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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 11, 2008Brett HullJeremy RoenickSTATELINE, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: Jeremy, 26 points today. Brett, 25. Pierre Larouche had 23. It's hockey day out here in the opening round. BRETT HULL: We've got Dan Quinn and Mario. JEREMY ROENICK: But it's nice when the hockey guys lead the leaderboard. Doesn't happen that often. They usually come from behind. BRETT HULL: We want to be leading on Sunday. JEREMY ROENICK: It's a good start. Him and I, our goal today was not to be leading, it was to be even so we can play again tomorrow together. That was our goal. BRETT HULL: It worked out pretty well. Worked out pretty well. THE MODERATOR: Take us through your round. We understand you started off a little rough. BRETT HULL: Thinned a sand wedge into the hazard on 1 to make double bogey. Birdie, 2; birdie, 3. JEREMY ROENICK: Should have birdied 4. BRETT HULL: Made par from 190 yards in on 4. Bogey, 5. Par, 6. No, sorry. Birdie, 6. Par, 7. Par, 8. Bogey, 9. JEREMY ROENICK: No, you birdied 7. Sic birdie on 7. He almost holed it out. BRETT HULL: Par, 6. Birdied 7. And then bogeyed 9. 10 points after nine holes. And then bogey 10. And then throw a string of pars together until 16 where I make birdie. And then par 17 and make kind of a big bending putt for eagle on 18. JEREMY ROENICK: Sick putt for eagle on 18. BRETT HULL: The group together could have had four eagles today, between Mark and Jeremy and myself. JEREMY ROENICK: Brett missed a -- he missed a 5-footer for eagle on 3. I missed a 6-footer for eagle on 4. And then both of us made eagle on 18. And I think Rip. BRETT HULL: Rip played the best of all three of us. JEREMY ROENICK: No question. BRETT HULL: He had 17, or he had 15 pars, two birdies and a bogey. And ended up with less points than we did. He shot 70. We shot 71. Or both of them shot 70. I shot 71. THE MODERATOR: What did you hit on 3? BRETT HULL: I had about two -- what did we say -- about 258 in and hit a 3-wood to about six feet. JEREMY ROENICK: Sick. BRETT HULL: And if I wouldn't have been watching these guys putt, I probably would have made it. But they were just coming from a little different angle. Looked like it broke more. So I just played it right through the break. Q. How long do you think the putt on 18 was? BRETT HULL: It wasn't that long. 20 feet. JEREMY ROENICK: 18 feet. BRETT HULL: 18, 20 feet. It was just where it is. I actually thought my second shot was going to land and release further around that corner to the pin, but it stayed up. JEREMY ROENICK: It was beautiful. Because it was one of those right-to-left putts that seemed to have eyes for the hole. BRETT HULL: It's one of those where if you get it on the right line and it just kind of goes right to the hole. Q. How was the course overall for you today? JEREMY ROENICK: I thought the course played well. I was a little nervous of the greens in the first two days of the Pro-Am, because they seemed pretty bumpy. Every time you got a 4-footer or 3-footer for par you didn't seem to get a solid roll. Today, the ball rolled really true, whatever you saw as a line, if you hit the line, it was going to go in. And that's all you ask for as a player is that you get a -- you get a true read. And the ball was rolling much smoother. And the last thing we want as a player is to have a ball bounce or wiggle as you putt it. And that was the situation Wednesday and Thursday. But today it seemed to roll much smoother. BRETT HULL: Golf course was great. The fairways are great. It's just fun to be out here. JEREMY ROENICK: It's a blast to be out here with him. BRETT HULL: You gotta hit a whole bunch of shots all the time. If you want, you can rip driver anywhere, but you can also hit rescues and long irons, you can do a lot of things. It's fun to play. Q. Jeremy, your eagle, 18, what was that? JEREMY ROENICK: I went driver 9-iron. BRETT HULL: Three feet. JEREMY ROENICK: And I wanted to play it off the right side of the water and let the wind blow it in. I was telling my caddie all day long -- BRETT HULL: His caddie almost dropped trough right on -- he didn't think he was going to take it over the water like he did. JEREMY ROENICK: I was telling my caddie all day that I absolutely love that pin being on the back right side or back left of that green. And I was waiting for that hole all day long. BRETT HULL: That's the God's honest truth. That's all he talked about all day: I can't wait to get to 18. It's my favorite pin. Favorite hole. JEREMY ROENICK: Favorite pin. It was left side. I hit my ball on the