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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 14, 2014Peter JacobsenLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: We have got a few people ready to ask some questions of you Peter. Start off talking about you haven't played here at the Humana Challenge in a few years. Talk about your reason on why you decided to play and your thoughts on coming into the week. PETER JACOBSEN: Well, this is the same week as the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, which is in Hawaii this week, which I played for I think six or eight years, but my last win was in 2005 and my last time playing there was 2010. So, I called Scott McCarron and said I'm still exempt for the Humana Challenge, and I'm free that week. What do you think about me playing and he said he thought I should play. So I called Bob Marra, the tournament director, and said, am I in? And he said, yeah, you're in. So this has always been one of my favorite tournaments on TOUR for a lot of reasons. It's the start of the year, the weather's great, I love the courses in the desert, but more importantly, I think it's a great opportunity for PGA TOUR players to be inside the ropes walking the fairways with amateurs that love the game of golf as much as we do, maybe more. These are also the amateurs and the business executives that support the PGA TOUR and allow us to do what we do. So it was a pretty easy decision. Once I knew I was in, I committed, I called Bob and committed and I'm really excited to be here. MARK STEVENS: Okay. Take it open for questions. Q. You played this tournament for a long, long time. Obviously won it back in 1990. You probably played this tournament when other guys were maybe starting to drift away from it or weren't coming to it at all. Were you ever surprised that guys didn't play here or did you understand why some guys didn't do it, even though you braced it? PETER JACOBSEN: Yeah, I think that there are just certain players that like the interaction with the amateurs, as I do. And there are a few players who just don't. Some players have to be fire and ice out there when they're competing inside the ropes, and you know who those players are. They keep their visors down, their glasses on, and they don't speak to anybody. Then there are other players that really don't mind the interaction. And I don't indict anybody for not playing. I think it's a very special opportunity, as I said earlier, for us to be able to give back, so to speak, to those corporations and individuals that allow us to do what we do. And in that respect, tournaments like the Humana Challenge, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro‑Am, events like that where we get to rub elbows inside the ropes with these corporate executives and CEO's, I think it's an opportunity that we should embrace. But I understand it, some players don't, but a lot of players do. Q. You talked about how early in the season the weather is nice, the courses are setup favorably because the amateurs are there too. Is it fun being in a place where you know you're going to make a lot of birdies if you're playing okay, or is there a certain kind of pressure where you know you got to shoot 66 or 67 or else you're going to get passed? PETER JACOBSEN: Well, that was one of the reasons why I think the early years of the Bob Hope and Humana were so popular. We all knew we were going to come to a place where the weather was going to be good and we could work on our games. It was the start of the year, early on in the year, and the courses were not demanding to where you had to worry about shooting great scores. You knew that you could make birdies and eagles, courses were short enough to where you could go low. And I think that works well for the players and their confidence going into the year. Because we do play some pretty tough courses coming up, most notably Riviera, the Northern Trust open. That's always been one of the great golf courses that we play on TOUR. So in the past having been able to play and know the golf courses like we do, it's fun to shoot low, no matter where you play. Q. When is the last time you played against the kids and what are your expectations this time? PETER JACOBSEN: We run an event, Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade host an event up in Providence that our company, Peter Jacobsen Sports, manages. And I play in that, and we have a chance to play with the young kids. I played a lot with Kuchar in that. This year played with Michael Thompson and Billy Horschel. So, in doing the work that I do for Golf Channel and NBC, I'm out there with the guys quite a bit and have kept up with a lot of young guys. So I know these guys pretty well, my expectations, I've got zero expectations. I'm just really excited to be able to get back and play at one of my favorite tournaments ever in my career. I think I'm going to be paired with Scott McCarron, who is another very close friend who we played so many years together at the AT&T Pebble Beach, so zero expectations. The only thing that I control is how much fun I'm going to have and believe me, that's going to be 10 on a 10 scale. Q. They have done a lot of things to this tournament over the last couple of years, changed the format a little bit, fewer amateurs, four days instead of five, only three courses instead of four. Now this year they basically eliminated the celebrity field. Do you think it's going to feel like the same tournament to you or will it feel similar, I mean remotely familiar, but not really the same? PETER JACOBSEN: Well, it's hard for me to say simply because I haven't been out there yet. I did talk to Bob about the celebrities and he said they really don't have too many celebrities any more. I always found that that was always a draw and appeal, I think, to the fans, and to the pros, quite honestly. When we used to have the Andy Williams San Diego Open and obviously, the Crosby and the Bob Hope and the Ed McMahon and Sammy Davis, Jr. Those were always tournaments that were exciting because we had a chance to be hanging out with all the celebrities and the athletes that we watched day in and