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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 21, 2007

John Rollins

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOE CHEMCYZ: We welcome John Rollins to the interview area.
John, a difficult final day for everybody with the conditions out there and such, and we appreciate you coming in after the playoff. Tell us a little bit about the day and the conditions and we'll let them ask questions.
JOHN ROLLINS: Obviously the wind howled all day and there was really no let up. We got off to a bad start, 4-over early. My caddie just kept trying to calm me down, telling me to stay with it and keep swinging and be patient and things are going to happen and it's going to be tough for everybody.
We righted the ship midway through the round and gave ourselves a chance coming in, made some good putts to save pars to keep the momentum going and just came up a little short in the playoff.

Q. Given the conditions and the bad start, was looking at the leaderboard something that you didn't have the luxury of doing today, or was there a point that you said, "I have a chance to win this thing"?
JOHN ROLLINS: Once I birdied 9 and 10 to get back to 2-over for the day and 16 for the tournament, I knew obviously where Justin and Lucas were because I was playing with them. I glanced at a leaderboard, you know, I'd say probably 11 or 12, and saw that 16 at the time was then in a tie for the lead.
I kind of knew that I had a chance. Didn't really know what was going on ahead of us. You know, you just figure that guys weren't making a lot of birdies, because the pins were tough, wind was tough, and it seemed like every hole was just a mental grind.
So I knew I had a pretty good chance. I just had to stay with it and see where it ended. After that, I kind of stopped looking at boards and just playing golf. And then saw on 18, was a little surprised to see walking up that I had to 2-putt to get in a playoff. I thought that Justin and I were, you know, tied at 16 and I could 2-putt to win.

Q. So you didn't see Charley's eagle?
JOHN ROLLINS: I did not see Charley's eagle. I think we had heard that Quinney made a hole-in-one on 17. But the last I saw, Charley was 14 when I was on the 16th green. You know, I didn't know that he had birdied 17 and then eagled 18.
So a little bit of a shock, but, hey, my hat's off to him. That's a great eagle to end his week and a great birdie in the playoff.

Q. How difficult were the conditions? I mean, some guys have said it's the worst they have ever seen and some guys say it's the worst since Muirfield at the 2002 British. Is it the worst you've ever played in?
JOHN ROLLINS: It's high up there, for sure. The golf course is tough, and there's obviously no shelter from any wind. So every shot, you never seem to have just a straight-in or straight-down. It was always kind of hard left-to-right, or in left-to-right, or left-to-right, right-to-left, something that always caused you to aim way off-line than you normally would. And then you're just guessing. It was just a complete guess the whole day.
So, you know, we stuck in there and did the best we could and managed to get in a playoff and come up short.

Q. Do you think the weather conditions took you mentally out of it a little bit earlier in the round?
JOHN ROLLINS: I think early in the round, being 4-over as quick as I was, you feel like it's over. You feel like you've got no chance. You would just think that somebody would hang on and shoot a decent number at the top.
But you know, I never gave up, and buckled back down and got a birdie to go in, a big putt on 9. I think when I made that putt on 9, that kind of boosted moral a little bit with a birdie on 10, thinking, now we have a chance, so let's get down to work and see what happens.
Early, yes, I was losing momentum and a couple birdies helped me get back on track.

Q. You were out there about 6:20 today. Did it feel that long, and you had to back off shots and it took a long time to commit to shots?
JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, it feels like we played about 36 today. It seems like forever ago since we teed off. But you had to do it. You're standing over putts and the wind is blowing the ball a little bit and you're worried about the ball moving or you're not quite steady over a shot or something or you doubt your yardage or what kind of club you're going to use, so you just had to take your time and make sure you're hitting the right shot, and you just have to back off.

Q. I think this is the first time we've seen you in a jacket today?
JOHN ROLLINS: Well, I figure I'm inside now, I can put it on. (Laughter).

