BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY COOPER TIRES

March 14, 2002

John Huston

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, John for joining us. Good round, good start. 5-under par 67, no bogeys.

Why don't you talk about your round, and then we'll go into some questions.

JOHN HUSTON: I got away with some bad shots early in the round, and made a lot of nice putts. Today is the first really good putting round I've had in a long time, so I'm pleased, especially to get around with not even a bogey on the card.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Questions?

Q. Has this sort of been a long time coming? Do you feel like you've been close?

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, I played really well the West Coast and didn't putt good at all. And then the last couple of weeks, I haven't played as well.

I was probably in a better frame of mind this week, because I knew it was going to be difficult and I wasn't pressing to try to get off to a great start.

Q. Your success has been that you're a streaky player and get on a hot streak. Lately you've had trouble sustaining those streaks.

JOHN HUSTON: I haven't really had any. I haven't been able to get it going, and a lot of that has to do with the putting. I haven't been able to couple of putts in a row, I make one here or there, but never two or three in a row to where I can really get it going. That's definitely been a factor.

Q. Hard to be patient?

JOHN HUSTON: Well, it's always hard to be patient, because inevitable you look up and somebody is 4- or 5-under already when you first get started.

I think it's easier to be patient when you're hitting the ball better, and hopefully I'll get rid of the bad shots that I hit today and then it will make it a lot easier.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Let's go through your birdies.

JOHN HUSTON: Started on the back nine. On No. 11, I hit it just in the left rough, and I hit an 8-iron about 40 feet past the hole and made that for birdie.

No. 16, I hit a 3-iron about ten feet for eagle, and just missed that putt on the right.

No. 1, I hit an 8-iron about five feet.

No. 4, I hit a 4-wood to the back fringe and two putted from about 35 feet.

6, I hit a sand wedge about 20 feet and made that.

Q. Does it feel different shooting 67 going off No. 10 and coming in on the front nine, the crowds are smaller, maybe not as much excitement?

JOHN HUSTON: Not so much on the first day. Not the first day because everybody is going to start on 10 one of the first two days. I think it's nice to get through that stretch of 17, 18 and be in a good position.

It might actually be a little bit easier to start on the back nine here, if you're playing well.

Q. Is there anything technically that the cross-hand has helped you do?

JOHN HUSTON: It's kind of squared everything up, and in turn, I'm hitting the putts a lot more solid.

I just had no rhythm in my stroke at all before and kind of hitting miss-hits, glancing putts.

Q. When did you go to the cross-hand?

JOHN HUSTON: First day was the last day at Doral.

Q. A long time ago, it almost seemed that trying cross-handed was an admission of just a panic. And now with the Claw and all of these other things --?

JOHN HUSTON: It still is, but a lot of those things work. It's still if I had my preference, I would still rather putt conventional. But once you start having to think about it, then, you know, that takes away from -- you quit thinking about the speed and everything, instead, what you should be doing is thinking about the speed and assume you are going to hit your line. Once you quit, you have putts coming off at all angles and you have to try something different. I think the cross-handed has helped me.

Q. Was it a no-brainer to try?

JOHN HUSTON: Oh, yeah. I think everybody out here at one time or another has tried everything, with the exception of maybe Brad Faxon or some of the guys that still haven't gotten to that point yet. And there may come a day when he tries it.

Q. You never had any trouble really before, did you?

JOHN HUSTON: No, not for a long period of time. I've gone through short stretches where I didn't feel right, about but I always knew that if I stuck with it, sooner or later it would come around. It's been a long time, so finally just had to try something different.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, John for joining us.

End of FastScripts....