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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 15, 2007Chris ChandlerSTATELINE, NEVADA CHRIS CHANDLER: Holy smokes, I don't know how many years it's been, 15, 16, 17, the first one I played here but it's been a long time. Q. But that's why you played in them to get to this point. CHRIS CHANDLER: I play because it's really fun. To win, it's even more fun. Q. Why don't you take us through the record-setting round today, give us the blow-by-blow. CHRIS CHANDLER: Well, I don't know if I'll give you all that much information. I think on this golf course, the front side is a little -- it's a little more birdie-resistant compared to the back. So generally, I've had a tougher time scoring on front and birdied 8 and 9, kind of got me jump started. And like I did for the last couple of days, I shot 33 on the back or 30-something. I don't know, I made a lot of birdies on the back. The back's always been good to me. So to get through the front side, I kind of told myself last night, if I could be at 60 going into the turn starting at 47 on the day, I thought I would have a chance, you know, to putt 75-ish or so on the board. On back side, it just went crazy. I just made every putt I looked at. It was really weird, on 18, just trying to -- just trying not to make a 7. It's really hard to make par when that's your mind-set. You know, I just said, take some club on 18 and hit it over everything. And then, you know, got a really gnarly lie in the bunker and made bogey. But still, I kind of did what I needed to do coming in. I've heard people talk about being in that position before, and it's kind of hard to make bogey sometimes when you're not trying to make par. Q. Can you just tell us a little bit about the length of your birdie putts today? Could you go over the birdie holes on those? CHRIS CHANDLER: 8 was about eight feet. 9 I was just on the fringe. The pin was on eight, so it was about a 25-footer, 24-footer. 10, I hit it in there six feet. 12 is about a 20-footer. 13 is about a 20-footer. 14 was about a 25-footer. They just kind of kept going in. I 2-putted, a little tap-in on 16 for birdie. And I just missed eagle on 4, so a little tap-in there. And I mean, I just -- speed on the putter was good from the standpoint that I -- some of the putts I didn't make there, but none of the putts did I run by five or six feet. They were all two and a half feet coming back just short, something like that. I was going to look at the leaderboard after nine, but when I made those two birdies, I said I'm not going to look. After 12, I knew a leaderboard was coming up and I didn't look. And I didn't look until 18. I think in the past whenever I've been close and I've looked and seen my name on the leaderboard, your mind starts racing about, God, if I can just do this or if I can just do that. So I didn't look at the leaderboard at all today until I looked up and I knew all I needed to do was 2-putt to eliminate any chance of anybody doing anything stupid. So maybe that was part of it, too. I just really stayed in my own world today pretty well. Q. So who is more proud today, you or J.B.? CHRIS CHANDLER: J.B., by far. I mean, I'm happy, but I've spent -- I've probably played as many rounds with Brodes as I've played with anybody else in my life. He kept telling me things to do in my golf game. And No. 1 thing he told me years and years ago, was hit driver on every hole and I never bought into that until about three years ago. And there's not one tee ball -- I hit driver on every single hole but the par 3s. I've been trying to do that for the last bunch of years and he always told me, you do that, you're going to hit your driver better and better and better. That's just one of many things. He gave me a little putting tip before I went out today, too. So for him to go out and watch me play as much of a father as I've had in my life, as much of a best friend as I've had in my life, for me to go out and win this thing I think is really special for him and I think he's very, very proud. Q. Some guys like Michael Jordan among them, when they were active athletes, who come out here and play and they would be envious of guys like Rhoden who did not have to go through a season and they could just play golf all the time. And Michael Jordan articulated that he thought that he might win this thing sometime in the future after he retired and could play all the time. Did you think that when you an active football player? CHRIS CHANDLER: Well, I was lucky enough where our off-season