KEMPER OPEN

June 5, 1998

Brian Kamm

BRIAN KAMM: Okay. Well, I think when you have three eagles in a row, that's something pretty special. And one yesterday. So I've had four eagles this week. That kind of puts the score right down there. You want me to talk about the eagles?

BRIAN KAMM: Okay. I got the number 6 today, and it was playing kind of short. I had a really good drive, 5-iron in there about 8, 9 feet.

BRIAN KAMM: I used a driver off the tee, yeah. Driver, and I drove right to the left side perfect. And I had a straight angle in it. And I had a good shot in there and made it. I was a little upset because I just missed a 3-footer on the hole before for birdie. So it was kind of nice to get it in.

BRIAN KAMM: 5-iron.

BRIAN KAMM: 8 or 9 feet, uh-huh.

BRIAN KAMM: I went over the tree, went right over the branch and hit straight -- maybe a little bit of a drop and hit kind of off a mound to the right and kicked right toward the hole.

BRIAN KAMM: Yeah, I was playing a percentage shot. I was taking the water out of play. And then I get around to -- I'll tell you, the hole before almost set it up. I get the 12, I hadn't really hit any bad golf shots at all, you know, and I hooked it in the water on number 12. Then I had to drop it. I hooked it so quick that I couldn't even go with the green once I dropped it off. I had to chip it out in front of the guys' drives. So I'm line three, 170 yards from the hole, maybe 165 or something, and I had an 8-iron three feet and made it for bogey. That was a big momentum, kind of keep it there. Then I get on 13 and I drive it. I drove it too far. I drove it right on the downslope, went over the hill. I was standing on my head hitting the shot. I had 200 yards in front of the green and I said, you know, the only way I can hit this shot is if I took out a 6-iron. I had a hard hook off the hill short and I landed 20 yards short of the green and rolled it up on the green. I hit it absolutely perfect. Rolled right on the very front of the green. And I had a 30-footer straight uphill, and I made it. My caddie tried to get me to drive it in the next hole. 'Cause I knocked it out -- I knocked it on the green. So I said I'm hitting my wedges too good, lay it up, and I didn't make birdie. Then I got to 17, and we're talking over the shot. I don't know what the yardage was, over 200 yards. The wind wasn't really helping that much. So I was thinking 5, pretty much a 5, maybe an outside shot on a hard 6. He was thinking well, you know, you might need 4 to get it there. I said there ain't no way I'm hitting 4, 5's got to be perfect. I hit the shot, and it was right up in the air. It was high and it was right on line. The first thing I said was get down, because I was thinking I can maybe get those six. And then before it landed, I said -- I told my caddie, I said that's perfect. I just hit about four feet short of the hole and rolled it right in. And then, heck, I'll tell you what, I had a beautiful shot on 18, about 12 feet. And I don't know how that putt didn't go in. My last hole, I was really surprised. Lipped down on me.

BRIAN KAMM: I could see it. I could see it disappear. It's way back. But I could see it way in. I was kind of watching it and you could see it disappear.

BRIAN KAMM: I knew, yeah. When I saw it, I raised my hands right away. I knew it had gone in. It's kind of funny. You know, yesterday on 14, he wanted me to drive on 14 again yesterday. I laid it up and I hit a perfect L-wedge, like 85 yards, hit three feet short of the hole, went past the hole and spun back in for 2. So I mean, when you start holing, holing shots, you know, you know something's going right.

BRIAN KAMM: Yeah, I said this is unbelievable. I looked at Brian Henninger and we just started laughing. Joe Ozaki -- I played with Joe at the Bob Hope and he had a hole-in-one. He's a really nice guy, a good golfer.

BRIAN KAMM: We didn't talk about it at all. I was just pretty much trying to focus on 18. It was a pretty tough hole today.

BRIAN KAMM: I hit like an 80 -- I think it was 86 yards. I had an L-wedge. It was really a nice number for me, and I hit. It was looking good all the way and it went in.

