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BOB HOPE CLASSIC

January 19, 2011

Derek Lamely

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

MARK STEVENS: Like to welcome Derek Lamely. Derek shot a personal -- well, you tied your personal best with a 63, which you did last year at the Puerto Rico Open, which you won, and also at the Greenbrier. So talk about the round and what your mindset was coming in and if you're happy with your position.
DEREK LAMELY: Well, position wise definitely be happy with, this is going to be more of a, definitely not a sprint quite as much as normal. The golf courses are perfect, the weather's terrible, like normal.
(Laughter.) So the weather's just so good. So, no, I mean you just got to go out and stay aggressive every hole and you got to pick your spots and hopefully you can get hot and make a bunch of putts and I actually kind of got that going today.
Front nine was a little, well I guess my back nine, wasn't quite what I was looking for, but I got off to a little better start, I made a couple putts on my front nine, so it's -- the first couple weeks I've actually hit it okay and I haven't made anything. So it was nice to actually finally get off to a good start.

Q. 2-under through 10 holes today, and then 7-under through the next six. What clicked? Was it just you started making putts?
DEREK LAMELY: I hit it good most of the day, I hit a good second shot into 2, just missed it for eagle.
I hit a good shot into 3 and made like a 20-footer.
Then I hit a bad tee shot on 4, just in the left rough and I hit a really good approach shot into like 15 feet and made that one.
Then I made a probably a five foot breaking 20, 25-footer for a birdie on the par-3. And then I hit -- it was pin high right and it was a big breaker.
Then 6, I hit two of my better shots of the day, I hit driver, hybrid to about 20 feet and made that one for eagle.
Actually, the funny part is, today's the first round I ever played with a hybrid. So I got Callaway's new hybrid in and it goes just as far as my normal 2-iron, but it's a lot easier to hit it. And it's funny, I never been able to hit one and I finally got a good one and I hit such a good shot with that club today.

Q. Hybrid 2? 3?
DEREK LAMELY: 2. A hybrid 2. So it was actually pretty funny for me because I never really hit one, I never been very good at hitting them, for whatever reason I just haven't found a good one for me. And I hit just a great shot and it landed and it only went three feet from where it hit. So it was, that was actually pretty fun.

Q. And then you birdied 7 after that?
DEREK LAMELY: Yeah, I hit 3-wood, 7-iron to about 15 feet and made that one.

Q. When you're in the middle of a streak like that do you realize you're in the middle of a streak like that?
DEREK LAMELY: No, because I usually just try to keep on going. I just try to kind of keep my head down and just try and see how many birdies I can make.
So it's a little more frustrating when it goes the other way. I think I know a little bit more where I'm at when it goes the wrong way.

Q. When you make the turn here at 2-under, are you stressed out at all, frustrated?
DEREK LAMELY: I was a little frustrated, yeah. I made a bad bogey on 16? 16. I made a bad bogey. I missed like, I don't know, something short like a 3-footer. That was not very pleasing at that point.
And then I hit a good shot on the next hole and then the wind kind of pushed it a couple steps right and I missed the green on 17 and I'm chipping again with two wedges and I'm going, God.
So it was a little frustrating, but there's so many holes that you just got to hope that somewhere along those holes you're going to get hot and make a bunch of birdies and not think about it and just see how many you can make.

Q. Is that the mindset every day here, how many birdies you can make?
DEREK LAMELY: Pretty much. It's just a -- you got to hit it good, but it's definitely a big putting contest. So the golf course is there for the taking, if the weather stays perfect which I've barely seen it anything other than perfect here, so I would assume that would be the case for the next four days.
And yeah, just got to go out there and try and make putts and just kind of keep your head down and just know that, I mean I'm not sure what the winner typically is out here, but I can see it being 25, 30-under, who knows, I'm not even sure.

Q. Five of the last 10 years it's been at least 30.
DEREK LAMELY: Yeah. I mean, that's kind of what I figured. So you got to figure you're going to play mediocre maybe a round or two and you hopefully just shoot those in 2, 3-under, maybe even, and then if you get your rounds going like I did today, then hopefully you can take it really deep.

Q. After getting that first win last year what did you set as your goals for your self this year?
DEREK LAMELY: Well I was kind of hoping to close out last year a little better than what I did. Last year I came in with a goal of trying to win early to get in the Masters, I mean like every other player out here, that's like everybody's dream to go play in that one.
So I still say that's my, that's still my first priority for the year. But it's still the same thing. I made some changes, actually I started right before I won last year, which is the ironic part, I made a few changes, I changed my grip and setup a little bit and a little bit of stuff in my swing. And it's actually, at the end of last year finally last, probably month and a half, I started hitting it good and I've been hitting it better and better as it goes on, because I keep getting better at the few things I've changed. So it's finally getting to the point where it's just kind of how I can think my way around and just make some putts.

Q. You have the Nicklaus Course tomorrow, are you familiar with that course much at all other than having played it?
DEREK LAMELY: Last year? Yeah, I played nine holes yesterday and it was, it played just the way I remember it playing last year, maybe a little firmer than last year. But it played basically the same.
So I looked on the board a little bit today and I saw some good scores out there, nothing crazy though, so, yeah, same thing, get out there and get some right numbers and some right shots and you go out there and try and make your birdies when you can and just try not to make any mistakes.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, good luck the rest of the week.
DEREK LAMELY: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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