BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 17, 1998

Andrew Magee

ANDREW MAGEE: You know, I played pretty good. I felt like I was on the edge of a lot of good things today. I didn't hit it in the middle of the fairway like I did yesterday every hole, and I was right on the edge of the fairways. I was on the edge of the holes, and maybe tomorrow I can get that thing centered a little bit better. That is kind of the way my day was. It was just -- I would hit a decent drive, get a decent kick, but stay right on the edge of the fairway and be in a little short rough, which wasn't bad. I always had shots. Hit a lot of good shots. Didn't make as many putts today. Simple as that. I had a lot of opportunities and didn't make them. From the first hole, I had a good looking 6-iron. No. 10, had about an 8-footer straight in the hole to keep my run going there, I missed it; which is kind of hard to take. I hadn't missed many this week and to miss one is kind of a shocker. But then I birdied the next hole, No. 11, from about six feet. Got it back going. 9, par 3, 12, I hit a nice 8-iron and 2-putted from about 20 feet. The next hole, the par 5, playing a little longer, I guess, today. Laid it up with a 3-iron. Hit sand wedge up there 10-ish feet; made it for birdie. Next hole, hit it behind the tree off the tee. Had pitched out and hit my third shot up about five feet. Missed it for my only bogey of the day. Hate to go backwards in events, but that was my only bogey. I was glad that was the only one today. Next hole, I had a good opportunity from about 15 feet. Left it short. Number 16, I hit an 8-iron for a gimmie, for a birdie to go to 2-under for the back 9. 17, I hit a good 3-iron to the back of the green; 2-putted from about 25 feet, and 18, I pitched it to about three feet. Made a birdie to turn at 33. Seems like my front nines have been my better nines this week. I can't explain that. Just didn't make as many putts on the back 9. Back 9: I birdied No. 1. My driver right in the right rough. Hit 6-iron middle of the fairway. Sand wedge up to about ten feet. Made it for birdie. That was my only birdie. I had birdie opportunities on most every other hole. I didn't make any of them. First question, Bill Huffman from Phoenix.

ANDREW MAGEE: No, I am not surprised. This is the Bob Hope, man. Someone is shooting 10-under here everyday. You just hope it is you doing the shooting. I have been doing some shooting, so, you know, like I said the second day, the first day it is hard to follow-up a good round. Yesterday might have been the best ball-striking round I ever had. I knew today was going to be tough. And, so to come out of here with a 68, I had some really good opportunities there in the last couple of holes. I just didn't make them from eight, ten feet a couple of times and I missed putts like that coming in. It would have been really nice, 65, but it is 68 and I got to live with that and play with Bruce Lietzke tomorrow and quit talking with my amateurs.

ANDREW MAGEE: Yeah, you read that in the paper this morning, didn't you? I heard that was good. I guess it is good. We will see. I don't know.

ANDREW MAGEE: I have never been in the lead with the same -- at the Bob Hope with the same course to play twice, no. I don't know. No idea. I am just hoping to hit the fairways a little better tomorrow and, you know, have 18 birdie chances and I will hopefully cash in on about a third of them.

ANDREW MAGEE: That is true.

ANDREW MAGEE: I just had a month and a half off, man, I am loose. No, I mean, there is some pressure. Absolutely there is pressure any time you play golf. I got pressure on a Wednesday Pro Am, trying to help my team. But, you know, there is only one day left in this horserace. And, you know, we have got -- I have got a good a shot as anybody here the way I am feeling about it. I am hitting the ball very solid and, well -- and, I am juiced. This is fun.

ANDREW MAGEE: Except for John Cook last year he shot 62, 63. He is a weirdo, though, he is just extra special. I don't know what really happens. Your expectations, you know, are up that you did everything right. Golf is a funny game and some of those I hit a couple of longer putts yesterday that went in. I missed a couple of shorter ones. That is not just going to happen everyday. I think your expectations rise. You get a little cocky. You think something good is going to happen again and the golf God is slash, "You are not going to go out there and shoot 63 again." I think that is just the way the game goes. I sure felt I had a chance at La Quinta the next day after 63 to shoot a good round, but I didn't, and I had a chance today to maybe post a better score than a 68, but it is just -- it is the after-the-good-round theory - I am going to use that. Does that make sense? Maybe it is just my theory.

