DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 7, 1998

Billy Mayfair

BILLY MAYFAIR: No, they're home. They'll be out to Florida on Monday night, though.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Obviously I went out today and did exactly what I wanted to do. I woke up this morning and saw the wind was blowing and blowing hard, I felt if you get a good round in and get it posted, you'll have a great chance on Sunday. Making the birdie putt on the last hole got me to 6, and the leaders still have to get in on those few last holes. But I definitely put myself in the position I want to be in going into tomorrow.

BILLY MAYFAIR: It's probably real difficult. I think it's playing even harder than it was last year on Sunday, the wind was blowing so hard. It seems to be really gusting, and I don't think we're quite sure which direction it's going in. I think every shot off the first tee and coming into 18 you're not sure where the wind is blowing, but you know it's into you, so you've got to be really careful with it. Got off to a good start, I birdied the first two holes, and I bogeyed 3, but just key on putting it in the fairway, and I made a nice birdie on 8, a par-5. The backside, I drove it over the green on the bunker on 10 and short of the green and the bunker on 12, and I didn't get those up-and-down for birdies. It would have really been a good day if I made those. The high point is obviously the start I got and the birdie on 18. I don't think there's going to be too many of those out there today.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Drove it down the right-hand side of the fairway, had about 212, and hit a 2-iron and kept it under the wind and got it back about 15 feet pin-high and made that for birdie.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yeah, I'd be a little surprised. But I think I probably would be within two or three shots of the lead, for sure. I really haven't looked at the board all that closely.

BILLY MAYFAIR: The last three or four holes out there are going to be playing tough, and the greens are getting harder and crustier.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I had 156 yards and hit a 9-iron. Yesterday I hit 6-iron in there, that was the lowest club I hit into that green, and today I hit a 9-iron, the wind was blowing that much harder.

BILLY MAYFAIR: 18, what I hit into it? I hit 2-iron in.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I'd say about 15 feet. Yesterday I hit 3-iron in on 18.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Coming in, that's Doral, that's the Blue Monster.

BILLY MAYFAIR: On 18 we played here in the Pro Am that night and finished 18 with no wind I hit driver, 9-iron, and the tee was back another 20 yards from where it is set up right now. So that tells you how long the hole is playing.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Obviously it gives me a great deal of confidence. I'm very relaxed and very sure of myself. I'm putting good. I feel right now and told my wife and friends at home, I feel I'm putting better this week than I actually did last week. Obviously the greens are a little bit different speed-wise and all that, but the putter really feels good in my hands right now, and I'm just trying to stay out of the way.

BILLY MAYFAIR: There's no opening. If it's a downwind hole and the pin is up front, it's almost impossible to get it close. I think you're going to see that on 15, the par-3. It's going to be hard to get it close, even though the wind is blowing sideways, and the pin is up front there. Coming in on 16, 17, 18, they've got some hard pins, and I'll have to see how they finish this afternoon.

BILLY MAYFAIR: No, I don't think so. I think the hardest thing about No. 3, is the guys were having a hard time getting in the bunker, I think they're probably making just as many fives, but probably easier fives than on 18. I think 18 by nature has got to be the hardest on the golf course.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Mainly yesterday -- at least yesterday morning when I played it and today it's been pretty hairy. The first day I hit a 5-iron in on my second shot. Yesterday during the telecast they were hitting 7-irons and 6 irons. Yesterday Nick Price didn't even get it over the water, that's how hard the wind was blowing. Definitely died down yesterday afternoon. If the wind is blowing at all into your face on 18, it's a hard hole.

BILLY MAYFAIR: That's exactly why. My wife -- this is the first time we're not going to go back to Arizona after Doral. We're not going to play Honda, it's the first time we've decided to stay in Florida, we're camping out in Tampa Bay. We're going to fly the dogs out and have a relaxing week.

