Q. Is this one of the TOUR's courses you took to right away; how well do you like the course?
JOHN SENDEN: I think that this course is to my liking because my strength of my game, my long game, my driving and greens in regulations, that sort of stuff, so looking at this golf course, you've really got to play well in that area to score well. You've got to hit it well off the tee because it's quite narrow in spots. I've never played Augusta National, but, you know, with that golf course, at Augusta, even though the fairways are quite wide, you still have to hit it in certain positions on the fairway to get a shot to the green. That's what you've got to do here as well. So there's lots of examples out there where if you're hitting it down the middle of the fairway, you can still be shut out from where a pin position might be because of the shapes of the greens and where they are situated.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Can we go through your round, your birdies and bogeys.
JOHN SENDEN: I started on the 10th hole. I was playing quite nicely, not really holing that much, but then I holed about a 20-footer on the 17th hole. That sort of got my round started. Then I made a good up-and-down on 18, just short, not the wrong club but misread the breeze and I just sort of left it short and made a good up-and-down on the 18th hole to retain the momentum.
Then on the first hole, driver, 8-iron to about probably 30 feet. Holed that.
Then on 2, I actually hit my drive to the right and actually that was one of the mistakes of the day where I tried to be a hero on my second shot and that didn't pay off because it hit a tree and dropped straight down. I could advance it but not directly to the flag and had to miss the green left side for my third shot and I didn't get up-and-down. Made 6 there. I sort of felt like, you know, I had to sort of go along and shut that out and just step up to the next tee and play.
Then I bounced back on the third with a birdie. I hit driver, 8-iron to about 15, 18 feet maybe. Holed that.
On 5, I hit driver and a 4-iron just to the back, just on the back fringe and missed my eagle chip shot. Just tapped it in from about two feet.
On 7 was the par 3. I hit 6-iron to about five feet and then made that.
On the ninth hole, I hit 5-iron off the tee and sand iron to about two feet.
Q. If the conditions stay the way they are, is this starting to feel like a week where it might take 20-under to win, and if it is what does that do for you?
JOHN SENDEN: If it is, well, that's great because the spectators will see lots of birdies, I guess.
I think that the course conditions were nearly perfect, I thought. The scoring today, that's the reason for the scores, but every week we play golf, it seems to be between 15 and 20-under wins tournaments. You're going to have to get to somewhere around that number to have a good chance. I'm not sure what Justin Leonard shot last year but it must have been 14. I don't know; somewhere around that mark.
It's always Sunday is much firmer than Thursday's golf course. It will be a good test of golf. You've got to play exceptionally well around this course to be -- to finish high.
Q. Low first-round scores don't necessarily change your philosophy for the rest of the week?
JOHN SENDEN: Well, you know, what I try and work on is playing one round at a time, one shot at a time, so I believe now that today is done, I go out there and practice now and try to work on starting my first shot from round two. That's the mental spot I'm trying to get to, what you're doing in round one, if it affects you in round four, sure, if you shoot a good score, you're going to be right there. I'm not sure how to answer that question, but I believe that I'll be looking forward to the weekend.
Q. Do you think you'll have an advantage tomorrow with you're having a morning round and a lot of these guys having afternoon rounds?
JOHN SENDEN: I think the morning rounds are probably one shot easier than the afternoon round. Yeah, based on the people on the golf course, a little bit of breeze, that type of stuff. I felt like today when I was putting well, obviously shooting a good score, but tomorrow I might play just as well and hole more putts tomorrow or hole less putts tomorrow. I think conditions will be pretty good tomorrow morning. The forecast is good, I think. I think it does play a little bit easier in the mornings.
Q. Did you experience any heavy wind out there today or anything significant?
JOHN SENDEN: Not really. When I was -- on those exposed holes on 17, 18, you probably feel it the most on those two holes because you're always very protected in the trees around this course. I think that 17 was playing strong left-to-right, cross, and then the 18th hole was probably playing quite easy because it was downbreeze. It's actually quite a buffer having that breeze behind you on the 18th hole. I would hate to have had turnaround and smack you straight in the face.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, John, for joining us.
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