ANDREW MAGEE: I am happy. You are right, anything in the 60s is a good score.

ANDREW MAGEE: We get along just fine. Yes, I seemed to get paired with Bruce a lot and maybe that is good because he is always doing good and I am tagging right along with him sometimes. Yeah, it is going to be very congenial. Is it just two-somes tomorrow or three-somes?

ANDREW MAGEE: I hope we chug along a little bit. Today was my slowest day of the four. I felt a little out of rhythm on the last 9. Maybe that is my only explanation for not birdieing most of them. I birdied the first hole. I thought maybe I am going to birdie them all. That is the thought I had and it didn't happen. We just stopped and started a little bit more today than we had in the last couple of days.

ANDREW MAGEE: Oh, good, good. (Laughter) True. That is right. Winning is everything, but having a good time while you are doing it is just as important. I had two seconds last year. That don't mean jack.

ANDREW MAGEE: Seconds are usually pretty close. I played really well. I had a better chance to win my second one. BC Open I had a lead. I had a two-shot lead and I had five holes to play and I was really playing well there at BC. Nice golf course. I made my first bogey of the day on about the 15th hole, 14th hole, and had a 1-stroke lead. Then I hit a really poor sand wedge over the green on 16. That is just -- makes you sick when you got a sand wedge to a short little pin there and usually thinking about birdieing, and you knock it 10 yards over the green, same hole Gabriel Hjertstedt birdies. We just flip-flopped. He had a 1-stroke lead. Then I was behind and the two holes to play - not enough holes - and lost. That was my sickest feeling of the year by far. Vancouver, I finished second behind Calcavecchia, but he had a 1-stroke lead going into the last couple of holes and I was trying to catch him. So, if I am sick about anything last year, it is about BC Open, not having a victory there.

ANDREW MAGEE: I just think about all the shit that Bill Huffman is going to give me after the round, so just try to keep it all inside. You know, basically, we -- I just try and breath and I have done this before.

ANDREW MAGEE: Absolutely. I think we all do. That is the -- Jack Nicklaus said years ago that "If you are not nervous, you know something is wrong with you." And, so that has always helped me. I like being nervous. That means I am in -- something good is going to happen or I am involved with the tournament or this matters, so, it is a good thing.

ANDREW MAGEE: I think he was involved with that one too, wasn't he, in 1988? I really didn't know I was in the lead. Ken Green 3-putted the last hole. I birdied 17 to go 17-under. I can't remember the score. And, all of a sudden, I thought I had this putt on 18 to tie, my tap-in for par, and I didn't know Ken Green in front of me had 3-putted. All of a sudden -- it was like we had to wait for one more guy. Byrum behind me came in and didn't birdie, so I won, so it was kind of a surprise. I mean, I shot 66 the final day. I played really good golf and birdied 17 and-- or 16. 17 is a par 3. And, I had a caddie there named Levy. Only time I used this caddied; he only said one thing to me all week. I had 10-foot par-putt on 17. He hadn't said a word to me all week. He goes, "You better make this one pro." (Laughter) That is all he said. So I made it. But....

ANDREW MAGEE: I don't remember.

ANDREW MAGEE: We like the same courses. We both fade it, so that just goes to show you we play well on the same kind of venues. What, Bill, what?

ANDREW MAGEE: He is going to go, that is my theory. I hope it is his too.

ANDREW MAGEE: We still have to come out and play. No matter what you say, I still have to come out and play golf. Add them up at the end; see what happens.

ANDREW MAGEE: Yeah, because I can't do it.

ANDREW MAGEE: He is just Bruce Lietzke. That is what he does. He has always done it. He knows he can do it and we all know that is what he does. None of us -- none of the other guys can do that. I can't do that. I like to play a little bit and kind of get out on Tour and I go with the never-know theory. I never know if I am going to play good or bad. So if I am not there, how would I know if I had a chance to win. Bruce's priorities are different than most of ours. I like to be home with my children too, but I play a few more than 15 tournaments every year. I wouldn't mind cutting back to 15 if I can make a million bucks every time I played 15. But, he is a special guy. He is different.

ANDREW MAGEE: I am bored at home. I need something to do. I am a golf pro and I like playing in tournaments, and, you know, I like being out with people - probably more than Bruce does - and that is what I do.

ANDREW MAGEE: Thank you.