BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 21, 2004

Skip Kendall

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Skip Kendall to the press room today after a 9-under 63.

Skip, it looked like the key to today was 5-under on the par 5s. You played them very well.

SKIP KENDALL: Yeah, I guess I did. You know, starting out today, I didn't know what to expect. It was blowing pretty hard. It was kind of raining sideways on the first tee this morning, and I was the first group out. I got off to a good start, made a solid par on the first hole and second hole, hit it in the green-side bunker, second shot and made a nice up-and-down where it was a tough, difficult pin to get at.

You know, just felt good after that. All of a sudden my putter took over the next few holes and started making some nice putts and it's always nice to see the ball rolling in like that.

TODD BUDNICK: You missed the cut at the Sony, but it didn't seem like you played poorly there, either.

SKIP KENDALL: Not too bad. Took a lot of time off in the off-season. Really, the first week out, just didn't get it done, but here I am. Working on some things. My teacher was out yesterday and just a little tweaking here and there and lo and behold.

Q. What are some of the things you worked on?

SKIP KENDALL: It was really just in my setup. I was just getting a little crouched, I guess, my arms, just tried to let my arms hang freer and just kind of seemed to free things up for me, even in the rest of my golf swing. It just really helped. That's really all it was. Nothing more than that.

We worked a lot the last couple of weeks right before I went out last week to Hawaii, took care of all that stuff. Maybe in the wind, before the tournament started last week, I got a little crouched and tried to hit some shots a little lower and a little bit of a bad habit there. He noticed it right away. I started feeling better yesterday.

Q. Given that you did all of that work in the off-season, and this is such an early tournament this year, and you have to make birdies here or you're not going to be anything, is that a tough way to start the season, to come out here and feel like you've got to shoot 63, 64, 65?

SKIP KENDALL: I look at it a little differently, too. I've had some success playing here, but you know what you have to do. If you have any chance to win, you know you've got to go 25, 30-under par. But I also look at it being so early in the year, I get four rounds in. I get to play four rounds, so I look at it like that, as well. I have had some success here. I feel like my short irons is part of the strength of my game. Certainly, putting. So getting the ball in the fairway and doing that stuff, I feel like I have, at least put myself with having good opportunities to make birdies and hopefully play well there.

Q. You mentioned your teacher was here today. Does that keep you more focused when he's certain? And who is he? Does that keep you more focused because you see his face in your head?

SKIP KENDALL: Oh, not during the tournament. He was here yesterday. We worked yesterday.

Yeah, I think it really helped with him coming yesterday. There was no question. It was something that it affected the rest of my golf swing, something so simple like that, for him to notice yesterday, it was a big key. His name is Brian Mogg. He lives in Orlando. He teaches in Orlando. He teaches also John Cook and David Morland. So we all played yesterday in front of Brian. Worked out good.

Q. You've had some good finishes on the Money List but you haven't had that first win yet. At what point does that start creeping into your head?

SKIP KENDALL: Well, I think it always creeps into your head. Really, I've always been more concerned with my performance. I'm not going to get hung up on winning. I feel like I have enough game out here to win. But I'm not going to get hung up on it. I think it's going to happen in due time. I'm just going to go out and do the best I can and I know that I can compete out here. I know that I've already proved it. So, you know, that's just a matter of time and I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm just going to go out and do my best. If I can perform at that level, then hopefully Sunday I'll have a chance.

Q. Having said that, what do you think has kept you back? What do you think, has there been any one factor you think has not been there to put you over the top as far as winning?

SKIP KENDALL: You know, probably not getting there enough. I think that I've only had over the last, I don't know, maybe two or three years, I've probably only had two or three Top 10's a year.

I just need to get there more often. I think to feel comfortable in that situation, I've gotten there other times. I think maybe in the late 90s and lost in a couple of playoffs, but I really thought that I was going to get there more often. You know, that's what I'm really trying to focus on, having Top-10s and trying to get there on Sunday and have a chance in the last nine holes. I think the more I do that, something that I haven't done recently, enough anyway, that, you know, one of these times it's going to go my way and I'm going to pull one off and then hopefully won't.

Q. Like Peter said, you've obviously had good years out here. Is there either consciously or subconsciously a comfort level that you reach because you're playing well and you're going to get there, is there just intangibles?

SKIP KENDALL: I think when you're playing well, nothing really stops you. When you're playing well, it's easy. So it's really, I don't know, coming down the stretch on Sundays, sure, there's pressure, you feel it and that's when it's fun. You get the adrenaline flowing. That's when it's fun. So I like getting there. It's just I haven't done it enough. So hopefully it will be a different year.

Q. Is there a near-miss that stands out for you, a second place where you came the closest?

SKIP KENDALL: I've had three second place finishes, two losses in playoffs. I think if you were to look at the playoffs, I feel like I should have won both, really. It's one of those things where the guys I was in the playoffs with hit some great shots at the right times, right in the playoff. One was a 50-footer ten-foot breaker from off the green that he made the putt. I'm ten feet from the hole. So both playoffs, it looked like I was in control and ended up losing both of them.

Q. Which one was the 50-foot?

SKIP KENDALL: I lost in San Diego and then the Southern Farm to Steve Lowery.

Q. Can you tell us about the slicing your finger off last year? What were the circumstances? Did you think you were going to lose it at some point? It sounds like some quick action helped it?

SKIP KENDALL: First of all, it's completely healed. It's fine. Back to my regular grip, as I was at the end of last year.

I never really thought that I would lose the finger. I didn't cut it completely off. Just took a big part of it out. It was -- at the time it wasn't -- I knew it wasn't really career-ending. But it put me out for a while. Then I had to change grips when I came back. I couldn't put any pressure on it.

