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CONSTELLATION ENERGY SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY


September 15, 2008


Steve Davis

Bill Norton

Leanne Posko


STEVE SCHOENFELD: We're fortunate to have our defending champion here today, Mr. Loren Roberts. We'll hear from Loren in a few minutes later in the program. Loren will be back here in just three weeks to defend his title against the best the Champions Tour has to offer.
Over the last few weeks we've announced that Tom Watson, Jeff Sluman, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, and Maryland's own Fred Funk, Jay Haas, and Mark O'Meara will be here in October to compete in the championship.
Today we will add to that list, and let you know that three prominent members of the Champion's Tour class of 2008 will also be here to compete. These include 1985 British Open champion, and 1988 Masters champion, Sandy Lyle. Another Masters champion who will turn 50 just next week in time to make it into our field, and that is Larry Mize, along with the winner of the 2004 Wachovia Championship on the PGA TOUR and an individual who has enjoyed a successful debut season this year on the Champions Tour, Joey Sindelar.
Over the next few weeks we'll keep you up to date of new announcements and new players that are committing.
As many of you are aware, the underlying goal of any Champions Tour and PGA TOUR event is to give back funds to the charities and communities where the events are staged. We're certainly no different here in Baltimore as we look to continue this tradition of giving back.
Since the inception of both The Senior Players Championship, as well as the former constellation energy classic, nearly $8.5 million has been distributed to local charities.
At this time I'd like to introduce the individual from our title sponsor who will announce the beneficiaries of the 2008 Championship. Please welcome the Managing Director For Community Partnerships of Constellation Energy, Leanne Posko.
LEANNE POSKO: Good morning. I want to thank everybody for being here with us today. Constellation Energy is very excited to be the title sponsor for this major golf tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions Tour.
We are, of course, pleased to be hosting this event at this beautiful and prestigious course here at the Baltimore Country Club. We're glad that the weather cooperated today for everybody that is playing today.
For Constellation Energy, as Steve mentioned, this tournament is really about giving back to the community, and we are very, very proud of the fact that we've contributed a lot of money to the local charities here. I have representatives from charities here today, and through this event and through our former Constellation Energy Classic.
It's my distinct honor today to be able to announce the four charities who will receive the proceeds from this year's Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
First, the Baltimore Community Foundation and the BGE Community Assistance Fund. This fund provides support to limited income electric and gas customers located in BGE's service territory. And since its launch in 2004, this undertaking has assisted nearly 15,000 households in maintaining service continuity. It also funds a senior citizen weatherization program.
Additionally, the fund assists area organizations in securing computers, hardware, software installations and other infrastructure improvements that are needed.
First Tee Baltimore is dedicated to providing young people of all backgrounds and providing young people to develop character education and life enhancement in honesty, integrity and sportsmanship.
Thirdly, it's dedicated to helping children and adolescents with disorders of the brain and spinal cord. (No microphone).
Last but not least, Senior Memorial Hospital, as part of the Med Star Health systems, it's a comprehensive hospital with regional specialty services of distinction and quality community services, all enhanced by clinical education and research. They're one of the top specialty hospitals in Baltimore, and have been caring for members of our community for more than 100 years.
So congratulations to those four charities. We're thrilled to have you join us, and thrilled to have you here. Again, thank you for being here.
STEVE SCHOENFELD: Leanne, thank you, and thank you to our title sponsor Constellation Energy for its commitment to Champions Tour golf and the Baltimore community.
This championship is also quite fortunate to have a group of dedicated volunteer chairs, several of whom are here today. This group is essential to the success of this tournament, and thank you to all of you.
Our next speaker is a prominent figure here at the Baltimore Country Club. Please welcome the Vice President of Baltimore Country Club, Bill Norton.
BILL NORTON: Good morning. On behalf of our club president, all of our board of governor members and members of the club as well as the entire Baltimore Country Club staff, I'd like to welcome you today to this important day of Baltimore golf for the Baltimore golf community and for the state of Maryland.
