BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 17, 2002

Brandel Chamblee

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I'd like to welcome Brandel Chamblee to the teleconference. Brandel is currently in second place. He shot a 67 today. He is minus 14 for the two days so far. Brandel, real quick, let's go over your birdies and bogeys to start out with. You started on No. 1 and birdied the first two.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: That's right. First hole was a relatively easy par-5, and I hit it short of the green in 2, chipped it up to about a foot and tapped it in. The next hole is probably one of the harder holes at Bermuda Dunes. I hit a good drive and 6-iron to about 2 feet and made that.

And then I didn't make anymore birdies until 14.

And there I hit it about 15, 20 feet and made that.

The next hole is a good par-4, I hit a good drive, cut it around the corner, hit a wedge for 5 feet, and made that.

18, I hit my second shot well left of the green, or just left of the green, and hit a nice little pitch-and-run up there to about 6, 7, 8 feet and made that.

It was a pretty good day ball-strikingwise, and I had a whirl in the middle where I couldn't get anything to fall. The putt on 14 got me going again.

Q. At 14-under, what kind of position do you think that sets you up -- with still three rounds to go?

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Well, obviously I'm pretty happy with where I'm at. Who knows what the scores are going to be here the next couple of days, 30-under, who knows. I haven't given any thought to an ideal target score. It just occurred to me if I go out there and putt well the next couple of days that I should make a fair number of birdies.

These golf courses are -- they're playing easy. Why? Because they're in such good shape. There's not a blade of grass out of place. The greens are like putting on pool tables. If you get a ball on line, there's nothing to deflect it. There's nobody to blame it on besides yourself.

So really I'm obviously very pleased with where I'm at. I would have taken it if you would have given it to me after two days.

Q. Obviously with this tournament you know that most likely you're going to have to shoot pretty low to be in the running on Sunday. Do you come out and figure you need to go X amount each day? Do you have a target number that you come out to shoot each day?

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Yeah, you kind of have a number in the back of your head that if you're not shooting 5-under or better every day, you're losing ground. You kind of know that, depending on the weather. You can get some nasty, windy days out here. But given the weather we have, yeah, you've got to shoot at least 5-under to keep pace.

Your mindset is to go out there and play pretty conservative and beat up the par-5s, and snag a birdie or two somewhere along the way and get you 6 - ,7-under par a day. If you're playing well, that's easy enough to do. If you're not, there's plenty of trees out there that will certainly ruin your day.

Q. Did you have any idea that you'd be playing this well so early in the year after your break?

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Yesterday was the first round of golf I've walked since Disney. I've been home driving in carts, the little I've played. About the last two or three weeks I've been playing quite a bit at home and playing really well.

So I came in here pretty encouraged with the way I was playing. I've been striking it really well at home, making a lot of birdies at home, so I came in here with some confidence and came in here early. I got over here on Sunday morning and played a lot of golf with Kirk Triplett and a couple of Tour reps over at Indian Wells.

Normally you get in here and it's a rush to see the golf courses. So I had plenty of time to see most of the holes and to play them and see how they were playing.

Q. Have you ever played with Charles Howell, and if you have I was wondering what your opinion of his potential, his game is, and if you haven't --?

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I haven't obviously been around him. I don't know if Gary Van Sickle is in the media room or if he's left for the day to go play golf, but I told him a story about the first time I met Charles. I was on the first tee at Texas Open, not last year, but the year before, and there were four of us on the tee and he came up and said -- he was standing over there quietly, and I said, "Charles, would you like to go in front of us? You're just by yourself?" He said, "Oh, Mr. Chambee, that's so nice. I really appreciate it."

So I went over and kind of introduced myself and said hi and good luck. He got up on the first tee at the Texas Open, downhill par-5, and hit a drive that went about 430 -- that's 430 -- I mean it just went forever. He looked like a Greek God standing up there addressing the ball. And I was awestruck.

And then up came Paul Goydos waddling up, and he said, "Do you mind if I join you?" And Sean Murphy was standing to the side, "Okay, show him how to junk it around, Paul." (Laughter.) I've seen him at Tahoe last year, I saw him hit a few drives that just flew 350 yards in the air on a line. No, I've never played with him, but I'm obviously very impressed with his game and attitude. Gosh, it would be great to have all the kids come out and act and play golf like him.

Q. You said you were playing well at home. Did you work on anything during the break? You said you thought you'd come out and play well, what did you work on, if anything?

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I did, I just -- I looked at my stats and I decided I need to do work more on my pitching and putting, and my iron play was not near as good as my driver was last year. So I got some new irons, I worked on them for a couple of weeks. I'm not normally one to tinker with golf clubs, but I flew over to the factory and messed around with them and really feel like I made some improvements in the equipment I was playing.

And I'm pretty excited to be playing it. So I think that's made somewhat of a difference, and the added attention I've given to my short game has obviously made a difference.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We were wondering what type of equipment you're playing now, Brandel.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Just switched to a new iron, it's called a TA-7. It's made by Cleveland. And it's a somewhat similar iron to what I was playing before, but it has less offset in the short irons, and it's much easy to line them up. And the heads are a different material, they feel and act more like a forged material.

Q. You had the loss in LA last year that was really more of Allenby's win with the great shot at the playoff. Did you take anything away from that? Did it do anything for your year?

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I was playing so lousy going into LA last year, I was just happy to rest, recollect my game that week. But once I got into the playoff, I felt like that particular day I was just striking it and everything I was hitting was going right at the hole. So I felt I had as good a chance as anybody, and I hit what I felt was a great second shot there and it just didn't turn out for me.

So obviously I came away from there with some renewed confidence in my game and an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year. My game for the rest of the year was not as good, though. It was pretty inconsistent, pretty sporadic. I played well a few other weeks, but overall I was pretty unhappy with my game last year.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I think we're all set. We appreciate you joining us and good luck the rest of the week.

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