SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 15, 2004

Craig Barlow

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Craig Barlow into the interview room.

Craig, nice playing today. 4-under par 66, currently in second place. What was going right for you today?

CRAIG BARLOW: You know, obviously the first round of the year, I really had nothing -- I had no idea how I was going to play. I've been working on my game, so I was excited. I had not been hitting the ball very good the last couple of days, but just seemed like I got on the first tee and got a little bit of my tournament jitters back and just started going through my routine and slowly came back.

I played a solid round of golf. I had five birdies and one bogey. I didn't do anything spectacular today and drove it in the fairways and made a few birdies and it added up well. Good scoring conditions today.

JOHN BUSH: Let's go through those birdies if we can, starting on the back side, No. 15.

CRAIG BARLOW: I made some nice pars to start off the round. And then 15, I hit it about 15 feet right on the fringe. I wasn't on the green, but I still putted it, and made it.

Trying to think if I missed any short birdie chances. I really didn't have many birdie chances besides that one. I was making solid pars.

16, another 25-footer birdie chance that I didn't make.

17, I hit it in there about six feet and missed it.

Then 18, I knocked it on in two and 2-putted. So good front nine, or my front nine which was the back nine.

Q. 2-putt from how many feet?

CRAIG BARLOW: Probably 40.

Q. How far in did you have?

CRAIG BARLOW: I had 263 front, and I knew that wherever the pin was didn't matter. I knew it was a 3-wood. I hit a perfect 3-wood and hit it on the right front third of the green. In fact, I can tell you what I had to the pin. It was 263 front and 21; so 284 pin. And I probably hit it about ten paces short of the pin.

Then I made a really good par on No. 1. I drove it in the rough and couldn't get it on the green and chipped up to about a foot.

Played 2 good, just made par.

3, I hit it in there about five feet and made it for birdie.

4, I missed the green in a terrible spot and hit a great bunker shot to about ten feet and made the 10-footer for par.

5, hit in there 20 feet and missed it.

6, another good shot, 20 feet and missed it.

7, hit it in there about ten feet and made it.

8, I drove it in the right rough, caught a bad lie. Couldn't get it on the green. Caught another bad lie in the rough and I had like a 30-footer for par. So that hole just, you know, I drove it -- I drove it in the rough and you're fighting. The rough is pretty nasty out there this year.

This is my seventh year here and it is probably the worst rough I've ever seen at Waialae.

9 I drove it right down the middle and drove a 4-wood on the green and lagged it up there to a foot and tapped in for a birdie.

JOHN BUSH: What did you hit on 7, the par 3.

CRAIG BARLOW: I hit a 7-iron right at the pin about ten feet behind it. Had a really fast putt. Hit a good putt there.

I think the thing I'm most impressed about today is you have to drive the ball well, and I think I missed three fairways. So if I can continue to drive the ball well, I'll give myself opportunities to score.

Q. What did you work on this off-season?

CRAIG BARLOW: Well, I took all of November off. I've fought a couple injuries in the past so I want to stay on top of those. I'm trying to take my fitness a little more serious. And probably make the first week of December, I started back up again. But I live in Las Vegas, and probably the last couple of weeks before I came here, the weather was terrible.

So, you know, I haven't put in tons of time practicing, but I came over here a week early, enjoyed the sunshine and start getting used to swinging without a sweater on again.

I feel like I'm maturing as a professional now to where, yes, I need to put my time in, but I also need my off-season.

Q. Is your family here?

CRAIG BARLOW: Yeah, my wife and I went on a couple little trips. Mainly I just want that catch back up with life. From January to October, we're so busy and we're so caught up in competing and trying to do our best that we lose sight of our friends and family.

The holiday seasons are great. It's nice to be home and spend time with the family.

Q. All of these times that you played here, this is as easy as it gets; right?

CRAIG BARLOW: Weather-wise it is. But the course, yes, the scoring conditions are as good as they are going to be today. They can't be any better.

But like I said, with them making this a par 70, I believe in '99, the course, there's nothing easy about this golf course anymore. The rough is high. I think the only thing the course doesn't have a defense on right now is the greens are so soft because of the rain. You guys supposedly had a lot of rain a couple weeks ago and it rained yesterday.

So I think that's the only thing the course doesn't have defense on right now is you give us a day like this with soft greens, if guys are hitting the fairway, they are going to be firing at the pins where normally in the wind, these greens can be fast and firm. This course can play dry and it's not playing dry right now. But if the wind comes up like it always does this year, it will be all of the test we want.

Q. What's your best finish?

CRAIG BARLOW: I don't think I've ever had great finishes here. I think I've made the cut every year but last year. I missed the cut last year. I don't remember what I shot.

I seem to play pretty well here. But it's the beginning of the season. I haven't ever really got off to a good start in a season. So I think I've maybe finished 30th a few times and made the cut, like I said, every year but last year.

Q. You've been playing enough now, what kind of expectations do you have for the season?

CRAIG BARLOW: I've gotten in trouble in the past with expectations so I'm going to try to avoid that question.

But to answer you, I just feel like if I go out and play golf and don't try to score, don't try to force anything, don't try to make birdies, just do what I do, it seems like good things happen. It's when I get ahead of myself and I'm trying to force things, so to speak, that I don't do well.

So I'm learning that the kind of golf I need to play is just let it flow. I mean, obviously, I haven't had tremendous success out here but I'm getting better each year. I think that comes with maturity.

Q. For the 18 holes today, is that what you did or did you find yourself at any point falling back into, "oh, I've got to try to make my par here" or something like that?

CRAIG BARLOW: Well, yeah, we always -- you always have slip-ups where you catch yourself thinking ahead or you catch yourself really wanting to make a putt.

But as long as you can catch yourself and say, "Okay, I recognize that I just did that, but let's get back to work," and as long as you can do that, it seems like things are okay.

Q. Did you get the sense that there were a lot of people out there to see Michelle today?

CRAIG BARLOW: Oh, yeah.

Q. Could you tell?

CRAIG BARLOW: We were on 8 tee when she was on 5 tee and the two tees are pretty close together, and incredible. I joked with my playing partners, I said, "I didn't know Tiger was here." You can always tell where Tiger is at in our tournaments.

And understandably, I see why everybody is following her. She's going to be some kind of golfer. I'm curious to see how she does this week.

Q. Was it just a matter of numbers of people or was there more noise?

CRAIG BARLOW: There wasn't a lot of noise. There wasn't a ton of people out here today but she gobbled them up.

I don't think that people really don't come out to this tournament until the weekend. So, you know, I think it would be really neat if she could make the cut. There would be a lot of fan support if she did.

How is she doing?

JOHN BUSH: 3-over through 14.

CRAIG BARLOW: 3-over, that's very respectable.

JOHN BUSH: Craig, nice start to the season.

End of FastScripts.