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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 26, 2005

Robert Damron

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOE CHEMYCZ: 8-under par today at Tamarisk, five birdies in the first seven holes and then closing with a flourish. Talk about your round.

ROBERT DAMRON: Pretty good bookends. I didn't quite get it done in the middle of the round, but you can't complain overall at 8-under. I drove it really well and just had a lot of chances. A couple lucky putts, a couple good bounces, which you have to have to shoot 64. But I was excited I played well.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Kind of a carryover last week at the Buick where you finished T14.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah, for me to finish 14th out on the West Coast is unbelievable. I've never really played well anywhere where you can see the Pacific Ocean. I was really excited about how I played last week. Even though I didn't hit it that well on the weekend, I grinded it out and made a lot of putts. I think I put some good stuff together there.

Q. What exactly is it about the Pacific Ocean you don't like, or what is it about the West Coast? Obviously you played well in Florida.

ROBERT DAMRON: In the past, yeah. You know, I don't know. I think it's pretty typical for an East Coast guy not to play very well out here and vice versa. You know, it just kind of seems to work that way a lot of times. I think it's the grass on the greens maybe, or maybe just being a little homesick. I don't know. If you are swinging well and stroking it well and playing patient, it doesn't matter where I am or what kind of course I'm on, I should be able to do all right, and I did that last week.

Q. You had a fast start today and you finished fast, and the ball-striking today out there was pretty solid tee to green.

ROBERT DAMRON: Driver, very solid. My irons, I had to do a little bit of work. I missed a couple middle long iron kind of shots, but the putter bailed me out pretty well. I just kept hitting fairways. I think I missed one fairway. If you keep hitting the fairway, it's not that tough to give yourself birdie chances.

Q. Did you feel you left a couple shots out there today?

ROBERT DAMRON: Well, I think so. But I stole a couple, also. I had a few shots that -- a couple mistakes I didn't have to make, bad shots, maybe trying to get a little too much out of it and didn't leave myself the birdie putt or the par putt I wanted. But I can't complain about today's round.

Q. You said fast start, pretty good finish. What happened in the middle?

ROBERT DAMRON: You know, I don't know. You can't birdie all of them, I guess. No one has done it yet. We had two groups on 10, so I had to wait there a while, and then I stepped up and missed the fairway right, and it was the only fairway I missed all day.

You know, I made bogey from the right trees there, and I think after that -- after that bogey, it's so much nicer being at 5-under than 4-under. So after that bogey, I think I was like, okay, let's hurry up and get it back, and there was a par 5 coming up and I didn't birdie that. I reminded myself to stay patient. It's a very long week. Things happen.

Q. Is it hard to do that in a tournament like this where traditionally you've got to go low almost every day?

ROBERT DAMRON: No, I really don't think so. I think that playing with amateurs kind of keeps me loose and keeps my mind off it. You know, I had great guys today and we had fun. You know, I'm just kind of cheering for them and doing my thing, and I wasn't too worried about it.

Q. Robert, just talk about the tournament and the way it's structured. Do you like the four-day Pro-Am or would you like to see it cut back, or is it easier or more difficult?

ROBERT DAMRON: I think it's great. It's been this way for a long time. I mean, we certainly shouldn't try to fix it if it's not broken. We have a great field. Luckily we missed the weather today. I think it's a great format. I can understand how some guys might not like it, but we play so many tournaments 72 holes, threesomes on Thursday and Friday and twosomes on Saturday and Sunday, that I like tournaments like this. It breaks the monotony a little bit.

Q. Did you ever think of putting your watch three hours ahead to pretend you were on the East Coast?

ROBERT DAMRON: No, but now I will.

Q. Robert, even though I think you've played in this tournament nine times now, it doesn't mean you've played Tamarisk that much.

ROBERT DAMRON: I played it once before today.

Q. Is it very difficult to go over there? Obviously you've played PGA West and Bermuda and LaQuinta, the other ones. Is it hard to get ahold of that golf course having played it so little?

ROBERT DAMRON: Obviously not too bad. Yeah, well, the course is in such good shape and there's no real blind shots, so if you're hitting the ball straight, the greens are so pure that it's not that big a deal to go to that course not seeing it, I don't think.

You know, this week's start on Wednesday, you've got four courses, so I don't try to run around and play practice rounds at each course. I just think it's kind of a waste of time on Monday and Tuesday. You can't play 36 holes on both Monday and Tuesday. I just try to keep it loose. I know the courses are all in great shape, and I try not to get ahead of myself too much, just stay patient. If there are some holes that confuse me a little bit, so be it. I don't think that's anything new.

Q. This is your third time firing a 64 in the Hope. Where was that last year and in 2000?

ROBERT DAMRON: You know -- did I do it last year? 2000, I know I started with 64 at PGA. Last year I couldn't tell you. You surprise me that you know that.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Robert, before we let you go, if you don't mind going through your birdies for us.

ROBERT DAMRON: The course is kind of fuzzy in my mind because I haven't seen it much. But I birdied 1, a pretty short putt, front left bunker in my second shot and almost made that.

3, I hit 5-iron in to about five feet and straight up the hill. I was lucky in the sense that I left myself a lot of straight putts uphill. Good fortune that it worked out there.

I knocked it on the next hole in two, about 30 feet, two-putted.

The next hole, a long par 4, hit 3-iron to about four feet. I pushed it on the side of the green on the right and it kicked straight to the hole. Again, a little bit of good luck on my side.

7, short hole, 2-iron off the tee and a wedge about five feet behind the hole.

Q. So you bogeyed 10?

ROBERT DAMRON: I bogeyed 10 after waiting on a tee. I hit it in the wrong spot.

Second shot, I could have played it more to the middle of the green. I had a shot just to make my par, but I tried to hit a cut 5-iron and I overcut it and it went in the bunker and it was a bad spot.

Then 15, I drove it down the middle. I had a really good number, like 151 to carry the bunker, and 56 to the hole. A good solid 8-iron for me. So I just hit a great shot about three feet behind the hole.

Next hole I was eight feet behind the hole. I hit a lot of good short iron shots today. I was in the middle of the fairway a lot, so that helped.

Then the last hole, I hit just a little -- I thought it was no big deal, and I got up there and I had kind of a bad lie and not as much green to work with as I thought I was going to have, and I had to land it -- I couldn't go underneath it the way I wanted to, and I had to land it in the rough short of the pin. It kicked right and it was rolling pretty hard and it hit the pin in the middle and fell right in. I did have some good luck today. That ball would have probably gone ten feet by, but I just wrote 3 on my card and went about my business.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Robert, we appreciate your time. We play the rest of the week.

ROBERT DAMRON: Thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts.

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