You know, it's nothing you want to go through, that's for sure, but it was just something that happened. It was a fluke thing. Got a bunch of bagel slicers from it. (Laughter.) It will never happen again.

Q. Was your first thought, when you first did it, did you think, "Oh, my God?"

SKIP KENDALL: Of course. The first thing, one of my favorite tournaments is Memorial, and I'm at the Memorial and I love playing there. You know, I'm thinking, well, there goes that tournament and I had U.S. Open qualifying after that and there goes that. So all of this is kind of rushing before my eyes. You know, I knew it wasn't probably career, it wasn't going to jeopardize my career but I knew I was going to be out for a little bit.

You know, it wasn't a good feeling but it wasn't too bad. If I would have cut it completely off, which could easily have happened, then I would have been real worried.

Q. How close did it come to cutting it completely off?

SKIP KENDALL: It got almost all the way to the bone but not -- it was kind of a not straight through. Just picked it up and they sewed it back on.

Sorry if anyone had lunch. (Laughter.)

Q. Have you seen any difference in the four golf courses here, anymore? It seems like people shoot 63 and 62 on every course out here now.

SKIP KENDALL: You know, nothing changes here ever, which is nice in a way. You don't have to come back to -- generally, we come back here and there's not four or five back pads, 30 or 40 yards from where we were already hitting from. Generally they stay the same. You know what to expect. You know that you have to go low and it's just the mind thought of it.

Q. Do you look at your rotation and see that you play Indian Wells Thursday, that's the day I have to go low anymore, or do you just think every day you have to go low?

SKIP KENDALL: Every day you have to go low. You can't try to make it up on one of the courses because there's the chance that you can go low on any course. But you really have to keep plugging away and stay aggressive and you can't get laksedazical at any time because you've got to keep plugging.

Q. Have you added anything new to the bag or changed equipment at all?

SKIP KENDALL: Yeah, this year -- it will, actually this week I did. I put in two fairway woods from Cleveland that have been really nice. I'm with Cleveland but put two of those in new. Added a Scotty Cameron putter, a brand new mallet. I've always putted with the Caliente. Today was the first day, I loved it, made a lot of putts out there today. It really felt good. Something similar to what I was using, anyway.

Then I had to change my wedges from Cleveland. I had worn the other ones out, so a couple of new wedges. Same ones, though.

Q. Have you tested your driver yet?

SKIP KENDALL: Have I had it tested? No, I haven't. I don't even know where to go do that. But I don't think anybody's real worried about me. I probably should get my driver tested. I don't even know where it is. I haven't even seen anything.

Right over there? Okay.

Q. A lot of guys are thinking, why should I get my driver tested, I'm not a big hitter. Where do you think this thing is going? What is the point, I guess?

SKIP KENDALL: I don't think there's any reason not to. I've got to say, there's nobody out here -- I'm going to say, I don't think there's anybody out here knowingly using a driver that is illegal. Given that, if someone is averaging 30 yards more than what they were the year before, someone is going to say, hey, maybe we should get that tested."

I don't think that's going to happen. For the most part, the manufacturers now are pretty good. They are going to put stuff out that's not illegal, anyway. They don't want that to happen.

Q. So why do you think they felt compelled to even do this test? Obviously some guys complain?

SKIP KENDALL: I don't know. I'm not sure what the thought was there. Certainly you don't want guys out there hitting it -- the thing is with hitting an illegal driver, especially for the longer hitters, it will be much tougher to control hitting 30 yards further than they are already hitting anyway. They will hit it in the rough probably. It's just much harder to control. I don't think it would be a huge advantage. Maybe for someone like me, who, you know, is maybe middle of the pack and all of a sudden I'm gaining 20 yards. That might be different, and hit it just as straight.

You know, I think -- I still think today that certainly technology certainly plays a part in it. Guys are just getting bigger and stronger. Everyone is working out now and just getting stronger. I really feel like that's -- everyone seems to forget about that. Everyone is working out now. When I got on TOUR, over ten years ago, very few guys did. And now everyone is, including myself. I feel like I've gotten stronger. It may not look like it, but I've gotten stronger, at least in the right areas, and I'm hitting further, I feel like, because of that.

I've used the same driver now for, you know, since maybe September of 2002. You know, I just feel like, iron-wise, I'm probably almost half a club longer because of that, too, and they are the same irons.

Q. If somebody handed you an illegal driver to use, would you be able to tell the difference, do you think, in sound, feel, anything other than the distance you got out of it? Would you be able to tell -- perceive the difference?

SKIP KENDALL: I'm not really sure. That's a good question. I don't know if I've ever hit one. I don't think I have. I've used the same driver now for a long time.

I really haven't even tried another driver, so I couldn't tell you. I mean, I haven't hit one, so I really wouldn't know.

I would just think you would be able to tell a little bit by ball flight. Obviously it would stay in the air a little longer and it might be a little flatter. You could tell it had less spin on it and it would stay in the air longer.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your birdies and the eagle. What did you hit into that green-side bunker on 2?

SKIP KENDALL: A 3-wood into the green-side bunker, wedged it out about five feet. ShotLink might be able to tell us this, actually. Some of these putts were pretty long.

4, that was 7-iron, probably I'm guessing 25 feet short of the hole, a long one there.

I hit 4-iron on the par-3, 5, probably another 25 feet.

Then 6, I hit 3-wood, probably about 30 feet short of the hole on the green. Made the putt.

8, just hit a little lob-wedge in there about ten feet.

11, I hit a 3-wood left side of the green, 2-putted.

15, par 3, 9-iron, about, I don't know, 5 or 6 of feet.

18, I hit 5-wood just over the back of the green and chipped up probably to about three feet or so.

End of FastScripts.