THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2001

Billy Mayfair

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, obviously I think after a 7:30 tee time except for it being a little bit cold out there, the golf course was probably playing pretty benign, if you want to call it that. The greens are getting really firm. They are still fast. Somebody asked me are they really rolling to be about an 11, and they are rolling to be an 11, but it's a different type of 11 than what we normally have here. Usually, they are so firm and fast. This year, they are still kind of soft and fast. So, I mean, you can still hit good shots in there. If you are in the fairway, you can hit good shots in there pretty close, and then the speed of the greens are still very, very, very quick. But I think as the week will go along, and even into this afternoon, you will see the greens start getting firmer and firmer. And playing tomorrow afternoon at 12:20, I have to be much more aware of the greens being firmer than they were probably this morning.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, I've played real, real well this year. I've only missed one cut this year and that was last week at the Bay Hill Classic and kind of got on the short end of the tee times there a little bit with the wind and all. I've played really good this year. I've played solid and had a lot of good rounds. I just haven't -- I've had one Top-10, a couple Top-15s, I believe, and all that. So I'm playing good and solid rounds and just haven't played -- putted well enough to really get up there and contend. But, you know, I've tried to forget last week as fast as I could and to get here and watch it rain for a few days. And maybe that did me some good, relaxing and playing with my son, Max, and just doing all of that stuff. But I feel really confident. I've worked hard on my short game and my putting during the off-season. Dr. Rotella and I, my sports psychologist have been working a lot, preparing for golf courses that are tough with high rough and all that, to stay in the present and hit good shots around the greens.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't think I tried anything new. I had some back problems last year. I hurt my back at the U.S. Open. Tore some fibers in the L5 disk. It did not keep me out for the year, but there wasn't -- probably not a day that didn't go by that I was not aware of it. During the off-season, I started a weight program back down in Phoenix with a trainer down at ASU. And we have been working hard, you know, during the off-season and trying to get into better shape. So, I guess if I tried anything new, I've been probably getting in more physical condition. I don't know if I can say I've been doing it as severe as some of these guys out here have. Some of these guys are really going into tip-top shape, but I have really tried to really maintain a balance and really getting my back as strong as I positively can for the wear and tear of three or four weeks in a row on TOUR.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Not really.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't really worry about the past. I tied for 17th here last year and played pretty well. You know, I just have -- just funny how things work I guess. I think sometimes I put too much pressure on myself because it's such a big tournament and really the first big tournament of the year for all of us and all that. I don't know, I just try to go out and play just like any other tournament and approach it the same way. You know, you really don't worry about what you have done here in the past. I think the thing you remember most probably about the past is shots that you've hit out there, 17 and 18 and those holes coming in down the stretch you remember a little bit, but I don't really think you worry about, "Oh, I have not played good here in two years and I haven't played good three years and all that." If you like the place and you like coming back every year, you forget about all of that stuff.

BILLY MAYFAIR: You know, I don't know. I've definitely been that way. I guess if there's been a reason, probably because of my putting and my short game. I consider myself a pretty good putter and short game around the greens. And some years I'm really hot and other years I am not. I'm not a huge ball-striker. My distance off the tee is very average on TOUR and into the greens and all that. I think the years I play really well, I usually putt and chip real good my off years, I just have not putted quite as well. I guess that would be my only rhyme and reason. I wish I could say I was in the Top-30 every year, and obviously that's the goal that I think we all work towards and all that. But, you know, as long as I can get hot every once in awhile, I don't mind it.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I missed the fairway off of No. 10 and I just pitched it back out in the fairway. Other than that, I really didn't hit it in the high stuff. I hit in two fairway bunkers and obviously was able to advance it out of there. If there was any sight of water in front of you out of the rough, more than likely, you're laying up. I know Hal Sutton hit it out of the rough on 18. He must have had a good lie, but the ball just came out funny and spun, and he actually got in more trouble pitching out of those mounds on the right than if he had pitched it back out. Strange thing is, normally when the rough is that high at a major championship at a U.S. Open or something like that, usually we have beaten the rough down pretty good. And by the weather being the way it has the last few days, we have not gotten out there it beat that rough down. It's standing straight up and it's really, really thick and wet right now.

BILLY MAYFAIR: The fairways -- the golf course overall is in amazing shape for all of the rain that we've had. The fairways on the front side are maybe a little more wet than maybe the fairways on the back. I think No. 4 fairway and No. 7 fairway are probably the two worst fairways out there, just because it is kind of low right in there. But overall, I think the golf course is in great shape for what we had Sunday and Monday here.

BILLY MAYFAIR: It was kind of -- the rumor kind of got out a couple weeks ago from Vijay, Fred Funk and a couple of guys that live here that the rough was really going to be high here. I guess the only thing I was surprised about was how close the rough was to the edges of the greens. I can go out and count off a few spots where it -- probably six to eight feet, they have gotten that rough in closer to the green. And I think you're going to see a lot more of a U.S. Open type of flop shots and pitch shots out of the high rough, instead of little bump-and-run shots that we normally would play here. Fortunately, today when I did miss a green, I was only in the high stuff once, and barely got that on the green, as it was. You know, it also depends a lot where you miss it, but I've never seen the rough as close to the greens as it is this year.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Exactly. Exactly. I think that that -- like at Augusta National or other years here when you see guys really hit shots on the green, it all kind of hits and bounds right over the green. I don't think you see that as much today. I think the greens are kind of still pretty soft. You'll see a big pitch mark and the ball might release a little bit, but once you get the ball rolling on the green, the greens are definitely quick.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, I think on the condition of the golf course, with the high rough, the fast greens and just overall how difficult this golf course is. I mean, if we had to play a golf course this difficult every week on the PGA TOUR, you know, there would be a lot of guys retiring of heart failure at the age of 40, probably. But that's just a credit to how tough the golf course is and how much respect we do need to give it. You know, I think -- you know will 4-under stay in first place after today? I doubt it. Somebody will probably get in at 5 or 6 (-under) would probably be a good round number. But it's just hard to make a lot of putts on this golf course, than compared to, let's say, a Bob Hope or like how Mark did at the Phoenix Open. You can get the ball rolling and make everything in sight. You just can't quite do that here. There's just not quite enough room and the greens are too severe.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't think so. If you can see the ball, I guess you're in the second cut. If you don't see it you know you are in the deep stuff.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Absolutely. Absolutely. You tried to trick me there, I know, but obviously, getting married at TPC down there at Dallas to my wife, Tammy, was obviously the greatest moment, and even if I win here this week, it won't compare.