We couldn't be more excited working with Constellation Energy and the PGA TOUR for this year's Senior Player's Championship. BCC has a proud 110 year history while operating our facilities at Roland Park, which is located in Baltimore City, and here at Five Farms.
We have hosted the U.S. Open in Roland Park in 1899, while at Five Farms we have hosted the 1928 PGA Championship, the 1932 U.S. Amateur, the 1965 Walker Cup matches, and the 1988 U.S. Women's Open, along with last year's 2007 Constellation Energy Open Senior Players Championship.
Loren Roberts defeated Tom Watson by six strokes. Mr. Roberts loves the Tillinghast courses as he told me earlier today, and has demonstrated his stellar play with rounds of 67, 66, 67, 67.
Mr. Roberts finished 13 under par for a total of 267, and claimed the $390,000 winners check. It is estimated The Senior Players Championship generated over $20 million economic activity to the region: Including hotels, restaurants, transportation and other vendor purchases.
The 2007 event also generated $500,000 in state income and sales tax revenue, along with charitable donations of over $400,000 to four local Baltimore charities.
The championship this year is sure to reflect the spirit of Baltimore and continue to strengthen the partnership between our three organizations BCC, the PGA, and Constellation Energy, which helps to support the Baltimore community through significant charitable giving in economic development.
We are confident that Baltimore Country Club's east course will challenge the world's greatest 50-plus young golfers. Four days of major golf competition, hosted here at Five Farms on our Tillinghast course.
We'd like to thank our sponsor, Constellation Energy, and its CEO, Mayo Shattuck, for their support along with many other companies and individuals who are participating to make this a wonderful event.
Thanks for coming today. Enjoy your day here at Baltimore country club.
STEVE SCHOENFELD: Thank you and thank you to the members at the Baltimore Country Club. At this time I want to take a moment to thank the newly formed Ambassador Committee. This is a new group we've been working with this year in 2008.
In addition, all the volunteer chairs we mentioned previously and club member who's are working to promote this event, the ambassador's committee works diligently all year. All my friends ask me, What do you do all year? You have one golf tournament. This is a 51-week project, and these folks are working really hard all winter, string and summer to help us market this event in the Baltimore community. We want to thank you all if your efforts.
At this time I want to introduce a true gentleman in the game of golf. He's currently fourth on the Champions Tour 2008 money list, and seventh on the Charles Schwab Cup point list. He won the Commerce Bank Championship earlier this year, and has 11 Top 10 finishes on the Champions Tour this season.
His victory at the 2007 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship propelled him on to capture the 2007 Charles Schwab Cup season-long points race.
He fired, as Bill said earlier, he was 13 under par for the four days. Not to mention that he shot a 30 on the front nine on Sunday to open up what became a 7-shot cushion. Which, by the way, was a little bit larger than we like. So this year we're going to ask you (laughing) we want you to take it easy on the rest of the field this year.
Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of eight PGA TOUR, and seven Champions Tour events in his career, please welcome our defending champion, Loren Roberts.
Serving as our Moderator today, please welcome the sports director of WBAL-AM radio, Steve Davis.
THE MODERATOR: That was a pretty uncompelling introduction. How are you?
LOREN ROBERTS: I'm doing great. First of all, I'd like to start out and offer my thanks to Mayo Shattuck, and Constellation Energy for being such a great sponsor for the Champions Tour and this event, a true major championship. And also to Baltimore Country Club for being willing to host this wonderful championship. Truly is a major championship venue.
I knew the minute I stepped on the grounds last year, and obviously I had known a little history of the golf course before I got here. I knew it was going to be a fantastic place to play.
Last but not least, I've got to say thanks to all the volunteers. I've already met several club members in the room today that are either volunteers on holes or marshals or whatever. And thank you very much, because there would be no Champions Tour without the volunteers, so thank you very much. We appreciate it.
THE MODERATOR: So I saw in your bio you said your favorite courses are those built before 1950 by A.W. Tillinghast. The question is did that line go in your bio before or after you won at BCC?
LOREN ROBERTS: Long before, long before. That's why I was excited when I got here. I knew about this golf course. And the first practice round I absolutely fell in love with it.
I told somebody this morning here, I said knock on wood, I went 72 holes without three-putting last year. So if we can do that again, I like my chances.

