	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

CONSTELLATION ENERGY SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

August 10, 2009

D.A. Weibring

STEVE SCHOENFELD: I'm Steve Schoenfeld the tournament director of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. Glad you could all be with us today. In less than two months from September 28 to October 4, we will welcome the top 78 professionals from the Champions Tour back to Baltimore Country Club for the 27th playing of the Senior Players Championship, the third consecutive here at Baltimore Country Club.
We are very fortunate to have our defending champion here today, Mr. D.A. Weibring. We'll hear from D.A. in a moment. D.A. will be back in Baltimore at the end of September to defend his title against the best the Champions Tour has to offer. For the members of the press that are here today, we have announced D.A.'s commitment to the tournament. You should have received a press kit already, lots of good information in there, including D.A.'s commitment to the tournament.
I wanted to very quickly remind everybody here that every underlying goal of every PGA TOUR and Champions Tour event is to raise dollars for charities in the cities that we play, and we are certainly no different here in Baltimore. We work very hard and we are going to continue this tradition of giving back, and since the inception of both the Senior Players Championship and the former Constellation Energy Classic, that took place in Baltimore, we have raised nearly $9 million for charity and we have many people in this room actually to thank for that because we have some key sponsors here today, including Constellation Energy so thank you for your support.
I would like to take this moment to introduce a new initiative that we have in place this year called Tickets For Charity. Tickets for Charity will expand the charitable reach of the tournament where 501(c)(3) organizations in the local market can promote sales for tickets to the tournament and retain 75 percent of the revenue that they generate. The remaining 25 percent will go to The First Tee of Baltimore, a charity that is near and dear to the heart of the PGA TOUR. There are First Tee Chapters in basically I think every city that we play in and the point of The First Tee is to expose youth to the game of golf and to develop character and life skills through the game. So we obviously, like I said, it's near and dear to the heart of the TOUR, so it's an important charity for us.
Let's move on to the reason that we are here today. Our defending champion was four strokes off the lead with 14 holes to go I think last year, and he fought his way up a very crowded leaderboard that included names like Fred Funk, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, Jeff Sluman, Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer. Pretty good list if you'd ask me. Our defending champ fired a final round 68 and captured his first major championship right here at Baltimore Country Club.
STEVE DAVIS: Good morning, everybody. Let's get this out of the way right off the bat. Why D.A. and what does it stand for and when did you make the change?
D.A. WEIBRING: I've got a lot of answers for that. But I'm an only child and my mom had a real tough time having a child, and so she was committed to my dad's name, Donald and everybody called him Don. I was going to be Donald Albert Weibring, Junior and my Aunt Mary thought in the small town of Quincy, Illinois it's going to be Little Don or Junior, so let's go D.A. And it was D.A. until that first day of school I had to explain that, I would bail out. It's been D.A. all my life.
But when I had my first child, my dad passed away in '84, but Matt was born in '79, and so we went a different direction, Matthew Kirk. We went a different direction than the D.A.
STEVE DAVIS: 1979 was a big year for you, first kid, first tournament win.
D.A. WEIBRING: It was. It was. It was -- my dad was an outstanding athlete, and taught me -- I played an awful lot of sports growing up, especially basketball and golf, and his philosophy was to -- for a youngster and I was an only child. So I had a little piano and tap dancing and a little guitar and a little everything mixed in there as a real young guy.
But I think he always thought golf was going to be my game, and growing up in Illinois, basketball was real important part of my upbringing and I had opportunities to play in college. I chose golf. I went to Illinois State, and then so you fast forward, I get through school, I get on TOUR, the quad city tournament to my dad was the Masters. It was very important to him.
STEVE DAVIS: And by the way we should mention it was Ed McMahon's tournament.
D.A. WEIBRING: That year it was the Ed McMahon Quad City Open.