right side just in the rough. And where the wind was blowing, I played a little cut. If I just played it right at the pin, I knew the wind was going to keep it straight. And I just hit it perfect. Q. How far out were you with the 9-iron? JEREMY ROENICK: I was 160 out. I hit a 9-iron out of the rough. I think I was about three feet. Q. So you didn't quite catch the drive? JEREMY ROENICK: It was perfect. As soon as I hit it I knew I was good. Q. The quarterbacks are always telling us how they think their skill sets lend itself well to golf. What do you use from hockey when you're golfing, if anything? BRETT HULL: I'm not really sure how that correlates: Throwing a football and swinging a club, as opposed to taking a slap shot and swinging a club. That's kind of a weird statement. JEREMY ROENICK: There's no correlation. BRETT HULL: I think their brain and their ability to -- JEREMY ROENICK: Hey, let's tell it like it really is. I think they're full of shit. (Laughter) I think they're full of shit. Q. Can we quote you on that? JEREMY ROENICK: I think they're full of shit. I think they're great golfers, but you know what, playing football and being great golfers has no correlation whatsoever. BRETT HULL: I don't understand it. Unless they're picking it up and throwing it a lot. JEREMY ROENICK: You know what it is, it's just being really relaxed. BRETT HULL: They're smart. They know how to manage. They manage their football team. They manage their golf game. They're smart people. JEREMY ROENICK: With the exception of Michael Vick who ran, every other quarterback has to drop back and pick the hole and they don't have to run very far. They just have to make sure their line does a good job. Usually they should be very confident. They should be very relaxed. The same as in a golf swing. For us, we have guys chasing us down with hockey sticks wanting to beat our heads in. BRETT HULL: We don't need silence. We actually like a little noise. JEREMY ROENICK: That is right. You can yell on 18. Yell on the green. No problem for us. BRETT HULL: Someone asked that when I hit a shot today: Did you hear that? Hear what? I heard nothing. JEREMY ROENICK: A duck flew in the water, splashed in the water. He said: Did somebody hit something in the water? No, the duck splashed in the water after something. He made the birdie putt on 2. Q. Did you have some local fans out here cheering you on? JEREMY ROENICK: Yeah, playing in San Jose is a big treat for me because it's very close to home. A lot of people take the drive up here, take the weekend and make it a family event. And I'll tell you, when you come around 7 and 8 and 9, the fans are just -- I get the shark, the shark bite when I start coming around. And it's really a great feeling for me knowing that you're accepted and you're welcomed and people love you in a certain city. Especially coming up here, I get a lot of support. And it's hard to not sign autographs during play because a lot of people are out there, but it's nice to know that it's kind of like a home field for me. Q. There was a boat with a group off of 18 encouraging everybody to throw their ball. Did you toss -- JEREMY ROENICK: That was on 17. BRETT HULL: Yes. JEREMY ROENICK: We didn't know about that boat on 18. 17 we saw the boat. BRETT HULL: We noticed everything, trust me. (Laughter) how can't you? My God. JEREMY ROENICK: Yeah, let's just hope the sun is out tomorrow. BRETT HULL: The sun will be out tomorrow (singing). JEREMY ROENICK: Tomorrow. Q. Are you excited to play against Sean Avery in the Pacific Division next year? JEREMY ROENICK: I think Brett will tell you this, I texted Brett, I think on July 2nd, right when he signed him, I texted Brett. And I went: Buddy, that's such a great play for you guys. I wish he would be on my team because he's the kind of guy that can be a difference-maker. He's the kind of guy that can make the whole team bigger. Take away his antics and take away the attitude, the fact that someone is willing to go out there and throw his reputation and his body on the line the way that he will -- I'm telling you what, one thing you don't know about Sean Avery, he's an unbelievable hockey player. He can skate. He can shoot. He can pass. He sees the ice very well. It's unfortunate that everybody out there, especially the media, views his attitude before they see his hockey ability. And I text Brett and said, dude, that is a great sign for you to get him. BRETT HULL: Especially in our division. JEREMY ROENICK: And I am pissed off because I gotta play against him six times this year. So I was proud of Brett for doing that. But I was disappointed we couldn't get