Q. So what is it, for the people that don't understand what it means for a player to play it an A. W. Tillinghast course or whoever designs a particular course, what does it say about his course, and the course that is designed prior to 1950 that you find so interesting and compelling?
LOREN ROBERTS: It's just the characteristics of the golf course. Especially with Tillinghast, it's his bunkering and his layouts. There might be some holes designed that some of the new designers may not particularly do now.
But the character of the golf course is what stands out. He has such great character with his bunkering, his style of the greens, with the way the fairway bunkers are placed. You have so many different options. That's what I like about the golf course.
This golf course when you talk about the design of the greens, you know, 10 or 12 feet above the hole may be worse than 30 feet below on the front fringe. So you have to play the golf course with that in mind, and that is why the character of the golf course is so hard to duplicate now.

Q. Are there certain designers or courses that you just typically play better? Are you generally going to play a Tillinghast course better than some of the other courses?
LOREN ROBERTS: I just like the style of it. But I think if you were to ask everybody on the Champions Tour, the PGA TOUR and over my whole career -- if you asked Tom Watson or anybody else -- there are some golf courses that players go that fit their eye. There are some courses that I go to that I could play as good as I can possibly play, and barely make the cut. And there are other courses that you go to that you play as bad as you can play, and you can't finish out of the Top 10.
It's just what fits your eye and makes you feel comfortable about a particular golf course.
I think a golf course like this, everybody gets excited about because of the character. It doesn't favor any one particular player.

Q. Everyone wants to hear you say when they come to a particular city, they want to hear about the venue they're playing in. So when you guys come in here on Monday and Tuesday and play the practice rounds. Obviously, BCC has not been played on the Champions Tour. So you come out here, is there a buzz in the locker room about certain holes? Certain characteristics? Are you sitting around with Jay Haas and saying, boy, that 14 I would have done this or this, or I like this about the 12 or whatever the case may be?
LOREN ROBERTS: We started talking about it when this was announced last year or actually before last year in the end of '06. The players were a buzz about it. They were talking about the pedigree of this golf course.
You know, obviously, we had seen it for the Women's Open. We've known some of the history of the golf course, and everybody was excited about it.
Now obviously, Sunday afternoon after the tournament, you talk to somebody, there is one guy that's really excited and several that aren't, you know (laughing). So that's just the way it goes.

Q. You don't hang out with the guys that aren't?
LOREN ROBERTS: Well, you know, you're going to see them next week (laughing).

Q. You said in your bio that your dream foursome is you, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, and Byron Nelson. So who is your partner in that dream foursome?
LOREN ROBERTS: Well, if it's a match play thing, you've got to take Hagen as your partner. He was probably one of the best match play players ever.

Q. But I read that your hero is Nelson?
LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I was very fortunate to be able to win Byron's tournament, and have a friendship and relationship with him. He had a relationship with so many other players on the tour. It's countless the number of players who have said, you know, I played well last week, and I got a little note in the mail a week later from Byron.
I've got ten or 15 notes in my desk drawer that I keep from Byron Nelson. You know, I saw you hit that shot on 16 to win, great going or whatever. That's how good Byron was about that. He had a relationship with everybody. He really gave back to the game. He was a true gentleman of the game.

Q. So you're out there, and you play with Hagen. You play against Hogan and Nelson. How many shots do you guys win by?
LOREN ROBERTS: Well, it depends on how many shots I'm going to get.

Q. When was the last time you asked for shots?
LOREN ROBERTS: I kind of like my chances. I like my chances with the putter. I just admire those guys. Obviously, you couldn't get three guys that are probably farther apart in personality. That was another reason I would pick them.
I came along at a time in golf which was very good for me. That I was able to enjoy some of the old along with some of the new, all the way from being able to meet all of the players from Gene Sayers to Hogan, to Nelson, being able to spend time with him. Hagen was the only one I never, ever met. To be able to obviously witness and play with Tiger Woods, and Nicklaus and Palmer.
I feel very fortunate for myself to be able to share a little bit about those guys' careers during my time. I feel like I came along at a time when I got to see a lot of the old and a lot of the new. I feel fortunate about that.

Q. We all know about Nelson because he was such a popular figure. Hogan was somewhat enigmatic. What was it like to be around Hogan? He is especially after he was done competing? He might have been a little more jovial?
LOREN ROBERTS: I've got a great story about that, if you can bear with me. I had a good friend of mine who was a member and close friend of Hogan's at Shady Oaks in Ft. Worth. He was going to take me out there and introduce me to Hogan one day. We were supposed to go out there and have lunch of with him.
So we sat down at the big round table in the corner of the room there at Shady Oaks. For some reason Hogan came in. Didn't like one of the guys that was sitting at the lunch table with us, and went and sat at the other side of the room with his back to us during the lunch hour.
So we went out, played golf. Came back around. He was back at the corner table. So we went and sat down. Unfortunately, my friend went to introduce me to Mr. Hogan, and he gave him a little of my bio and said, Loren has made such and such money on the tour. As soon as that came out of his mouth, I knew that was the worst thing to say to Ben Hogan. And all he did is chew me out for the first minute and a half I met him.
So the rest of the time I just sat there in the corner of the table. I didn't say anything, and I listened to him talk about stories.
He was definitely different than Nelson. But he, obviously, he had his fame, he had his career, and he had his Niche.

