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MERRILL LYNCH SHOOTOUT

November 10, 2006

John Daly

J.B. Holmes

NAPLES, FLORIDA, First Round

PHIL STAMBAUGH: John, J.B., 34 on the front, 29 on the back with five birdies and an eagle on one stretch, and you're tied for the lead after the first round. A couple thoughts from each of you on how you played together as a team.

JOHN DALY: We played good as a team. We really hit it good on the front. We were kind of unfortunate on 9 to make this bogey; we had a chance to make par. Bit J.B. hit it perfect. We both hit the fairways on the front and he just knocked it by me and I just didn't hit good enough wedges in there. I hit a beautiful 5 iron into 1 for us and we just couldn't make any putts on the front. Then he had a beautiful shot on 12 and made the putt and we kind of got some confidence from there.

J.B. HOLMES: Just like you said, I thought we hit it pretty good all day. I mean, he was hitting it 15 feet, he was hitting it pretty close, and I was hitting some putts and they were running over the edge, they just weren't going in. Got a little bit going on 12. It helps, we had, what, five eagle putts today, so that always helps a little bit.

Played solid. Other than the one little hiccup on 9, we hit the ball well all day, and pretty much had a tap in par if we didn't make birdie, so we played solid.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Can you run through that six hole stretch and the clubs and who hit them and the length of the putts, starting at the 12th hole?

JOHN DALY: We both hit 7 iron, and I made J.B.'s putt from about 12 feet.

J.B. HOLMES: We both hit it about 12 feet and mine just didn't break quite as much. John rolled it in.

Then we both hit good drives on 13. John's got to the back of the green, mine was just a hair short. Hit a pretty good putt, it just didn't break down as much as we thought it would and made a two footer for birdie.

JOHN DALY: Then 14 J.B. killed a drive and I hit 5 iron from 225 to about 20 feet and J.B. made the putt.

J.B. HOLMES: 15, we both hit we thought we hit decent drives but it went through in the bunker. Mine was just in the pine straw and we thought that would be an easier shot. John nearly holed it. He hit a phenomenal shot up there to about a foot, not much work left there, just tapped it in.

16, I hit a 6 iron to 12 feet. John hit a great putt right in the center of the cup.

And then he killed one off of 17 right down the middle and I had a 6 iron to about 20 feet, and I thought John made that putt. He hit a perfect putt and it rolled just right over the edge.

JOHN DALY: 18, I hit a good drive and J.B. hit a good 9 iron below the hole and I just misread a putt from about 15 feet. I left him with not a very

J.B. HOLMES: A little tickler coming back.

JOHN DALY: It was a little tickler.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Maybe a comment from you about this format. It's different every day.

JOHN DALY: Well, it's a great format. I mean, for us, if one of us hits a decent drive, it's going to be out there far enough. Like you said, we had five eagle putts today so this is a great format for me and J.B. Tomorrow, the best ball, the way we're both kind of hitting it, we just hopefully make some putts. And then scramble

J.B. HOLMES: Scramble, we could go real deep in scramble. We were similar off the tee today. We get one of us hitting the fairway and the other one can just take a rip at it. Just like today, just taking our putts, if we would have had two shots at our putts we would have shot probably 14 under I would think. We had some chances at a few putts we just barely misread and if we had one more shot at it we had a good chance of making it.

I think the scramble is going to be really good for us. I think this is the more difficult format of all the three, but I thought it would be this is the one I thought if we could just hang in there and play well, we could definitely excel in the other formats, and we played great today.

Q. To both of you, did you guys ever get to a point out there today where one would drive and the other one you're thinking, okay, let me see if I can get it past him?

JOHN DALY: I mean, I hit first because J.B. is a little longer than I am. Starting out on 1 I hit a good drive, just to the right. But the front nine we both hit the fairways.

J.B. HOLMES: We hit every fairway except 9. We both missed the fairway on 9.

JOHN DALY: We both hit the drives pretty good today. A couple on the back nine, I was hitting it really solid, and I told him, just let it go, try and get an extra 20 out of it, because he can.