him. Q. Couple of years ago you were here. We had the players and the league situation going on. Everything good there now? BRETT HULL: Too good. Too good for the players. Bad for management. JEREMY ROENICK: I think the management is doing themselves the wrong justice right now. They're giving everybody so much damn money right now, they're putting ourselves right back in the same situation we were in 2003. So much money is going out. I understand that the ticket sales have been good. But we had a lock-out in 2004 because there was so much money going out. And it's starting to get back there again. And it's going to be a problem. It has to be maintained. It has to be controlled. And if it doesn't do that soon -- and I think Brett will agree with me. There's some contracts out there this year that everybody probably opened their eyes at and said: You gotta be kidding me. So people have to be careful right now. And, yes, I am talking to Brett and talking to other people. And I think Brett's got a good hold on it. BRETT HULL: It's tough, though, because there's a lot of pressure throughout the league to be successful. And the players, there's great places to go play. And there's places that, for some reason the players don't find so desirable. And they have to do something to get those players to come to get them competitive or their franchises are going to suffer and their jobs are going to suffer. And they throw the money out there because they have to. But it's like Jeremy said: There are some weird contracts this year. But you manage your own team and you just stick to that and let them do whatever they're doing. JEREMY ROENICK: But I think because of that, I think because of that, I think it is a situation because of the top guys in the league. You have Sidney Crosby. You have Malkin and Ovechkin who are by far some of the best players in the game right now and they are getting huge money. So when everything starts teetering down the totem pole you have these guys getting so much money that the middle guys are going to start getting more. And it's a trickle-down effect. But I think it will be okay. I think it's just that time. You will see the things I think come into a little bit more control and the league will -- it will stay strong no matter what because we do have a great league and very smart people running it. Q. Any predictions for the weekend gentlemen? JEREMY ROENICK: I just hope I play with Brett every day. BRETT HULL: Me too. JEREMY ROENICK: That's all I care about. BRETT HULL: You have no idea how much easier it is out there to play with a buddy. You can go out there and you don't even -- all of a sudden you're at your ball and it's like, oh, time to hit. Everybody is a great guy out here. No question about it. But there's guys that are buddies with other guys. When you have to walk up the fairway and you're not really chatting and you start thinking about my next shot this and that it makes it more difficult to play. But when you can be loose and talking and having fun and stuff, it just makes the game so much easier. JEREMY ROENICK: I've played in this 14 years now, and this is the first day that I've played with Brett Hull. And I've always wanted to play with him. And I saw the listing last night. And I was excited from the moment -- I couldn't barely sleep. BRETT HULL: And Mark Rypien is one of the greatest guys you'll ever meet. JEREMY ROENICK: He's a hockey fan. BRETT HULL: He should have been a hockey player. JEREMY ROENICK: Absolutely. He was a hockey guy today. BRETT HULL: Yeah, he was. And then you're out there with him and -- JEREMY ROENICK: He talked about his nephew. BRETT HULL: -- he's down to earth and a Super Bowl champion. JEREMY ROENICK: He talked about his cousin more than anything. He plays for Vancouver Canucks. It was a great day. I hope we're teaming up tomorrow. Q. Were either of you able to get a little wager down on yourselves at the book? BRETT HULL: We did. JEREMY ROENICK: We did. (Laughter) BRETT HULL: We pushed on the front. JEREMY ROENICK: We actually had a little going today. But we had so much fun together talking and shooting the shit. BRETT HULL: That's all right. He won. JEREMY ROENICK: He owes me $100. BRETT HULL: There's no gambling at Bushwood. (Laughter) Q. Have you thought about doing a pilot for a TV show, you two? (Laughter) JEREMY ROENICK: Don't laugh. I've already thrown it to this guy but he had to take the job as a GM. But I'll get it out of him sooner or later. I think we'd be a good team. We'd make a lot of money together. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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