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MISSISSIPPI GULF RESORT CLASSIC

May 1, 2010

Tom Kite

BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI

Q. Tom Kite with a 68. Difficult conditions and an unblemished round. Four birdies, and I hear you putted like a demon.
TOM KITE: Well, I had to. There were a couple errant iron shots out there. Drove it fairly well, but my iron game was not as sharp as I wanted it to be, and consequently ended up with a lot of par putts.
You know, it was tough lagging the ball. Even when you got the ball on the green, with the wind gusting the way it was and as grainy as some of the greens are, it was really tough to lag the ball close. Seemed like I was facing four- and five-foot par putts all day today.

Q. Did you miss any? I've got 25 putts here.
TOM KITE: Didn't miss many, that's for sure. Putted very well.

Q. Your group today, you were in a good group at a good time. Crenshaw, Funk, yourself, the joy of playing with such great people.
TOM KITE: You know, when I saw the pairing last night I was really excited about it, because those two guys have been really good friends of mine for a long, long time. I just knew it was gonna be a fun day.
That's kind of what the Champions Tour is all about. It's not life or death, even though I want to beat 'em and they wasn't to beat me. We're pulling for each other and they're really good friends. We're giving each other high fives -- or as high the three of us can get; we don't get very high -- when a putt of a good chip was made. It was a fun day.

Q. A 68, but what could have it have been?
TOM KITE: Well, you know, I made a couple good putts that saved me a few places, but then there were also some opportunities where I let a couple get away, where I just wasn't quite as sharp with the iron.
You know, get a wedge into the green and misjudge the wind and either come up short or knock it way past, when usually with wedges in your hand you're supposed to be knocking it close.
So that's probably about what I should have shot.

Q. Okay. And the wind swirling around and...
TOM KITE: Tough. It really is. This frontal system that we've got going through right now is making the golf course play very, very difficult. You know it's coming from the south/southeast most the time, but then it switches and it gusts.
It's always a little bit of a difficult situation when you've got this many trees, and especially pine trees. It seems like when you get in the pines the wind seems to swirl a little bit more that are normal.
It was a tough day. There were some good scores because there are some good players. There are really good players out here on the Champions Tour.
As a whole, the golf course is holding up very well.

Q. You're sitting at 5. There's somebody out there at 9. What do you need tomorrow not score-wise but weather-wise? Would like to have it really tough?
TOM KITE: Yeah, I would love to have another day just like this with the wind blowing 15, 25, 30 miles an hour would be great for me.
Hopefully it won't get worse than that. I know the forecast is significantly worse than just this high wind. Hopefully we'll be able to get it in.
You know, for a first-year event this tournament has been so well-received and the galleries are so enthusiastic. You would hate to see the last round washed out or delayed because of the inclement weather that's coming through.
Hopefully we'll get a good day tomorrow and get a great tournament.

Q. I want to ask you about the reception you've gotten. An awful lot of the players are saying the fans are saying, Thank for coming. Thank you for coming.
TOM KITE: Yeah, tons of that. You get that a lot when you get in the South. People are really appreciative of the show that we put on. You know, it's great when we get down here.
We get the same type of reception when we get up to Birmingham. In a couple weeks we'll be up there. You get the same thing. People just really enjoy it, and of course, it makes it fun for us.

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