SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 26, 2001

Bruce Lietzke

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yeah, it is a golf course that I made it play pretty easy as well as I have drove it today but it was quite a few shots easier just from the wind and that comes from a guy that hits the ball real high. Now, a good wind player might say the course was only two or three shots easier today from lack of wind, but the high ball that I hit all the time, I struggled with the kind of winds we had yesterday. Today is the kind of day that I try to take advantage of the golf course if I can. It's still a long golf course. Probably second longest Senior course that I have played. I think the course in Minnesota might have been a little longer; not much. That plays into my strengths. It's also a golf course that keeps the driver in my hand almost all day long. That plays into my strengths. And when the wind dies down like it did today for a guy that hits the ball high all the time that plays into my strengths. If this was going to be a day this week that I was going to try and take advantage of the golf course, this was it. The forecast is for a little heavier breezes. I don't see anything I guess Sunday could be pretty breezy and I expect it to be. So this was the kind of day when I woke up and saw the conditions and not knowing where the pin placements were, but -- and then especially as well as I hit my irons, I had it inside ten feet an awful lot today and I made almost all of them. So it wasn't as easy a golf course as I made it looked. But it was just really good iron-play and a real solid day on the greens and it will be a tougher golf course tomorrow. I expect whether it is a north- or south-wind I am not sure if the golf course plays any tougher from a different wind direction, but any kind of a wind is going to make the rough come into play more. I think I only hit it one time today in the rough and I had a pretty decent lie there. But the rough comes into play when the wind blows. Greens get a little tougher to hit, a little firmer, and for me also putting in the wind is difficult. I use a long putter and I was blown a little bit off balance, just from that kind of 15 mile an hour wind we had yesterday. So as you can tell, I am not comfortable in playing in real heavy winds. I am not intimidated by it. I have won tournaments playing in the wind but it doesn't play to the strengths of my game when we have a good heavy breeze blowing like we did yesterday. Birdies came pretty quick. First was on No. 1. First putt 15 feet about four feet past, made that coming back. Then on 2 I made a putt from about five feet. No. 3 came up short of the green in two. It is a par 5, chipped up to about eight feet, made that. No. 4 was 2-putt par as well as No. 5. 6 is the par 5, I drove it into the green-side bunker in two with a 3-wood. Blasted out to six feet, made that for a birdie. No. 7 with an 8-iron -- no, pitching wedge second shot to four feet, made that for a birdie. No. 8 with an 8-iron second shot, from the left rough, might have been -- one of two fairways I missed from the left rough with an 8-iron to ten feet, made that. And No. 9, 7-iron to about 15 feet, I made that. For a 6-under front nine. Drove it into a probably the worst divot lie that I have had possibly in my entire golf career on the 10th hole. Middle of the fairway, it was a very deep divot -- it was only two inches -- I had no idea what kind of club could have created a two-inch divot, two inch wide divot. My ball was right there and I set my 7-iron down. My 7-iron is about this wide and I am trying to think how am I going to get under this ball that's already about an inch under the surface of the grass. It was the nastiest looking lie. I somehow hit a 7-iron about twelve feet from the hole to a back left pin placement. I had yet -- don't know how I did that. Probably the worst divot lie I have ever had in my life. Anyway, missed a 12-footer there for birdie to make a 2-putt par. No. 11, second shot with a pitching wedge to five feet, made that for birdie. 2-putt pars all the way around. 13 was 2-putt from about 60 feet. 2-putt pars coming around to -- oh, 13, par 5, driver, 3-wood into the left green-side bunker and bunker shot that hit the pin and stopped about a foot on the other side of the pin. It probably would have only gone about two feet past the hole. Really good bunker shot, hit the pin, could have gone in and ended up going about a foot past. Tapped that in for birdie on 14. 2-putt par on 15. And 16 and 17 all greens in regulation. I guess I don't -- I didn't miss a green in regulation today. 18 drove it into the left fairway bunker, hit a real good drive. It's not a drive that I like hitting because there's a good chance I may hit---go to the right side of the fairway or to the right fairway tomorrow. I drove it left green-side bunker today, had 209 to the front but had a really lucky uphill good lie in the bunker. Again, no wind to interfere and I have got-- I call it a utility club. It's an 18-degree driving iron, I don't know, it has lots of names .I call it that. Had a great lie, no wind to affect me. I hit it a mile high. If there had been any wind blowing I wouldn't have tried the shot. I hit it about 18 feet from the hole, middle of the green, and 2-putted for a birdie on the last hole. All greens in regulation, missed two fairways, I think it was 12 and 18 were the two fairways I missed and almost all the shots -- putts I had were inside 10, 12, 15 feet, so it was a real easy day.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I had a 62 or 63 in Vegas a couple of years ago.

BRUCE LIETZKE: At Vegas.

BRUCE LIETZKE: And I had a 62 -- My best -- I had a 62 at the Bob Hope tournament same course where Duval had 59 about three years ago. My last 63 was at Vegas.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Today?

