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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 30, 2005

Joe Ogilvie

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Joe, for joining us for a few minutes. I know you're probably a little disappointed in your finish, but you had a great week. It's a long week here, and you have to be really proud of yourself.

JOE OGILVIE: Yeah, I played well. I guess that's tied for my best finish on Tour. The rain dance didn't work last night. I was trying for a rain-out but it didn't happen. I'm pretty happy. I certainly didn't play the way I would have liked today, but I got a pretty good front row seat for a great round of golf.

Justin played well, really only missed one shot on the par 3, No. 5, and I just didn't have -- I didn't hit it that great today, but really, I felt like I was shooting 78 and I shot 1-over. It wasn't a normal Palm Springs easy day, so, you know, as bad as it was, it wasn't a bad consolation prize.

Q. Obviously, like you said, the drive on 10 was a difficult shot. What went into that and what did you find when you got down there after the next one?

JOE OGILVIE: What did I find? It's funny, I hadn't hit one left all week. When I hit the shot, it was kind of -- I guess I kind of hit a heel lefter, and I've kind of taken out the left part of the golf course.

That's what I've been working on all year, or in the off season, and I think whenever you're going through -- I made a little bit of a grip change throughout the winter, and when you're going through a change and you start to get under pressure, you tend to revert back to your tendencies, and I think that's what I did. I made the changes this winter to kind of get -- too eliminate that shot. Obviously it's not eliminated yet, but it was obviously a bad shot.

The next one I hit well, and normally -- I started off hitting the ball pretty poorly. I got a couple bad breaks at the beginning, a pretty bad bounce on No. 1 to go in the first cut, and then my ball was in a divot on No. 2. But I wasn't hitting my irons well. I was hitting them way right. I just wasn't swinging very well.

Normally that kind of lasts all day long, but today I was able to do a couple drills on the golf course and I got my swing back, so that's pretty encouraging. That's another step, I guess, in the right direction. Normally when I start off like that, I'm down the road.

Q. The two bogeys on 1 and 3, obviously not what you wanted, but you also got to sit there and watch Justin go through birdies in his first four holes.

JOE OGILVIE: Yeah. He hit the ball very solid. The bogey on the par 3, I was lucky I didn't hit it out of bounds. I think I hit it 40 yards right of my target with a 5-iron.

And then No. 5, which was probably the toughest hole, I hit a 3-wood to probably eight feet.

Justin played well, and it was certainly -- I think it certainly put Peter and I under a little bit -- under the gun a little bit, and we didn't -- we weren't up to the challenge.

Q. So your first two birdies weren't necessarily because -- you didn't bring rain, but you did bring some wind. The conditions were tougher?

JOE OGILVIE: No doubt about it, the conditions were more difficult, you know, right from the getgo. No. 2 is normally an easy par 5. You can get there with an iron, but I had 3-wood and would have had to have hit it really solid to get there.

It was a little more difficult, certainly made a couple of the shots a little more difficult. But the tough holes, No. 9, No. 7, those played downwind, so there's always a give and take when you have a lot of wind.

Q. Justin birdied the first hole, while you and Peter bogeyed it. How much do you think that kind of set the tone for the rest of the day?

JOE OGILVIE: Not really. I mean, once I birdied 5, I birdied, he bogeyed. Then what did he birdie, No. 7? So we turned and I'm one back. I mean, the birdie-bogey, you're going to have those type of days, especially when there's wind, so there's going to be a lot of swings out there. The tournament was over when I hit it in the water on 10.

Q. Players always talk about how tough it is to lead for four or five rounds and how wearing that is. Looking back, how did you handle it this week, do you think, just in terms of exhaustion?

JOE OGILVIE: Well, we're professional athletes, we don't get exhausted (laughter). It's certainly different at the Hope. You start on Wednesday, you end on a Sunday like you normally do, but I think the biggest difference is going from the dynamic of playing in a Pro-Am to going -- even though it counts, but going from the dynamic of playing with three amateurs, who one might be a doctor, one might run a company and one might be a broker, to going to playing with professional golfers, you lose a little bit of the dynamic, and it's a little bit different. I think that's the toughest thing about the Hope, not too much the five rounds, but four rounds you play with different guys that do 12 different things. I don't want to say it's more interesting to play with them than us (laughter), but it's a different dynamic. There's more conversation.

I think that's the most difficult thing. I think most of the tournaments now we play two rounds with amateurs and then two rounds with us, so I would say that's the main difference.

Q. All week you've been coming in here when you were leading, the last couple days saying you've been inconsistent in certain aspects of your game, but all in all what do you take out of this week and this experience? Is this something to grow on this week?

JOE OGILVIE: Yes. Whenever you're under the gun, you know, it's certainly something you learn. Plus, the law of averages will kick in eventually, so eventually I'll do well the last day.

I think more than anything else, it's -- in New Orleans when I was in the last group, I didn't get to see the winner play. Today I did. You know, I got to see how a guy -- I mean, he went out and won the golf tournament. I certainly played a hand in that by not playing as well, but he was very, very solid. He didn't miss a whole lot of golf shots, staying within himself the whole time, and more than anything else, when he had the lead and he had a comfortable lead, what he did once he had that comfortable lead.

I think that's something you can certainly take. Not to mention, it's a nice consolation prize, the check (laughter).

Q. Joe, there's leading and there's leading on Sunday. What did it feel like coming here, getting to the first tee box going in as the leader into the final round?

JOE OGILVIE: You know, I told The Golf Channel that it was really weird, the first time in New Orleans when I had the lead, I was very nervous. The first tee shot -- it's an easy 3-wood and normally I'm a pretty good 3-wood player. I think I hit it 40 yards right.

Today I felt very comfortable. In fact, I remember teeing up the ball, looking at the ball, doing my waggles, looking at my target, and then right before I swung, I thought, "Where are the butterflies? Why am I not nervous?" I think as you get in this position, it helps.

Q. You mentioned, I think it was yesterday or the day before, that you get more aggressive or pick your spots and become more aggressive. After the way things started today, did that come into play at all, especially when you got to 10?

JOE OGILVIE: Well, not so much 10. 10 is a shot you just hit it at the right bunker. I don't know what I did. No, I was certainly trying to be aggressive, certainly starting on No. 13 I was trying to be really aggressive, because I thought if I make three or four birdies -- and I was in the position, I could have birdied 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. So I thought, who knows, crazy things have happened. I told my caddie that Vijay birdied the last six holes to beat me. There's no reason I can't birdie the last six holes to get back in it.

You know, I was trying to be as aggressive as possible, but the putts didn't fall. The greens got really quick, especially the last five. I'd say they were significantly faster than the others.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Joe. Congratulations.

End of FastScripts.

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