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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

February 11, 2010

J.B. Holmes

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: J.B. Holmes, thanks for joining us here after a great first round of 65, including an eagle on No. 8 and a birdie on No. 9 to finish your round coming off a tie for third last week at the Northern Trust Open.
Obviously playing some great golf. Just some opening comments about your day, please.
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, I hit the ball great all day and putted pretty well. You know, had a couple bumps there at the end with the putter, and then I finished great.
Got lucky for it to go in on 8, and pretty lucky to make a long putt on 9.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'll take some questions.

Q. How about the eagle shot on 8? Did you feel like you hit it real good and on target?
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, I mean, that's one of the rare occasions where you make one and you actually hit it perfect. I hit it right where I was aiming. You know, ball cut exactly like I wanted. I mean, it was just perfect the whole time. I was worried it might be a little bit long, but hit just on the back there and backed up and went in.

Q. What's the you've made when you've hit it bad?
JB. HOLMES: Well, most times when you see people, from what I've heard, it's not a perfect shot. They hit it a little thin or they'll push it and it bounces in. You usually don't hit too many right at the flag that go in. A lot of times it spins in from an angle or something.

Q. What did you hit on 8 from the tee and yardage and all that?
JB. HOLMES: I hit a hybrid off the tee. It went a little further than I thought it would. Almost went over the edge there. I was only about ten yards short of that.
I think I had 174 adjusted to the flag, and probably we were playing it like 165 with the wind. Hit an 8-iron and hit it perfect and it went in.

Q. (No Microphone.)
JB. HOLMES: Oh, about eight feet.

Q. How long was the putt on 9?
JB. HOLMES: I don't know. Long ways.

Q. You finished on 9?
JB. HOLMES: I finished on 9, yeah.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 39 feet.
J.B. HOLMES: There you go, 39 feet.

Q. Did that shot seem to energize you for the rest of the round when you hit the eagle and you had your hands up?
JB. HOLMES: Well, I was about done. I only had one hole left. Yeah, I guess it energized me. I pulled it a little bit on 9 and hit some good shots. I just trying to two-putt the shot on 9, hit a good putt, and read it right and it went in.

Q. How much breeze did you get down, say, in the morning?
JB. HOLMES: You know, there wasn't a whole a lot of breeze in the morning. So, you know, I got pretty fortunate going off the back. It was real nice in the morning. A little cooler, but not much breeze.
Then it picked up quite a bit when we went out there on the turn, 6, 7, 8, and all those.

Q. (No Microphone.)
JB. HOLMES: Well, it was -- in the par-5, yeah, it was at least a full club. But 8 was down and 9 was kind of more of a crosswind. It wasn't really hurting your ball flight too much, just moving it.

Q. (No microphone.)
JB. HOLMES: Oh, definitely. That's what I was telling at the beginning of day. To get a day like this at Pebble is great, because you can have some bad weather, and at the other golf courses it's usually not too bad. Over here, I don't know what it is about over here, but it can be completely different. And most of the time it's not better. It's worse over here.
So this golf course you can take advantage of it when you get some good weather. When the weather kicks up, you know, it's a tough golf course.

Q. Good finish in LA. Are you on a roll now?
JB. HOLMES: I'm just here in the tournament. Nice to get off to a good start. Yeah, I mean, I'm playing well; I'm hitting the ball well and putting well and doing everything pretty good.
Always nice to be confident and feel like you're gonna go out and shoot a pretty good score.

Q. Can you talk about the work you're doing with Stockton.
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, I mean, I went to him about three weeks ago and he just simplified it for me. I just had way too many things going through my head, bad thoughts and everything else, especially with the putter.
He just kind of got me back to putting more like when I was a kid. You know, just simplified it. You know, Just look at the hole and hit it. Don't think about all the other stuff.
You know, you get out here on tour and feel like you have to know the exact yardage to everything and every little detail and aim here and this blade of grass and everything like that. He was just kind of, Don't worry about that. Just like when you were younger. See the putt, see where it breaks, and then get up and hit it.

Q. How did you get hooked up with him?
JB. HOLMES: Well, you know, kind of a short-game guru. Hadn't been putting that great or the past few years. I thought, Why not? Can't hurt anything.

Q. J.B., I'm drawing a complete blank here, but were you not a long-putter when you came out?
JB. HOLMES: No, I mean, I was for three years, but my first year on tour I was in a short putter.

