BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

February 1, 2003

David Gossett

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thanks for joining us. Nice fourth round, 66, puts you at 24-under par for the event. Just talk about how the day went, as well as some comments about your position going into the final round.

DAVID GOSSETT: The day went well. I was first off at La Quinta Country Club, No. 10. I hit a 9-iron to about two feet. Started off my day well.

Made a couple of birdies. Shot 4-under on the first nine, which was the back nine, and then birdied 1.

I had a bogey on 2 and just kind of hung on from there and was able to birdie both the par 5s, but just missed some putts coming in the last three.

All in all, I'm playing well, Joel. Yesterday's round, 10-under par, that was pretty exciting. I had no bogeys on the card. Really, I played well.

I just putted really, really good. It was nice to be in the hunt here, 24-under par.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: What are your expectations at an event like this where anything between 30- and 35-under par might win the tournament?

DAVID GOSSETT: Obviously, my expectations are to go out and to make a lot of birdies. Going into it, I was thinking 33, 34 is going to win this event. So I'm thinking obviously the conditions are ideal for scoring. The weather is perfect. It's like playing inside.

I just try to go out there every day and hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green, and make every putt I'm looking at.

Yesterday it was kind of cool. Sometimes it's a challenge because you kind of press because you know you need to make some birdies. But yesterday I was just freed up. It's a laid back experience here because the amateurs are kind of slow. We played in five hours and 20 minutes today. It was kind of slow.

It was nice to make ten birdies today. To come back with 66 at La Quinta is a solid round.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Only five bogeys in 72 holes thus far.

DAVID GOSSETT: I'm pleased for me; that's an improvement. I make a lot of bogeys. So to cut down on the bogeys and be at 24-under I think is the lowest I've ever been on the PGA TOUR.

Q. How does it feel to be 24-under, tied for second place, and you might be six strokes back tomorrow?

DAVID GOSSETT: Well, it just shows the golf courses. They have a lot of amateurs here, so the pin placements the first few days are not as challenging as they normally would be on the PGA TOUR.

La Quinta today, I thought, had some good pin placements. But bermuda Dunes, Indian Wells -- Indian Wells yesterday, I had 12 or 13 holes where I had 9-iron or less. There's plenty of birdie opportunities, and obviously you see that in the scores.

Everybody is tearing it up. Par feels like 4- or 5-under par. I'm not blown away by that at all. It's nothing new here at the Bob Hope.

Q. You don't find it daunting to play so well and still have so much to do?

DAVID GOSSETT: Not at all. I don't find it discouraging whatsoever. Because again, par is several under each day, and you know you're going to have so many birdie opportunities. I have not played the par 5s all that well this week, I don't think. I made several birdies today, but I missed my chances. I had a couple of poor drives and have not been able to capitalize on the par 5s that I can easily reach in two.

Just little things like that that I know in my game I can improve upon. I'm pleased that I am in position. 10-under yesterday was encouraging, and today, to back it up with 6-under 66 after a 62 is pretty solid, in my opinion.

Q. What do you remember about the 59 you shot across the street?

DAVID GOSSETT: I remember it pretty clearly. I was 21 years old and birdied the last four holes to do it. Made a little 8-foot curler to shoot 59. I remember having a hole-in-one on No. 3, which was my 12th hole. I just remember being on and continuing to find the temptation of getting ahead of myself and realizing how well I was doing.

We had to wait on last couple of holes because the group in front of us was a little slow. It was just a twosome. Tom Fehr had to withdraw. And the guy from Utah, he kept telling me the last couple of holes, "You're tearing it up."

On the last tee, he was saying, "I guess that makes us 13-under for the two of us." So I knew I had to birdie the last hole to shoot 59. In Q School, my focus was get every birdie I can get. That helped me to go ahead and birdie the last hole. It was exciting, just right across the street, so it's good memories.

Q. Do you have any thoughts of doing that again?

DAVID GOSSETT: It's certainly not out of reach. Already having it under my belt, that shows that I can do it.

I do think about it. The other day, yesterday, I shot 62 and I parred two par 5s. I missed a 5-footer, an 8-footer, a 7-footer. It's possible. And I missed an 11-footer on last the hole. I just played a little too much break for eagle.

Q. Are those thoughts a little stronger at a tournament like this where you know everybody is going to be shooting 64 anyway?

DAVID GOSSETT: Well, you never know. You're certainly not if you think you won't. That's the great thing about 59. It's just the comfort zone. It's a barrier. To shoot 59, 13-under in one day, you have to be on all cylinders. Everything has to go right. You have to get good bounces and to make the eight-footers.

Golf is a game of inches and to actually have it go your way, some days you fill it up and it goes in and other days you make good putts or you just misread them and they don't go in.

Long story short, I think we'll see more 50s in the future, unless these courses get more like Bethpage.

Q. How confident are you at the beginning of this year that this is going to be maybe a year where you go out and win, two, three, four times?

DAVID GOSSETT: Well, shooting 62, backing it up with a 66 certainly helps me in that thinking.

I've been working on my golf game for a while. I'm getting more confident out here on the PGA TOUR and realizing that I don't have to play perfect golf to do well.

That's really some effort or some forcing the issue for me.

I do feel like this is going to be a good year, and I'm just going to take it one opportunity at a time and just try to pace myself.

Q. When you go out tomorrow, how do you keep yourself from getting ahead of yourself and trying to do too much too quick? Knowing you might be five, six strokes behind and you need to shoot low tomorrow, how do you stay patient?

DAVID GOSSETT: Great question. It's a challenge and a little battle that I will have all day long. The temptation is to get ahead and to take a look at the scoreboard. You're four back, you're six back, you're two back, I'm one ahead, whatever the situation may be, to not get distracted by that.

I know that I have to go out and play a great round of golf to do well. The forecast calls for some high winds possibly, so it may be a slightly different ballgame than it has been the first four days.

How I'm going to try to do it is get myself so into my world that I won't get blown away by all the peripheral stuff and the stuff going on around me and making it a bigger deal than it really is. It's a challenge, it really is.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go over your card.

DAVID GOSSETT: I hit 3-wood, 9-iron on 10 to two feet, made birdie.

13, I had a great drive. 2-iron on the green to 50 feet and 2-putted.

The next birdie on the par 3, No. 15, I hit a great 4-iron, 212 yards to nine feet and made it, right in the middle.

The next birdie was on No. 1. I hit a horrible drive left. Got a break through the trees and hit a wedge over a tree to about six feet and made that.

Bogeyed No. 2.

Birdied No. 5. I hit a drive left of the bunker, dropped it out, down to about 112 yards with a good wedge shot to about ten feet and made that.

Next hole, par 5, I hit driver down the fairway, 3-wood in the green-side bunker and got up-and-down. Hit it out to about five feet, six feet and made that.

Three pars coming in.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thanks a lot.

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