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BOB HOPE CLASSICJanuary 20, 2010J.P. HayesLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA DAVE SENKO: J.P., looks like eight birdies and one bogey on No. 9, the last hole, but you got to be pretty pleased with a 7-under 65. J.P. HAYES: Yeah, I played pretty well. The conditions were really good for nine holes and then gradually deteriorated for the back nine. But still scoreable. The last couple holes, last three holes on the back nine I thought played pretty difficult. Q. Heath was just in here saying that he caught a break with the front nine weather and on the back nine it wasn't horrible. You had basically the same thing today. How tough did it get on those last three holes? J.P. HAYES: Number 7 I hit a really good drive and where you would normally have an eight or 9-iron and I had a 5-iron. 9, I hit a good drive for me, I guess, and I had 5-wood in to a pretty tough green with the water around it. So I thought it played pretty long the last three holes but then. Again, there were some other ones that were down wind that we could take advantage of. Q. Normally the first round of this tournament, 63, 62. Here you are at 65, tied for the lead right now. Is that strictly the weather or what were the conditions out there weather-wise? Was it wet at all? J.P. HAYES: It was moist. It wasn't wet. We played the ball up. We didn't really have to, it's probably more in anticipation of what might come than what was today. So we, the conditions were real good. But I think from my perspective anyway that this tournament's gradually, they have increased the difficulty of the golf courses, so you don't see the, a lot of the 62s, although I feel like I could have done it today, certainly if the weather had stayed like it was on the back nine. But it has gotten more difficult. The courses have gotten more challenging and as it should. I don't think 35-under's going to win this tournament anymore like it did a few years ago. Q. They used to have Indian Wells too. J.P. HAYES: Right. Indian Wells and Bermuda Dunes and then La Quinta and then here. Those four together, 65s were almost average. Q. Obviously these courses without the rough it may not matter as much, but where do you stand on this grooves issue? Do you find any difference in playing wedges and/or bunker shots? J.P. HAYES: I have noticed at home testing the wedges a difference from every lie. I don't think it's dramatic, but it is different. As far as the irons go, I haven't noticed a huge change. I heard Heath say as he left the room that he's not a high spin guy, so didn't feel like it's going to make a huge difference for him. I feel the same way. I've never spun the ball a lot and so I don't feel like I'm going to get a big change. I actually didn't play square grooves much in my career, I played V grooves up until 2004 or 2005. And so I had experience with it. Q. Seems like the last six weeks all we have heard is either Tiger Woods or grooves. Those are the two subjects. One you have no control over. The other -- well you have no control over that either, but you have to play what they tell you. J.P. HAYES: Yeah. That's right. I don't know. I don't think it's going to makes a big a difference as -- well, I don't know. It might make a huge difference. I think it's going to depend on the golf course and the grass. I think on Bermuda grass it's going to make a lot more of a difference, much more of a difference than on this wet bent grass or bluegrass or whatever it is. So I know last week some guys were talking about fliers. I wasn't there, but I know on Bermuda grass you can get fliers with square grooves. Q. Is there much discussion about the grooves among the players? Do guys say, oh, I don't like it or are you trying this club or that type of thing? J.P. HAYES: This is my first tournament and it's been a short week up until now, so I've had limited time to really talk to the manufacturers, talk to the players, you don't see many of the players here, because they're scattered all over the valley here. So it's probably a bad week to really get a feel for it. But I have had a chance to see what the other companies, what their answer has been to the wedge groove situation and there's been some interesting technology, technological ideas that they have come up with. They're pretty intriguing. But I don't -- the biggest thing for me was just getting the equipment. After I had made it through Q-School last year and I'm thinking, well I've got about four weeks before I have to tee it up again and I haven't even considered asking for some V groove clubs that would match what I was playing at Q-School. So I didn't get much of a chance to really test the irons. The wedges they sent to me early fall. Q. But you made it through school, so. J.P. HAYES: With the illegal clubs. (Laughter.) Q. But they worked. J.P. HAYES: Yeah. That's true. Q. You were talking about last year and the uncertainty of the situation you were in as far as playing. How many times did you get to a site and kind of wait it out as far as getting in or get called on Wednesday and have to go to the site. How often did those things happen? J.P. HAYES: I don't know. I never went -- I kind of made a deal with myself last year that I wasn't going to go as an alternate and sit around all week and then have to get on an airplane Thursday afternoon. I wasn't going to go unless I was in. So I missed out on a couple opportunities because of that, but I also didn't, I wasn't looking to play 25 tournaments. I enjoyed playing 15 tournaments and kind of sitting back a little bit. It was nice. There was some Wednesday travel, it wasn't too bad. I pretty much knew where I was going to get in and where I wasn't. Q. What was it like going to Q-School again and they always talk about the pressure and you finished 8th in what didn't seem like a lot of pressure once you got in there. But how much pressure did you feel and how tough was that week? J.P. HAYES: I guess that it built up for me. I didn't go in feeling a whole lot of pressure because, quite frankly, if I had the same kind of year or even if I played less it wasn't going to be the worst thing in the world. Things have a way of working out one way or another and I knew it would. But as I started playing better, then I was like, wow, you know, this could be a pretty cool week. It was a lot of golf course where we played. It was a pretty demanding golf course. And danger loomed every where. So I may have looked calm on the outside, but the last couple days I was pretty tense. Q. Did you find because of what happened the stories that there was not so much sympathy, but people recognized you or discussed the situation during the year when you did play? J.P. HAYES: For the ball? Q. Yeah. J.P. HAYES: It died