BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 4, 2003

Kelly Gibson

MODERATOR: We have Kelly Gibson, 1-under on the front, from under on the back for a 3-under 67. First time you played this course.

KELLY GIBSON: I played a practice round real late Tuesday evening. Teed off at 5:00 and played a blistering fast practice round, and came out yesterday morning at 6:30 and played nine holes. I played the back nine twice, so it paid off a little bit for me.

Q. How do you feel about it?

KELLY GIBSON: It's a great golf course. You have to have everything going right, you have to hit good drives, a lot of quality iron shots. The par 3s are very demanding and you have to have the ball -- really, the key probably for me today was my misses were in fairly easy spots to get out of the holes with pars. I think that was one reason why I didn't make a bogey all day long. Every time it seemed like I hit to a bad position, I scrambled for par.

Q. You're the leader right now in the clubhouse.

KELLY GIBSON: That's a beautiful thing. Can we get a hurricane blow through here and rain the next three rounds out?

Q. Tell us what you did on the par 5, No. 4.

KELLY GIBSON: I hit a driver, 4-iron. That was my back nine. I hit a really good drive one of my better drivers off the day and I hit a 4-iron from 230 to about 20 feet. I had a really difficult putt. It was over a hill and I putted it by about four feet and I made the 4-footer for birdie which kind of kept the momentum going. That would have hurt if I wouldn't have done that.

And then I just played pretty solid. I made a good par and missed the fairway on 9 in the right rough. Man, it was just buried. I was lucky I hit a 9-iron 130 and it rolled to the front fringe and I 2-putted from 80 feet it seemed like. I was pretty happy with par on the last hole.

On my first nine I didn't drive the ball great, but I made a nice par save on 13, I guess. I made a nice birdie on 15. Man, I've never had to guess my yardages there. I'm going to say a 15-footer there.

Q. What did you hit into the green?

KELLY GIBSON: I can't remember. I'm drawing a blank. A lot of the holes, they are all difficult, so I don't really remember them.

15th hole, I hit a 4-iron -- the hole that I made the par save on, I hit a 4-iron left of the green. That hole played hard.

15, I think I hit an 8-iron pitching wedge, 15 feet.

17, I hit a good 3-iron in the right bunker. I had one foot in the bunker. I had a bad lie and I hit a great shot and it came up short about ten or 12 feet and it was -- that's a tough green there. That's a good green to go watch the tournament on because my putt, it broke probably a foot. Those are just big swingers -- 17 and 18 are going to be some pretty funky-looking putts. The crowd is going to enjoy that.

Q. Last time you've been in this position sitting in a media room after the first round --

KELLY GIBSON: Never.

Q. Nationwide Tour?

KELLY GIBSON: I've been out here all my life. No, I've won a few times on the Nationwide. Actually I got my start on the Canadian Tour. I owe a lot of my career playing to the Canadian Tour. I won the Victoria Open and the Manitoba Open way back when I was about 30 pounds lighter than I am now. I won victory in '89 and Manitoba in '91. I don't know if I've led after one round. I lead the Phoenix Open after two rounds.

Q. What year was that?

KELLY GIBSON: '95, '97, somewhere in there. It's been a while since I've played well. I've really struggled with my game and I'm really happy to have days like today. It's been terrible.

Q. Were you surprised you hit it well?

KELLY GIBSON: I played so bad the last tournament, I was ready to quit, honestly. I was just so down in the dumps.

David Frost gave me a putting lesson last night on the practice green at about six o'clock. I always hit the ball good. Striking the ball, I'm one of the most accurate, long drivers on this tour statistically, on both this tour and the other tour. So that has never really been a problem. It's just confidence and scoring ability, and scoring usually translates into putting well.

So if I could do this two or three more days in a row, whether I win or not, it would do a lot for my confidence.

Q. What did he help you with?

KELLY GIBSON: I had my hands too low, cocked down and he wanted me to get them hinged up so my hands would be more like that. And he told me that Jack Nicklaus always putted with his right hand down kind of underneath.

I played with Willie Wood, and he's probably one of the best putters out here and he made some nice putts early on. I was like, man, why doesn't that ever happen to me and all of a sudden I started making a few. I made -- I forgot to tell you, I made a 50-footer on my 10th hole which was -- hit a 3-wood in the bunker, was playing for bogey and I hit it back of the green, it was the same thing, why don't I ever make these and it went right in the middle. I actually said that to myself before I hit it. It was a good day for me. The game has not given me enough of these lately for sure. Does it sound like I'm crying up here? I'm not getting a lot of sympathy.

Q. You're leading the tournament.

KELLY GIBSON: Amen. Tell me that on Sunday afternoon, please.

Q. What was your exempt status that got you in here?

KELLY GIBSON: I'm a veteran of the Tour which means I've made over 150 cuts lifetime. It's pretty hard to make that many cuts and not win. There's only a few of us.

I had a hunch that I was in but because of that funky finish they had last week, some guys who committed -- Justin Rose Top-10 . When I checked Monday night I was the last guy in. So I had to get up at 4:30 Tuesday morning to get here. My flight left at 6:15 out of New Orleans. I was fifth alternate but Monday afternoon, I was No. 1.

Q. When you play a schedule, two tours, is it tough to do well on either one of them, to do well?

KELLY GIBSON: Everybody wants to know, why wouldn't you stay over there and play my way into the top 20. My problem is I'm not playing well and if I have a hot week, I would rather catch it over here than there. Though that tour has really improved, it's probably the second best tour in the world. I just play when I get the opportunity, and what a great opportunity. If I could put four rounds together like I've had today, I'm assuming that would be strong enough to win the tournament. I did it today. I would hope to think that I could do it tomorrow, but I certainly have not proven that in my career yet.

Q. Is it all putting?

KELLY GIBSON: It's been a little bit of everything and usually it kind of -- the chipping was really bad at the beginning; that came around, and then I played too many weeks in a row. Last week was the first week I've had off. I got so burnt out after Reno that if I didn't take a week off, they were going to put me in a straightjacket at some point. I was toast.

End of FastScripts.