BELLSOUTH CLASSIC

March 30, 2000

Joey Sindelar

JOEY SINDELAR: Sure, about the course, I was here the first year we played here, I think I was kind of luke warm. Have always enjoyed all the folks that run the tournament, everything like that, but when I came to the course there was so much wilderness out there and it was hard for me to -- was like warm at best. I come back now, I think three years, this is the fourth time here?

JOEY SINDELAR: Three years later and the houses to me, the homes and the whole infrastructure has added so much more definition. We see a lot of places that are brand new as they mature, trees grow and houses come up, you can see where you are going a lot better. I didn't get to have a practice round because my clubs didn't make the trip Tuesday and because of the airlines and Wednesday I wasn't in the Pro-Am, so I was really surprised today when I went around the course and enjoyed it very much. We had a blast out there. Of course it is easy to have a blast when you are 4-under. My round was pretty basic. Early on I -- my first couple of tee shots weren't so great. Then I -- really had the ball in play the whole rest of the day except for No. 18, I kind of bailed out left. I don't remember how much room was on the right. I know it is a little bit close over there, but made a couple of -- birdied No. 2 right before the rain delay. We all did, actually. Hit a 9-iron in there about six feet away. Then birdied the par 5 which is No. 4. That was my other bad drive. I hit it over there by the hazard, got lucky that it stopped. Laid up and knocked in a 15-footer. Bogeyed the bogey hole over there, No. 8, such a hard hole. I hit 1-iron in there kind of on the collar and had to putt through about 12 or 15 feet of collar and then onto the green; then I missed about a 4-footer. My other bogey was all -- the other tough hole, is it No. 5? Yeah. Drove it up in that first right trap and what are you going to do? You don't feel like chipping out. I was 2-under at the time. Actually thought I hit a good shot. I hit the bank just short of the pin, came back down in the water, but I was lucky to get a 5. The back nine was very good, kind of we all kind of messed up No. 10. We all laid up poorly and none of us either hit the green in 3, but then birdied 11 and 12. 11, 9-iron in there maybe twelve feet away on the next hole, 3-wood off the tee, and 6-iron about eight feet away. Missed a short one on two holes later, the tough par 4 up the hill, 14, missed about a 6- or 7-footer there. Let's see, the par 3 is 16 - hit a 6-iron about 15 feet behind it; made that. A nice -- a good drive on 17 of course makes that hole play so much better. On 18 I kind of just duffed my drive over there. Laid it up with a 6-iron; had 140 yards in and at that point I wasn't going to mess up one of my few good rounds of the year so far, so I kind of played to the middle of the green 20 feet right of the pin and the putt fell in. So I had good success on the greens. These greens can be tough -- but I made early in the round I made a couple of 5- and 6-footer saves and late in the round a couple of birdie putts dribbled in. So it was fun. Certainly going to see scores way better than this today, but it was a good start.

JOEY SINDELAR: You know, probably -- the Canadian Open is an unusual one for me. It is only about four hours from where I live in central New York State and our kids always start school on the Tuesday -- the Tuesday after Labor Day or the Wednesday in there. A couple of times I have done that there. After 16 years out here it really isn't that big a deal, I don't think, occasionally to do it, especially for guys who play a lot of tournaments. 24, 25 and above, we have been to these places over and over and really the practice round, to me, or the Pro-Am is to just see, you know, if they have added a new tee; is it playing fast or slow, you know; is the rough deep, that kind of stuff. But nothing else changes too much. So generally speaking, it is not difficult to do. The difficulty here was I had only been here once. I did make the cut so I had four rounds in, but the course changed, in my opinion, for the better with everything that has gone on out here. It is in magnificent condition. The fairways just couldn't be better. A good yardage book and a lot of lucky guesses between your caddie and yourself, you get away with some murder out there. Look for some good scores, there will be some good ones.