KEMPER INSURANCE OPEN

June 2, 2000

Donnie Hammond

DONNIE HAMMOND: Well, I had five birdies and started out on the 4th hole. 4th hole, made about a 12-footer from behind the hole a big 3-wood down the left side. Made about a little 12-footer that broke about a foot. That was a good putt. Then 6, yeah, I hit a good little 60-degree sand wedge in. Made about a 5-footer there. Then made a couple pars. Made a good par on 10. Had to make about a 7-footer for par there. Missed the green to the right a little bit. Hit in the rough. Then I hit a drive on the par 5. What is that, 13. I birdied 11 from about five feet. 13, I hit a drive up there and it got all the way down on the bottom of the hill, and I had a 6-iron into the green and 2-putted from about 30 feet. Hit a real good putt there. It was kind of waiting for it just to dive into the hole and it stayed just on the upper edge and made an easy birdie there. Then birdied 17 from about 12 feet short of the hole.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Yeah. I got real tired the last four or five holes. I even started to feel a little dizzy on 15 or so. But I play in weather this hot in Florida, but it's with a cart and shorts. It was real hot out there. I'm not used to -- I don't think we've had a day like this, this hot, at least where I've been playing all year. It was tough to get used to, and like I say, it was a little draining the last four or five holes.

DONNIE HAMMOND: It just keeps you a little relaxed. It's hard to get too excited when you're that drained, I guess. So it really didn't effect me too bad. I hit the ball pretty well and probably kept me from getting excited; so it was good.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun so far. Usually there's a lot more scrambling the first two days. It's a tricky course out there, but I think I've only missed two fairways the first two days. So it's been, you know, a couple pretty easy rounds for me and I've hit my irons pretty well. It's really -- it was really pretty easy the first two days for me. I've been hitting a lot of good drives and just missing two fairways. I was just off of those two fairways, and that's where you get in trouble out here, if you start missing fairways.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Just try to -- just work on what I've been working on with my swing. I think I'll be playing with Chris DiMarco again who I played with the first two days. We're neighbors in Heathrow, Florida; so we play a lot of golf when we're home together. So that will be one good thing is playing with Chris. I got my kids out walking around, so if I get nervous, just look over at them. Kind of loosens you up a little bit. They are up this week.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Well, I think it's key for me just to keep -- you know, if I can keep hitting the driver like I am, I should be able to do pretty well. That's going to be the key for me is to keep hitting, you know, keep hitting the fairways, with some pretty good length. I'll just wake up tomorrow and see what the conditions are like. See how the course is set up. Usually having a late tee time like this, you can see the scores when you get to the golf course and tell whether the golf course is set up a little bit and how the guys are playing. If someone is shooting 6- or 7-under, you know you might have to go out and try to be a little more aggressive. So that will be good to have a late tee time.

DONNIE HAMMOND: That was real good for my confidence, winning that tournament, shooting a 67 the last round and winning there and having a few good tournaments out on that tour has been good this year. And that really is important. It's as important an asset you can have when you play golf, is your confidence. You can be swinging great, but if you start second-guessing yourself, you're in trouble. As you guys probably know, when you play in a club championship, it starts going downhill, or you're getting ready to shoot one of the best rounds of your life you start second-guessing yourself, saying, "Oh, there I go again." So confidence is a big thing in golf, and that's probably helped me coming into this tournament.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Not really. I've got The SENIOR TOUR again. I'm going to get one of those. These guys are tough out here, though.

DONNIE HAMMOND: No. I don't think Casey has an advantage with his cart. I just think it's just as tough for him.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Not really. I was just -- my little girl was out there cheering me on the whole way so I was just keeping my eye on her. She kept saying, "Way to go, dad." So we were just having fun, she was always right there by the tee. And she had not been to a lot of tournaments in the last couple years so she's having a ball, too. Brittany, yeah.

DONNIE HAMMOND: High point maybe was I guess when I won my first tournament, the Bob Hope. Probably the biggest thrill for me to win on the TOUR. That's what you're always thinking about when you're 13 or 14 years old and you're watching CBS and you're watching Lanny Wadkins and Tom Kite with tournaments and that's what you're dreaming about. Then once you actually do that, it's really satisfying. And the low point would be, I don't know, maybe when I'm 60 and can't cash a billing check on the Super Seniors, I don't know. I haven't hit a real bad point yet. I don't know. It's been all good. Even when I've played not -- not real well, I've still enjoyed playing and never really thought of getting out of the game. So you have to look ahead when you're a golf pro.

DONNIE HAMMOND: Well, it comes and goes when you're on the TOUR. You have stretches where you play well for two or three weeks and you might be contending to win for a couple weeks in a row, and then you might miss three or four cuts in a row. The best players do the same thing. The best players will miss three or four cuts in a row, and you come out and you're thinking -- you just want to make a cut in the tournament the next tournament. And it happens to all the great players. And then certain weeks when you're contending you step on the first tee expecting to be, you know, having a chance to win with nine holes to go. So it's a fragile, fragile thing, a golfer's ego.

DONNIE HAMMOND: I think you always probably want to get done. Yeah, I was happy to get done. I wouldn't want to get up at 8:00 to have to come out here and finish and have to tee off at 2:00. Although, they have a great breakfast here. It wouldn't be bad.

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