BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 17, 1998

Bruce Lietzke

BRUCE LIETZKE: Happy to do it.

BRUCE LIETZKE: The first thought about today's round was provided by my brother, who is caddying for me this week and most of the year. He told me I had 21 putts for the day, so that will pretty much tell you how my day went. But, it really wasn't like I made -- in fact, as I go over the round, I will have to come up with it. I didn't make a putt over probably 15 or 16 feet. I didn't make any open greens, but I hit it really, really close a lot today. Made several 2- and 3-foot birdie putts. I think, according to him, and as I go through the round, I will probably be able to summarize it for you. But, I had three, 2-putts for the day. One of those was a 2-putt for a par 5 on my 15th hole today. So, 21 putts. The greens I hit - I was hitting it close all day. Real close. I did miss a few greens, and my chipping was pretty good, and I put it in there 3, 4, 5 feet and made all those putts. Putted the fringe a couple of times, which doesn't count as a real putt so, as I said, 62, obviously, you are going to do lots of things right. But with 21 putts for the day, that was the real key. Just missing nothing in the short range and not making any 50-footers, but just making all the putts that I had to and making all the putts that I hit the ball in close with my irons. My iron-play was real, real strong today. I drove the ball fairly good. Didn't drive it as good today as I have couple previous days, but my irons were very sharp today and chipping and putting was real good too. And got into a real good streak of holes. Teed-off on the back 9, and I birdied the 11th hole, which was my second hole. Parred 12. And, then I birdied 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. And, I was very aware of five birdies in a row. I know that the Tour record is eight in a row. And the 18th hole is a par 5, so I was -- I knew I had a real good chance of having at least six birdies in a row and maybe extending that. So, on the 18th hole, I drove it into the fairway bunker -- didn't hit a good drive, couldn't go for the green in two, so laid that with a 5-iron out of the fairway bunker, but still thinking about those six birdies immediately, and possibly eight in a row. And, I hit an 8-iron, very tough pin placement for me that hit the flag -- and I promise you, if it hit the flag on the fly, and if it doesn't touch the flag, it would have been within three or four feet, possibly even closer -- hits the flag and goes off the green and almost into the water. I was really pretty lucky. I had to kind of putt through some heavy fringe and ran it about five feet past and made that putt coming back, just for what would appear to be maybe a lucky par. But, had a real good chance to continue my streak of birdies and a little unfortunate luck there. I didn't suffer from very much bad luck today, but I did have a little bad luck on 18. And as it turns out, fortunately, I didn't lose a stroke. The front 9, which was my back 9, I played very steadily. Didn't miss very many opportunities. The makeable putts that I had I made. And I missed a couple of greens on that back 9, on my back 9, and chipped-up closely and made all the short par putts that I had to. But that first 9 that I played, the back 9 at PGA West, was very exciting. I really had a chance to extend a long streak of birdies. And, that flag stick at 18 kind of punished me a little bit.