BRUCE LIETZKE: No, I have had some other days where I have hit every fairway and hit every green. I have had a little bit better putting days. I -- obviously I had everything going today, but I have had some other days on the SENIOR TOUR. My ball hitting has been really good. First couple of weeks my putting was not good and I have putted really good since those first couple of weeks. But I probably had at least equal rounds like this where I have put it in the fairway and on the green and made all the putts. I hadn't shot any 63s but like I said, this was a golf course that just plays right into all my strengths. I am not sure if it was just how well I played but it's just a golf course that sets up great for me. Lots of good fade iron shots and I have got the driver in my hand virtually every hole and that's -- that really plays into my strengths.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I would prefer the wind not to blow but I lived in Oklahoma for ten years and I know that God only gives us a few calm days here in this state. I expect -- there's a little bit -- maybe another little front coming from the north and Sunday maybe the wind, southwind blows just a little bit, but we will take whatever we get. We enjoyed some great weather here and a little bit of wind will be okay.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I struggled with the wind, didn't miss a lot of fairways, missed two or three. For some reason I found -- I might have had my first senior moment, I was very distracted yesterday for some reason. I was standing over tee shots and hearing birds or hearing things and standing over putts and realizing as I was getting ready to hit my putt that I really hadn't lined this putt up very good. That happened an awful lot yesterday. For whatever reason I was pretty distracted yesterday. My swing felt fine. I had a full pullover windbreaker yesterday, but I don't really think that interfered with my swing and my putting touch and all that, that's fine. I just found myself very distracted all day. Hitting shots, putting, I birdied the last two holes just to shoot a 71. I was under par early. Bogeyed the second hole of the day. Made a couple of 40-footers during the day. I mean, it was -- I was going the wrong direction for a while and then birdied the last two holes just to shoot a 71. And today was totally different. I was locked in with shots -- a couple of shots on the back nine where I lost a little bit of focus. My tee shot on the par 3, 14th hole -- 15th hole, and a couple of putts where I didn't really get focused but, boy, the rest of the time, especially the front nine I was locked in every shot and maybe like I said, the shot on 10, trying to hit the shot from out of the divot all that, you don't get focused when you have got a distracting element to your shot like that. But even on the back nine for the most part I stayed real focused and kept it together even though there were a couple of little distraction that's kind of through me off a little bit object the back nine.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yeah, I think the Tour players, the former Tour players probably have an advantage just because we're used to that, definitely. It's a little different frame of mind and I have had to change my frame of mind a little bit playing 54-hole tournaments as opposed to 72. So, yeah, a lot less adapting to this four-day format for guys that, at least, had played the Tour within the last few years. Guys that have taken a ten or fifteen-year break probably don't remember what a four-day workweek feels like. But I have played enough in the last few years to know that's the frame of mind you always have to be in. And this has been a pretty easy transition to do this four-day tournament.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Oh yeah. I have kind of learned to shut those -- shooting 59s never been a realistic goal of mine, so I do not ever get very far ahead of myself and for the most part today I just kept thinking, boy, this is the kind of day that I have to, a couple of times after I was thinking like a football coach where you have got that automatic field goal or do you go for the touchdown. I kept kicking field goals because those points at the end of the game can be pretty important and this is the kind of day that I have to take advantage of it. So didn't play any reckless shots, but I took advantage of it to get those -- get my score down as low as I can because if we do get a heavy wind going to need those birdies as a little bit of collateral for some weekend play if the wind really blows.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yeah, I feel real comfortable. And it was -- I -- I only played two Tour events this year. I played Bob Hope in February and Colonial in May. That was my preparation for turning 50 and going on the SENIOR TOUR, so, and I was just rusty mentally. Physically I was ready to play and came to Chicago my first event and physically I was ready to play. Mentally I just wasn't turning it tough. I had not played enough this year. I think I only -- I didn't play any fall tournaments last year, so, I was just mentally rusty and that left pretty quick. I finished 24th at Chicago and finished 9th the next week at Baltimore and after that I was ready to play and I guess I won my next tournament. I took a week off then came back and won the Minnesota tournament. It's all kind of stayed together since then mentally. That's pretty much the whole key for Senior golf as it is for the regular Tour I have found that for me and I believe it's true for all Tour players that it's just the mental toughness. That's why Nicklaus was the greatest player ever, he wasn't the greatest ball-striker. He wasn't the greatest putter, he just owned a more mental toughness than the rest of us, and wasn't intimidated by certain pressured situations and Tiger obviously is showing us the same mental toughness. Now he possesses some unbelievable talents too. He may be the best putter. He probably is the best putter I have ever seen but he's breaking all kinds of rules. In the past Nicklaus and the guys that have all separated themselves into greatness, were just great mental -- had great strategies, knew how to handle pressure and SENIOR TOUR golf is no different than that. If I am not mentally fresh going to a golf tournament my swing is going to be exactly like it was and if I play bad it's because I am making stupid mistakes and I am not hanging in there mentally. And that's one of the reasons I have taken weeks off at a time. That's how I charge my batteries up through all the years is just getting away from the game, don't touch a club and mentally when I come back I am ready to play in whatever tournament I am in. That's my key. I really believe it's the key of all professional golfers. I's the one you see finishing Top-10 all the time. The ones that play themselves into the ground are doing it the wrong way and they mentally just drive themselves into bad golf. I think you can kind of stretch your career out a little bit more if you just play a little less, practice a little less, and work on the mental side. I could have written a book on that (laughter).