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BELLSOUTH CLASSIC


April 3, 2004


Scott Hend


DULUTH, GEORGIA

TODD BUDNICK: Great finish with the eagle to move you up within three of the leader right now. Talk a little about that finish.

SCOTT HEND: On the tee I was just trying to set it up to make a 4, just hit a 3 wood down the center of the fairway and just hit a nice little 3 iron into the green, and obviously it just landed on the green and released nicely to the hole. I was a bit nervous on the putt because I missed a couple of those length putts today and managed to drain that one straight in the center. It was night to hole it and finish off on a good note for tomorrow.

TODD BUDNICK: How far was the putt?

SCOTT HEND: I think it was about four feet. I could be wrong, though. Probably looked a lot longer.

TODD BUDNICK: Your momentum on the front nine, you could not really get it going; now do you have a little bit going for you?

SCOTT HEND: The front nine, I 3 putted the second par 5, I think it was about 5 or 6, the 6th hole it might be. I 3 putted for par from about 35 feet. Managed to hole a great putt on the next hole for birdie which got me going. We came to the ninth hole and I set myself back again by 3 putting the ninth for bogey.

I was still quite composed and thought we had a good chance of shooting a good score. So just played the back nine, stuck to the plan we've stuck to all week, just trying to hit fairways and greens and keeping the ball under the hole and once it's under the hole, putt. It's pretty much what you have to do on the golf course.

TODD BUDNICK: Still early in your rookie season and here you are contending for your first tournament win heading into Sunday. Talk about your feelings today.

SCOTT HEND: I wouldn't so much say contending. I'd just be happy to achieve my goals, play solidly, and obviously, if that's good enough to contend, then that's what you can call contending.

I'm not disillusioned by thinking I can win straightaway. If I happen to win, that's great, but I'm quite prepared to sit back and learn how to play on the PGA TOUR, get the experience. And then hopefully once I get all of the experience and know what's going on, get out of there and try and compete on a weekly basis.

Q. What's been your attitude so far this week? I know the conditions have been changing every day, even from hour to hour, but what has been your attitude on this course to get you to this point, are you playing aggressively, going for it or are you being real selective about when you are conservative when and when you're not?

SCOTT HEND: We've been concerned about which way the wind is blowing because some holes it seems like it's swirling a little bit, but you've still got to believe which way the wind is coming.

First time I had a practice round on this course on Tuesday, I just loved the golf course straightaway. As soon as I saw a couple of holes, I love the design of the course, I love the way the course plays. I love how fast and how hard the greens are. It's very good visually. You have to imagine a lot of shots, and then stick to your shot and play with it. That's the sort of course that I enjoy, a real good, tough, challenge.

Q. Your year so far, how are you finding it to live over here and compete? How has the life over here, how that helping or hindering your golf game?

SCOTT HEND: I played on the Canadian Tour for four years. So I came to North America and found how the food and culture and how things operate here in the States and Canada. I'm quite comfortable with it. I wanted to live here in America. We just rented a place in Jacksonville and we are quite happy with that. We'll move into the place next week, so we'll be a lot more settled instead of having all of our stuff in hotel rooms. We are quite comfortable living here in the States. We want to live here permanently. We love it.

Q. You talk about goals, is it consistency, is it something in your swing, can you be a little bit more specific?

SCOTT HEND: You mean in this tournament or for the year?

Q. You said, "I want to achieve my goals, if I'm in contention "

SCOTT HEND: I just have a couple of personal goals, stay in control, don't get too far ahead of yourself, just the usual cliches that a lot of golfers use. But literally for me, that's what I have to achieve to play good golf. I know if I achieve those goals, then the outcome looks after itself. So, achieve more goals and make sure I maintain my concentration; then that's what I mean by trying to be more consistent.

Q. If you were to characterize yourself as a player are you more of a charger or a course management thinking type player or a combination of both?

SCOTT HEND: I'd like to be a bit reckless and be aggressive. But sometimes it just doesn't pay off, and that's what I mean by being controlled and just playing one shot at a time.

My wife and my caddie have put the lasso over me and reined me in the last few weeks. I've been way to aggressive when I've played golf tournaments, thinking I have to be on the leaderboard, coming in No. 1 position after the first round. It doesn't work that way. You have to build into it and just play solid golf, and that's what I'm trying to do instead of being real aggressive.

Q. Padraig just said he heard the forecast was going to be 30 mile an hour winds tomorrow; how might that affect your approach?

SCOTT HEND: I hope it blows 40. It's just going to be a challenge. I just love a challenge. It's exciting. It's what gets my juices flowing. It gets the adrenaline going when it's a real challenge and it's tough. Some guys don't show enough ticket to nut it out, a lot of guys have a big heart and they keep grinding away. I'd like it think I have a pretty big heart and I like to grind away in the wind.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your other bogey on No. 3.

SCOTT HEND: Yeah, I just missed a short putt. I missed like a 3 1/2 foot putt. Just had a little bit of nerves going through it and got a little bit quick on it and pushed it out to the right. The putt I made on 18 was around the same sort of length and I didn't stick to my line. You've got to stick to your lines out here.

5, came out of the left pine straw and hit it to about three feet. So I hit a great shot over the trees and just had a little short putt. Managed to hole that one.

7, I holed a great putt from a little ditch on the right hand side of the green. Would have been a 35 foot putt right to left, just dropped into the side of the hole. I hit lob wedge, a little too long.

10, I hit 7 iron, just a smooth 7 iron to 10 for my second shot and had probably about a 30 foot putt for eagle. Just lagged it up to a couple of inches and tapped it in for birdie.

11, quite fortunate, I caught it a little bit thin with a 6 iron and it landed just on the front of the green, ran up just off the back edge and was actually pretty much one of the easiest putts I had all day. It was straight down the hill, just broke about an inch. So we just had to get it rolling and it was in the center of the cup, probably about 15 feet.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Scott.

End of FastScripts.
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