Q. Can you describe the shot on the playoff hole? And what kind of lie did you have off the green there?
SKIP KENDALL: Well, I just tried to take my 5-wood right at the hole. I knew it was perfect distance for me. It was like 244. It was about a 215 carry over the left side.
You know, just got a little aggressive, I guess, but I had to. I pulled it just a hair. The lie was kind of so-so. So the problem was, I kind of had to pitch it into the bank and up and over and then it goes down again. So I liked my position better the previous time that I played the hole. It was a little easier shot, kind of where Phil was in the playoff than where I was.
The ball, I hit it pretty good, it just didn't come out as fast as I thought it would because the lie was sitting down a little bit. Of course it took the hill and went to the right and didn't make it up the hill -- well, got on top but went to the right.
Q. When you had the lead earlier, we heard about the situation where you cut your finger. How long has that been healed and how long have you been 100% rehabed from that?
SKIP KENDALL: Finger is fine. I probably went back -- that happened toward the end of last May. I played with a different grip for about three months. So by September, I was back to my normal grip and back on track. So it's 100%.
Q. We were talking about how tough this one is to take, and you've been in a couple of playoffs before with a couple of close finishes, how is it different from the others just emotionally?
SKIP KENDALL: It hurts. You know, I don't know what to say. I think that I'm getting older, too, and I feel like I'm still progressing as a player, though. I feel like my best golf is still yet to be played. People sometimes ask me, well, what's been your highlight in golf? I say, "Stay tuned." Because I think it's going to happen. I know it's going to happen. I know that I have the game to win out here. Just got to get over the hump somehow. And it was an almost today.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Skip, can we go through your birdies and your eagle?
SKIP KENDALL: No. 2, I hit a 5-wood just over the green and had a decent lie. It just caught the chip really good and it trickled right at the hole, looked like a putt going at it, and it went in for an eagle.
6, I hit it just short of the green in two. I didn't hit a very good third shot but made about a 15-footer from the fringe.
8, I hit lob-wedge probably about four or five feet.
11, hit my second shot way right of the green. I was fortunate to get a drop off the cart path over there and catch a good lie. I hit a pretty good pitch shot to about ten feet and made a nice putt there.
15, I hit 9-iron just left of the hole just a little short and probably made about a 15, 18-footer there.
16, sand wedge, real close.
Then 18, I hit 5-wood just right of the green. Chipped up close.
Q. In the time that you had to wait between the time you finished and Phil finished, did you think at all about the other two playoffs that you had lost and kind of thinking that you were going to get it this time, any thoughts like that?
SKIP KENDALL: Not really. I was just trying to -- I knew the playoff hole was going to be 18. I was just trying to stay in the moment. I wasn't trying to look back, look forward, what if, kind of thing. I was just trying to stay in the moment, keep my rhythm and just roll some putts. I wasn't really trying to think about anything else too much.
Q. When you got to that lie on 17 and it was obviously way above your feet, probably at your waist, did you think that you had a chance to make par? What would your percentage of par have been at that point before you hit it?
SKIP KENDALL: I was just trying to get it, really, anywhere on the green.
First thought was visions of hitting it right in the canal because it could have come out any direction, anyway. I didn't want to leave it short of the green because that was pretty deep rough there. I knew I just had to somehow flip it up and get it on the fringe or just on the green and let it trickle down there. It really came out well. It's just so fast going down the hill, I couldn't stop it. It was about the best shot I could have hit. I hit a good putt there, too. Just caught the right side of the hole.
Q. How tough is playing that hole, because it's bitten some other people, too, Tim Herron notably recently. How tough is that hole given the circumstance, the situation, what that hole is like, obviously very narrow?
SKIP KENDALL: 17?
Q. Yeah, what is it like trying to win a championship and play that hole, particularly?
SKIP KENDALL: It's not a really difficult shot. I'm standing there with wedge in my hand. Under the circumstances, I really feel like I should have hit a better shot. I mean, it was a poor shot. It's one thing if you would be standing there with 3-iron in your hand, but I only have a wedge in my hand. So it's anywhere just right of the hole and let the ball funnel to the pin or to the hole.
It was right there, right there in front of me.
Q. How long was the putt there?
SKIP KENDALL: It wasn't that far. It was probably only about 12 feet or so. Had a real good line on it, just up the hill, a little left-to-right break. Hit a good putt. Just didn't go in.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Skip, for joining us.
End of FastScripts.