kind of is the time you play golf. You know, it's from February, you can go out to the desert, you can go a lot of places, February through about until now. A lot of guys are going to camp here in a couple of weeks. You have a lot of time this time of year to play golf. So I've never thought while I was playing, I could ever say, well, it's because I'm not retired. You know, as a matter of fact, since I've been retired the last two years, I found myself playing so much golf that I almost was Groundhog's Day and I almost got tired of it sort of. Bottom line is, you hit the ball good, you have to make putts to win this thing. And I made a lot of putts today. There's a lot of years I hit the ball good and didn't make them and have been close and been close and been close. You know, it's been knocking on the door for a lot of years which kind of makes this really cool for me. Again, I keep bringing up Brody; and I bring him up only because he was on every tee box. I saw him on every second shot. I could hear him laugh at the bad ones and I could hear him cheer for the good ones. You know, that was really, really neat. Q. How would this stack up for a personal accomplishment bases for you? CHRIS CHANDLER: Well, it's got to be a close second personally to us going into Minnesota and beating them to go to the Super Bowl. That game I played and that game we played as a team was one of the best championship games, really, if you look at it, one of the best ones going to over time beating a 15-1 team in their building. I don't think that I can ever do anything to equal that again. But this is -- this is the second place, a close second. Q. Chris, are you dedicating the victory to him? John finished second here before but never first. CHRIS CHANDLER: You know, yeah, I guess I'd like to now. I mean, coming into it I never really thought about, you know, dedicating anything to him. But he's meant so much to me from, you know, from what I did on the football field to what I've ever done playing golf. We spent many, many hours. JOHN BRODY: Yes. CHRIS CHANDLER: Talking about all that stuff from golf to football to people, you know, life in general. So I've learned a lot, and again, I think John's very, very proud, and that makes me feel good that he's proud of what happened today. It's been a long time coming, Brodes. But we did it. Q. John, it looked like it brought you to tears out there. Can you tell us what you were thinking when he won it? JOHN BRODY: Oh, God, well, yes -- CHRIS CHANDLER: I'm going to say that it was pretty special. JOHN BRODY: Oh, God, yes. Hey, special. Special. CHRIS CHANDLER: Now, am I right or wrong saying that -- and I know this for a fact, that of all of the people I've played golf with, I've played more rounds with you. JOHN BRODY: Yes. CHRIS CHANDLER: So Franky is getting close, my brother-in-law. We used to go in the off-season at La Quinta and play five times a week, at least. Here in just little nuggets would he tell me -- J.B. has an incredible amount of wisdom. He says so much in few words. A lot of guys talk a lot and they don't say anything. J.B. a lot of times doesn't say much, but the meaning, you understand with a he's saying; the economy of words and a lot of wisdom. That's what I've learned form John. I've learned -- I can't even tell you how much I've learned from golf and football and life. JOHN BRODY: Yes. (Giving thumbs-up). CHRIS CHANDLER: J.B. and his wife just had their 50th wedding anniversary three weeks ago. We had 75 of his best friends up in Palo Alto all came to this and it was really a neat thing. Learned a lot from J.B., watching what he's been going through the last handful of years and just how tough he is, the ultimate competitor. He's tough as nails and one of the greatest people on the planet you'll ever have the fortune of being around. Q. What did he say to you when he walked up to you today after you won? CHRIS CHANDLER: Oh, not much. Just a lot of hugging and crying and smiling. I kind of was doing the same. Not much needs to be said at that point in time. A lot gets conveyed just with the hug. And it was a good hug. Q. Looks like, too, you had a litany of girls coming up to hug you. Do you have no boys in your family? CHRIS CHANDLER: I have no boys in my family. I have three daughters and friends of ours have daughters and Trent has daughters, Dilfer's daughters. Yeah, a lot of girls, always loved 'em. Q. The sand shot, was that on 18? CHRIS CHANDLER: On 18, well, I was in that back right and it was like almost being in cake mix. It was above my