DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 6, 1997

Skip Kendall

SKIP KENDALL: Okay. About the round, first 12 holes I played about as well as I could play. I managed to keep it out of the fairway bunkers; kept it in the fairway and I hit some great iron shots and made the putts you needed to make, and all of a sudden, I was 8-under at 12. It was fun. Then I kind of hit it in some bunkers after that. And made one bogey, but managed to get it in the house, anyway. But I tell you what, I don't want to play 18 over again. It was playing difficult, at least when we were out there.

SKIP KENDALL: No idea. Norman probably has it.

SKIP KENDALL: Yeah. I wasn't really thinking of it. I saw Norman shot 6-under, and I hadn't even started yet, and it was like what's new around here? So I just got off to a good start.

SKIP KENDALL: Twice.

SKIP KENDALL: Very challenging off the tee. I think you have to play -- I hit a lot of 3-woods today, a lot more than I normally would anywhere, really. I just want to avoid the bunkers, keep it in the fairway. If I have a longer shot in, so be it. I think dealing with the bunkers is pretty tough. I think it's good. I think you just have to use more of a placement mentality and try and get it in the fairway and go from there.

SKIP KENDALL: First year, '93, I played horrible, missed the cut bad. In '95, I'm not sure where you finished, probably somewhere between 40th and 50th. But, I did play with Raymond Floyd the last round and I'll never forget that. That was fun. Maybe some of that's rubbing off, saw what he did around here.

LEE PATTERSON: Start with the birdie on 1.

SKIP KENDALL: Hit a good tee shot on the fairway; hit 3-wood in the right bunker, and then hit the bunker shot about a foot. No. 3: I hit 3-wood, 9-iron about ten feet. 5: 3-wood, 9-iron about four feet. 6: Driver, 6-iron about five feet. 8: I hit driver 3-iron in the left bunker up by the green and bunker shot to about a foot. 10: I laid up. I played two shots to about 80 yards; then hit it about ten feet behind the hole, obviously made it. 12: 3-wood, 9-iron -- 11, excuse me, 3-wood, 9-iron about five feet. And then two 3-woods on 12 to about 80 yards and hit that shot about probably four feet.

SKIP KENDALL: I just wanted to -- I didn't want to get ahead of myself, I guess. I just wanted to try to stay focused and try and hit some good shots. The camera guys started coming out about then. And, I pretty much did - I hit it in a few bunkers on the way in. I hit a good 3-iron on 13 and 2-putted, but I probably didn't hit the right play on 14. I tried to carry the left bunker, and I shouldn't have. I hit a good tee shot, but I didn't carry the bunker, so I played pretty well coming in. I just -- 16: I hit it in the right bunker, and bunker-to-bunker up by the green it was buried and I didn't have a chance to get it up-and-down. But, I'm really pleased the way I played 18. Hit a good tee shot and a real solid 5-iron, and it was a nice way to finish.

SKIP KENDALL: On 18? It was about 25 feet right behind the hole.

SKIP KENDALL: Quite a bit, actually. A lot more than I really thought I would. But the wind kind of dictated what I was going to do, and the course really seemed to dry out a little bit, so it was playing really fast. I felt like I didn't need to hit drivers a lot of the time. I just wanted to get the ball on the fairway. And, even driving distance on 12, you know, I hit 3-wood because I'm not going to reach it, 610 yards or whatever, so I just hit 3-wood, 3-wood.

SKIP KENDALL: Off the tee? It was right at the 260 mark, because it was a driving distance hole. Right at 260.

SKIP KENDALL: It did. It switched, too. I played No. 1. There was a gentle breeze into us. And when I got to 18 it was into us also, but blowing a lot harder, probably a good 15 coming into us.

SKIP KENDALL: Yep, I did. Sure did, because they had it downwind when I started. So, it really narrows it up. If it was downwind, you don't think about the left bunker and blow it over it, and actually the fairway is pretty wide. But, into the wind, you have about a 20-yard wide margin of error, a little piece of fairway that you've got to stick it right between the bunkers.

SKIP KENDALL: I'm off to a much better start. I don't think I've ever made more than about 15,000 on the west coast. And I think I made 54. Most of that coming at San Diego, I had a top-10 there. So off to a much better start than years past, anyway.

SKIP KENDALL: No, I just think my game -- I lifted weights, but you guys will not be able to tell by that. Really, I think it's just been a progression. I feel like I've improved, getting better year to year; especially last year, I showed -- my ball-striking improved on the Nike TOUR. I didn't putt well, finishing 9th, but my ball-striking improved dramatically. And out here I knew that was going to be big. And I've really kept it up. I've worked hard with my instructor, and things just started to click.

SKIP KENDALL: Gary Smith.

SKIP KENDALL: Well, I was up to 155. I probably lost about five pounds today. Probably about 150, anyway.