Q. Is that superstition or something that makes you uncomfortable playing? It's cold out there?
JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, it's chilly, but I don't like playing in jackets or sweaters or anything like that. If I can bear it, I'm going to wear a golf shirt, because I feel like I can swing better. I feel more in control. If I get -- if I was too cold, I would have put a jacket on no, question. But you know, it was just one of those things. As the round went on, it started to get colder and I was getting colder, obviously. But I was playing all day without a jacket, so I figured, just have to tough it out for a few more holes. You know, keep it going.
I think Davis Love did that the year he won THE PLAYERS. He warmed up in his rain jacket, said he got hot but liked the way his swing felt with his jacket, so he never took it off. So that's how it was today.

Q. It looked like your whole group was having trouble in the front. When the group is going bad like that, how do you deal with it?
JOHN ROLLINS: On a day like today, I mean, there's really no answer. You just keep doing what you're doing. Worry about your game and just try to keep hitting solid shots. I mean, this golf course played so different than what it did when I played here Wednesday. You know, we were hitting I think on No. 5, you know, we hit wedge into the green. Today I had a hybrid club and came up short.
So it's just a complete different golf course. You know, everybody was going south kind of quick, and it just became a battle of survival. That's all we try to do was hit solid shots.

Q. Can you talk about the playoff, the drive you hit on the first playoff hole.
JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, I thought I hit it okay. I knew I missed it a little bit. I caught it out on the toe, but I thought we had so much wind behind us and it was up in the air pretty good, that I could carry the bunker.
I hit a great drive in regulation to get it pretty far down there. Obviously not as far as Charley hit it in the playoff, but I thought I was going to get lucky and get it over. But had it been another two or three feet back in the bunker, I could have knocked it on the green. Unfortunately it rolled up pretty close to the lip and I just had to take my medicine and try to make a four and hope that he made a four and I could keep it alive. Unfortunately it didn't work.

Q. The last putt in regulation, that was in the heart, wasn't it?
JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, it was in the center, just a little short. Kind of kick yourself now for leaving it short, but that's golf.

Q. Who is your caddie?
JOHN ROLLINS: My caddie's name is David Rawls, he lives in Dallas. First year together, our third tournament together and it's working out pretty good. Like I said, he was a big help out there for me today.

Q. Would you say that there were three-club winds, four-club winds, five-club winds?
JOHN ROLLINS: At least two, sometimes three. We had, as an example, on 13 today, we had about 152 or 153 to cover the bunker and I hit a 5-iron. Normally that's about an 8-iron. That would be three-club wind there. It actually came up short.
So it was just a guess. Like I said, you had to go with what you thought was right, and commit to it and hit the shot. If it pulled off, great. If it didn't, you just had to try to figure out a way to get it up-and-down.

Q. How about No. 3 and No. 4 on the front?
JOHN ROLLINS: No. 3 on Wednesday, I hit driver, wedge. Today I hit driver, 3-iron.
No. 4, we had a 3-iron to the green. Today we had 6-iron and hit it over the green. So, you know, it's just a complete role reversal for the golf course.

Q. Does it ever get to a point, I mean, they will do it in a heavy rain storm or electrical storm where you just can't play because of the wind, or is that -- I mean, where is the edge, 15 miles an hour?
JOHN ROLLINS: Well, we were close today. I think had the greens -- had the greens been firm and fast like some of the golf courses we play, we probably couldn't have played. Not that these greens were slow by any means, but I think that because they weren't quite as firm and dry as some of the courses we play come Sunday, the wind would have been blowing balls all over the place and there would have been no way we could have played on a day like today.
Because the ball was staying on the greens and wasn't moving, we could play through it.

Q. It was wiggling.
JOHN ROLLINS: It wiggled, but it didn't move, so you had to hurry up and hit it before it did.

Q. You had a long putt to save par, I believe on 16. Do you know the length of that one?
JOHN ROLLINS: I'd probably guess maybe 15 feet, something like that. That's a guess, close enough.
JOE CHEMCYZ: John, we appreciate it. Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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