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BUICK INVITATIONAL

January 25, 2007

John Senden

LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, John, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Buick Invitational. Nice round out there, 64.
JOHN SENDEN: Thank you.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Good solid day. Just talk about your day and maybe the conditions.
JOHN SENDEN: Well, the conditions were absolutely perfect. You know, in the morning there was a little easterly breeze and then it slightly switched halfway through our round and switched back to the west.
I was excited today about getting drawn with Tiger. I've never played with Tiger before, and I was a little excited I guess you'd call it. I wasn't overly nervous but I was excited on the first tee and keen to go and wanted to play really well. You know, I really enjoyed watching him and walking down the fairway with him.
My game today was pretty sharp. I felt great. You know, I got off to a reasonable start and birdied the -- parred the first four and then holed probably a 30-footer, more than that, probably 40-footer on No. 14 for eagle, so that really got the day started.
And then the birdies rolled on from there. So I enjoyed the day.

Q. What's it feel like to just beat Tiger's brains in one day (laughter)?
JOHN SENDEN: You know, we pretty much played similar. Tiger got off to a slow start, but he came back strong. You know, he birdied, I think, Nos. 7, 8, and then eagled -- 16, 17, and then eagled 18, and that really set the scene for his front nine, as well.
You know, I've watched Tiger for a long time playing, and I've always waited for the chance to possibly play with him, so today was the day. You know, it was great to see him -- watch him at work and watch him close by. I was excited about playing with him today. It was great.

Q. Can you learn from playing with a player like Tiger? Can you learn anything?
JOHN SENDEN: Yeah, you can. You know, you watch him, his demeanor on the golf course, his excellence, his high belief in his ball-striking and short game is phenomenal, and he's a proven best in the world. So it's great to watch the best.
He is the best, so you can't -- you can only learn from a guy like that. You know, when I played with him today, it was -- he's a natural guy and we had fun together today. He looks so relaxed out there playing and has so much high belief in what he does. He knows what he's doing, so it was great to learn from what he does.

Q. At one point there you asked for relief, I think, on the next-to-last hole. Did you have any problems other than that? What did you think about the shape of the course?
JOHN SENDEN: The shape of the course is, you know, very good. I mean, they've had a lot of cold weather so the course basically is quite dormant I guess you'd call it, dry cold weather and not much growth, so the rough is not quite as thick as normal. But the golf course is playing great. I mean, the greens on the North Course are fine, possibly a little bit debating about whether they're the best surface on the TOUR.
But I had a good day on the greens today. I guess shooting 8-under, I can't complain. But the golf course is in great shape. The South Course is looking very good for the weekend.

Q. Even though all the players have to play both courses, is there a certain advantage to being able to play the easier course on the first day and kind of get the ball rolling?
JOHN SENDEN: Yeah, that's correct. The North Course is the easy golf course, so shooting a low score puts you in a good mindset to thinking that you can go out there on the main course or the South Course and try and shoot some good numbers out there to consolidate from a good round.
You know, it's a much more difficult golf course, especially on and around the greens. Tomorrow is going to be a different day. You know, it is definitely an advantage to play the easy golf course first.

Q. What exactly is a sheep and cattle station?
JOHN SENDEN: It's like a ranch. Basically it's a ranch, like ranchers on their farm, they have sheep and castle that graze there, so basically that's how they raise their money. They shave the wool off the sheep and raise their cattle on the property, just grass-fed cattle. That's basically what a sheep and cattle station is. It's basically, in your terms over here, it's a ranch.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JOHN SENDEN: Well, when we go out there, if you're mustering, driving as you call it, driving cattle or sheep, my wife's -- my mother-in-law, she always says, "Get on the back of that motorbike and go and chase those sheep around so you can appreciate your golf," because it's pretty hard work. They're not the brightest animal in the world, and you try to round them up and one is going this way and one is going that way, and it's difficult. That's why she gets me out there to work and have fun. That makes you appreciate your golf and what you do, so it's good.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, John, for joining us.

End of FastScripts

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