SKIP KENDALL: 13.

SKIP KENDALL: I wouldn't have gotten in here if I didn't do well. This was a bonus. And, I've never played Bay Hill. I'm trying to get into Bay Hill, too, which is, I think, top 70 current money list. I used to live in Orlando a couple of miles away and I've never played the golf course, so I'm playing for a few things, anyway.

SKIP KENDALL: You know, not really. I mean, I'm just going to go play golf. I'm going to try to do what I did today. I'm glad I'm here and I hope to be here more. But, really, nothing is really going to change. I'm going to try to do the same thing I did. And obviously if I did, I would be here.

SKIP KENDALL: Yeah -- well, not much.

SKIP KENDALL: Yeah, the one tournament that --

SKIP KENDALL: Right, B.C. Open, I led by a shot going into the last day, a few years ago.

SKIP KENDALL: I shot 70, I think Hal Sutton shot 61 that day - and kind of got laughed at. I played a good last round.

SKIP KENDALL: I think it -- I think it went to ten, which was actually surprising. I think it was like three or four at the start of the week. I guess there was a bunch --

SKIP KENDALL: You guys don't want to know that, do you?

SKIP KENDALL: Jules, J-U-L-E-S.

SKIP KENDALL: Gary? It was quite a while ago. I've been on the road pretty long now. Right before Pebble Beach.

SKIP KENDALL: Oh, yeah. At least once or twice a week.

SKIP KENDALL: Well, I think when I was really young, this is the story that was told to me, my parents -- well, people started calling me Julie as a nickname, so I guess my parents didn't want me to go through life being called Julie, although my good friends call me that right now. So that didn't really work. I'm really not sure how Skip came about. I think a cousin came over one day and said it and it kind of stuck. This is when I was really young. I couldn't even tell you when it was.

SKIP KENDALL: Jules? Yeah, a grandfather.

SKIP KENDALL: Father's. He passed away before I was born.

SKIP KENDALL: I never really have been. Everybody knows me by Skip. So, I guess now --

SKIP KENDALL: Well, when I played it Tuesday afternoon it was -- the wind was up quite a bit and I thought I played -- it played extremely difficult. I thought 65, if someone would have told me that, there would have been no way - I don't care who it was. But, the wind kind of laid down today a little bit and you're seeing some good scores. It's amazing what guys can do now, even with the tougher golf course, given for wind and good conditions. It doesn't matter what course you're playing anymore.

SKIP KENDALL: Well, I don't really like to project like a number to start the round. I just like to get off to a solid start, which I did, and see what I can do. When I got out there I could tell it was playing a little easier obviously than the practice round when I played Tuesday, with the way the conditions were. It was playing pretty fast. The greens were holding. They were putting beautifully. The greens didn't spike up at all. I was in the last group. I thought it was great. The conditions were superb.

SKIP KENDALL: I don't know about an advantage, because like I said, the course really held up nicely. And if I can do it in the last group of the day, there's no reason anybody else can't. Norman -- I think those guys, and they don't play the last group of the day, either. You're talking early afternoon. They're in the middle or higher up. So it's a little different for me. I'd love to switch with all those guys one week.

SKIP KENDALL: You know, I'm not ensure. I know it's the last group of the morning, whatever time that is.

SKIP KENDALL: Oh, boy. It's just been kind of -- I worked with him, after this tournament -- four years ago was the first time I started working with him. It's just been a progression. I've worked on some things. At first it was straight fundamentals, which I was lacking. And then it developed into doing some things with my backswing, trying not to get the club to the top -- trying to get everything to the top together. So right now, last year, it ended up being a little more deliberate backswing, setting the club better in the middle of my backswing, which really helped quite a bit, and doing it correctly, which I never did before. But, it's been over the course of years. So, really, beginning last year on the Nike TOUR was when I started to see a big improvement in my ball-striking. It was always -- it was okay. I mean, it wasn't -- but, it was definitely noticeable, even to my wife who was caddieing for me last year at the time.

SKIP KENDALL: He's an announcer for The Golf Channel, so I got to see him quite a bit last year, because they covered 8 to 10 Nike events, and then I'll see him out here. They cover quite a few events out here, too. And then when I'm home I'll run over and see him.

SKIP KENDALL: She's retired. After my last round on the Nike Tour Championship, when I knew I snuck in the top-10, we were walking to the scores tent; she said, "Skip, I got you back on TOUR, I'm done."

SKIP KENDALL: Nike Tour Championship last fall. I'd played a real good back 9, actually to finish in the top-10, last round of the year. And kind of took a lot of the pressure away. All of a sudden we're walking off the green, we looked at the scoreboard, I knew I had made it, with where I finished. And so that's what she said.

SKIP KENDALL: Beth. And her twin sister is out this week, so definitely life is interesting this week.

SKIP KENDALL: No, just down the road, courtyard.