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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

October 2, 2008

Bo Van Pelt

VERONA, NEW YORK

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Bo Van Pelt into the interview room here at The Turning Stone Resort Championship. If we can get some opening comments on a 2-under par 70 in some nasty weather out there.
BO VAN PELT: You know, it was good to shoot under par today. It was going to be a tough day. Reminded me of college. Went to school at Oklahoma State, and we had plenty of days like this in Stillwater, so just try to revert back to that.
You knew it was going to be bad for everybody, so you just try to have a good attitude. Even though I bogeyed 2, I made an eagle there on, I don't know what hole it was, 5 or whatever, but got it under par. That is important on a day like today.
You don't want to start out with a couple bogeys and trying to get back to even, so it was good to get under par. Just played pretty darn solid after that.
JOHN BUSH: Speaking of Oklahoma, windy conditions don't scare you at all, do they?
BO VAN PELT: No. I've been out there since '93. I used to hit the ball a lot higher before I got out there. I like it when it's windy. The tougher the better.
JOHN BUSH: Take us through that eagle on No. 5.
BO VAN PELT: Yeah, that was probably two of the better shots that I hit all year. The wind was down off the left. I hit a good drive and kept it real close to the bunker, and then I had a good yardage for my hybrid. Probably had 235 or something to the hole. Hit a great hybrid and kind of drew back in the wind and hit it about ten feet and made a nice putt.
JOHN BUSH: All right. And then the birdies on 8 and 10.
BO VAN PELT: 8, the par-5, I laid up to about 100 yards and hit it in there about three feet, just easy. And then 10, hit a good drive and hit a 9-iron about 15 feet left of the hole and made it.
JOHN BUSH: Take us through the bogey on 18.
BO VAN PELT: Yeah, you know, it was downwind. I had never played here before this year. We had been driving it right of the bunker, so downwind I had seen some other guys hitting it over the bunker. I tried to take it over the bunker and just mishit it a little bit.
I kind of half buried it right in the lip. I needed another yard and I probably could have got it on the green in two. So I had to layup to about 250and then hit a good shot that just came up short in the bunker and just didn't get the ball up-and-down.
JOHN BUSH: Okay. Questions.

Q. You're not the first guy to tell us that they hit a good shot with their hybrid. Having that club in your bag, does that help you in this kind of weather even more?
BO VAN PELT: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think it's a great advancement in the game. You know, long irons, those in-between-shots and the tight bends, especially in bad conditions. You just have more margin for error, especially going to into par-5s.
I remember when I first came out here guys were still hitting 2-irons and stuff. It was just hard when you get that yardage when you're in between a 3-wood and a long iron to get the ball -- to hit it high and get it to land soft.
So hybrid is a great club whether it's a 5-wood or whatever works for you. But definitely on par-5s or long par-4s like you're going to have this week, if the weather stays bad, definitely a lot easier to hit.

Q. Was there an advantage to the early tee times considering this is only supposed to get worse today?
BO VAN PELT: I guess we'll just have to see how it gets. It wasn't easy. It was pretty darn cold and nasty this morning. Doesn't look like it's getting any better. I don't think anybody's got an advantage. Just tough on everybody.
I think the best advantage you have it is if you got a good attitude. You get a bad attitude in weather like this and you might as well just go home.

Q. You said it was your first time here. Impressions of the course?
BO VAN PELT: It's good. It's in great shape. You can tell they take pride in the maintenance staff and the money that they're putting in this golf course. It's real playable. I think the field staff did a good job moving some tees up on holes today. They knew how hard the course was going to play.
So it's good to see a golf course that can play not only in good conditions, but when you get bad conditions it's still fair. If you missed a shot you were going to be penalized, but if you hit good shots -- you seen guys hit under par today, so it shows that the golf course is real fair.

Q. You like tough conditions and like playing in the wind. Why?
BO VAN PELT: I think it separates the field. I think the tougher the better. You know, I think one of the strengths of my game is ball striking to a degree, so I think the tougher conditions favor that type of player. To where if you're still hitting the fairway and the green when it's tough, you can kind of separate yourself a little bit.
I guess it's too just from playing for Coach Wood at Oklahoma State. He loves the tougher and the nastier golf. I mean, we didn't get to qualify on days when it was sunny and 75. He would tell us to just go practice.
But if it was a day like today it would count double. So I guess he just kind of drilled that into you for five years when I was in school that you got to have the attitude that you love it when it gets bad because most people talk about how bad it is.

Q. So what kind of advantage do you have to this week? How do you get yourself going through the rain and the stopping rain and the cold?
BO VAN PELT: You just have fun with it, you know. It's fun to hit different shots. I was hitting 6-iron from 150 and just different shots you don't get to play when it's perfect.
So you just to have kind of reverse it and play little mind games and tricks that this is fun and this is stuff that you don't get to do every day. I can promise you when it's like this at home now I don't go practice. You don't get to play in this kind of stuff ever day.
It's one thing you can't change is the weather, so no sense having a bad attitude about it.

Q. You talked about this kind of suits your game because you're a ball-striker. Do you think it takes away some of that kind of rip-and-go golf?
BO VAN PELT: Yeah, I think it definitely favors guys that have some creativity, because yardage doesn't matter this week. Golf course is playing so long, and with it windy and raining, I mean, you can just throw it the book whatever you normally hit your golf clubs.
You've got to get feel and understand and just play some different shots. I think, you know, it definitely takes away guys that just sit back and bomb it and hit everything full, because you're not going to be doing that this week.
JOHN BUSH: Thanks for coming by, Bo.

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