Q. You talked about money. When you were trying to get on the tour, make it on the tour, stick on the tour, earn your card in the '80s, you didn't win until you were 38. So you didn't have that total confidence that I am here to stay. Did you ever think when you were 22, 23, 25, that you'd be sitting here at 53 with $1.3 million in your pocket this year?
LOREN ROBERTS: Let's not talk about money again, come on. We're not supposed to talk about that stuff.
I have a little different background. And you guys probably get to know me a little bit more than most. But I have a little different background in golf than say a Tom Watson or Jack Nicklaus.
I never played golf until I was 16 years old. I played in high school a little bit, but I was an 85 shooter. Went to college, did play golf in college, and they got rid of the golf team after a couple of years, so I didn't play.
I came out of college, and I was a club he pro. I was a club pro for five years. I went to qualifying school, and made it through, got on the tour and here I am. So I'm a little different than most.
That's probably why it took me a little longer to get to that stage, but it was nice it eventually happened.

Q. When you sit here and say you didn't take it up until 16, and you're a very successful guy in his 50's, everybody moves to the edge of their seat. They say what is your secret? How did you get so good as you got older?
LOREN ROBERTS: I had a great club job in that nobody ever played after 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon. It was a small club in California. So the putting green was literally 20 yards out the pro shop door. So I'd open the window so I could hear the phone. So I'd go out there and chip and putt all afternoon. Seriously, that's what I did (laughing). So this old pro didn't get his money's worth, did he?

Q. Where did you get your nickname, Boss of the Moss? Now we know how you perfected your skills, but where did you get the nickname?
LOREN ROBERTS: 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Ended up losing in a playoff to Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie there. But I remember Saturday I shot 64. I mean, I holed every putt I looked at, practically. I got into the locker room. Happened to be sitting there with a couple of media guys, doing an interview.
A buddy of mine walked by, and he was always good with the quip. He just kind of yelled it out, Boss of the Moss. And one of the guys put it in the article and it stuck. Which is very fortunate because it's a good nickname because you can really get some bad ones out on tour.

Q. You won't tell us the bad ones?
LOREN ROBERTS: I'm not going to tell you the bad ones, no (laughing).

Q. You won here last year, which is a major. You've won three majors on the Champions Tour. You didn't win a major on the PGA TOUR. Does it mean the same for the guys that come out here? There are guys that have won on both tours, obviously, majors. Does it mean the same in your book? Do you say when I won on this tour, I got my major?
LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I had a couple of very close calls out on the regular tour. But it definitely means a lot to me. I think if you look at some of the guys who have won major championships on the regular tour, and then they come out on the Champions Tour and they don't, you know, maybe play as well or have as much success, to me it's a little fuel to the fire.
I didn't get one on the regular tour, I still love to compete. The fact that I didn't play competitive golf until very late in my career, it means a whole lot more to me. I feel like I'm a little more energized.
You look at some of the guys who have come out and done well, Jay Haas is another example never won a major. But I think there is still fire in the belly; there is still fuel in the tank. If you really didn't do it, to get out here and try to compete and win majors on the Champions Tour.

Q. Are you or guys you play with just as competitive as you were 20 years ago?
LOREN ROBERTS: Without question. The guys still love to compete. Only difference on the Champions Tour, we still try to beat each other as hard as we can. But instead of talking to a psychologist and working out with a trainer and all of that, we go in and have a beer in the clubhouse.

Q. Are there less rivalries on the Champions Tour than when you were in the regular tour?
LOREN ROBERTS: No, no some of the guys -- there are just as many rivalries. You know, if you had a rivalry with somebody for 25 years, you don't get over it when you turn 50 (laughing).

Q. So there are guys who they sit at your table, that you go to the opposite end and sit with your back to them?
LOREN ROBERTS: No, it's kinder, friendlier, but you still want to beat that guy.

