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100TH WESTERN OPEN


July 4, 2003


Cliff Kresge


LEMONT, ILLINOIS

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Cliff, for joining us for a few minutes. Another great round today. Stayed in contention, and great back nine, what was your front nine, and great position going into the weekend. Can you make a couple comments on today and maybe the whole weekend a little bit?

CLIFF KRESGE: I had a good ball-striking day. When we started on my front nine, which was the back nine, it was a little breezy. As you know the back nine is tougher than the front nine.

I hit it close on 10, made birdie.

And then on 11 I hit what I thought was a perfect sand wedge. It just carried a yard or two too long in the back bunker and I had no chance and I made bogey there, but after that I hit a lot of greens and fairways and was just making a lot of pars and then I started making birdies on my backside.

I made a great save for par on No. 4 which was pretty key because I wasn't getting much out of my round and I made a 10-footer for par and then turned around and made a 12-footer for birdie on the next hole.

I hit it four feet on 7, eight feet on 8, and then 9 I got up-and-down from the bunker.

Q. Yesterday you also said you had a good par from under the tree to start your round. Is that common to have?

CLIFF KRESGE: Yesterday it was much earlier in the round. Today -- it's a momentum keeper for sure. I was making a bunch of pars. I was playing good but I just wasn't scoring that great, and then, you know, I hit a bad drive on that hole and I had a tough lie in the rough and I actually made a smart play to not try and get it on the green. I kept it short of the green where I avoided -- No. 4 the pin was on the back up on top of that ridge and that would have been an extremely difficult long bunker shot so I told my caddie I'm going to hit just short of the bunkers, it'll be a much easier chip shot because more than likely I wasn't going to get it over the bunkers, so I went ahead and hit it short of the bunkers and chipped it to ten feet and made the putt, so that was a nice momentum keeper.

Q. How do you feel when you look up at the score board and you see Tiger? Is that kind of a daunting thing?

CLIFF KRESGE: It's a new thing for me because I haven't had to do it yet. I was talking to Mike and I said it's only a matter of time before it happens. I hope I get to play with him tomorrow. I think it would be a great experience for me.

Q. Have you played with him before?

CLIFF KRESGE: No, I haven't, no.

Q. How would you view that experience? What would make it a good experience for you?

CLIFF KRESGE: Any time you get to play with the No. 1 player in the world you might learn something. I want to see where I stand in relation to him. Hopefully if I can just not worry about what he's doing and not worry about what else is going on and just play my own game, I'll get a good idea where I stand in relation to the No. 1 player.

Q. Is that an intimidating vibe, though, to have to play with him?

CLIFF KRESGE: I guess it depends how you deal with him. Hopefully it won't be because I like to play my own game and not worry about him, but it might be a little easier said than done. That's what I'm going to try to do.

Q. Didn't you say a minute ago you were telling someone it was a matter of time before this happened?

CLIFF KRESGE: I've been playing pretty good for a little while and we almost got him in San Diego. I almost got him in the Open. I said Mike, we're playing pretty good. That's my caddie. It's only a matter of time before we're going to get him. You're going to play with everybody before long, and I know a lot of guys that have played with him and had to deal with the experience and the crowd and all that, and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. What have those guys told you about it, good or bad?

CLIFF KRESGE: I've heard from -- Chris DiMarco I know pretty well. We played junior golf together in Orlando growing up, so I was talking to him about the Masters when he played with him in the third round, and he said there's not many guys out here that can hit it too much further than me, but Tiger can hit it 30 or 40 yards further and it's, like, wow, where did that come from. He has that extra gear that most people don't have. He's just got the all-around game, chipping, putting, everything. I guess we'll see.

Q. What about as far as that external distraction?

CLIFF KRESGE: As a matter of fact he made a comment that said if this is what it's like every day, you can have it. I remember him saying that. I guess if you want to be a superstar in any sport or anything you do, you have to deal with attention and be able to deal with it. There's going to be people around you and you have to block that out and get in your own little bubble and do your thing.

Q. Do you think your game is strong enough and your mind is strong enough to hold up to that?

CLIFF KRESGE: I guess we'll find out. Some days I have better days than others with my mind and I hear every little thing and some days I don't see anything but the ball in the hole. I guess we'll see tomorrow really.

Q. How has it been the last two days?

CLIFF KRESGE: Been pretty good. Actually most of the year I've been hearing everything, and that's why I've been trying to work with Mike about trying to look and pay attention to what's going on, if there's people going to be coming in behind me or if somebody is going to get in front of my through line and all that stuff, and that's going to happen all day long tomorrow, so I'd better be prepared for it.

Q. Yesterday you ended with double bogey. Today you finished strong. Was it in the back of your mind, hey, this might happen again?

CLIFF KRESGE: Not really because I was finishing on a different hole, but I'll tell you what, today on 18 I hit another really good drive and I was trying to basically do the same thing I did yesterday and kind of hit a little bit of a holder shot and kind of cut it against the wind and I hit the exact same shot except today the pin was further right and it went on the green. Yesterday the pin was left and it went in the water, so I need to improve on that shot.

Q. We were talking about momentum keepers. Obviously the way you finished today is different than yesterday. Is that your momentum keeper for tomorrow?

CLIFF KRESGE: I guess it is. Tomorrow can be a totally different day so I can't really answer that question right now. Hopefully I'll keep making birdies when I tee off on the first hole tomorrow.

Q. Have you been in the last group before?

CLIFF KRESGE: I played in the second-to-the-last group at Doral this year with Scott Hoch, and that was a good experience. We both had a good tournament. He ended up winning it and I finished eighth or something like that. I've played in some last groups on the Nationwide Tour, the Buy.Com Tour, but not on this Tour.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Cliff, for joining us.

End of FastScripts....

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