MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 7, 1999

Billy Mayfair

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, I was thrilled to death with it. There's no doubt about that. The golf course was probably the most vulnerable it could play without any wind out there. The scores are obviously an indication of that. If the weather changes in the next few days, I think the scores will change, too. I'm thrilled to death about the way I played today. I drove it well, I chipped well, chipped it in on the 1st hole, just putted great coming down the stretch. If I can keep doing that for three more days, you never know what might happen. I chipped in on the 1st hole. Hit an 8-iron right of the green, 25 feet from the hole, uphill; a little sand wedge in there. Just chipped it right in. 5, drove it down the fairway. Hit 4-wood from about 240 just to the left-hand side of the green. Hit a little pitching wedge, chip-and-run down across the green about a foot from the hole, made that for birdie. On 6, I hit 9-iron from about 140 yards, about 20 feet above the hole, made that for birdie. 8, I bogeyed. I 3-putted from about 40 feet. Just hit it on the front edge of the green. Wind came up. Hit it 40 feet short and 3-putted there. Then on 9, I hit driver about ten feet above the hole, made that coming down the hill for eagle, which was really key. Helped me a lot after making bogey on 8, then coming right back on 9, making an eagle, getting that shot back, then plus one. Really kept my round going good. I hit a wedge in from about 120 yards on 10, about four feet from the hole, made that for birdie. 11, I pull-hooked it left of the green on the 12th tee box. Probably the worst shot I hit all day on No. 11. Hit it to about 20 feet beyond the hole, 2-putted from there for bogey. On 12 I hit a sand wedge from about 60 yards, about ten feet above the hole, made that for birdie. On 15, I went for the green in two from about 240 yards with a 3-wood, just hit it right of the green, chipped it up there about ten feet from the hole, made that for birdie. Then on 18, actually I hit 3-wood just short of the green, probably about 50 feet from the hole, but about 30 yards short of the green -- not yards, 30 feet short of the green. Putted it, used a putter down there about eight feet from the hole, made that for birdie. I played really solid. Made a lot of birdies; nine birdies, two bogeys. Both my bogeys were on the par 3's. Tomorrow, hopefully if I can make nine more birdies and play the par 3's better. Who knows. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, obviously I'd love to see the wind blow here because I've played here so many times in the Kapalua Invitational. I think I'm more -- I'm used to what the wind will do on the golf course than maybe some of these guys that never played here. I wouldn't mind seeing the wind blow harder; it all depends which direction. If the wind blows like it normally does, it makes the par 5's harder for me because I don't hit it quite as far as some of these guys do, makes it a lot longer for me. I'd like to see the wind come up a bit. The chances of us having three more days like this are slim, I think. You never know. It just always blows here, at least a little bit.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Just pretty much got ready for Christmas. The day we got back, bought the tree, decorated the house, did the whole Christmas thing. We had family in town, celebrated New Year's, then pretty much started practicing right after, that came over here.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yeah, I had about 21 days at home. I'm going to play -- I'm not going to play next week. I'm going to probably play Phoenix next and then probably not play again until the LA Open. Take a little more time off in there. I haven't done very much since Australia, that's for sure. Just getting ready for Christmas.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Actually, I'm only going to play one less than I normally do. Usually the Hope and the AT&T. The only one I'm adding, there's another tournament on the west coast this year, I'm going to skip San Diego instead of playing there. Actually, I'm only missing one more tournament. Normally, we wouldn't start the Tour until next week. Usually The Tournament Champions is the second week of January. World Match Play, everything got bumped up a week.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Right now I'm probably not going to play in the Hope. Probably the next one for me will probably be the Phoenix Open.