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AMERICAN CENTURY CELEBRITY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2003

Brett Hull

STATELINE, NEVADA

PHIL WEIDINGER: 27 for Steve Bartkowski, 25 for Brett and for Dick Anderson. Why don't we start with some comments about your play today.

BRETT HULL: I started on the back and actually started out with a bogey on 10, and went bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie, and then made another birdie on 16 and eagled 18.

So my first side went well and then kind of generic on the other side, a lot of pars. A lot of chances, but they just wouldn't fall.

PHIL WEIDINGER: A lot of short putts?

BRETT HULL: Not short putts. But 15, 17 feet that just rolled by the edge or left the old six inches short.

STEVE BARTKOWSKI: I also started on the back. Really, knocked it in there about five feet, six feet on No. 10, and I was thinking, "Boy, here we go, it's going to be a good day." I missed that one. (Laughs). Then I made one about 25 feet downhill on 11 and I bogeyed 12.

Then just, really, I hit a lot of good iron shots today. Gave myself a lot of chances. Really shot 68, but I left probably three or four strokes out there. I had, you know, two or three five-foot putts that I missed, just didn't even sniff the hole. It's the hardest place in the world to make putts. I don't care who you are; it is a hard place to make putts. I'm just thankful that it's the best round I've ever shot here.

PHIL WEIDINGER: And Dick, past champion.

DICK ANDERSON: I started off and hit a good drive on 1 but got in the trap and almost got it to the green and 3-putted. So I started off with a bogey, as well, and hung in there. Then knocked it on in two and two shots on No. 3. Got a birdie there to get started.

Actually missed a short birdie putt on 5 with the par 3 about four feet downhill.

Hit a good shot on 7.

Birdied 8 and 9 which are always wonderful to survive on, and hit a driver on 10 and a wedge in, which was pretty good.

Then 3-putted 11, so that wasn't too good.

Hit it in the trap on 12 and got up-and-down for par, which was a great par. That's the one that when I was leading, I left it in the trap three times and lost by two shots. I was thinking about that when I was in the trap today. (Laughing).

Then just played solid. Parred all of the holes on the way in. Had an opportunity to knock it on in two on 16 and didn't hit it very good, hit it in front of the green and hit a bad chip. Didn't par that.

I pushed my drive on 18 over in the trees, and usually I do well out of the trees on 18, but I didn't even have a shot. So I hit two wedges, sand wedges to get to the hole and almost made my putt for birdie.

But the Stableford is interesting, Steve shoots 68 and I shoot 72, and I have one double which hurt. I left it in the trap on 7, but with the birdies, you can pick up some points. So 18 pars in a row would be a 72 and that would be 18 points, and I got 21 points. So, you know, a couple extra birdies certainly helps in the system.

STEVE BARTKOWSKI: The old man hits it a long way.

Q. How does it feel, as far as the first year that you've been going out in the Stableford after chasing strokes and par for 13 years out here, what was the thought process out there during the round when you were playing Stableford, did you have a feel for where you might be?

STEVE BARTKOWSKI: I really don't. That's the intriguing thing about the Stableford is that you can make up a lot of ground in a hurry. I saw that 6 go up on the board with the young fella here and I said, man --

BRETT HULL: Young fella? Thank you.

STEVE BARTKOWSKI: Comparables. We're doing comparables here.

DICK ANDERSON: You had 20 points on the first nine. 18 is not too bad through nine.

STEVE BARTKOWSKI: I didn't play any different than if it was stroke-play. Some guys, maybe they will, but me, I won't. This golf course, it's just a demanding golf course for me. I didn't play the par 5s very well. I kind of played them like I do in stroke-play. I didn't hit a good drive on them. I hit a good drive on 18. I hit wedge in there.

BRETT HULL: Same thing. I just played like a regular round. I figured that the more aggressive you get, the more chances there are for horrendous errors. And when you play your own game, you're ready to hit those shots that you hit every day when you play.

DICK ANDERSON: I think it speeds up play with the players that get in trouble. It eliminates triples and quadruples, and 8s, 9s 10s for the players that can get in real trouble. So from that standpoint, it appears that they can move ahead faster.

But I think at the end of the three days, you're going to see that there's varying scores greater than in stroke-play. It will be interesting to see for those rounds.

I think they did an analysis of the scores last year where they would be and I think the same people that won would have won under this system, as well.

PHIL WEIDINGER: It was in the Top-10, there was one place that switched and that was 6 and 7 or 7 and 8. Other than that, it was the same.