Q. For years you dominated the driving distances and stuff like that. When you came on the scene at the PGA at Crooked Stick, everybody was did you ever think there would be a day where somebody would come along and put you in the rear view mirror?

JOHN DALY: Oh, no doubt. The way the game is going, the technology, we're getting younger guys on Tour now that are coming out of college. I was fortunate enough it took an average of three to four, maybe six years when I went to school at college, that's how long it was taking guys to get on Tour. Guys are coming out of college, getting their card J.B. won the Q school in 2005, comes out and he wins his first tournament, which is awesome.

The talent level, there's a lot more of it, and the technology of the game is getting guys to where they can really just hit it a long, long way.

But the talent is what it is. There's so much more than what it was when I came up. I think Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson and all those guys would probably say the same thing.

Q. Any idea what your longest drives you hit today were?

JOHN DALY: Yours was probably 14, mine was probably 13. 13 was 370.

J.B. HOLMES: You were hitting it around 370, and I hit mine on I think mine was on 365, 370 on 14, just around the edge there.

Q. What holes did you have eagle putts on?

J.B. HOLMES: All the par 5s and

JOHN DALY: 13.

Q. I saw you give a fist pump after rolling one in

J.B. HOLMES: The eagle, man.

Q. Would winning this mean a lot to you? And then also, for you, John, the season you've had, same thing.

J.B. HOLMES: It's a tournament, definitely. We're competitors. Every time you go play anything, whether it's a scramble at your home course or whatever, you go somewhere to win. This is a fun event and for charity and you have a fun time with it, too, but your goal is to win.

JOHN DALY: What's nice for me and J.B., too, is we're both the same on irons, which helps an awful lot when you've got a partner that we both basically hit the same irons on the par 3s, which is so much easier to feed off of than a guy who's two or three clubs either longer or shorter than you are.

I like our team. I've had a chance to play with J.B. this year and he's an awesome talent, and we've become pretty good friends. But it's great to hit the same irons off the par 3s and club each other pretty easily.

J.B. HOLMES: He's right on. If I hit one a little bit thin or he hit one the first par 3 today he hit a 4 iron, took a little off, just dead flushed it. He said it's a little too much. I took a little bit off mine and unfortunately pulled it, but it was the perfect distance. We were pretty much right on on irons and we can tell pretty quickly what we need to hit.

Q. You'll be playing with Justin and Scott tomorrow, who aren't exactly the longest guys out there. Do you ever get to feeling sorry for the other guy?

JOHN DALY: No, because those two boys, they make more putts than anybody I've ever seen besides Tiger Woods. Both of those guys are such straight hitters, they're both great players, and they can both putt. Both of them can roll that putter.

Q. Where do you guys stand on the topic of performance enhancing drug testing on PGA TOUR?

JOHN DALY: If they want to do it, it's fine with me. As long as there's alcohol not involved.

J.B. HOLMES: It's fine with me.

JOHN DALY: Don't test us for alcohol, please (laughter).

Q. J.B., is there any reservation about do you get nervous being the anchor man for John Daly? Are you like, wait a second, this is John Daly, he's supposed to be hitting second?

J.B. HOLMES: Oh, no, John is a phenomenal talent, just unbelievable hands and short game and everything. He's just a great player, and obviously his record shows that. This guy is so clutch, he just I feel like he hits it in the fairway the pressure is on him, he's got it hit it out there right off the bat. All I've got to do is swing hard. He's already got it in the fairway. We played well together and it was a lot of fun.

Q. What was the last time you were the accuracy guy?

JOHN DALY: I think it might be the first time (laughter). It might be the first time ever, which is kind of cool. I played with Fuzzy a lot of times, and it does, it puts a little more pressure on the first guy because you want to get it out there, especially in the alternate shot. I felt good the way I was hitting the driver.

And if I can get one out there a little ways, and J.B., if he rips one, he's going to be 20, 25 past me. It's a pretty good game plan.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Thanks to you both. Good luck.

End of FastScripts.

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