STEVE DAVIS: Coming in you had won five PGA TOUR events, I think four events on the Champions Tour, it's your first major. So where does a major on the Champions Tour rank to all of your wins, to rank -- where does it rank to, say, that win that you had that your dad thought was the Masters?
D.A. WEIBRING: It was very, very special. To win on the PGA TOUR, and we see that now in the Tiger era, I mean, to win an event is very cherished. But I had my chances on the regular TOUR, the "Junior Tour" as we refer to it now. (Laughter) I had my chances.
STEVE DAVIS: You had a slip there because we are not supposed to call it the "regular TOUR."
D.A. WEIBRING: Well, I'm going to call it the junior tour; how is that?
I think I had the lead in every major the last day, except for the Masters and I was two shots back with nine to go. So I had my chances. I also finished second in the PLAYERS Championship, so when I came to the Champions Tour, that was one of my main goals. I wanted to win but I really wanted to win that major. Well, I played in the last group of the Senior British and had the lead with two holes to go in the Senior Open. I was there two or three different times in the Senior Open. The PGA I finished third or fourth. The JELD-WEN event, in the last group, and had chances.
So I always hoped it would be my time, and I think that's exactly what happened. Last year to play down the stretch and play with a good friend, Nick Price, who I've got so much respect for, and Jeff Sluman, the last group, Ben Crenshaw, a very good friend, he was making noise up front. And Jay Haas and Bernhard and John Cook, Mark O'Meara, all of the top players. It was a great leaderboard on a great golf course in a great venue.
And coming down the stretch, I was fortunate that things went my way. I made a putt on 17 for par. After hitting a good second shot, I thought, it hit and went over the back left of the green and really had no chance to chip the ball close. Hit as good a pitch as I could possibly hit to get it to eight or ten feet, whatever it was, and hit a putt that I thought started off in good shape, but then I saw it getting away and it hung on and went in the hole.
To have a chance to stand on the 18th hole, or actually your second hole, with a very challenging tee shot, to make par, most likely to win, and I felt really good about it. I felt like it was my time. I played a great tee shot, probably a little bit of a conservative second shot and then I had a 55-foot putt or whatever they measured on the last hole to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. All I could think was, I was going to hit a great putt.
I was focused on what I wanted to do rather than what I didn't want to do, was maybe get it up there six feet and have to make that putt and go through that labor. And I made a great putt. And it was wonderful to tap it in, and the feeling to win; and then to have my wife, Kristy, here, to be able to kind of go hug her. She has not been at an event that I've won since '91. It just has not worked out that way with having three kids and travelling. So it was great to share it with her.
And then the reaction. The reaction the next week when I'm introduced on the first tee as "Major Champion, Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship." It's been terrific. So it's really been a highlight of mine.
STEVE DAVIS: Now, the competitive juices for players on the Champions Tour, are you as competitive now as you were when you were playing on the Junior tour, as they say.
D.A. WEIBRING: Well, I really think -- I think because of fitness and I think fitness has affected -- I mean, Tiger, certainly, has had a major influence on golf in general. But I think the general fitness of the guys on the Champions Tour are better. Tom Watson showed what kind of player he is at his age at 59, almost 60.
STEVE DAVIS: Do you want to win as bad now as did you 30 years ago?
D.A. WEIBRING: Absolutely. I don't think that the do-or-die, you know, pay-your-bills, keep-your-card is the same thing as the Champions Tour. We have got a variety of guys on the Champions Tour, guys who it's their first time out there, guys who may be didn't feel like they accomplished as much as they could have their first time around on the PGA TOUR; guys who play pretty well on the PGA TOUR, maybe wanted to do a little bit better and guys who have had great careers.
So you throw them all in the mix and you find out who really wants it. So the environment is a really supportive one of one another, but it's very have competitive.
