BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 20, 2000

Andrew Magee

ANDREW MAGEE: I'm obviously very pleased by the way I've hit the ball the last two days. I made a lot of putts. Today I had a bogey yesterday and yesterday I had two bogeys. So I'm keeping those to a minimum. Yesterday, I probably hit the ball a little better than today. Today, I kind of scrambled better and made every birdie putt I needed to make. That was basically the difference. The front nine today, I hit two perfect drives on the par 5s and made pars, and the back nine I hit two terrible drives in the trees and made birdie. That's golf, and go figure.

ANDREW MAGEE: Haven't you been watching those commercials, "These guys are good"? I haven't played that much in the off-season and came out here and seems like everybody is warmed up and ready to go and ready to play and they are hungry to play. Guys are meaner and leaner. Craig Stadler lost 36 pounds. Craig Parry looks good. Guys who were a little bit chunky now are really looking lean. And I'm not even talking about David Duval. Guys are really, really good and they are hungry. And of course, the conditions are wonderful and the wind is not blowing. Indian Wells greens are the best greens. I've played them all now,but they are usually the best and the truest. So if you don't get you a good score here, then you feel like you've really lost some ground.

ANDREW MAGEE: You know the only weight I lift is about 12 ounces at a time. I'm not free of talking about my weight loss and weight gain. I do that behind closed doors, thank you. I do a little bit of lifting here and there and exercise. I just try to keep -- I just try to keep it the same. Just try balancing out my off-season.

ANDREW MAGEE: You really do. I teed off at Indian Wells this morning and a guy dropped a bottle in my backswing on the 1st hole. And guys were cleaning shutters on about the 4th hole and I had to back off some shots, a lot of stuff going on here. You're right next to a lot of houses and people coming out and opening their garage doors and the amateurs walking around and all that. I think the amateurs are fine, but it's mostly their helpers, their caddies, that have no idea what to do with the cart and where to park it, and when to yell if you need a wedge or a 9-iron. There are a lot of distractions. Just part of the Bob Hope Desert Classic, and you expect it. I guess how you deal with it, I guess, makes the difference. I lived in the desert in Phoenix; so I do feel comfortable playing these kind of courses. I can't explain any good fortune I've had here. I didn't have that much good fortune for many years. This is my 16th year here, and I've played good the last two out of three years; so I don't have any idea why.

ANDREW MAGEE: I bogeyed the first hole. Hit it a little right and hit the marshal and it went behind the tree -- he didn't apologize. Chipped out made bogey and I hit a wedge on the next hole to about four feet and made birdie. Hit a sand wedge on the next hole, No. 3, about four feet and made birdie again. No. 6, hit a 9-iron about 30 feet left of the hole and made a long putt. No. 7, I hit it left, down in the valley down there and kind of gassed a wedge up there about eight feet and made it for birdie. And then didn't birdie 8 or 9 or 10 or 11. Then I birdied No. 12. I hit a sand wedge about five feet. Next hole, 13, the par 3, I hit a really nice 5-iron behind the hole best shot of the day, made it about six feet for birdie. The par 5, No. 14, I hit it left in the trees and hit a 7 in the middle of the fairway and hit a full sand wedge up there about three feet and made it for birdie. 18, I hit a driver right a little bit and it hit a divot up there and just trickled out thank goodness. And I hit a 7-iron to the middle of the fairway again, and hit a full pitching wedge up about eight feet and made it for birdie. Wasn't real easy for me on the par 5s for me. Need to go out and work on my tee shots a little bit.

ANDREW MAGEE: I made the mistake yesterday of talking to some friends of mine in Phoenix after my round, who told me I was leading. And I looked at the board about two hours later and the guys are still finishing and I wasn't even close to leading. So I'm pleased I didn't play that much in the off-season this year. I didn't really expect a whole lot this week coming in here and found some good stuff, hitting the ball solid and putting well so I'm extremely pleased with my position, whatever it may be, after today rounds. And anything in the 60s or mid-60s here every day keeps you in contention. And we all know about 30-under is kind of a number all the time, and 5 times 6 is 30; so 66s and stuff like that are always good here.

ANDREW MAGEE: He said he wasn't ready yet.

ANDREW MAGEE: I think I did. He was sitting on a chair, and I think my ball hit right under his chair and came up and hit him on the butt and the ball went up behind the tree.

ANDREW MAGEE: It hit a nice soft spot. It would have ended up being a nice shot; I would have had a shot at the green and it -- he said he wasn't ready for the round to start, and I said, "Well, it started, Buddy, let's go."