KEMPER INSURANCE OPEN

May 25, 2001

Jeff Julian

JEFF JULIAN: Yeah, I was trying to remember that when I made the birdie putts on the backside. I enjoyed the moment. My wife kept reminding me to enjoy the time we were having out there, and that helps. And hopefully I can continue doing that Saturday and Sunday.

JEFF JULIAN: Yes.

JEFF JULIAN: I believe I'm the only one ever FROM Vermont. Now, Pat Bradley is from Woodstock, in that area, but I'm the lone TOUR player from Vermont.

JEFF JULIAN: I've considered it, and after the first winter, we had more snow than since 1890, and Kim kept saying, "Maybe we ought to move somewhere, get a condo somewhere." But it's beautiful. During the winter months we're playing anyway; we're on the road sometimes. And when I come home I don't necessarily play a lot of golf. So a lot of people have wondered why I stay there. It's paradise as far as I'm concerned, family and friends up there. And it's worth the effort. And I think I've convinced Kim of that, also.

JEFF JULIAN: Did you see how I played coming in? Right there. (Laughter.) You know, that 82, I didn't feel that bad when I was playing it. I felt great teeing off that morning, and it was a tough, windy afternoon, and I got it going the wrong way. And actually that night, I went to dinner alone, drinking wine, and pondering going home and just going back to work. I got up the next day and hit the path with the ball the first hole. I knocked it 40 feet, made the first putt and shot 63, and won the next week. You never know. That's kind of how this year is going. There's been a lot of 82-ish scores, not many 63s, and this has been good today, because I got it going and kept it going.

JEFF JULIAN: That's my second time in the 10th. Yesterday I pulled the exact same shot, hit the cart path, went under the tent and ended up by the bar. It was sitting up there on this stuff.

JEFF JULIAN: Now, tomorrow I guarantee you I will not hit 4-iron on 17, no matter what happens. I don't care if it's a perfect 200 yard shot. I'm not hitting 4-iron. The official came over yesterday, and I dropped it and made par. And I get there today and hit the exact same shot. I mean it looked identical. It must have hit in the cart path -- it missed going under the roof this time. It went up on top and I saw it hit, and then it looked like it went over. And so I went up there behind the tent looking for it and couldn't find it and looked and looked and looked, and somebody saw one. There's a banner on the tent up on the roof, and somebody thought they saw a ball. So they were throwing shoes up in the ceiling of the tent, and I'm walking around from behind the tent and all of a sudden the ball came rolling off the roof, hit the cart path, went down by the green. So that was five minutes searching for the ball. Now, we had to wait for the officials because there was no official there at that point. And it ends up that my ball -- it was over five minutes, but my ball was lost in the immovable distraction, and I had to take a drop on the cart path and take another drop. So I was relieved that they played through, because yesterday the same thing happened and I knew that guys were waiting behind us, and I kind of rushed on the 18th tee and bogeyed 18 and bogeyed 1. It was a relief that they went through, and they gave me time on the 18th tee to kind of calm down a little bit.

JEFF JULIAN: It was pretty steady. When I hit my first tee shot, that was the one. I just got it out to hit good, and it was pretty steady all day. I've been hitting some bad tee shots but really good iron play. The long irons have been excellent. Birdied several of the hard holes. That's what counts. I birdied 4, which isn't supposed to be that long a hole, but I hit a bad tee shot in the fairway, hit a 3-iron in there and hit it close. And I birdied 7, and that one is just tough, so at that point -- I made a good save on 8, also, similar to the one on 18, had to pitch it up and so it was steady all day. And the back 9 I got going a little bit and made some birdies and it just mounted, built.

JEFF JULIAN: I have been paired with him. '96 on my first year on Tour, I played with him in San Diego. And I made the cut in Tucson, my second cut, because we got rained out at Pebble beach. My pairing sat was Phil Mickelson and Paul Azinger. And I parred the first hole, which was a fate in itself. And it ended up it was a great pairing because they're both really easy to talk to and get along with. And so I root for Phil as much as anybody out here. So it would be great, that would be great, if I can just par the first hole.

JEFF JULIAN: We're working on which movie to see. Tyler wants to see Shrek. He's rooting for Shrek. I'm rooting for Pearl Harbor. We're getting out of here. I need to get away, take a deep breath. I don't need to hit any balls. I know what I'm doing, so we're going to get away and give him a break. He's been walking for two days, and this is a tough walk. So it's Tyler's time.

? JEFF JULIAN: Yes.

JEFF JULIAN: I was young when he died. It was 68, somewhere in there. I was only 7. So I didn't get to know him at all. But being in New England, everybody out there knows Doggie and Holy Cross and Dartmouth and Celtics, and it's neat to go around in New England and people come up to you and say I knew Doggie. He was incredible. I meet a lot of people across the country that knew Doggie. And so the sports aspect is in the family.

JEFF JULIAN: I shot 2-over. I hung in there. So it wasn't bad. I bogeyed a few more holes on the front 9. But later on I got it under control. And I don't know if it was there -- I got over the tough part early on, and so I -- I don't know what to expect tomorrow, I cannot say.

JEFF JULIAN: 2, I hit a good tee shot. 5-wood to 115. Hit wedge in there about 12 feet. 4, I hit a horrible tee shot, cut a 3-wood weak right. I had 216 to that hole and hit a great 3-iron shot about 6 feet and made that. 7 was just good tee shot, 4-iron to two feet, squeaked that in a little. It was one of those. 10 was another poor tee shot, very Seve-like round today. I hit it in the right rough. Good shot on the green, though, and had about a 45-footer that went down over to the -- went to the left and fell and caught the left lip. That was a huge bonus there.

JEFF JULIAN: 3-wood. 3-woods have been going a little right. 13 was a good tee shot, 3-wood. I went for it down the right side, got it green high, hit a good pitch shot up there ten feet and made that. 14, 3-iron, sand wedge shot ten feet. 17, 4-iron up into the roof, got the drop, found it under the back of the green, and I kind of pulled that long and left. I had a long 2-putt from probably 45, 50 feet. And I made a nice little 6-footer coming back. So that was key.

JEFF JULIAN: 18, I hit the driver right, and scraped a 5-iron down to the front of the green, about ten yards short and chipped it up to about a foot.