MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 7, 1999

Ted Tryba

TED TRYBA: Today was a really tough day. I didn't expect to come up here and play in 50 degree weather or 40 degree weather, whatever it was. With the wind chill blowing, I hit a 2-iron into 2, didn't even hit the green. But the conditions were tough. It was blowing a little bit, and you have a lot of clothing on, and it makes it tough to be free out there and play the way you want to, so you have to get by. And I was shocked that it was just good enough.

TED TRYBA: Right. I would say that, yeah.

TED TRYBA: I've played here every year, so it's eight years.

TED TRYBA: I like it like that. I like it nice and hot here.

TED TRYBA: Well, I think when it gets that hot, the harder you hit the ball the more you're going to get out of it. I think you can judge your distances better. The humidity keeps the ball up in the air longer, it's a combination of things that you can work across a lot more different distances, it makes it much better. And if it's that hot the wind is usually not blowing that much. It makes it easier to keep the ball in line.

TED TRYBA: It will be a difficult week. I would venture to say if a guy shot 10-under you would win, with the conditions being what they are. Guys in the afternoon will have it much easier than we did in the morning. And the only thing we can hope for is tomorrow morning it's just as cold and windy as it was this morning.

TED TRYBA: Good for them (laughter.)

TED TRYBA: I bogeyed the second hole. I birdied the 3rd. I laid the ball up on the par-5, I hit a pitching wedge in there about five feet and made that. And I birdied the 7th hole. I hit a 6-iron in there just pin-high, just right of the green, chipped it up a foot and made that. And then I birdied the 11th hole. I drove it in the fairway, I hit an 8-iron just short of the green, the pin is really close there. I drew a real good lie off the fringe, and I chipped it. It was one of those shots you're going to get once a week where you have an opportunity to chip the ball in, where all you have to do is get it on the green and it releases perfectly into the hole. I was lucky enough to make that.

TED TRYBA: About 8 feet. And then I birdied the 18th hole, I hit a 3-iron in there, 15 feet and made it.

TED TRYBA: 210 yards up the hill, that was the best shot I hit all day.

TED TRYBA: Just as I drove down the first hole. Looking at the second shot on the first hole, I figured you're not going to have to shoot that low today to have a good score. I've never hit a driver off that tee. I knew it was going to be a tough day.

TED TRYBA: It's been pretty good to me. I've been pretty good to the year, too. I just keep putting up numbers, and not saying I'm playing better than anyone else, I just keep shooting scores and those scores keep adding up, and I keep finishing pretty well, it makes it kind of nice. I got rolling and just got going, and you keep adding them up, and say if I get this one I know I can get the next two, and then you keep going and keep plugging, and you add them up and 29, and maybe a chance at 28, and I don't know, I hope it continues.

TED TRYBA: I do some really weird things at home, I'm really surprised. I play with my buddies all the time and give them a shot a hole. One time I played (inaudible) at Cypress. I birdied the 3rd hole and birdied the 8th hole and the 9th hole. I made the tournament and birdied 1 through 7. I lipped it out on 8 and he looked at me and said, what's wrong, he was laughing at me. And I kept hitting in it in there so close. I don't know why, I just do stuff like that.

TED TRYBA: I think so. I felt it a little bit in the cold weather. But I think I'm pretty much a hundred percent right now, no excuses, no complaints. The injury was a tough thing to get over, a tough thing -- I never had anything that took that long to really try to overcome. So the patience paid off.

TED TRYBA: I don't play as much when I'm home, but I try to play -- I like to play. I like to go out evenings and play by myself or with a buddy of mine and just play nine holes in an hour or something like that, just really easy. I like to do a lot of stuff and just hit balls by myself. I like to do a lot of things pretty much by myself. I still enjoy it. I still enjoy going out there and doing things when nobody else is around. I guess it's like a solitude kind of thing. I guess I continue to always go to that little -- I go to that little spot where I feel comfortable in practicing, you know what I mean?

TED TRYBA: Yeah.

TED TRYBA: The course plays totally different. It's the same layout, but the way it plays is totally different. It seems if you came here and played in the summertime and you were hitting it good, you have no choice but to shoot good scores. But the way it plays now, you have to keep the ball into the fairway, you could push it into the rough, the greens are so soft, but now you're seeing a lot of the shots more hit and release and run over the green quite a good distance, and chipping the ball is much more difficult now, because the ball releases more. Back then you just hit a good chip, you flop it near the hole and the greens are so slow because of the temperature and the moisture. It played a lot easier then. But now you really have to use your head and think well. The ball doesn't fly as far, but I think the course played in effect a little longer, I think it does.

TED TRYBA: Yeah, I think that -- I struggled a little early when they changed the conditions, because I think I came out with my same aggressive attitude, that I was going to come out and hit good shots and score, that wasn't the case. I think this year -- I told myself that I'm going to have to be more patient and I'm going to have to play for pars and just accept pars and work your birdies and back off a lot, because going to those par-5s, I can remember the last round, Jim Carter hit a driver off the fairway on 15. My 3-wood held the green and his driver held the green, second shot. And heck, I hit a 3-iron today and it hit the front and just cruised way over the green. It plays a lot different. You can't -- the aggressive player kind of gets burned here a lot more.

TED TRYBA: It's different because it's drier, and it's thicker in the summer. And your lies are more consistent. Now you can get a good lie; but you get a junker lie, the grass is thinner, you get a lot more variety of lies. Whereas before you were in the rough, thick, chop it out, flop it out or whatever, and it was always basically the same lie all the time. So your decision making becomes a little more difficult now because of the variety of lies that you're going to get. The ground is much firmer, and it bounces a lot more, so you have to be real careful.

TED TRYBA: I still have him.

TED TRYBA: Norm Blount, best defensive back in Richmond history, best athlete in Richmond, he told me that.

TED TRYBA: I may have to.