BRUCE LIETZKE: It hit the stick and not very far. It looked like it hit about two feet up. The ball would have gone about a foot past the hole, and it was a nice crisp 8-iron. I really believed it would have been four feet, for sure. Could have been one of those that spun back, but it hit the flag -- excuse me, the stick itself. And ricocheted left towards the water, and I was probably only three or four feet from being in the water. And I was right up against the heavy fringe and didn't have -- I was probably only 20, 22 feet from the hole, but really pretty happy just to get a 2-putt from that fringe area.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Somebody gave me one in 1991 at the Phoenix Open, which was the first tournament of 1991- or it was my first tournament, and I took it back to the place where I was staying. And, I think I putted with it on the carpet for ten minutes for a couple of days. I carried it with me. I was out on the road for two or three weeks. I think I brought it to Tucson; didn't play any tournament golf. And all I can remember is the first time I had officially used it was in the Hawaiian Open, which was about my fourth or fifth tournament. So I practiced with it for -- and I say "Practiced." I didn't do a whole lot of practicing, but I experimented with it for four, five, maybe six weeks. Then I can remember the Hawaiian Open was the first time that I officially used it, and I haven't used anything other than that putter since then. So once I went to it, I have stayed with it. A couple of guys have gone back, Vijay Singh putts with a short putter again now, and Rocco, back and forth. But I have stayed with the long putter since '91.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I can talk about it. I don't think I can probably convey my emotions. Welcome to the Bob Hope Desert Classic - low scores are the norm here. And, under these kind of conditions, and just about every year I have played here - which is almost every year - these are the kinds of conditions we play in. And, when each of us wakes up in the morning, you expect to make 5, 6, 7 birdies and you -- hopefully you don't offset those with bogeys. And when you get a hot hand, which I had today, then those scores go even lower. But, there will be low scores tomorrow. If the conditions are the same, I can't -- and they always say that it is real hard to follow a real, real low round. I didn't -- I decided I didn't want to, you know, spook myself and go ahead and shoot 68, just so I can play tomorrow, I said I might -- I am not that superstitious. Anyway, I am going to have to shoot real low numbers tomorrow. Andrew still has some holes to play. I may not be leading. I may be leading. There are guys behind us, and the potential to shoot 62 or 63 is right here at this golf course, I believe. For me, this golf course plays easier than any of the other ones, for me, for my particular game. And, I expect it does for a lot of players. And, you have to go out and shoot low. That is just the way the Bob Hope tournament is. You kind of just gear yourself for making birdies. You don't think about -- in my case, I did. I thought about how many birdies I was making in a row today, but I really kind of semi lost track of how many I was for the day after that streak broke up; you are just playing the hole that you are standing on. And, part way through the round, I started adding up some birdies and figured out how I stood. There were no leaderboards on the golf course that I played, or none that I can see. I didn't know how I stood as far as the tournament leaders stood. But I just knew I was having a good day, and I wanted to continue. And I knew I still had birdie holes ahead. As many birdies as you get, you still know that you have got birdie holes ahead. That is what it is like playing in the Bob Hope tournament. Just because you just made a birdie, you don't get excited because you figured just about everybody else did too.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Don't know. Just have a better record here. The year I had won the Bob Hope tournament, this was the home course. I can just -- my memory fails me on all the rounds that I have had here. I just remember more real good rounds here. That is the first real good round that I have had at PGA West at the Palmer course. I have never shot real low at La Quinta, I can remember, maybe 3- or 4-under the best there. Indian Wells kind of gives and takes sometimes. I have had some 72s and 73s at Indian Wells. If you are not driving the ball good -- I just remember this golf course fitting my game and probably the positive thoughts come from winning here in 1981, and this being the home course?

BRUCE LIETZKE: No, it is not true that I don't like to practice. It doesn't do me any good to practice. My game doesn't improve from practice. And, I tested that my first few years on Tour. I used to take -- I used to play four, five weeks in a row - which is probably what most young Tour pros do - and take one or two weeks off. And when I would take those weeks off early in my career, sometimes I would go home and practice a little bit, work on something. Actually I never worked on something. When I practice, all I am doing is muscle toning. I don't experiment at all. I am just working -- I am swinging my golf muscles. And I would take a couple of weeks off and practice a little bit. And, I would come back out, and I would see what my results were and then I decided I'd start taking the off-season off and not touch clubs. And, when I came back out, my ball hitting and chipping and putting was exactly the way it had been when I had practiced for two weeks. So I started testing it a little bit more and I would take eight weeks off. I took five months off when my son was born. The PGA at Riviera in 1983 was my last tournament of the year. My son was due to be born in October and I took -- I didn't touch a golf club for five months to be at home with my son. And I came back and won the second tournament that I played in that year. That was it. That is when I knew that I can go home and practice and come back out and play or I can go home and do things I want to at home and I am going to come out and play exactly the same way. So, I don't shy away from practice. It just doesn't do me any good. The reason is because I don't try to improve my swing. My swing is what I have got and it hasn't changed and it doesn't get any better from practice.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I would recommend it to several of my peers on the PGA TOUR. Guys that break down their swing even though they are fairly good players. For a younger player: No. Younger players have to come out here and find their swing and I have played so much golf as a kid in high school and college, that those were the times and I played golf all of the time. Golf was my life; No. 1 priority, and that is when my swing developed. And, I also decided I didn't want to -- I was happy enough with that. I thought I could play competitively with one golf swing. And, as it turns out, for most courses that we play on the PGA TOUR - and I thank goodness for Jack Nicklaus being an architect because those high cut shots, boy, they work great on Jack Nicklaus golf courses and most of the target golf that Americans play. If I would have been born in Europe and played the European Tour with the weather conditions and the golf courses they play over there, you would have never seen me in a press tent. I would have never won one single golf tournament. But, American golf, modern golf is played in the air and stopping it on small greens and the kind of game I developed, fortunately, for me. That really wasn't my aim to do it. My swing just evolved the way it did. My golf works for American-type golf courses and it is the reason I have had the success that I have had.