If you told me that Nick Price would not win the first couples of years on the Champions Tour, I would have told you you were crazy. It has nothing to with nick. He has prioritized his family and he came prepared to play. And Mark O'Meara has not won but he will. And that just shows you the level of competitiveness. Guys work hard. Fred Funk has a problem with his left shoulder and a problem with his right knee and he wants to play both tours. He still wants it. I was really pleased to see him win in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago.
STEVE DAVIS: Mentioning Watson, what happened last month at the British Open. Give me your perspective as a guy who is older than you, 59 years old and this close to winning a major, where would that rank in the annals of golf history if he had done it? Where would it be? Ten years ago probably no one will remember it. Would it have eclipsed Jack's Masters at 46?
D.A. WEIBRING: I disagree with you a little bit, I think they will remember it. Unfortunately for Stewart Cink, they are going to remember tomorrow Watson and how well he played down the stretch probably over Stewart. They are going to say, yeah, Stewart won that one that Watson had a chance to win. Stewart deserve better than that because he played great and he played great in the playoff and whatever.
But Tom Watson, I saw Tom Watson for the first time with a red mustache and going through the Qualifying School in my hometown of Quincy, Illinois, and it was a regional qualifying school, fresh out of Stanford. I was going off to become a freshman at college and he was just getting his card. I was fortunate later in life when I moved to Dallas, I got to know Byron Nelson and Byron invited me to practice with and he Tom some and Byron helped me a great deal with my game.
But Byron told me, the thing I think we need to take away from what Tom did, Byron said he's never seen a player more committed to playing a shot. And when Tom first began to work with him, I think it was after 75 at Winged Foot, Tom had a chance to win the Open and struggled a little bit and Byron reached out to him, just the type of man that Mr. Nelson is.
So invited him down and came down to press ton trails and Byron said, you know, he was a little steep and a little thick divot going through impact, but every shot, totally committed. And if you think of Tom Watson, he would stand there by his caddie, would he get the information, he would take a look at it, make his mind, pull that club; when the club would get in his hands, waggle a couple of times and it was gone. That's the thing that you learn by his commitment. And coming down the stretch, he made -- he hit every shot you had to hit down the stretch, except maybe the eight-foot putt.
But he played great shots down the stretch. I think he probably ran out of gas a little bit. He said he lost his legs in the playoff. But he'll be -- he just came off a hip replacement surgery, too. He didn't play the very end of last year. So it was remarkable.
It was great for golf. It just shows that if you stay in good shape and you stay fit, and you get in an environment where you're comfortable; he's comfortable on links golf. I mean, he is so much respected over there because of his -- he loves to play in adverse weather. Whenever there's bad weather, watch out for Watson, because he likes it that much more.
STEVE DAVIS: The shot on 18, I think when we all saw the putt that he had, we all kind of looked and said, this is Watson, this is probably not going to be good, but the approach on 18, people will look and say, No. 1, I think it was 185 or something with an 8-iron, who would have thought a 59-year-old guy would be hitting that and blowing it over. What happened on that shot, and when he hit the thought, I thought this was great. Were you watching at home thinking he putt it past?
D.A. WEIBRING: No. He was trying to land the ball just short of the green or just on the front of the green. I've played four different major championships on that golf course, and I've got my own story about the 18th hole a few years ago.
But he drove it perfect, and he was -- the green kind of sits a little bit from right-to-left. There is a pretty good size burn left with native grass on it. So there's not a direct, easily, bounce-in. You can miss it to the right or the left. I think he thought about 9, but he was going to make a nice, smooth swing at 8, probably a little adrenaline, hit it a little farther than he wanted to. But I think the first bounce on all of the little moguls hit really hard, and that's what you can't control, golf on the ground. I think he hit the shot in his mind's eye', did it fly five for six yards too far? Maybe. But he played a great shot. I'm sure he had the memory of playing that shot into the green he did with Nicklaus in '77.
STEVE DAVIS: Didn't they say that was a 6-iron?
D.A. WEIBRING: Might have been.
STEVE DAVIS: The technology, they said a 6-iron.