BRIAN KAMM: Well, I played so poorly this year, and it's been very frustrating. I kind of had -- I've kind of been working on my game. I actually got my best friend caddying for me this year, just this week he came up. He played college golf with me at Florida State. I just let my caddie go last week, you know, just for a little -- I said I have to change something up, we're kind of stale. And he's really -- he knows my swing and he's worked with me before, and we're just -- I worked so hard on Tuesday. I mean, I was exhausted when I got done hitting balls, walking the course, playing and hitting more balls. And I did the same thing on Wednesday to get my swing back kind of firm. It had gotten kind of loose and long. I really firmed it up, and I'm turning much better. It's not a surprise that I played better, because I actually -- my confidence was very low when I started this week. And it's growing right now. You know, because it's no fluke on hitting good shots. There was no -- you know, when they go in, it's very fortunate when you make shots, there's no doubt about that. But I'm hitting a lot of shots at the hole.

BRIAN KAMM: His name is Keith Kulzer.

BRIAN KAMM: K-U-L-Z-E-R.

BRIAN KAMM: He's played a NIKE TOUR for three years. Now he has his own business. He lives right in Tampa, right where I live, couple miles.

BRIAN KAMM: You know, I don't. Because you feel like there's so much more -- I think there's more luck involved in making shots from the fairway than there is for striking out somebody with a good pitch. Do I feel like it's something spectacular? Not really. But do I feel like it was good? Yeah, it was very good, because I hit it at the hole a lot today.

BRIAN KAMM: It's been fortunate. It's --

BRIAN KAMM: Actually, I've had a double eagle and eagle in the same round before.

BRIAN KAMM: It was -- it's an amateur tournament called Monroe Invitation in Rochester, New York, where I grew up. I did it in the -- I've had a pair of eagles before.

BRIAN KAMM: It's called Monroe, Monroe Golf Club.

BRIAN KAMM: This was either 7 or 8, I'm not sure. I can't remember. I had -- I think -- I don't know.

BRIAN KAMM: I had one last year. I lost my tour card last year and I played a NIKE TOUR and I had one. I had one in the tournament last year, so that might have been seven, so this might have been eight. I think, yeah.

BRIAN KAMM: Oh, sure, absolutely. In fact, I think the only -- I've only had three that have been competitive. Everything else has been other times.

BRIAN KAMM: I guess I am kind of taking it casually. I was pretty happy and pretty excited about it. When you're playing golf on the tour, you're not looking at the ultimate goal as the hole-in-one; you're looking at the ultimate goal as winning the golf tournament. I think that's kind of how I'm looking at it. Yes, that was nice to do. But right away, you got to get back to focus. Let's hit a good drive, let's birdie the last hole.

BRIAN KAMM: Won a golf tournament, I think in 1992. '92, 1992. '92 I won a Ben Hogan Event Panama City. I won that in '92. Last year on the NIKE TOUR I finished second three or four times.

BRIAN KAMM: I've kind of had -- I've had -- Canadian Open has been a big tournament for me every year. '93, 4 and 5 when I finished about 100th on the money list three years in a row, maybe a little better than that. I've had three top eights or so at the Canadian Open. That's probably the biggest money tournament of the year. And I think through those years I never had anything better than the 5th or 6th place finish. But I've had a lot -- a lot in the 5th and 10th place range. I think I had three, four lows a year, and that's kind of how you make your money going. I've never really had a real high finish. It's kind of good, solid play that's kept my cards.

BRIAN KAMM: I don't think so. I think when I'm playing good, you know, I play good the whole week or for a few weeks. I don't think it's a one-round type of thing. I played very good yesterday. I mean, I shot 2 under and just -- I didn't putt very good yesterday.

