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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIPJune 19, 2008J.J. HenryCROMWELL, CONNECTICUT NELSON SILVERIO: J.J. Henry, opening round 66, thanks for joining us for a few minutes. What are your thoughts, bogey-free today. Give us some general thoughts on your round. J.J. HENRY: I guess it was two shots better than in 2006 when I won, so that's a positive start. I knew starting out, the golf course was kind of going to be there out there, meaning perfect conditions; a little wind, soft greens. I knew that you had to actually go out and play a good round today, that there would be a lot of low scores. That's basically what I did. For the most part I hit the ball pretty well, hit a lot of fairways and enough greens to really kind of just -- very easy round. It wasn't very stressful. I kept the ball in play and made -- I guess made four birdies, no bogeys like you mentioned. So all in all, it was a good start. At the same time I know there's a lot of golf left so the scores will be pretty low, they'll be pretty bunched together today. But you can only control what you can do, and I'm happy and excited for the next three days. NELSON SILVERIO: Great start. Questions? Q. Do you remember the last round you had without a bogey? J.J. HENRY: You know, it's funny. My game has always been one where I don't really seem to make a whole lot. Obviously everybody makes bogeys, don't get me wrong. But I've always been one no matter how easy or how hard the golf course is, I don't make a whole lot of bogeys, probably because I drive the ball pretty well and I hit a lot of greens. But to answer your question, I don't -- Q. Have you had one this year? J.J. HENRY: Yeah, I think so, actually I did. Actually I know I did. I was leading Bay Hill after the first round. I think I shot -- I can't remember what I shot, 5- or 6-under, I believe. I think that was bogey-free. Q. What was better today than what's been going on lately? J.J. HENRY: To be honest with you, nothing. I feel like all in all, I've feel I've played pretty well. I've played kind of like this all year. Again, it was pretty easy out there today. Fairways were soft, which means they were wide, and the greens were soft. The golf course just suits my eye. Arguably I know this course better than anybody in the field. I've played it probably as much if not more than most guys in the field. So I feel very comfortable playing this golf course, and I think that adds to stress-free, just go out and hit the shots, know where you have to hit it, know where you can kind of feed it off some of the mounds on these greens, and know where to take advantage. We all know there's some hard holes out there and you've got to kind of play for par, if you will. But there's also some areas where you can kind of take advantage, and that's kind of what I did today. Q. Were you at Torrey Pines? J.J. HENRY: Well, kind of. I didn't play last week. I was on the couch watching it, and I enjoyed watching it, obviously. But I feel well-rested. This is kind of -- I mentioned I didn't play the week before in Memphis and unfortunately didn't play in the Open, so I'm coming here off a two-week rest. And I think I mentioned yesterday that I was kind of home at night, and I popped in a DVD of this event in '06 when I won, the third and fourth round, to kind of get me going a little bit and try to feel that momentum and see how I was swinging. To be honest with you, it still looks very similar. That week I made a lot of putts, and that's hopefully what I want to try to do the next three days. Q. How often do you watch it? J.J. HENRY: Not too often. It's been a while. It's probably been close to a year since I really did it. I actually watched the Ryder Cup, as well, in '06. Unfortunately as bad as we got beat, I felt like I played pretty good when I got a chance to play. So I watched a lot of those shots last week, as well. Q. You talked about stress-free rounds. Yesterday you talked about lack of focus at times, distractions at times. You would think today would be one of those distraction-type situations because you have a lot of family and friends here. Is this a big positive knowing that you had kind of those distractions? J.J. HENRY: I mean, I'll be honest with you, I was a little tense starting out this morning because I wanted to try to get off to a good start. I haven't played great yet this year, and obviously this tournament means a lot to me. Really, I really feel very relaxed now that I -- the fact that I posted a good score, you know, and I got off to a pretty good start. Starting off on the 10th hole, too, at 7:30 in the morning isn't exactly the easiest hole to be starting on. And then knowing there's kind of some tough drives there at the start, it's still kind of wet early in the morning, especially on that back nine. There's a lot of birdie holes, but at the same time there's holes where you can get into a lot of trouble. I was kind of timid or maybe steering the ball around early, but for the most part, once I kind of settled in and played three or four holes, I felt pretty good most of the day. Q. Woody Austin also said yesterday that wet conditions favor the longer hitter. J.J. HENRY: Well, I played with J.B. Holmes; there's no longer hitter than him. I was swinging out of my shoes and still 20, 30, 40 yards behind him. Q. Do you disagree with that then? J.J. HENRY: There's no question. I personally like when this golf course plays fast and firm. It's unfortunate that we had some rain. Hopefully it'll stay away the next couple days. I think there's a lot more excitement when it does. There's more drama on even 15 and some of the drivable holes. I just like the way this course plays fast and firm. You know, it is kind of -- the fairways in general on this course are pretty wide anyway, and when they're soft they're extremely wide. I hit a lot of 3-woods today. I still kind of kept to what I've always done out here, and that's still to keep the ball in play. But definitely I think this course favors a long -- you know, it does and it doesn't. There's only two par-5s, so there's not four par-5s like a lot of places we play. And a lot of holes -- like I said, I'm hitting 3-woods, so even a shorter hitter can still hit driver where I'm hitting my 3-wood, if you will. There's no question, soft conditions favor longer hitters, but the way this golf course sets up, I don't think it's a huge, huge advantage. Q. Can you just take us through the 18th hole? J.J. HENRY: The 18th hole in general or my 18th hole? Q. In general. J.J. HENRY: Well, it can hold a lot of people. It's kind of a neat finish. You tee off kind of an uphill, pretty well-bunkered off the tee left and right, and the optimum drive is kind of a draw down the right center there to a very narrow green, kind of bunker in front on the right and kind of a falloff, a shaved area on the left. With corporate row and all the mounding, it adds up for a lot of excitement on a Sunday afternoon for sure. It's a long par-4, especially today. It played a little into the wind, and as soft as it was -- it's a neat hole for sure. And of course even last year with the excitement with the birdie-birdie to tie and a birdie and a playoff with Hunter, it's a fun hole. The last four holes here are great holes, arguably four of the best holes we play all year. With the exception of maybe Sawgrass, TPC, I can't think of four more exciting finishing holes on TOUR, to be honest with you. Q. You felt you could go right at the hole with your approach today? J.J. HENRY: Well, I hit a good drive, and I think an 8-iron. Again, it was soft, and yeah, I hit a good nice little shot in there about four or five feet and made it for birdie. Even the birdies I made today weren't far. I made a -- let's see, I made a -- I started on the back, so I birdied 16, hit a good 8-iron in there about 15 feet and made that. And then I birdied 18 from five feet. I birdied 3 from about probably ten feet. Birdied 7 from about four or five feet. Just pretty consistent; I didn't make a whole lot of putts, but at the same time, I'm happy with the way I played. Q. What did you do on 18? J.J. HENRY: 18, I hit a great drive and still -- well, still, I had driver, 8-iron to about four feet, which was my ninth hole of the day. Maybe five feet. I'm cheating a little bit. ShotLink, that's what ShotLink is for. It'll probably tell me 12 feet. End of FastScripts |
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