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BUICK OPEN

July 31, 2009

John Senden

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

MARK WILLIAMS: John, thanks for coming in. 6-under 66 in the second round, 130, 14-under par and tournament leader after two rounds. Just talk about your day a little bit and what you're expecting for the weekend.
JOHN SENDEN: Yeah. I had a good day today, 6 birdies, I guess. I got off to a good start, birdied the 10th hole, which was nice. I got it in there close, three or four feet, but yeah, I was -- you know, when I woke up this morning, I was really wanting to shoot a low one.
That 8-under yesterday was a nice low score, but it's always nice to back something up, so to go out there today and play solid, I actually felt like I drove the ball a lot better today, had a lot more chances than I did yesterday. And today I putted a lot better.
Horrible putts yesterday than I did today so I'm not disappointed with how I played. Felt solid tee to green today, and I think that, yeah, I'm feeling decent.
MARK WILLIAMS: Just before we open for questions, how important was it for you to make that par on the last hole, the 9th hole, your last hole?
JOHN SENDEN: Yeah. It was. It was a good momentum thing for tomorrow. It always gives you confidence when you can finish off a round nicely. It makes the whole feeling of the day complete.
You know, I played solid. I didn't have any bogeys, and getting a little awkward lie on the 9th hole and having to chip out pretty much and then nice up-and-down was a good momentum boost for scoring going into tomorrow.
And every shot's important, so I need to feel like I can treat the weekend -- try to feel the same as I did the last two days by staying focused on what I need to do.

Q. Did you see this morning that Tiger was 6-under after 5 and was lighting the place up? Did that make you think, I've gotta now go out there and do something because he's making a run? And secondly, what did you learn from Turnberry? You had a good first round at Turnberry, had a poor second round. Any lessons you learned from that?
JOHN SENDEN: I think I felt a lot better today. With Tiger going out and shooting low, I think that shows his class, being the best player in the world. I think that him starting out on fire is fantastic for the game this week, the golf tournament, and you know, he's basically the best player in the world. It was great to see that he was doing what he was doing.
And to me, that felt like -- I didn't know what he was doing until I arrived here at the golf course. I didn't really look at any scores this morning or nothing. I just knew that he was shooting low when I arrived here.
So, and not surprisingly. The golf course is in great shape, and he loves this place, and I don't think he's shot any rounds over par, so he's always going to do something pretty special today. So he did that, and it made it exciting for the tournament, and it's great to see.
Turnberry was -- my tee times at Turnberry were 6:50 in the morning, which were perfect conditions, and then 12:45 the second day, and it really was blowing probably 20 miles an hour. And you know, I didn't drive the ball well at Turnberry on the second day, and mentally I was in trouble all day.
I felt that I was scrambling for my pars most of the day, and with Turnberry being as difficult as it is on the Back 9, there's no real birdie holes to catch up. It's a real tough chase, and you just have to hang on, basically.
And that showed with the results in the last couple days weren't as well, the third and fourth rounds at Turnberry. So I think I've learned a lot from that. I learned the way I felt -- I felt a lot better today after shooting low, compared to shooting low at Turnberry. I knew the conditions of the day were going to be great. So it was a lot easier day than it was the second day at Turnberry.

Q. How about your preparation mentally? What will you do yourself going into the third round. But how hard is it to keep Tiger and the rest of the field kind of out of your mind as you go forward?
JOHN SENDEN: I think that comes with having a good attitude towards going out there and doing your own thing, try to have that mental ability to continue to do what I do best, and that's just to try and focus on what I'm doing.
I don't really look at leaderboards a lot, comparing to -- obviously down the stretch you really need to know where you are with three or four to play in what decisions you make.
I think that, you know, it's all a learning experience for me. I need to experience it tomorrow, and go out there and play my game, continue to enjoy myself out there, which I have been doing well the last couple days. And when I do that, I seem to be able to relax, focus better rather than make it a grind and try too hard. So that's basically the goal tomorrow.

Q. Have you ever played with Tiger, and have you thought about playing with him Sunday? What challenges will that present as far as playing your own game?
JOHN SENDEN: Yeah, I played with Tiger at the Buick Invitational a couple of years ago. I felt pretty comfortable with him. He's great to play with. He's sensational to watch. And obviously you know, on Sunday, it would be a very different feeling rather than I was drawn with him the first couple days.
You know, I watched him play, he was just full of confidence and believes in himself, and he just plays golf. And he knows he's going to be in contention every single week if he doesn't win, which is a great thing to have here at the golf tournament and watching him and learn from the best in the world. And that's what I need to keep focusing on is what I have to do best to try and beat the best.
So I think that tomorrow will be, you know, an exciting day, and if it comes along and Tiger's there on Sunday and you're with him, well, I have to enjoy it rather than try to make it a grind or, you know, the distractibility of the whole situation can be overwhelming, but I have to learn that and deal with it.

Q. You seem to have success on certain parts of courses. You do well in Milwaukee, for instance. I think Palm Springs is another one. Is this one of those? Is something about it suit your eye, because it can be a bit of a putting contest out there.
JOHN SENDEN: I think it is. Really, you have to drive the ball well, but you have to know that you can, you know, keep on shooting low. And this course just basically gives you great opportunity to shoot low scores, and as long as you drive the ball well and you give yourself the best chance, I think you can shoot anything around here if you get on fire.
So I think -- I'm not sure what the course record, 61, I think Tiger shot maybe. That's just fantastic. You can go out there and hopefully see those -- maybe someone's going to shoot that on the weekend. We'll hopefully see that.
But yeah, there's always golf tournaments where I feel like I enjoy playing well, and Palm Springs is one; and you know, I really like Clark Hill in Chicago, good place for me. And Boston is another good one. So you know, it's a -- you don't think pick and choose because you always seem to have mixed results every single year you play the TOUR, but I enjoy all the events. They're all great, ones that I play, and obviously the Majors are the ones I want to play, and hopefully get to experience more of those.

Q. They're forecasting 20-mile-an-hour winds perhaps tomorrow. Do you see that as an advantage or disadvantage being in your position?
JOHN SENDEN: I think that I feel good with breezes. I feel good ball-striking wise, and I think that, you know, you have to make decisions upon that. So I'm going to go out there, and maybe the scoring won't be as low, so you can go out there and shoot something, you know, low and then try to sort of secure the lead again, and you just gotta make the decisions with what conditions you face tomorrow.
MARK WILLIAMS: John, thanks for coming in. Good luck tomorrow.
JOHN SENDEN: Thanks a lot.

End of FastScripts

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