BILLY MAYFAIR: A lot of rest, and probably a lot of beach time. Probably some tennis, too, for Tammie, Tammie will play a lot of tennis, I'll probably play a little bit but not much. Then I'll play Bay Hill and THE PLAYERS Championship.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yeah, I'll probably skip New Orleans.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't know, we haven't talked about that. We did it before, but I don't think we're going to this year, no.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't know, I don't know if there's a big difference. The more times you get to play that golf course, and especially in the competition the more familiar with it, the more familiar with the pin placements you are. I haven't been there for two years, and I may not know quite where all the pins are going to be and all the subtleties, I have to go see the golf course before the tournament starts. I think playing every year you become familiar with it.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I think it was even before they gave me a trophy.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Very important for me, yes. For me, for Tammie and it's the biggest tournament of the year by far, and it's the one we'd love to win the most.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I think out here on Tour I think everybody gears around The Masters. I think you see more guys preparing for The Masters than they do any of the other four majors.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Prestige. It would be a great place to win and the history of it. It's just -- of all the four majors I think that's the biggest one to win.

BILLY MAYFAIR: No, I hope not. I think the biggest thing when you get to Augusta is you want to be hitting putts solid, because you can get the speed down real quick. In Augusta, making a lot of putts is very helpful, as it is in any other golf course.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I think you've got to have in the back of your mind which way is the wind blowing. It definitely influences the ball, the way it's rolling. Obviously if you're putting downwind the putt is going to be faster, if you're putting into the wind it's going to be slower than normal. Plus the grass is kind of growing a little longer, even some of the putts I had coming in, I left them short, because the speed wasn't enough. You've got to have a good mindset, especially the long putts, because the wind will be -- will affect the ball on the putting green. And I'm looking at the wind right now, and you look at that fountain out there, and it's being brushed over right now, that wind is whipping out there, boy. So they're going to have a hard time coming in. I'm glad I'm in. (Laughter.) No doubt about that.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't have the Ping driver yet in my bag, I've been testing it and hitting different ones, but I've still got the Callaway in my bag, until Ping gets me one I like, I'll stay with that.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I'll probably have a Callaway with me at Augusta, yeah.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I think hitting the ball a long way at Augusta is a big advantage. It's a huge advantage on the par-5s. Look at Tiger, hitting wedges, 9 irons and 8-irons on par-5s. That's a huge advantage. To me the biggest key about playing Augusta is placing the ball on the right spot on the green, so that you can have putts you can try to make, instead of trying to lag and get them close.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yes, obviously it is.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yeah, but I think the accuracy of driving at Augusta is probably the least of the four majors, because there is no rough. And if you do miss the fairway you usually have a pretty good lie, a perfect lie, in fact, and can still play. If you miss the fairway at a U.S. Open or PGA, you know, you're usually pitching out. You have no chance.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yeah, I have sometimes. You're standing out there on 13 fairway or 15 fairway and you can't help but grab the club and try to fire at the pin. You've watched it so many years on TV, and you've been there a few times, you've got to go for it.

BILLY MAYFAIR: It's a gamble, but that's half the fun of the golf tournament. That's why people tune in on Sunday to watch, because it's an exciting finishing golf course.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, you've got 17 -- 16, 17 and 18 are really into the wind and you've got 8 and 9 are really gusting into the wind, but on the other hand you've got 10 downwind, which is hard to stop the ball on the green. There's four there --

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yes, especially coming down the stretch.

BILLY MAYFAIR: If they do, they've played real well.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I hit a 9-iron about 15 feet right to the hole and 2-putted there. 2, I hit a wedge in from about 150 yards, about 20 feet short of the hole, and made that. Actually on 8 I hit a real good drive, and I don't know if it caught the edge of the bunker, but I only had 220 yards, and knocked it in the left bunker up by the green, and maybe had about a 40, 50 yard sand shot, hit it in there about 6 feet from the hole and made that for birdie. Then I birdied 16, the par-4, I hit an 8-iron in there from about 150 yards. It was into the wind there, knocked in there about, oh, I'd say about 6, 7 feet and made that for birdie.

BILLY MAYFAIR: The bogey on 3, I drove it in the left bunker and the ball kind of ran through the bunker on the downslope. I didn't have much of a shot I pitched it back into the fairway and knocked it on the back edge about 30 feet and 2-putted there for the bogey.

BILLY MAYFAIR: 2-iron.

BILLY MAYFAIR: 212.