BUICK INVITATIONAL

February 13, 2003

Arron Oberholser

JOHN BUSH: You finished second on the Money List on the Nationwide Tour, did you expect this type of -- obviously we are still in the first rounds.

ARRON OBERHOLSER: If you start thinking about the PGA TOUR, you do yourself a disservice. If you keep golf as simple as possible, if you can take yourself back to when you were 12, 13, 14 years old and how much fun you were playing when you were 12, 13, 14 years old, you can keep it that way. That's the best way to play this game. That's what I tried to do.

JOHN BUSH: Let's go through your six birdies. Starting on 13, your fourth.

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I hit driver and 7-iron to, oh, 18 feet and made that.

16, I hid driver and sand wedge from about 75 yards to about two inches.

Then 18, driver, 5-wood a little short and I hit a little 8-iron pitching wedge from probably 35, 40 yards to about three feet and made that.

And then 1, I hit driver, 3-wood just short and chipped it up to about a foot and made that.

4, I hit driver, 9-iron, little 9-iron from about to about 18 feet and made that.

7, I hit driver and a little chipping 7-iron up the hill to about three feet and made that.

Q. How did you spend your four-hour delay --

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Four hours? I didn't realize it was that long. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess.

You know I sat in the locker room and just chatted it up with some of the guys.

I like talking to the veterans out here. You can get -- just listening to what they have to say, you can learn a lot and not just golf, but just everything. So it's fun talk to guys like Brad Faxon and Peter Jacobsen and listening to what those guys have to say, because I mean, they are a wealth of knowledge, all of them.

Q. What does it mean to have Tiger back on the Tour?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: It's great for ticket sales for San Diego, fantastic.

You know, when I got on this tour -- inaudible -- he and I played golf against each other when I was at San Jose State and he was at Stanford and it was fun because we had some good tussles nationally. I was 1 and he was 2 in the nation; we was 1, I was 2 in the nation. Back and forth in his last year of college golf and he obviously ended up being No. 1 and I ended up finishing second to him in just about every category.

But having him back out here is nice, and it's nice to be able to play against the best player in the world.

Q. Do you have any thoughts about his equipment?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: He's obviously done okay with it. He obviously hits it well. I'm a Titleist player and I like the Titleist brand. In my opinion, Titleist is the best brand on the market. I've tried some of the Nike stuff and it feels good, it looks good, etc. Obviously working good.

Q. Inaudible?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I really didn't find -- the parts that I think are tough, I think 17 and 6 is tough on the North, the two par 3s that are downhill because the wind really hits your golf ball a lot more than you think it's going to. It's really hard picking a club on those two holes.

Historically in the past when I played in the San Diego Open when I was playing mini tours and stuff when I first turned pro, those used to give me -- those two holes kind of gave me fits. But I handled them okay today.

Q. (Inaudible)?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: In northern California, if you want to play in the winter, you play in the rain. I grew up on poa annua greens, so this is no news. I know how to play in the rain. I enjoy playing in the rain, and I like difficult conditions. I like difficult conditions. It's a challenge. I enjoy the challenge.

Q. (Inaudible.)

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I just think it takes a good attitude. You just have to realize this is the way you've got it, this is the way it is, either accept it and go on, pack your tent and stick your tail between your legs.

Q. (Inaudible.)

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Freshman year, San Jose State, Santa Barbara, Sand Piper, 40-mile-an-hour winds, sideways rain, and it was a quagmire. It was ridiculous and we were playing. The Cups were filled with water. In college golf, you're playing. You're playing.

That's the worst weather I've ever played in. I think I shot 75 that day. You know that 18th hole there? It's like a little 9-iron or 8-iron; 2-iron. Not kidding. The wind was coming the opposite direction, it was really weird. I remember that day, though, very vividly.

Q. Inaudible?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Well, I had a good time. Of it's mature quicker than others. What makes him so great is his mind. Not only does he have the physical skills, but I don't care how physically gifted you are, if you don't have the mental capacity to play the game, you're not going to do well, and he's not only does he have the best -- not only is he probably the best physical specimen on the Tour but he's got the best mind and he thinks the best. He's a very positive person.

Q. (Inaudible.)

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I love watching him play. It's fun. Now that I'm out here and when I might have the opportunity to play with him, I'm obviously going to have to buckle down and do my job.

But if, obviously, I don't think I'm going to get into the Masters this year, so I'll probably be sitting on the couch watching him for sure. It's fun to watch him play. Just watching him, you can learn a lot, even though he's my peer, and he and I are the same age, you can learn a lot from him, or at least I can.

Q. Do all the players know who you are now?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I think there are some guys who know who I am and some guys who don't know and some guys who could probably care less. I think most of the guys out here are really cool. Everybody I've met has just been a gentleman, and, you know, it's a gentleman's game. Everybody on this tour kind of proves it to be that way.

Q. How do you adopt the philosophy of just playing like a kid?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Well, I'll tell you, I see Chuck Hogan (ph) and I guess he's kind of a mental coach, guru type of guy. I had some problems in college, I was a physically gifted player in college and I could hit all kind of different golf shots.

I get in my own way a lot when things went bad, but he helped me to straight men myself out. So I remember going to a seminar that he held for on play and what play really and not to just go and play the game, but play. Like if you guys have children, four- and five-year-old children would play, just lose yourself in wherever you're at. And that's what I try to do on the golf course, just get immersed on the golf course wherever I'm at and have a good time. It's difficult to do but on the days that you can do it, it's the so-called zone that you get in.

Q. (Inaudible.)

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Not that far. High school I did. College coach, he was about ready to wrap -- he kicked me in my rear. He'd wrap a club around me if he saw me chuckling for sure. I had my fair share of temper tantrums, for sure.

Q. Inaudible?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: There's a lot more security. Other than that, I mean, last week, I wasn't asked for my ID anywhere and in Hawaii, nowhere, hardly anywhere.

This week, I mean, I'm walking off the green, I've got this stamped on my shirt, I've got golf shoes on, I've got -- I've got my umbrella and I'm walking off the putting green with all the garb on and my logos everywhere and the guys stopped me as I'm going to the locker room, which he's supposed to do. I just think it's kind of funny. It's obvious that I am what I am, and I'm a golfer. But with Tiger in the field and obviously with what's going on right now in the world and how close we are to war with Iraq, it makes sense to be very safe no matter who is walking towards you.

Q. Did anybody call you the leader in the clubhouse?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: No -- leading the tournament with two holes to go in the round.

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