D.A. WEIBRING: Well, I tell you how the native grass can be. When Greg Norman won, '86 maybe, I was -- we were finishing on Saturday and a rain storm came in. The wind was blowing back in our face and I was in second place. I was two or three shots behind Greg, and I hit driver off the tee, which they were just hitting hybrids and irons because it was straight downwind. I had drove it up to the corner and the bunkers on left are death.
And so now I'm trying to hit a 2-iron this high and chase it down short of the green. And I pulled it a little bit trying to keep it slow, and it got left over there where that burn is, and I could have thrown the ball on the green maybe here to your patio and I made 8. I was in the grass, pretty deep, and I still feel I can get it on the green and have a 15-footer. I hit the shot, I looked up, no ball. Hands and knees, trying to find the ball, I hit it the next time, I can still see the replay of the ball coming up, hitting the grass and going backwards. I hit it the third time, I kind of half-shanked it out in front. I chipped it on and 2-putted. And when I walked through, it was raining so hard, I had made 8 and the American press was there waiting for me: "All right, D.A., designated American, way to hang in there."
I said, "Guys, did you see what happened there?"
"Oh, you made bogey that, hole is playing hard."
"Oh, I made 8."
"Oh, nice to see you." They were gone. (Laughter) Funny things can happen. Tom played a good shot. It didn't work out. If the ball would have just hung up, would he have been fine, but it went down against that collar. He played the right shot. He just didn't hit a very good putt.
STEVE DAVIS: Here is a question I think a lot of people would want to know that don't play golf. We have got four majors, the PGA Championship this week, Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, the Open. If there's one, and I know you can't get in the minds of every single player, but for a consensus of players, if there's one of those majors that a player would want to win, which one?
D.A. WEIBRING: Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. (Laughter).
STEVE DAVIS: Tiger is not here this week.
D.A. WEIBRING: Some day maybe he will be. Well, I think you've got the tradition of the Masters. You play the same golf course, you see the same shots, you remember those memories. You've got the U.S. Open, which is our National Championship, many times the most difficult venue. You've got the British Open, which is the Open Championship, considered by the world probably that one championship, and you've got the PGA of America, the PGA Championship, which really pays tribute to all of the club professionals.
I think it changes for every person, but I think they would probably lean towards the Masters, and then it's a toss-up between the U.S. Open and the British Open. The PGA would probably run fourth. It has special significance to me because I work as an assistant pro for a couple of years and kind of went through that program, but that's really a hard question to answer.

Q. Just mention Tiger, did you watch yesterday by chance?
D.A. WEIBRING: I did.

Q. Here is Tiger, he now has 70 wins, he has three to get Jack, he might tie Jack, or at least be one away by the end of this year and he has 13 to catch Sam Snead for most of all time. You talked about your eight. Harrington yesterday imploded on the 16th hole. From a player's perspective, are guys truly intimidated by playing with Tiger? Do you think Harrington slept any differently and thought about things any differently and felt any less comfortable on a three-shot lead knowing that he had to not only play against Tiger, but have Tiger in the same group?
D.A. WEIBRING: Sure he did. Absolutely.
STEVE DAVIS: He did not sleep?
D.A. WEIBRING: No, I think Paddy was probably focused on, he's made a swing change, and he was ready to kind of put it to the test. He's got a couple major championships in his pocket, too.
It's hard for us all to put in words the presence of Tiger, the accomplishment. 70 wins. He's 33? 70. He may catch Jack this year.
You know, I always tell people that to be successful on the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour, you need to have some aces in some different categories, and you can look at categories of golf, the mental side, the physical side, short game, putting, all the way across, stroke play, iron play. Tiger throws out aces in every category. There is not a category you wouldn't consider. Maybe driving accuracy, but then also his landing area is a little smaller when the ball goes 300 or 320 yards.