BRIAN KAMM: This is kind of a sudden thing. I actually -- you know, I wasn't in for three weeks. I didn't play the Byron Nelson, I didn't play the Colonial, and I wasn't getting in the Memorial. I actually played a Nike last week. I actually worked with my teacher last week, David Leadbetter, and we worked on putting more than anything else. We didn't work on my golf game, other than he said let's get away from the mechanics and get into making good turns and using your body better instead of thinking of position with your club and stuff like that.

BRIAN KAMM: Well, I think every shot is individual. I don't look at tomorrow's round and what I'm going to do. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to try to play the percentage shot every time I get there. But do I back away and play chicken? I don't think so. I go up -- I wanted a par 5 yesterday with a 3-wood into that 6th green and made birdie because of it. It was a tough golf shot. As far as driving on 14, I don't think that's -- I don't think that's being chicken; I think that's just being smart.

BRIAN KAMM: I'm hitting the ball better. I haven't putted very well. I haven't putted poorly, but I haven't putted well to be where I'm at. I hit a lot of fairways off the tee. I missed two fairways yesterday, and I'm not sure what I did today. I know I hit the bad drive on 12, and I think I missed the first hole. But going through my round, I don't think I missed any other fairways other than two fairly -- I think I missed four fairways in two days, that's it. One was a real bad one. That cost me a stroke. I was pretty lucky to bogey.

BRIAN KAMM: I finished 10th or 11th here in '92. The year that I was playing, I had dual status on the Hogan Tour and on this tour. And I had played -- I played this tournament that year, and I think I finished 10th or 11th. So I've actually had a good tournament here before. The golf course is a real shot-maker golf course. You're not going to whiff around this golf course and play any good. There's enough trouble and water, and every green has little separate undulations. You have to get it on the right side of the humps and stuff.

BRIAN KAMM: Yeah, I like that. I mean, this tournament got a bad rap because I think maybe we played here too early. When I was a rookie in '90, it was already a pretty good golf course. I liked it. The first time I played here I went a round and shot 44 in the back nine and found every creek and every water pond you could find. You got to -- if you're going to win this golf tournament, you have got to hit the golf ball the whole way around. There's no lucking around this course.

BRIAN KAMM: We looked at shots, got 200 yards here, 190 here, we're hitting in the areas, not the whole green, going this isn't an easy golf shot, got to get a good shot here.

BRIAN KAMM: Here, yeah. A couple -- like I said, the week of the Masters I played in Shreveport and lost by a shot there.

BRIAN KAMM: No, it's not the same as this. But it is -- but it is the same. It's not -- as far as -- but it's still the same situation. You might look at it as saying okay, out there there's no superstars, per se. But everybody can still play out there.

BRIAN KAMM: You can only get so nervous. You can only get so into your shots. I don't think that -- when you're trying to win a golf tournament or trying to get through golf, trying to win there, trying to win there, you're going through the same thought process. I don't think that the money is a big deal. It's trying to win, it's difficult and very emotional. Trying to win. No matter where it's at.

BRIAN KAMM: I finished in the middle of the pack. I think I finished 40th or something like that. I didn't really -- I didn't play that well. But I saw improvement from the weeks previous.

BRIAN KAMM: Birdied number 2, a good solid driver 3-wood. Hit an L-wedge in there about 12 feet, made it. Pretty basic birdie.

BRIAN KAMM: 15. 15's got me two days in a row. I've driven it perfect there two days in a row, I've hit 3-iron and 4-iron in my hand and just -- today -- today I three-putted. I hit it on the front of the green and knocked it by 6 feet and missed it. Yeah, I hit an awful shot. I didn't commit to my shot, had a way right. I've driven it perfect off that hole and made bogey both times. It's a little disappointing.

BRIAN KAMM: I've had 20 nicknames through my whole life. I don't even want to start with them.

BRIAN KAMM: Through college and through home, there's been --

BRIAN KAMM: Probably Bode. That's short for-- my last name is Kamm, and people used to call me the Cambodian. The bodian went down to Bode. So it's pretty simple.

BRIAN KAMM: Nah, that's all right.

BRIAN KAMM: Okay.