Q. (No Microphone.)
JB. HOLMES: For the last three years. I putted the short putter my whole life and first year on the tour, and end of my second year I started putting with a long putter and then I stopped. So two and a half, three years I putted with a belly putter.

Q. Belly was after your first year on tour?
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, almost the end of my second year. The first time I used it was like the first round of FedExCup my second year on tour.

Q. Okay. And now you're back to the short putter.
JB. HOLMES: Yeah.

Q. When did you do that?
JB. HOLMES: About three weeks ago.

Q. As you well know, this is such a different tournament than you normally play. Are you sort of glad you're not with any celebs, or does it bother or not bother you?
JB. HOLMES: You know, I've never been with a celebrity, so I couldn't say. I mean, I enjoyed playing with -- I played with David Novak the last three years, so I've enjoyed playing with him. It's nice to know the person you're playing with every year so you don't have to meet somebody new on the first tee.
But, you know, enjoy playing with him. I've never played with the celebrities, so I couldn't make that. But I'm pretty happy where I'm at.

Q. (Question regarding putter change.)
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, it did. He likes to forepress it, and you can't really forepress the belly putter. (Chuckling.) That was a pretty quick decision. He goes, You can try it, but...
I got up and stood up and I was like, Nope. Give me the short putter. And I had kind of been wanting to go to the short putter anyway. I was kind of getting tired of the belly.
I putted one round at Disney last year with it, the last tournament of the year I played with a short putter first round; second round I went back to belly.
But I was kind of wanting to get out of it anyway.

Q. Did your routine change, too?
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, well, he kind of teaches not to take practice strokes. You just kind of get up and see it and wind it up that way and hit it.

Q. (No microphone.)
JB. HOLMES: Oh, two. I didn't take a billion, no. Two or three.

Q. How about tomorrow? You're at the new course. Did you get a practice round in?
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, I played a practice round Tuesday when it was raining. I saw the golf course. I just walked about five holes and played the rest of them. So, you know, it's a great change from what they had last year.
So, you know, good golf course. Looks like it takes the water pretty good. Even though it was raining that much it was fairly dry. It's a good golf course.

Q. You say you're been working on your putting. What happened today on the 7th?
JB. HOLMES: I missed it. (Laughter.) I don't know. I hit -- I thought I hit a pretty good putt. I was shocked it didn't go in, to be honest with you. I don't know. Just guess I missed it.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we go through the rest of your round, you started on No. 10, and you shot 32 on your front 9, starting with a birdie on 13.
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, 13, hit a good drive fairway. Hit a little knock-down pitching wedge in there to about six feet and made that.
15, hit a good drive. I didn't play that one in the practice round, so I thought I was in the fairway, but they had moved the rough over a little bit, so I was in the rough. Hit a good wedge in there about ten feet and made that.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay. Then 17 and 18.
JB. HOLMES: 17, I hit it pin high and I was on the fringe over there and hit a 7-iron and hit a great putt. It broke probably three, four feet. Made a great putt from 20 feet and it went in.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And 18.
JB. HOLMES: 18, hit a good drive. Hit a hybrid in there to about 20 feet and two-putted.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay. Then on the final 9 holes, birdie on No. 2.
JB. HOLMES: 2, yeah, hit a good drive. Pulled a 3-iron into the bunker and hit a bunker shot up there about two feet and made that.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Then first bogey of the day on No. 5, par-3.
JB. HOLMES: Hit a 7-iron a little left of the hole up on the fringe. Pretty good putt, but went by a little further than I thought. I hit it probably three, four feet past, and then I hit the next putt right where I wanted to.
It broke going past the hole, but didn't break going back up the hill. So I couldn't believe that one didn't go in. Hit it right where I wanted to and it lipped out.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay. And then came back with a birdie on the next hole.
JB. HOLMES: Yeah, drive, pretty good drive to the left rough. Hit a 3-wood up short of the green and chipped it up to about two, three feet and made that.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay. And we touched on the other holes. Anymore questions?

Q. Any thoughts on what they've done to the 6th hole?
JB. HOLMES: I don't really like that. They pushed it out. I mean, they could have made the bunkers come out a little bit more, but I wish they would have left the fairway a little bit more, a little bit closer, because you want them up closer to that hill so it makes that shot more difficult.
Now I think people are gonna lay back a little further and be easier to go over the hill. That's just my opinion. I don't really like what they did with that hole.

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