Q. The Ryder Cup kicks off this week Friday in Kentucky. You played on the Ryder Cup team in '95. We often hear that golf is an individual sport. So what does it mean for players, those 12 guys, on a Ryder Cup team?
LOREN ROBERTS: In my personal experience, it's the most nervous I've ever been playing golf. You're nervous on the first tee at Augusta, and the U.S. Open. But you're nervous for 18 holes. For three straight days there.
When you're playing for yourself, you have a bad week, you know you haven't got it, okay. You finish the tournament, go back to work and maybe you can get it going next week. The Ryder Cup comes once every two years.
When you play for the stars and stripes, there's a lot more pressure and a lot more emotion involved. There isn't a greater honor in golf to be able to play for your country. That is our Olympics to play in the Ryder Cup.
There is nothing tears you up quicker than to go to the opening ceremonies, and have them present the colors. It's awesome. Then they have the bag pipes play, and they play the star-spangled banner. There is nothing more emotional than that.

Q. In the last Ryder Cup, you're an assistant co- captain, your buddy Tom Lehman is captain. What was that experience like?
LOREN ROBERTS: I think that's worse. When you don't have any control over it, you know? You're getting your butt kicked, you know. It's tough.
All I'm going to talk about in the Ryder Cup is I'm going to go back to the immortal words of Ben Crenshaw in '99, I have a great feeling about this. I really do. I think this year the U.S. is going to do it.

Q. Why have we struggled so much? There was a period of time where we were so dominant. We've lost five of the last six, do you have any idea why?
LOREN ROBERTS: We were talking about this early this morning. If you look at the PGA TOUR as we look at it now, probably less than half of the players on the PGA TOUR are actually American born. Where it used to be maybe there were ten, 12 foreigners that played on the PGA TOUR. So you had a much deeper pool of talent as far as American players that you could pick from.
With having so many American players working and playing hard, you had more guys developing their ability to win. Developing their ability to compete. Now you've got say from Australia, 26 players on the U.S. tour from Australia alone. So the pool of American players is not as deep.
Obviously, you've got the two best players in the world with Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson. There's not as many good American players, though we still have the top players.
I think it has been close, closer than the score has looked like the last couple of times we've played it. You know, it's about holing putts at the right time. It really is. I think it's about emotion.
What I see this year that may be a little different is I see the emotion factor playing in. There isn't a more emotional leader than Azinger. I think it's great that you have two guys from Kentucky that are on the team playing in their own state. That will really get the crowd into it. The crowd plays a big part in it also, believe me, it does.

Q. With all due respect to Tiger. He's only won once since he's been eligible to play Ryder Cup, back in his career in '99. People are quick to write off the United States, well, they don't have the best player in the world. Well we've had the best player in the world and we haven't won. When you have some of these guys that no one is counting on, do you think that makes it easier to compete when no one is expecting you to win?
LOREN ROBERTS: Well, obviously, when you don't have the best player in the world on your team, if you're to look at it on paper, that would be a real blow to your team.
What I choose to look at is the other side of the coin, if you don't have the best player in the world on your team, you can use that as a motivating factor.
You know, sometimes, and I'm not singling anybody out, but when you have the loss of one of the best player on your team, that can be used as a motivating factor to say, okay, I've got to step up and do something right now.
Sometimes if you have someone who is so clearly so dominant on your team, sometimes somebody might be sitting around, waiting for him to make a move first instead of them going out and going after it, and making a decision right now to do something. I think it can be used as a motivating factor.

Q. Couple more questions for you. Do you think - we've read this, especially those of us in the media, that it just means more to the golfers in Europe than it does to the Americans? True or false?
LOREN ROBERTS: I think that's false. I really do. You know, obviously, the Ryder Cup has a much larger pedigree than the President's Cup. It's hard to mention the two in the same paragraph. It really is.
But there is a different feeling about the President's Cup than there is the Ryder Cup. If we can get that feeling back into the Ryder Cup squad, I think we're right there.

Q. Back to what we're going to see here in a few weeks which is this event, a Champions Tour event, a major. Norman goes out, nearly wins the British Open. For those of you who were sitting around watching this, that he can come out here and play, if he wants. He doesn't play very much, but what would it have meant to you guys to see a guy in his 50's go out and beat the best players in the world. We're talking about the Open?
LOREN ROBERTS: It would have been huge for the Champions Tour. I think it still shows that in golf now, anybody can still be competitive if they stay in shape and put a little practice in and work on their game. I think you can still be competitive. It just depends on how bad you want it, and how hard you work at it.

