WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 24, 2003

Jonathan Kaye

JONATHAN KAYE: Thank you.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You played with Darren Clarke today and obviously he came out of the gate strong with an eagle on 2 and you made a bogey and that definitely put you at a disadvantage, but you fought back and played well all day. Let's start with some opening comments.

JONATHAN KAYE: I hit a good shot on down the first hole and I hit a perfect shot in and it wasn't quite enough, can't cover that false front and spun back down and it kind of set the tone for the day. I was all over the place on the second hole and didn't feel good over my putt and obviously made a bogey there, but then kind of got it together. I didn't have a good feel for the speed of the greens today until I finally made a birdie on the 5th hole and then a bogey on the 6th and a birdie on the 7th. It was kind of a seesaw game.

Darren just played perfect. He made one mistake that I saw all day. He kind of flubbed a chip on the 5th hole, but he was so far ahead that he had the opportunity to make a few errors.

Q. You finished second last year, losing a playoff to Chris Riley in Reno and finished second here this year. Is that a pretty good indication that your golf game is definitely moving in the right direction?

JONATHAN KAYE: Yeah, this is the time of year when I typically played my best golf, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. My game feels like it's coming around.

Q. Jonathan, could you go over the second hole? That was just a pivotal hole.

JONATHAN KAYE: I thought I hit a pretty good drive. I don't know what it hit. It was hooking pretty good, but obviously it ended up in the left rough of the 2nd hole or the left rough of the 3rd hole, and I decided to play it up and left myself a nice full sand wedge into the green and thought I hit a pretty good shot, but it just caught that ridge and spun back down on the green. Darren was sitting up there perfect. I actually left mine short and then he rolled his in and I missed the par putt.

Q. How long was the par putt?

JONATHAN KAYE: Five feet.

Q. When you're one back to start and six back after four, what do you tell yourself?

JONATHAN KAYE: Make some birdies. Just keep plugging away. Golf is a weird game. You just never know what's going to happen. Darren could have made an 8 somewhere and I could have made a 2 for all we knew. I was just trying to hang in there and hopefully get some good opportunities, and I had some good opportunities and I hit a lot of good putts but they just wouldn't fall.

Q. As difficult as the course was playing this week and as well as Darren played, how tough would it have been for anyone to catch him today?

JONATHAN KAYE: It would have been pretty tough. Did he finish 14 under or 13 under?

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 12.

JONATHAN KAYE: Well, it definitely could have been possible if he played a mistake-free round. I surely could have had the opportunity. I just didn't make the putts when I had to.

Q. What do you think about the lengthening of the 16th hole and the way the green played this week?

JONATHAN KAYE: Well, I've never played it prior to this week so it was my first time, but I thought it was a little unfair, the firmness of the green. It's a long hole and you hit driver and then you lay up. You really can't go for it in two unless you kill one down there. Today I suppose you could have if you really mashed one off the tee. But I had 83 yards to the pin and hit a lob wedge and nipped it pretty good, and it flew about 84 yards and it took one hop over the green.

It would be nice to see that green a little softer. I don't know, it kind of really cinched you up when you're hitting that approach shot. I'm sure it did for everybody because really to get it closer you almost have to hit it in the water. I wasn't going to hit in the water there today, not at that situation, having Darren well ahead of you and having a two-stroke cushion over third, so I played to play safe there and keep it left of the pin and land it pin high, but that still wasn't good enough.

Q. Jonathan, it being your first time at Firestone, did you have any expectations to be in this position today?

JONATHAN KAYE: I mean, I expect to play well when I play. I never know how it's going to turn out in the end, but I felt pretty comfortable with my game coming in here. Yeah, I expected to play well.

Q. How did you feel today coming in knowing that you were right there, once you got out there?

JONATHAN KAYE: I felt good. I hit it right down the middle of the first fairway and had an 80-yard shot to the pin and thought I hit it perfect and that kind of just set the tone for my day, and from then on it was kind of a grind because I never had the speed of the greens figured out today.

Q. Can you verbalize how important that second hole was, just the swing of you taking a bogey there?

JONATHAN KAYE: It was huge. I'm one back going into the second hole and I make bogey and he makes an eagle, all of a sudden I'm three back. Enough said. You hate to give up three shots in one hole. Obviously I would have loved a shot at going for that green and maybe retrospectively I should have taken it even though I didn't have that good of a shot.

Q. Do you do much score board watching?

JONATHAN KAYE: No, the only score board I saw was on 16 today, on the green, and then 18 obviously.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Jonathan Kaye, thank you.

JONATHAN KAYE: You're welcome.

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