You know, I think this is also a great few course for Justin. I think when he gets his putter going he can make a lot of putts. The greens here were so good this week, anyone who was putting well was going to be right up there.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Do you want to go through the round real quick? Start with the birdie at 3.

TIM CLARK: I can't even remember my round, to be honest (laughter). I couldn't tell you. I couldn't even tell you what I did on 3. I don't even know what 3 looks like (laughter).

JOE CHEMYCZ: What did you hit there on 18 on the par 5 coming in?

TIM CLARK: I hit 5-iron. Loren was right next to me, and I think he hit 4-iron, and I felt if I could really hit a good 5-iron it would give me a chance to get it close. It was a tough front flag downwind. I was a bit lucky. I caught the rough and finished perfect.

JOE CHEMYCZ: This is Tim's best finish at T2. His previous best finish was tied for 3rd at the PGA in 2003.

End of FastScripts.

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