day out. But the most important aspect of this event, I think, still remains the amateurs and the fact that we, as professionals, have a chance to hang out, talk with, maybe teach, instruct, and learn from these guys that we play with. I know people are probably chuckling saying that we're going to learn something from them, but we may not learn how to chip and putt or how to hit the ball in the fairway. But I think any chance that we have as golf professionals to be inside the ropes with business executives that no matter what field‑‑ sometimes the conversation starts to drift toward what they do and to me, I always found that pretty fascinating. Q. I know you played two of these courses winning it on the Palmer Course and La Quinta for a long time. I don't even know if you have seen the Nicklaus Private Course or not, much less have played it. Will that be part of your preparation for the week? PETER JACOBSEN: I think you forget that I'm almost 60 years old. Yeah, I've played the Nicklaus Private many times. And really it was one of the main decisions in me deciding to play was that I knew the courses so well. I know all three courses well. I'm going to, I'm heading out to see La Quinta, getting registered this afternoon and I'm playing in the Hope Legacy Pro‑Am tomorrow. So I'll get a good look at all the courses, but I know them I'm pretty familiar with all of them. Q. One of your refrains over the years has been that Wednesday's the most important day on the PGA TOUR, not Sunday. Do you still believe that and are you‑‑ you seem to be one of the foremost activists with rubbing elbows with CEO's. PETER JACOBSEN: I still believe that. I've always believed that when we have the opportunity to interact with the individuals who support our game, maybe not every one of them financially, but certainly spiritually, for those people to be able to get involved not only with watching television or showing up at tournaments and spending their money, I think that's important. And when it comes to events like the Humana Challenge, President Clinton and his foundation have stepped up to the plate, I feel like we owe a great debt to him and his organization for what he's doing for the tournament and for the community that we play in. But also I always say to players that skip this event or skip the AT&T or skip any event that involves amateurs or celebrities is, that I always say to them, how much money did you make on TOUR last year? Five million? Would you give up one week a year to make five million dollars every year? And the answer is always yes. If I knew that I was going to have a chance to play for and put five million dollars in my official money earnings for the year, would I give up one week, whether it be here at the Humana Challenge or up at Pebble Beach, would I give up that week and have fun and not really care what I shot and enjoy my partner? Yeah, I would. Q. You say that maybe you don't necessarily care what you shot, but you actually hold the tournament record here with 24 made cuts one more than Fred Couples made. You played well here enough to win and make all those cuts, was it the fact that you were relaxed and having fun or was it just the golf courses that worked with your game? PETER JACOBSEN: Well, when I said don't really care what you shoot, of course I'm being facetious, you always want to win, you want to play to the best of your ability, but I think that if you come into the week with the attitude that I'm going to make sure that my amateur partner this week when he leaves here he's going to say he had the best experience on a golf course that he's ever had. And that was always my goal whether I was playing with Jack Lemmon at Pebble Beach or an amateur that just paid to play in the tournament. I wanted them to have the best week that he could possibly have. And don't forget, golf's a game. Games are fun. And whenever I play golf, whenever I have a chance to compete, I'm anticipating having a good time and we're going to hit good shots and we're going to hit bad shots. But bad shots just give you the opportunity to hit a good shot and make a great recovery. So again I think going into an event like this or any event we are with amateurs, it's all about preparation and your attitude going in. Q. Do you think there's a ‑‑ I'm asking you to be a lay psychologist for a second. You hold the tournament record here for most cuts made. O'Meara, another extrovert, won Pebble five times. Do extroverts do better in these pro‑am formats? PETER JACOBSEN: Yeah, I think there are some guys that really enjoy it. I enjoy it, obviously Mark O'Meara enjoys it, and back in the early years when Arnold was coming here all those times, Arnold enjoyed it. And I would say again, I am not going to criticize any player if they want to skip it. I knew players when I played that didn't enjoy being here in the desert at the Humana Challenge and they didn't enjoy being at Pebble Beach. And if they played, I always used to ‑‑ and they would complain about it ‑‑ I would say look, I think everybody would rather have you at home on the couch than rather have you here complaining. And that was always one of the most important things to do is, if you're going to come, show up and play, make sure you have fun. If you don't, stay home. There's other weeks for you to play. Q. How is your game? PETER JACOBSEN: Pretty good. I just was in Houston working on my game, I feel pretty good about it. It was with Jim Hardy and I've got my instructor, he's caddieing for me this week, a young man by the name of Mark Miller. So we're going to be doing the best we can. You know, as I said, I'm looking at 60 here in March and for an old chubby guy I feel like I still got something going. I think I'm the only guy in the field that has two replaced body parts, a new knee and a new hip. So if you guys can work me in an a separate category I think I might have a chance to win that category. (Laughter.) MARK STEVENS: Well, thank you very much for finding the time through your hectic travel schedule and good luck. PETER JACOBSEN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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