I was only paired with Tiger once and we played Thursday and Friday at the Byron Nelson event, and it showed me what he was all about. You've heard this said before but I saw it live. The second day I hit it over the 12th green, and had a tough little pitch and had to kind of carry it over a little roll and put some spin to it and kind of let it release to the hole and, I had a pretty good lie. Tiger didn't see that, but I played a very good shot. The ball landed, it checked, it released and went down a couple inches. The gallery responded. It was a good shot.
As I walked down, grabbed my putter from my caddie to tap it in, I felt this presence walking towards me. And I tapped it in and I looked up and it was Tiger, and his eyes were like this, big eyes. And I walked and he goes, "D.A., D.A. Can I talk to you?" He pulled me off the side of the green and goes, "When we're done, can you show Junior here how you hit that shot"?
Now, did he two things. He showed respect to an older player, which I appreciated, but also he saw something, if he can pick up a little bit extra; he wants to get better every day. That's all he wants to do. And everybody talks about all of the goals of winning, he doesn't talk about that. He talks about getting better the next day. Well, he's a great example for the youth. You see great young players come along, but he is -- they are going to show the replay of the shot he hit at Hazeltine the last time around when he hit a 3-iron out of the left bunker from 278 yards on the green. Just can't even fantasize shots like that.
But with the strength and the flexibility and the mental, you'll notice when things are going -- and they don't happen very often, but he can get a little fiery sometimes and he's been criticized for it and probably rightfully so, overreacting and banging the club or whatever. But you notice when things get real tense, he gets calmer. He doesn't react that way. He brings it all in. He calms it down and he responds. It's just remarkable.
STEVE DAVIS: I want to ask you about your off the course activity, your golf course design, voted the best golf architect. I noticed on your Web side that you said say golf course should talk to you; like field of dreams, if you build it, it will come?
D.A. WEIBRING: There's a story behind that, and I believe that's the thing in golf that when you go out and play in the evening, you have time to play a few holes and you can be by yourself and it's solitude and you look down the fairway, I think the golf course talks to you. You see a bunker on the left or you begin to get a little image of where you want to shape the shot.
STEVE DAVIS: Is that the golf course telling me to go home?
D.A. WEIBRING: Sometimes. But Chip Beck actually said that, when we built the TPC at Deer Run that hosts the John Deere Classic, it opened in 2000, we engaged the players, and wanted them to come out and drive the golf course. We were still playing across town. And Chip Beck came in, wide-eyed, positive, Mr. Enthusiastic Chip Beck and he said, "D.A., I was standing on the sixth hole and I liked out there and the golf course was just talking to me."
And that's really true. So what we try to do in our design, I've got a great partner in Steve Wolford and we have been doing it for a long time. We just finished, it was a rededication. Byron helped us start our company, he called me one day after we had built this relationship for a number of years and said, I understand you are thinking about doing something with design. And he says, let's have lunch, I have a couple ideas for you. He put a couple of guys together and became an investor in our company in 1986 and off we went.
We just renovated the TPC at Las Colinas that hosts the HP Byron Nelson Classic, and we ran into tough weather but it was -- I engaged -- I sent an e-mail to every player on the Champions Tour and the regular TOUR: Give me your feedback, we are going to pay respect to Byron Nelson, this is what meant an awful lot to him. They have raised more money in this event than any other event in the history of the PGA TOUR and give us your feedback. The golf course had slipped agronomically but from a design standpoint, simple things, what are your favorite holes, what are your least favorite holes.
And we used that momentum and thankfully the players responded very well to the course very well, it got top renovation in the country by Golf, Inc., Magazine in 2008. That was our saying thank you to Byron for everything he has done for us.
STEVE DAVIS: This Tillinghast course, what does it say to you when it talks to you?
D.A. WEIBRING: Well, it's a great piece of property. I love look at the old pictures and what it took to get the property ready. I know there was another Baltimore Country Club downtown, and they moved out here in '26; is that correct?
