BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 22, 1999

Tom Pernice, Jr.

TOM PERNICE: I don't have my card in front of me. But I'll go through it here slowly. Started on the back 9, a couple of pars, and then I pitched in from right in front of the green on the 12th hole for eagle.

TOM PERNICE: Probably about 8 or 10 yards off the front edge.

TOM PERNICE: Yeah, on 14 it was a par 3 on the right fringe and chipped it in from about probably 20 feet right on the fringe.

TOM PERNICE: 20 feet.

TOM PERNICE: Yeah. Hit a 7-iron in about four and a half feet.

TOM PERNICE: Right on the front edge of the green chipped it up about a foot.

TOM PERNICE: Yeah, hit it 2-iron in there about, oh, maybe twelve feet for eagle and missed the putt. Basically hit the ball pretty good coming around there. Had a lot of 8- to 15-footers on quite a few holes and didn't make any.

TOM PERNICE: Well, I think obviously pitching in for eagle really started me off a little bit. It was a nice start. Just played pretty solid really and obviously I played the par 5s well. I had an eagle and two birdies and missed about a 6-foot eagle on the other holes -- or birdie on the other holes. I have eagle, birdies and one of the birdies was a 2-putt from twelve feet. So I played them 4-under so right there that helps. I didn't make any bogeys. I didn't miss many greens - couple I missed was on the edge, the fringe and chipped it in and missed the green on the back 9 just on the edge and got up-and-down. So no bogeys and I played the par 5s real well. So 4-under on the par 5s; that leaves you 2-under for the rest of the course. I just played relatively solid. It was a beautiful day. The course here at Tamarisk is outstanding. Far cry from what 24 hours can do with the conditions the way Bermuda Dunes was yesterday.

TOM PERNICE: Well, it sure make it a lot more enjoyable let's put that it way.

TOM PERNICE: That is the most frequently asked question when I told them and Corey and I were there and Steve Pate and Jay and Duffy were there my Senior year; as freshmen we never did actually. Actually they won one after we all left.

TOM PERNICE: Well, I tell you, we never did perform really well at NCAAs. U.C.L.A. is on the quarter system and we couldn't get out of school 'til the second week of June. We would play in the NCAAs; then come back and got finals the next week where every other school basically been out of school for two or three weeks before they ever go the NCAAs. I really think that is not -- that doesn't help the golf team really. U.C.L.A. is not an easy school by any means. That is on a lot of our minds and we are studying at night and it is just not real relaxed time, let alone with the NCAAs, but you have got your final exams as soon as you get back.

TOM PERNICE: Oh, yeah, great to see U.C.L.A. guys up there. Yeah, I kind of hung in there yesterday. Was awfully difficult day at Bermuda Dunes and I played well and hung in there and got a good day today and had a nice score. So, it is great to see Steve playing well. He has had a great fall last fall and really got his game back after his injury and great to see him playing good. I think I saw Scotty McCarron's name up on the leaderboard too, another U.C.L.A. Guy, a little bit younger than us. Yeah, Eddie Merrins would be proud of us, I think.

TOM PERNICE: No. We are just out here trying to win golf tournaments and at this point I mean, we have got a lot of golf left. You just play one at a time. I have enjoyed the amateurs that I have had each day, really had a great bunch of guys. It is all about going out and having fun and enjoying the company and nice weather. Yesterday was a little challenge to all of us, but outside of that, it is a camaraderie and it is still a game. I mean, we all work hard and do what we can, but I am really trying to enjoy what is going on and enjoy the people that I am out there with.

TOM PERNICE: I believe so. I am all for them. Maybe I stay more relaxed.

TOM PERNICE: Oh, I don't think you need to force anything. You just go out, you play the shots that you need to play, and do the best that you can. If you get to playing well, obviously you can shoot a good score here anyway when the weather is good. I don't think it is necessarily anything that you have to go out there and force yourself. You just go out and take what you have got. I mean, obviously you are playing well, just continue on what you are doing.

TOM PERNICE: Well, personally wouldn't matter where I won it, to be honest with you. First one would be a special treat, obviously, to win out here on the west coast. But really doesn't matter. I mean, we all work hard to get ourselves in position to try to win golf tournaments and have those opportunities and, you know, it would be nice, but it wouldn't matter if it was Milwaukee, or Toronto, Canada; or Palm Springs. But it would be nice just with what Bob Hope has done and the people in the community, it is a pretty special event. I think most of the Tour players recognize that. It is one of our top events, no question.

TOM PERNICE: I think that will definitely put my mind in a little better frame of mind and assure me a little bit that I do belong out here and can play with the players out here. But at the same time I was committed to really work hard this off-season and get ready to get off to a good start again. It definitely helped, but, you know, just trying to keep getting better and better. Working with my two coaches Robert Baker on my swing and James Seacum (phonetic) on my short game. I spend a lot of time and a lot of hard work and just trying to keep getting beater, that is all.

TOM PERNICE: He is quiet now compared to the way he was in school. So, there is a lot of stories about Steve. Steve is just a competitor. I mean, Steve is absolutely the loosest easy going kind of guy that you will ever meet. He has got a little of Curtis in him. He is a competitor. He wants to win. Doesn't like to hit bad shots. I mean, that is just his personality and I think we need to accept people for how they are. He is a lot more calmer than he used to be. He used to really have some volcano explosions back at school.

TOM PERNICE: No for instance.

TOM PERNICE: He was more notorious for burying drivers in the tee boxes, stuff like that. He wasn't a big club-thrower. He liked to smash his driver on the tee and give a quick yell and then he would be on his business. He would be laughing going down the fairways, so, just kind of the way Steve is, and they don't get much nicer and easier going than Steve really.