down quickly. I think the first tournament I played people were interested in talking to me about it. That hadn't had a chance to talk to me about it. But thankfully it died down as the year went on. And I just kind of got on with it. Q. You talked about wanting to be out there 15 weeks and it seems like so many guys it's hard for them to stay home. They just want to keep grinding, get their 25, 26, 28 tournaments. What about your makeup and personality and also being at home why is that such a priority for you as far as your makeup, the ability to stay home rather than kind of force yourself to go out there? J.P. HAYES: Well, first of all, this is my 17th or 18th year on this TOUR. I'm 44 years old. There was a time where they couldn't have enough tournaments. Those days are over now and I found that I really don't -- my best years came from years where I played 22, 23 tournaments. And 29 or 30, you know, I don't even know if I ever played 30, but I played, 27, 28, 29, quite a bit. And it just seemed like too much. I guess, maybe I'm not as -- I just think everything in moderation, I guess. Q. What do you do at home? What do you spend a lot of time doing at home? J.P. HAYES: I got two children that are growing up right before my eyes and I've got some hobbies that I enjoy. I've got a wife that I think enjoys me. (Laughter.) Life is good off the golf course. I enjoy being home. But I, don't get me wrong, I bust my butt to get back out here and I'm happy to be back out here. Q. As far as playing fewer events, do you feel like when you do go out that you have to make the most of them and is there some kind of extra pressure in that? J.P. HAYES: Not really. I guess I just, I felt like I've whittled away some of the tournaments that I don't feel like I've ever had any success in. Historically I have played very well in the summer, I've always been a slow starter. So I guess rather than beat a dead horse I just kind of pick and choose like I think anybody whose been out there, out here that long tries to do. We know that some courses that they're just not going to enjoy or whatever and why punish themselves. Q. The wisdom of maturity? J.P. HAYES: Yeah, I guess so. Q. When you played that 27, 28, close to 30, was the difficulty mental or physical? Did you just get worn out mentally? J.P. HAYES: I just, each week didn't have a whole lot of meaning over any other week. I was just playing golf again. And I've always played my best preparing for something. Preparing for a tournament, preparing for a test, I've always, it doesn't matter, but once you're out there -- you play six in a row it's like, where was I last week? And you don't prepare, you just hang on for the ride. And hopefully you find some magic. But it never just seemed to work that way for me. And usually when I played that many tournaments it was because I was in a situation where I wasn't going to keep my card and felt like I would be foolish to take a week off. And then suddenly you look at the end of the year and you played eight or ten in a row and I thought, well what kind of a chance did I give myself to play well? Not very much. Q. You talked about you were thankful that all the publicity about the Q-School two years ago died down. Were you uncomfortable with the small, kind of the small storm of publicity that you did get out of that? J.P. HAYES: I was uncomfortable with people making it seem like it was an isolated incident or it was anything but business as usual. That I did something heroic. And so from that standpoint I was uncomfortable with it. I was surprised by the amount of publicity that I got. But I think it was good for the TOUR and good for the fans to be reminded that we all play by the rules that way. I just didn't like being, I felt like I was being singled out as the one guy who decided to do it. I mean, that's not true. It will probably happen every week this year. Q. Talking about the things you like to do away from the golf course. If you have a free weekend to do a project or something you enjoy or a hobby, what would those things be? J.P. HAYES: I like to fish. I like to fly fish. This is kind of a slow time of year to be doing that. But I like to spend a lot of time in the summer fishing. Then of course the kids are involved in a lot of things at school and stuff. I enjoy being involved with them with those things. So between those two things and just being a father and being a husband, I guess that fills up my time pretty easy. Q. You made those eight straight birdies in 2002 I think on the Palmer Course, set a record at the time, and you then had 8 in 15 holes today. Could you talk about the Palmer Course, does it fit your eye, and going back to those eight straight birdies any stories about those? Did you make a bomb at the end or anything to keep around like that going? J.P. HAYES: During the eight? Q. During the eight. J.P. HAYES: No, they were pretty simple. A lot of short putts, I don't remember making anything long. I guess that it fits my eye pretty well. There's a lot of shots that don't, but I have, I try to deal with the -- every year I start on 10 at the Palmer Course and I mean literally I have started there, I don't know if they keep records, but I've opinion there every year on the 10th hole. And it seems like I'm one of the first off. So it's a little bit cold, and it's a hard tee shot for me. So I did a lot of visualization when I found out I was going to start there again and just pictured myself hitting a good tee shot. So this morning I got there and just ripped it right down the middle. So hopefully I won't have to start there anymore. But it's in such perfect shape that if you hit the fairway, to me the greens look like you're going to make everything. And I putted well here. Q. You've been around this tournament a long time and it's got an aura that the older guys I think appreciate. Could you just talk about what this event has meant to the TOUR and Mr. Hope and all the years? J.P. HAYES: It's always been a fun tournament. It's always seemed like especially in the older years where we played La Quinta and Indian Wells and Bermuda Dunes, they were all in the rotation and you saw the same people out behind their house every year. And you saw the same faces and then it seemed like everybody knew everybody and it was a big party all over the valley here. It still has a bit of that feeling, although it's a little bit grander, you know, the stage now. But it just feels like you see the same people out every year and the same celebrities, you get to know a lot of them and there's a lot of familiar faces. It's been a good strong event for the TOUR for a long time. DAVE SENKO: Okay thank you, J.P. J.P. HAYES: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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