THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 28, 1997

Tommy Tolles

TOMMY TOLLES: I was thinking about that on the way here, and I decided that I'd probably give a little over $300,000 to have that finish last year.

TOMMY TOLLES: Got off to another notorious start. Birdied the second hole, then followed it up with a couple of bogeys - getting pretty good at that - and did a couple of times yesterday, started off with two bogeys. And, the Honda, I started off 2-over after 5 on the Friday. It just seems like a pattern starting to develop. I am playing catch-up golf the last two, three weeks. And, I think that is the mental side of the game, starting to catch up with me a little bit. I am not prepared when I go to the first hole and either psyching myself up too much or psyching myself out. I haven't figured it out yet.

TOMMY TOLLES: Yeah, I made my two birdies on the front side were on the second hole; got it up-and-down from the green-side grass bunker. And, on 8, I hit 4-iron about 5 feet.

TOMMY TOLLES: Three feet. On the backside, 12 --

TOMMY TOLLES: 4-iron about 5 feet. Birdie on 12. I think you are going to see a lot of 3s there today. The pin is kind of a funnel in the front of the green. If you hit anything a little bit long will come back to the hole. I hit it about 6 feet behind the hole. Almost every putt is fairly straight coming down the slope. Pitching wedge.

TOMMY TOLLES: Yeah, hit probably best tee shot I have hit, in the last month or so, right out of the screws. Had 224 to the hole; played a safe 2-iron shot to the left side of the green and kind of veered off the slope a little bit; ended up about 20 feet. And, I think it was 13, 14 and 15 had great birdie opportunities - didn't even sniff them. And, I was kind of surprised to see the putt go in on 16. Kind of got me charged a little bit. I was hoping on 17, 18, I could bring one more home to the house. 17, I hit a good hard pitching wedge right about 10, 12 feet short right of the hole straight-in putt. Then on 18, I hit kind of a weak tee shot, but fairway is the most important thing there. And, then I had 180 yards with a pretty good breeze behind me. Hit 8-iron to the right, playing safe. The ball veered off one of the typical TPC slopes; ended up probably 12 feet, then, you know, just make those last three putts got me all charged up, ready for the weekends.

TOMMY TOLLES: Third hole, I came out of 8-iron, probably had the wrong club. Probably could have used a 7. Hit it past the hole there a little. Hit a poor chip and an even worse putt. Poor putt was probably about 5 or 6 feet. Then, my bogey on 4 was really bad error in judgment. I hit the ball long and right which Davis was talking about, these pins that you have to fire at that you don't want to. And, that is one I tried to aim at the slope instead of the pin. And instead of aiming at the pin using the slope for a bailout, I aimed at the slope and then bailed out even more, so I got my ball on the wrong tier. Instead of making sure I got it down below, I actually left it short. I had a 20-footer, only hit it about 6 feet. Couldn't help but get my next one down there. Kind of a lazy 3-putt.

TOMMY TOLLES: It has been downwind the last two days. But, you know, with the pin in the front, that is probably the easiest pin. You can either land it short, keep it there, or you can land it beyond and bring it back. Today's pin is a little bit harder, if it lands up on top, you better have some height on the shot. If it lands low, if it is coming in low, good chance it might skip over the back of the green. Downwind, all holes are easier than what they normally play in. As soon as -- I am sure the wind either will either switch south or north more, whichever direction it is, it will bring us to our knees, I am sure.

TOMMY TOLLES: Over the last ten years, I am just basically learning of and from myself; make the same mistakes over and over again but I am not a total idiot. I learned if I make a mistake once or twice, I don't do that anymore. There is times when I decided to become a glutton for punishment, but I will only go so far before I will bend over backwards to change. And, another thing is I am not afraid to change. Over the last four, five years, I have probably gone through five or 600 golf swings, even more putting strokes. I know if something works - and there is always things that you go back to that do work - but we all forget them. And, I will always go back to what I know what works. But, I am always willing to change it at the same time to see if there is something better.

TOMMY TOLLES: Seems to be a popular question. I had a long drive -- actually, a short drive from here to Waycross since I played in Paul Azinger's Pro Am. It seemed like that drive was about 12 hours long. I was thinking I was actually more disappointed on the front 9 than I was on the back 9. Back 9 I believe I shot 1-over par. Front 9, I played really solid. I had five or six -- maybe even seven potential birdie opportunities that I think I only, you know, made one. So, I mean, the front side -- obviously, all of a sudden, things aren't coming together. And, the backside I became very cautious. The second side was the back 9, I could basically, you know, say, well, that is due to experience. I didn't keep up the aggressive state. But, the front 9, that was more of a self-doubt creeping in. I think even when I was over the putts, I was worried about don't hit them 3, 4 feet by because you might miss them coming back and instead of thinking get them in the cup. That was, by far, the biggest check I have made in my career, probably my top career money. But, at the same time, you know, I had an opportunity -- I had one hand on the ball, 10-year exemption, $630,000, and I just let it go by the wayside.

TOMMY TOLLES: Every course suits a long hitter and a guy who hits it in the fairway and is a good putter. I think he nailed it right on the head, you have to aim away from certain pins, and you have to aim at others. 16, regardless of where the pin is, you still have to hit the ball on the left side. If the pin is on the back right tier back there, you just can't fire a 3-wood, or 2-iron on it because if you aim a little bit to the right, it is just as good as gone. You have to aim every shot to the left side. Then, there is other holes like that, like No. 8, 220-yard par 3 ball has to land on the front half of the green. You can't fire it all the way back to the pin or else it will go all the way right over the back. On the 4th hole, the pin is all the way down at the bottom. You have to aim the pin there. You can't leave yourself a putt from the top. It is too tough of a putt. You can 2-putt it 80% of the time, but making it, you're only going to make 2% of them. That is as good as analysis as you can make.