feet and I didn't want to just get stupid and, you know, blade it into the water. The second one was good. Q. And you took no time with the second one, you walked right up -- CHRIS CHANDLER: Honestly I'm pretty good out of the sand. I could feel when I dug my feet in that I had no chance of -- it was going to be like almost like a plugged lie, the sand was so soft. I mean, I try not to -- I used to play real slow until the time I've been around him. And he would say, "no good, boo" -- the quicker you can pull the trigger, a lot of times the better off you are. That's one of the things he told me. He also -- well, that's another story. JOHN BRODY: (Laughing) Q. Chris, your previous best around here was 69 points total for the tournament, this year 78, nine-point difference. CHRIS CHANDLER: Yeah, you know what, there was potential for 90 there, just -- oh, by the way, the putter was not working well the first two days. Again, everybody can talk about putts not going in, and I'm no different. But when the putter works and you're hitting it good on this golf course, you can score. The par 5s are all reachable and they are fun and the course is in great shape. I mean, I was surprised. You know, I heard a bunch of horror stories about the greens were bad and this and that. It was in really, really fine shape I thought. You know, difference between I guess me and Rhoden and a lot of guys is I made a bunch of putts today, bottom line. Q. With Rhoden coming off the U.S. Senior Open and played Commerce the week before that and had his playing privileges the previous year, was that intimidating for you guys? CHRIS CHANDLER: I didn't know he played in the Senior Open. We had just gotten back from the junior Olympics in Minneapolis for my daughter's 12-year-old club team. So that's been my world lately. So I didn't even watch it. I heard it was at Whistling Straits. Going there August 26th, excited about it. But I know Rick is as good of a player as there is out here. And for him, whether he played if the U.S. Senior Open or not, I mean, he's still good, whether he did or he didn't. I know that guys like him, Quinn, the usual suspects are all just great players. JOHN BRODY: Great. CHRIS CHANDLER: You've got to go out -- I guess the fact that he had 51 points after yesterday's round, knowing he had to go out and really play well to win probably makes this one super-satisfying because it wasn't like he was going to lay down. You had to go out and play. With a four-point lead that he had, Rick's not going to -- he's not going to gag. Q. You're the golf coach at Torrey Pines? CHRIS CHANDLER: In Torrey Pines High School. Q. In suburban San Diego? CHRIS CHANDLER: It's Del Mar-ish area, just 20 minutes north of downtown. Q. Kids going to listen to you a little bit more now? CHRIS CHANDLER: I hope so. They are a bunch of really good kids. The thing I found coaching golf, you don't really have to worry about them too much. It's not like a football team where you worry about those guys getting in fights or flunking out of school. They are golfers. They have respect for the game and you don't have to do much other than just tell them to go for it. So I guess in all of the things I told him about don't be afraid to hit a bad shot, just fire at the pins, go for it, I was trying to do that this whole week. JOHN BRODY: Yes. Whole week. CHRIS CHANDLER: I was trying to practice what I preach to them. Q. What else do you do professionally? CHRIS CHANDLER: Nothing. Q. You golf coach; you play golf, you compete on the celebrity tour. CHRIS CHANDLER: Yeah, it's for the last couple of years being retired, I got to -- and it sounds corny, but I got to enjoy my daughters and everything they do, dropping them off at school and picking them up, going to volleyball games, going to soccer meets, going to swim meets, all that stuff for the previous bunch of years I missed out on to a certain degree. I love the fact that I would sit at volleyball practice for two hours and watch them go. They were the No. 1 12-year-old team in California, and I loved every practice, things like that. Q. What are your daughter's names and ages? CHRIS CHANDLER: Brynn is eight. Skye is 10, and Ryann is 12. Best friends with Matty-D. Q. And 125,000 this year, what are you going to do with it? CHRIS CHANDLER: You'll probably have to ask the females of the family. It's the usual joke but there's a truth to it, too. We'll bring Diane in here. How about that? (Looking at John Brody ---laughing). End of FastScripts |
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