BUICK CLASSIC

June 6, 2002

Chris Smith

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Chris Smith. 5-under 66 has you one shot off the lead. You're coming off a tie for seventh at last week's Kemper Insurance Open.

You started the day with birdies on 10 and 18.

CHRIS SMITH: I hit driver on 10, up in the right fringe just short of the green and chipped it up about three feet and made it.

18 I got in the left grass and punched it up there short of the green and hit a lob-wedge about 15 feet short of the hole and made that one.

2, I hit 3-wood off the tee. I had a good shot about eight feet short of the hole and made that.

4, I hit 3-wood off the tee on 4 and hit another wedge about 10 feet.

5, I hit 3-wood again, got it through the fairway, had to lay up and had about a 50-yard wedge shot and then a gap wedge about five feet short of the hole.

7, I hit a 5-wood off the tee and got it into the rough through the fairway again and hit a gap wedge about two feet behind the hole.

8, I hit 3-iron in the middle of the fairway and then had 6-iron in, but left it out in the right bunker. Tried to get a little cute with my bunker shot and left it short.

TODD BUDNICK: Prior to last week, it looks like you'd been struggling with your game a little bit but after last week and a nice round today, looks like you've got something going.

CHRIS SMITH: I feel like I've hit the ball better this year than I did all of last year. I think the only thing I've really struggled with is my putting and my position on the Money List.

But other than that, I feel like I played really well this year. I've been waiting to get some putts to go in, and the conditions were tough last week; you didn't have to make a whole lot of putts to have a good tournament. I putted a little bit better and had a good tournament and that made me feel a little bit better.

Then I came out today and made a couple of putts. My speed was a lot better. I hit the ball pretty good.

TODD BUDNICK: With this course, there's a little bit of rough, and so the greens really didn't soften up too much.

CHRIS SMITH: I really love this golf course. I put this in my Top-5 tournaments of the year every year. I look forward to coming here. I think the golf course is in perfect shape every time we come. The greens are hard and fast. The rough is long. You've got to hit all kinds of different shots off the tees and into the greens, and you have to think your way around the course.

Not qualifying for the Open on Monday, I kind of look at this as close as I'll get this year prior to Open conditions, and it's a lot of fun to play under these conditions.

Q. Every year, you've gotten better here. Is this the type of golf course where there's so many different shots that you need; that it's the more you play it, the better you do it?

CHRIS SMITH: I think for sure. To be perfectly honest, when I first came here, I didn't know how you could shoot even par on this golf course. It scared the living daylights out of me. You do, you do you get a feel for it. I tried to hit more drivers when I first came here and now I hit only one driver on the front nine, the last hole, and I've figured out where you want to hit it, the places that you can't miss the greens. I feel a lot more comfortable now than when I first came here. I loved it when I first came here but it just seemed like it was really difficult. I've kind of figured a lot of that out.

TODD BUDNICK: Is it harder for a long-ball hitter to adjust to a course like this?

CHRIS SMITH: I think the hardest part for me is having the willpower to not hit drivers, because I think in the first couple of years out on TOUR, I felt like I could fit my driver in somewhere and I tried to hit it all the time. It helps -- really, it helps here because I was -- the guys I was playing with, they were hitting drivers and I was hitting 3-wood and 5-wood in the same areas of the fairway where they were hitting driver. I think it's an advantage to be able to do it, but just have to know when to leave it in the bag.

Q. On 10, you hit driver. Does that just depend on where the tee is normally?

CHRIS SMITH: Yeah, I pretty much -- unless it's a big crosswind or unless it's really into the wind, I try to hit driver. I try to get it up there on the green somewhere from where I can chip it.

I really don't like that shot from the bottom of the valley. It's a hard shot down there. Every time I've tried to lay up, I get down there and I'm sitting there with a shot I'm trying to make par.

Last year, I hit driver every day, and I imagine I'll do the same thing this year.

Q. How many times in a tournament, if you play four rounds, how many times do you hit that green?

CHRIS SMITH: If I can hit it once in four rounds, I'll be happy. I just don't want to hit it down into the left trees or 12th green somewhere.

If it gets downwind and it's calm and warm and sunny, I'll try to hit 3-wood and try to get it in one of the front bunkers.

TODD BUDNICK: Thanks, Chris.

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