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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 11, 2005

Robert Damron

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

JOHN BUSH: Robert, thanks for coming by. Nice round today, 7-under par 65.

ROBERT DAMRON: Thank you.

JOHN BUSH: If we can get some comments on how it went for you.

ROBERT DAMRON: Obviously, it went pretty well. I played very good. We had a good pace of play out there, so it was kind of easy to keep the momentum going. You know, I hit a lot of shots ten feet or 12 feet and tapped them in, so it's good when you can get on a run making those kind of putts.

JOHN BUSH: A little shaky at the beginning, but you turned it on down the stretch.

ROBERT DAMRON: One or two shots. Actually, just one hole, I made 7 and I hit six bad shots and a tap-in. Other than that, I really don't think I can say I hit a bad shot today, which is pretty nice to be able to say. I hit everything pretty solid and pretty much in the direction I was going and made a few putts.

JOHN BUSH: Let's go through those starting on the par-3 11th hole.

ROBERT DAMRON: That hole is playing really hard. Even with no wind, it's playing pretty tough, and I hit a 3-iron about 20 feet left and hit it right in the middle. It's nice to get a putt like that early on. It feels like it gives you a little confidence. You don't want to think about that, because if you miss a few early on, you don't want that to set the tone, but try to be positive out there; you know how it is.

JOHN BUSH: The double on 12.

ROBERT DAMRON: I hit a drive right. It was straight into the wind yesterday and today it was like help off the left a little bit. I thought I could maybe get home in two if I hit the two best of my life. And I kind of almost missed my drive I hit it so far on the toe in the right rough; and then I whiffed my second shot I was trying to lay up to 90 yards and I actually had about 130, is how bad I hit it. That one I short-sided left of the green, chipped it 12 feet long, and then killed my first putt about six feet by and lagged it down there, tapped it in for 7.

JOHN BUSH: Felt pretty good about the tap-in, though.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah, that was my one good shot of the seven.

JOHN BUSH: Birdie on 15.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yes, perfect. I had hit two 3-woods into the par 4s going into that and made pars which is great. The back nine played so long. So actually that's kind of good for your momentum to make pars when you're hitting 3-woods into par 4s. I hit 7-iron about two feet on that hole and tapped it in.

18, is another 3-wood, 226 to the pin straight into the wind. I hit a really nice 3-wood right at it about, oh, I don't know, 10, 12 feet past the hole and made it. That felt pretty good. That felt like an eagle.

1 was driver, sand wedge maybe 12 feet right of the hole. Pretty easy hole if you hit the fairway. Made that one.

2, driver, 7-iron front of the green maybe 12, 15 feet short.

5, driver up the right. Downwind again, which was nice because none of the par 5s yesterday were reachable the way the wind was blowing. I did get the bad end of the draw today by the way. I know I'm playing well, I shouldn't complain, but there was no wind at all this morning.

But, yeah, I hit rescue club from 232 front. I don't know what it was to pin, it didn't really matter at that point. Hit it about eight feet, hit a really good shot and made it. Drove it in the fairway bunker had kind of a bad lie on the next hole, chipped it out, had 140-something to the hole about eight feet and made it again. I hit 9-iron in.

7, 3-wood off the tee, 7-iron to maybe 12, 15 feet again.

Q. You played here last year and you had a good start with a 69 and then just kept getting a little higher each day. Is this the kind of course that you need a year to get used to it and when you guys come back this year, it's less of a mystery?

ROBERT DAMRON: I think so, I definitely think. So it's really tricky around the greens. There is something to be said for knowing where to land it and where to avoid. Not to say that I've avoided the bad spots all week, but, you know, the more you play a course like this with all of the bumps and slopes, the better off you are.

Q. When did the wind start picking up?

ROBERT DAMRON: When I was warming up, on the range, seriously. When I showed up this morning for breakfast, it was dead. There was no win. Less than five miles an hour. It picked up pretty hard.

But yeah, it was blowing by the time we got to the first hole pretty much full speed.

Q. Can you talk about last year, the playoff last year, how that affected you and was it a positive or a negative?

ROBERT DAMRON: It was a positive because I haven't done much that year for a while, so of course it's a positive.

You know, I didn't win the playoff, but, you know, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. But I was glad to be there. I hit some really good shots coming in. And to be honest with you, Sergio was playing so well and then kind of messed up late. So there shouldn't have been a playoff, really; he should have won by three or four. No, it was definitely positive.

Q. Does being that close make you even a bit more hungrier for it?

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah, it definitely kind of breeds to where you want to be there more and it's like a snowball effect. You get in that position and you know, sure you want to do it more, you feel like you can, but, if you start pushing then it can go the other way. Also, you just have to go out and play your game and just use that as a building block to kind of trust that you can be there on Sunday.

Q. Todd Hamilton breaking through here last year, is that something you even relate to or is encouraging or inspiring?

ROBERT DAMRON: You know, not really. Not for me personally. I know it was a great tournament, and he had a great year last year to win the British Open. That was one of the great stories in golf for the last several years.

But, you know, hey, a new guy wins every week a lot of times, you know, so it's not something that I can watch or kind of feed off of. I've been out here a long time, too. So it's hard to see a guy first year out winning and say, you know, hey, that's going to really be me soon, because I've been nine years out now.

JOHN BUSH: Robert, keep it going this weekend. Thanks for coming by.

End of FastScripts.

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