ADVIL WESTERN OPEN

July 6, 2001

Brandel Chamblee

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Well, I, like the guys who teed off yesterday morning, got out there with no wind and the golf course was relatively benign when I started. The greens were not as quite as soft as I expected. They were actually pretty firm. I'd said they were about as firm as when I finished up last night so not much had changed. I don't think they watered them a whole lot. But I was able to take advantage of the winds being calm and what wind -- there was a south wind directly opposite from yesterday's wind so I thought that the par 5s that were potentially reachable were downwind and I think with this wind it generally makes the golf course play a little bit easier or I felt it did. I was able to get to some par 5s today that I couldn't quite get to yesterday.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Yeah, 5, I didn't take advantage of that hole. You could have -- if I hit a good drive there I could have hit mid-iron into that green probably and I hit a poor drive over in the right bunker and had to lay up. I hit actually a good pitch there about six feet missed it. But yeah, I played the par 5s well today. Like No. 11 I hit a good drive there. I have never -- I don't think I have ever had anything less than a 2-iron in there. I hit 4-iron in there today, and got it just to the right of the green just short front right there, was able to chip up make birdie. That's ordinarily sort of an awkward par 5 for people who hit it as far as I do. If you hit it as far as Vijay Singh or something, then you go right over those trees and the hole is not near as awkward. Oh, yeah, Tiger Woods, he can do that too. I think he can do that.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: You know, word is -- yeah. I think he does. It looks fast when it comes off the club.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I don't know. Honestly it is hard to answer that question. I don't think it will be leading by the end of the day. I think that some of the guys that got out yesterday morning will get out and shoot some good numbers this afternoon. It is just a perfect, perfect day out there. Personally I didn't think that the pins were so difficult. There were a couple of hard ones, but I think 8-under obviously is going to be right there. I doubt anybody will get much past 9 or 10.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Last month, month and a half I have hit the ball very well. Got nothing out of my game, just sort of tried as hard as I could to play very mediocre. But I have hit the ball excellent. I have driven the ball wonderfully well, hit a lot of good irons, but it just -- it is a funny game just nothing had come together. I went -- actually I stuck around in New York City after Westchester for four, five days saw a bunch of players; then I went home for two, three days to Arizona and just really just spent a lot of time working on the things that let you score well, bunker shots, and chips and putts stuff like that. And it showed. I was sharp with my short game here these two days. I pitched the ball very well and chipped particularly well.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Yeah, perhaps. The game is cyclical. The things that you are doing well, you tend to neglect until they bother you and make you sick. Then you go find the time to work on them. That's the way this game S.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Well ---

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Well, I got here late Tuesday in time to play the golf course and see the changes. I always felt like 2 was the weakest hole on this golf course. I didn't like it at all. You could not hit that green if it was on left -- if the pin was on the left side of the green you went at the pin, hit a good shot, couldn't hit the pin. They made a great change there. I love the 2nd hole. I love the way it is framed with the trees, beautiful little hole. I think it is a nice addition to this golf course. The changes as far as length goes to this golf course were, I feel and I am sure the committee felt necessary. Everybody seems to just be adding 20, 30 yards to every hole, but you know, they added it to the 13th hole. Actually they had that tee back there. I used to always tee off look back there and say, golly, I am sure glad we don't play that back tee. Finally we are playing that back tee, but yesterday I hit the from the back tee, good drive, 6-iron to the middle of the green. Now if the pin would have been in the back, it would have been a heck of a hole, sort of a USGA-looking kind of hole. I have always thought this golf course was potentially up to holding a major championship. It is that kind of golf course. But the changes were good. The changes were very good. Like I said, the 2nd hole used to just bother me. I just didn't like it at all.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Yeah, I mean, yeah, you might have just as much like hitting this table.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I am qualifying this week (laughs) I am at the qualifier. I actually heard Wiebe say that last night. That is one of the nice benefits to playing well here is that you would get in the British Open. I spent the summer in Europe in 1982/1983 and I played Royal Lytham and I love it. It is a wonderful golf course. I'd love to be there. I am not in the British Open at this point. But certainly I would relish the chance to play there.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I take a lot of vacations in the summer. I always try to take a month off in the summer. I went to Ireland a couple of years ago. I love links golf, and I went to Ireland; spent about ten days over there and it was ironic that most of the guys were getting ready to come over there to get ready kind -- of a lot of guys, I think Tiger, Mark O'Meara, Payne Stewart used to go over there, and sort of get tuned up for playing in the British Open. It's a beautiful place to play links golf. There's a saying that the best links courses in Scotland are in Ireland, and you know, they are fabulous. And the Irish whiskey is pretty good too.

BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: 18 is always -- there's no easy pin placement on 18. It is always fast. I have seen these greens firmer than this, I can tell you that. I have seen them firmer than this. I have seen the rough thicker than this. But I thought overall the greens were a nice consistent speed all day long. I didn't think that any of them were faster than any of the other. 18 just has so much more slope and pitch to it, certainly plays faster.