home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2006

Chris Riley

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

KELLY ELBIN: Chris Riley, ladies and gentlemen, in today with an even par 72 in the second round of the 88th PGA Championship, two round total of 138, 6 under par, two shots out of the lead at this point.

Chris, some comments on your round, please.

CHRIS RILEY: Well, I didn't really score as well as I did yesterday, but my goal out there today was shoot par or better, and I did that. I'm really just positioning myself for Sunday.

KELLY ELBIN: You had four birdies, four bogeys. Could you go through those.

CHRIS RILEY: Sure. On the 1st hole, I hit driver, 9 iron to about 12 feet, made it.

2nd hole, I hit a 7 iron short of the green almost into the water and made bogey.

3rd hole, I hit 3 wood, wedge to about four feet, made that.

Then I bogeyed No. 11 because I hit a 3 wood off the tee instead of driver, caught a tree and it came down and I made a bogey. Hit an 8 iron and a wedge and missed the putt.

Then I chipped in on 15 and 16 from about 20 feet and 25 feet.

Then 17, I actually hit a decent shot, flew the green and was spooked on my chip because I've never chipped three in a row in the hole before, and I bladed it and I made bogey.

Q. You seem embarrassed after you chipped in on 16. Would you describe the chip ins?

CHRIS RILEY: Yeah, the one on 15, I missed the green with a 9 iron so I was kind of upset and thinking I was going to have a nice little birdie try. But I had a decent lie out of the rough and was trying to chip it in, and it went in.

Then on the 16th hole I walked up there and I told my caddie, If I chip this in, I'm going to be embarrassed, and I chipped it in, and I was embarrassed.

Q. Do you feel like some of this bad luck and bad karma that's been the last couple years you have three chip ins in two days. Do you feel like you're getting some breaks that you haven't been getting for a while?

CHRIS RILEY: Yeah, absolutely. Any time you chip in the hole you honestly hit a good shot, but there is a little luck involved. But I really believe when I'm over a chip shot I'm going to make it. I tell my caddie before every chip that I'm going to make this chip shot. I've been chipping in quite a bit lately. I think I chipped in a couple times last week, too.

Q. You're saving yourself some putts?

CHRIS RILEY: Well, if I can't make the 12 footers, I might as well chip them in.

Q. I apologize if this got asked yesterday, but you've been driving the ball pretty well for a while. Was there a change or a tip or anything that got you driving good, anything that led to this?

CHRIS RILEY: No, actually just getting in the groove of playing again. Like I said, I didn't play a very good schedule. I'm amazed at like how Tiger does it, how Bruce Lietzke does it, how they only play 18 events a year and how well they play.

I tried that and it doesn't work for me. I've just got to get out here and play and get confidence. No tips, no nothing. I'm just playing again.

KELLY ELBIN: For your information, Chris has hit 11 fairways each of the first two rounds.

Q. You had a pretty good look at Stenson's game the last two days. How do you assess it and how well did he play today?

CHRIS RILEY: He's playing really well. He doesn't have to hit driver a whole lot because he's very long and very strong. He's definitely a great player. I mean, he's a world class player, so I'm sure he's not going to be afraid to win this thing. He's playing well.

Q. I'm not trying to be a smartass, but if you tell your caddie you're going to make the chip every time you stand over it, why would you have been embarrassed?

CHRIS RILEY: That's a good question, I don't know. Just because of the crowds, I guess. I guess it's better to be embarrassed than to stick my chest out and tell them I told you so. With all the people around if there wasn't that many people around, I'd probably be talking a little trash to them, but with all those people I get kind of embarrassed.

Q. I know you talked about this yesterday, and coming back after two years. When is the last time you thought you really played a good stretch of golf, four days or so, in the last couple of years before this?

CHRIS RILEY: Well, that's a good question. A good stretch of golf to me may be a lot different than a good stretch of golf for Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. I really feel like I've been playing good since May, which Colonial was my first tournament. These guys out here are so good that unless you're an elite player like the Tigers and the Phils, we're all pretty much comparable. It's just a putt here going in and a putt there. Since May I've been catching some good breaks. I feel like I'm playing well.

You know, my goal is probably to try to shoot a couple under the next couple days, and if I get to 10 under, see what happens.

Q. As many low scores as there were yesterday, do you feel like the golf course played any harder today? You didn't score as well, but was it playing any harder, and what would you expect from these guys in the afternoon?

CHRIS RILEY: It's definitely playing similar to yesterday. I think by the end of the day, 6 under will probably be 5th or 6th place, maybe 7th or 8th, depending. It's out there. There's birdies out there for sure. The greens are still pretty soft.

The funny thing about this course, though, and I didn't play Winged Foot this year, but if you miss the fairway by two or three feet, you've got nothing, it's buried. But if you miss by five, six, seven feet, ten yards, you can work the ball. It's better to miss by a lot than a little.

Q. When you talked about traveling with your kids and all that, do you wish you had talked to more guys before you had I don't know, could you have gotten any better prepared to keep you out of that funk?

CHRIS RILEY: The funny thing is my friends out here on Tour don't have any kids. Chad Campbell, Craig Barlow, he has three kids in their 20s. This is all brand new to me. I don't think I could really ask a guy like Phil what it's like to have kids. He travels a little bit differently than I do. I only have probably three or four friends out here, and they don't have children. Adam Scott is a friend of mine, Ryan Moore, and they all don't have kids. I felt like it was time I'd like to have kids. I'm 33 years old.

Q. I know that making this Ryder Cup team is not an issue, but how important is it for you to make another team?

CHRIS RILEY: You know what, it's a big deal now. Like I said, that was the best experience I've ever had in golf, to meet all the guys and to become a team was something special. It's so hard to make a Ryder Cup team. In my opinion it's so hard. There's really only Woods, Mickelson, Furyk, Campbell, Toms, DiMarco, there's really in my opinion two or three spots open every Ryder Cup. It's tough to do, but I just want to get back to playing the way I'm playing right now, and if it happens, it happens. I feel very fortunate to make one team in 2004.

Q. When you talk about confidence, when you're playing well, how fragile is confidence for you? Is it a week to week thing, a round to round thing, or is it something that could even go away within the context of a single round?

CHRIS RILEY: It's actually for me shot to shot. Today I lost a little bit of confidence on a couple shots out there. I don't know why, but it just happens. I think that's why Tiger always has his game face on, because if you kind of slip up a little bit, I don't know if it's so much losing your confidence or losing your concentration. But for me it's shot to shot. When you don't have that confidence on a shot, I think you just go through your routine and stick to it, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, it doesn't.

KELLY ELBIN: Chris Riley, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297