But the change of elevation of the golf course, is magnificent. I know there's a protection of what the golf course and the greens were done. I know the members enjoy bringing their friends out here and watch their friends putt on these greens. Probably enjoyed watching us, too. There is a great deal of contour on these greens, and with agronomic standards as they are, that's probably the challenge to keep that blend of the old and the new. But it's a wonderful setting and I'm real proud to have won that, my first, I'll say first, major championship here.
STEVE DAVIS: Byron became your mentor; if you could have that ideal foursome, three other guys, I assume you put yourself in the foursome that you would love to play with, who would it be?
D.A. WEIBRING: I would put Byron in that group. I would put my dad in that group, and my son, Matt. Just to have that environment. I'm real proud of what Matt's done, he's played five years on the Nationwide Tour and now has his first year on the PGA TOUR. He's had a turbulent ride this year and came off a knee surgery at the end of last year, and he's played very well through the middle of the year.
The one thing I guess I want to mention, I haven't played very much this year. I've had some back issues and some rib issues and I've come back and forth a little bit. But our family has dealt with a little bit of a challenge, it's been real tough on my son trying to play and my daughter and my youngest daughter, Allie, has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. There was a lump on her neck and we just discovered this in the last month. Pretty hard for a big brother and a big sister to deal with that, family and friends.
The outreach from the people on the PGA TOUR and the Champions Tour has been unbelievable. It's a big family. Every family dealings with unfortunate tragedy and disease and whatever. This yellow band I've got on my wrist is from a family member who has dealt with cancer.
The forecast and diagnosis is we got it early. She is in chemotherapy for four months and then radiation for a movement she's going to miss her first semester of her senior year. When you add those kind of things of perspective, we are going to be okay. It's been real hard for Matt. Matt played okay last week. And we have this grandbaby on the way, and the last month, to do deal with that, it's been a bright light to have that grandchild and he's happy and healthy.
So the ups and downs and grandpa not playing a lot of golf this year, I certainly wanted to come back after having a chance to win that major last year, but that has not been in the cards. But I'm hoping I can get healthy. My daughter did tell me, she has her second chemo on Tuesday when I get home tomorrow, but she said, "Dad, you are not going to sit here for four months and look at me. You have to get these ribs worked out and get back out and play."
Her strength and her character during this whole thing has been very inspirational for us in our family.
STEVE DAVIS: We wish her the best and thank you so much with everything you have going on for coming up to Baltimore.
D.A. WEIBRING: I want to say one final thing. I really appreciate the support of Baltimore Country Club and Constellation Energy. I know our players are real proud to come up here and play. It's a great venue. It's a great atmosphere. I hope the folks come out and support our event. I know economic times are challenging. But we are real proud of what happens on the PGA TOUR, the Nationwide Tour, and the Champions Tour. We are one family and we are raising more money than all the sports put together are raising, and we do that in concert with communities like this and sponsors like this, through the Pro-Am and through sponsorships, and so the money stays right here in the community. That's what we are all about, and we are fortunate that we can go play competitively along that same line. Thanks to the club and can't wait to come back here in October. Thank you very much.

Q. I just want to know, you're obviously familiar with the tournaments, not really used so much anymore, but the wall on the Champions Tour, 55 years old, you were 55 when you won this tournament last year?
D.A. WEIBRING: Yes.

Q. That said, speak to me about the concept of a performance level, obviously Tom Watson, what he did at the British Open, totally throws that out the window, but is the wall a true term, and are you happy that you got your chance before you actually got behind that wall?
D.A. WEIBRING: Well, there was relief last year. There's no doubt about it, because you don't know how many more years. We have all had certain injuries and challenges. But I felt relief to get that major under my belt. I would have been disappointed. We are asked about those kind of things a lot. Players are asked to win a Super Bowl or to win a World Championship.
