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GREATER HICKORY CLASSIC AT ROCK BARN

September 13, 2008

Tom Jenkins

CONOVER, NORTH CAROLINA

THE MODERATOR: 7 under 65 today was the low round of the day here at Rock Barn. And at 129 you're tied with Mr. Eaks at 15 under through 36 holes. Just a couple general thoughts about your round, obviously, highlighted by five birdies right in the middle of the round, and then talk about tomorrow.
TOM JENKINS: Okay, well, starting out R.W. had a three shot lead. He's played this golf course well. You know, my objective today was just to try to catch up a little bit to him and stay close if I could. But the way he started out, he almost made deuce on one and holed it out on two. And he was off to the races again.
You know, I parred 1, and 2, and hit a great 5-iron at 2 and 3. And made that for birdie. Hit a good drive at 4, and took a 3-wood and knocked it on the green at 4. You know, two-putt from I don't know, maybe 80 feet or so. Routine pars at 5 and 6.
One of my two really bad shots today happened on 7. Had a good drive at 7, and I was trying to press a 5-wood on the green there. Trying to launch it up pretty high, and I caught it fat. It kind of blooped into the right fairway bunkers over there about 70 yards short of the pin.
It hit a great middle sand wedge shots out of the bunker from about 70 yards, about 4 or 5 feet, and made that for birdie which was a big help.
Then hit 6-iron off the tee at 8. Then hit a middle sand wedge about a foot and a half. Lipped that shot out. It could have gone in. Tapped that in for birdie.
Hit a great 3-iron at 9 about 10 feet; made that for birdie. 10, hit a good drive. 8-iron about 12 feet behind the hole, made that for birdie.
Great drive at 11, hit a 9-iron about 5 feet. Made that for birdie. 12, hit 5-wood off the tee. Hit a great 6-iron in there about 6 feet, and didn't hit a really good putt there and missed that and that kind of stopped the flow for a while. But I guess that was about five or six in a row or so, something like that.
You know, played solid from then on. Hit routine pars at 13, 14. 15 I missed about a 15-footer there that I thought I was going to make that one.
16, I had a pitching wedge at 16. That was my second poor shot of the day. It seems like it played a little shorter. You know, pins up pretty close to the water there. I was trying to hit a little cut slider, little pitching wedge kind of around behind it, and just kind of came over it and it flew in the bunker behind the green.
Blasted out about 8 feet and missed that for my bogey, one bogey of the day. Then 5-iron at 17, two-putt and then driver, and a good 3-wood up in front of the green. Kind of a mediocre pitch. Made about probably about a 12-footer for birdie at 18.
So all in all, it's a pretty good round. It's going to be a fun day tomorrow. R.W. is playing well, hitting a lot of close shots.
You know, the greens are still soft, and you can still throw them the distance that you want. You know, they're coming back a little bit, but they're so soft that they're not really taking off the spin and coming back off the green. So we're getting a break there.
Fairways were drier today. The ball is releasing a little bit in the fairways. I don't think I had any mud on the ball today, which was surprising. So it should be a fun day tomorrow.
R.W. and I are just going to go out and try to make birdies every hole.

Q. Did you say you had an old set of irons?
TOM JENKINS: Well, I played with these Titleist 755's for a couple of years. I've kind of went off of them the last three weeks. Then I went home and kind of got them out and was hitting them again, decided to bring them here. You know, that's kind of the old magic is back in them.

Q. Still hitting the greens, it's holding pretty well?
TOM JENKINS: Oh, yeah.

Q. What do you expect tomorrow?
TOM JENKINS: Well, they may pick up some speed. But they're still, you know, the root system is still saturated. You know, you're getting some big-time ball marks when the balls go on the greens. So I don't see it drying up that much underneath the surface.

Q. Any sense this is like a matchplay thing?
TOM JENKINS: Well, not yet. There's still some great scores that could be shot from guys that are you know, 6, 7, 8, 9 under that can shoot 60 tomorrow. You've still got to get going and keep making birdies.
It will be a fun group. You know, R.W. and I played the last two days, and it's been enjoyable and relaxing. I think that's helped everybody.

Q. Was there any sense that you could come close to even matching R.W. yesterday?
TOM JENKINS: Well, yeah, when people shoot scores like that, you know, it gets you thinking it can be done.
I remember a couple years ago in Seattle, Scott Simpson was playing with Aoki on Saturday, and Scott Simpson shot 11 under 6 on Saturday. Then I was paired with Aoki on Sunday, and I walked up to Aoki and I said you were with the 61. So I kind of rubbed him a little bit, you know? And sure enough, I shot 61 with him on Sunday.
So, you know, when you see scores like that you think that they're out there. If you can get your putter going, it can be done. But you also have to remember that the guys behind you can do that, too. So you've got to keep it going.

Q. What was it like? You said R.W. comes out and birdies the first two holes. Were you thinking here we go again?
TOM JENKINS: Yeah, he's going to shoot the same thing again.

Q. What did your mindset say?
TOM JENKINS: You've got to play your own game and not get too involved in that. You've got to play one shot at a time. Try to get some birdies yourself. Keep the ball in play, and start giving yourself some opportunities.
You know, you know if you can stay in your own game and play one shot at a time, you know, if you're putting touchy there and reading them right, you'll make some birdies, too. So you've just got to keep going, and not get too off track with other players.

Q. Born in Houston and went to school there. Any Houston family-related issues with the storm?
TOM JENKINS: Yeah, my mom, 88 years old, is weathering out the storm in her house on the southwest side of town. I woke up early this morning, and contacted them and they had phones. Didn't have any electricity.
She lives by herself. Doesn't want to move anywhere. She's in good health. We had a nurse that stayed with her yesterday and last night who kind of helps out. They managed to weather it out. Though her house got flooded, you know, water in it. So that's going to be a mess trying to get that fixed up. But at least she's survived it, and the house didn't fall over.
You know, I live in Austin, and we just got some wind there. I don't think we got much rain or anything, so.

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