Q. What about the level of play on this tour? Maybe people underestimate it because they see you guys and you go out and have the beer together, and you're a little more accessible than the guys on the PGA TOUR. But you have Kenny Perry who will be eligible next year. He's one of the best players on the PGA TOUR. Fred Funk won at 48 years old. The difference between the two tours probably isn't as steep as people think?
LOREN ROBERTS: It's a lot more competitive now. What we're seeing is guys that are staying competitive on the regular tour until they're 50 coming out here. Obviously, Hale Irwin did it and really dominated for ten years. Then Jay Haas came out and did it. Then I followed Jay.
There are so many guys that are staying competitive until they're 50 on the regular tour that that goes a long way in keeping you at the top of your game getting ready to play. I think guys that take four, five, six years off and try to come out, they tend to struggle a little bit. If you can stay in that competitive climate until the day you turn 50, it really adds to your ability to come out. It's getting more competitive every year.

Q. If you were to make a pitch to people in Baltimore, why to come out here in October and watch this event. And I always tell people golf is one of the great bargains because you can come out and watch guys, you have accessibility. It's not three hours and done. You can come out and watch them on the range, and see how to improve and watch them for an entire day. But if you were to make the sales pitch why they should come out and watch you guys in October, what would it be?
LOREN ROBERTS: You're going to see some of the absolute greats of the game. You have a great environment. You have a great place to come out. You can walk around, get up close to us.
All of the players on the Champions Tour are accessible. You can come up and we'll talk with you. We'll sign autographs. That is the whole premise of golf. You can get right up next to some of the best players in the world.
The great hook about golf is that everybody in this room at some time can hit a shot just as good as one of the best players out here on this tour. That's what's the great hook about golf. That's why everybody loves to play golf so much. Because everybody at one time in their life can hit a shot just as good as the best player in the world.

Q. Yeah, but you might not get the credit for it. I'll tell you a quick story, and Brent Harris can back this one up. We're out at Hobbit's Glen when the event just before. You were still on the PGA TOUR, so this is in the mid '90s. And Dougherty is out with us. He's on the 10th hole. And every group that came through, it was the media day, and everybody group that came through he would hit a tee shot for you.
So the four guys in my media group, we hit, and he'd hit a shot. This is the entire day. So we flip him a ball, and we can play his ball. Now I'm not very good. So we go out, we flip him a ball, he hits it right down the fairway. I hit my ball, hit it and clear his shot in the air. He looked back at me and he said, You guys gave me a Top Flite, I don't play Top Flite. True, Brett? So I didn't even feel good about it.
LOREN ROBERTS: Oh, come on.

Q. Thank you, Loren. Appreciate it. Good luck. Anyone have questions for Loren?
You spoke about 72 holes without a three-putt.
For the average golfer that's kind of crazy. We three-putt all the time. Can you tell us what, if you had a plan going into practice rounds to figure the greens out and make sure you get them in the right spot? Just walk us through a little bit how you didn't three-putt for 72 holes?
LOREN ROBERTS: I made a couple of great two-putts, obviously. But I did look at the golf course and say, you know, five feet off the edge of the green here is better than 10 feet above the hole over here. That's the way I kind of played the golf course.
I will say I did actually have a three-putt, but I putted from off the green so it wasn't considered. But it was about an 80 or 90 footer on 16 on Sunday. I was about a foot off the front edge.
Technically it wasn't a three-putt. But I just looked at the golf course and figured out where I need to hit the ball. Where I needed to keep it, and it didn't necessarily mean having to be on the green. I think that was a huge plus to go around that way.

Q. Can you give us your characterization of the greens at BCC, Tillinghast greens: Fast? Slow? How would you characterize them?
LOREN ROBERTS: I think they were just very -- I would say as far as speed-wise, I thought they were very good, average speed. Obviously with the slope of the greens, if you were to have them, you know, 11 or 12, the golf course probably would be unplayable.
But with good greens at 10, I think it's very playable. That is part of the defense of the golf course. That is the design of the golf course is that if you get out of position on a green, you have a pretty good chance of three-putting, unless you're very, very careful. That is part of the strategy of the golf course. Doesn't mean you have to be able to fly the ball into the hole, around the hole on every shot. I mean, that is the way the golf course was designed.
So if you take that approach looking at it as if that is part of the defense of the golf course, you've got to be in certain positions on the green, and that is the design. Thank you, everybody.

End of FastScripts




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