There is a disappointment. All you can do is do the best you can. So on one hand, I was aware I wasn't getting any younger. But secondly, I think it's a matter of your desire, your competitiveness, and your health. I've really never heard the term "wall" before. I've heard numbers -- when I first came on the Champions Tour, I wound down a little bit between 46 and 50 because my kids were kind of primetime in high school and things they were involved with.
My oldest daughter is a professional dancer and lives in L.A. and my son Matt obviously plays, he played basketball and golf and my younger one, Allie was a dancer, as well. She hurt her back and had to give up this dance a couple of years ago. That's why this whole thing for her is pretty tough.
I knew I had to be ready when I turned 50, because I really respected, when I started paying attention to the scores being shot, and I heard that, well, yeah, they are setting the golf courses up pretty easy. I think if you saw the way the golf courses was set up here last year, it wasn't set up too easy.
There was a time I think on the Champions Tour when they encouraged lower scores and maybe the pins were more in the middle of the greens and par 5s were a little shorter. Not anymore. It probably borders a little bit the other way sometimes. But I'm certainly hoping -- I knew '50 to '57 I thought was kind of the prime number, if you can get more out of that, that much more. But then you look at Gil Morgan, Tom Kite is still playing very, very well. We have got guys, Bob Charles is, what, 73 or 72 and playing well. So I think it's a matter of how much you want it.
But there's no question, there's a glut of guys, 20-some guys turn 50 in the next couple of years. It's great for our tour. When Tom Lehman comes on, obviously Bernhard Langer has played very well and we have got Freddie Couples coming in October. I think Freddie turns after this event, doesn't he? I think Houston. His own words, he's the president -- or the captain of The Presidents Cup team, and he's getting on a plane Sunday night and flying directly to the Champions Tour event in Houston.
I think guys are looking forward to it more. Really, the only player who has not come to my knowledge to play the Champions Tour full-time has been Greg Norman. Everybody else has come to play.
Now you see, now Greg may be playing a little bit more now. I'm hoping that I've got a few more good years under my belt. But it was a relief to get that one major under my belt.

Q. Your thoughts on the change from the square grooves to the V-grooves for next year, what's that going to do and how is that going to change how players attack holes?
D.A. WEIBRING: Well, it's about 13 years too late, I would say. Back in the 80s, I can't remember the date now, but when square grooves came out, the first manufacturer that had them, I know guys that were playing that club, they were going through 12 and 13 golf balls in 18 holes. And it was amazing. We all saw it right away. What it did is it took away the reward for driving it in the fairway. If you hit it in the rough you now could hit it as hard as you wanted to hit it with no fear of a flyer, and actually, put more spin on the ball.
If you had a juicy lie in the rough, and say you're going to hit a 7-iron, whatever distance, you'd have to actually take one more club out of the rough where in the old days, you have to take maybe two clubs less and try to land it short of the green and chase it and leave it where you can get it up-and-down. Kind of like pool. You've got to leave that cue ball where you can play the next shot. Well, square grooves took that away.
We told the USGA, we told there were tests ran, there were lawsuits and whatever. But now, I do think it's a good adjustment. The manufacturers will find a different way. I mean, we are already doing testing. They are taking the bevel off the edge a little bit. I think it will be probably more in the sand wedges around the greens. I think it's a good adjustment. I think they have to look at the ball. We are playing with pretty hard balls now. Guys may have to go back to a little softer ball but we have to do something to reign it in from the golf course design standpoint, you cannot always just keep building another back tee from a distance standpoint.
So I think golf is -- and see, that's the thing, again, about Tiger. Now, Tiger has probably got a square groove sand wedge, his couple wedges, but the rest of them aren't. I went away. I actually got a set of clubs I was playing with for a while and I kept noticing them, they were not supposed to be square grooves but they were. They were kind of boxed grooves. I went away from them. I wanted to be able to have the ball jump a little bit.
So I think it will be good for a little more creativity all the way down the line.
You guys are ready to go play, aren't you. Can't blame you.
Steve, thanks for everything you've done.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297