BRUCE LIETZKE: No. No, the guilt -- the guilt -- I knew I was going to focus on my career until my family was started and I did that for seven or eight years from 1975 'til my son was born in 1983. That is when I was very conscious of my position on the money list, of what tournaments I had won and what tournaments I hadn't won. And when 1983 and my son was born and I knew I was not going to play the Tour full-time anymore, I accepted the fact that my career really was pretty much in those first seven, eight years; that is when I really tested myself and pushed myself to find out how good I could be. And, since then, I have remained competitive and I am doing exactly what I want to do. But, my position on the money list and the tournaments that I win or don't win are not the important things anymore.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes, I am. I only played nine tournaments, nine official tournaments last year. I am going to play in the neighborhood of ten. My plan is to play ten this year - nine after this one. So, I have got -- I have already got this one marked off, so I have got nine after this week. And, I will do that for the next couple of years until I turn senior pro and then my senior schedule will be more active than that. I will play - without being quoted on it - probably minimum of 20 senior events and possibly 25, but might be hard for me to go from nine tournaments to 25 in one year. But, I will play a fairly active senior schedule after my daughter graduates from high school. My daughter doesn't graduate 'til I am 52. Actually first couple of years I might just play sort of limited. Once my kids are in college and most of my obligations as a father are eased up a little bit, then I will play the SENIOR TOUR full-time. That is why I am taking time off now. I am not -- I am not shying away from the competition and tournament play out here because I still love to do it. But this is my chance to spend even more time with my family because golf will become pretty important to me again in three or four years.

BRUCE LIETZKE: That is one advantage of a long putter is that the feel comes around quicker with the long putter. The long putter doesn't really -- you don't use any of the small muscles. There is no wristiness, no real hand muscles in that putting stroke. It is a big muscle stroke. In essence, you really have less feel with a long putter as it is, so it takes less time to get used it to when there is not quite as much feel. It is much more of a big muscle-mechanical stroke than it is a feel-stroke. And, so I have found, just since using it, that it fits in perfect with my style of not playing when I am home, coming back out -- it is still the last thing to come around. My ball hitting will come around in two days of practice. The putting, chipping, bunker play will take three to four days, sometimes more, but -- and that is what I will work on when I come to a tournament. If I do any extra -- I don't ever practice after a round. But, when I am preparing for a tournament I will spend a little extra time on the putting green and practice bunker before a round. I don't ever practice after a round.

BRUCE LIETZKE: For some. I still think -- I still think it is more of a natural stroke to putt conventionally. For some people that have back problems or for some of the pros that have yips that can't control the muscles of their hands or arms, it is word a try. I have found out that it is not a miracle putting stroke. You can pull the ball. You can push the ball. You can miss putts every kind of way just like you can conventionally. But, for some pros, there is an improvement. My improvement wasn't dramatic. I am about a half-a-stroke-a-day better with a long putter than -- I putted conventionally. I say, "Conventionally," I putted cross-handed for 14 years on Tour and I kept stats for almost every one of those years and I have kept stats with the long putter and I am -- all boiled down, I am about a half-a-stroke-a-day better with a long putter. So it is nothing dramatic. People aren't going to probably see a huge difference. But, from our standard, that is two strokes at the end of a tournament and that is either a lot of money in your pocket or a little more crystal in your trophy case, two strokes. So, any improvement out here is worth continuing and that is -- I continue to experiment with it. It still pretty much is in the experimental stage with me. I still work a little bit with the putting. I kind of break some of my laws of my golf swing, of never tampering with my golf swing. I have tampered with the short game. I have altered putting. I've putted a cross-hand for 14 years and I have putted with a long putter for five or six years now. I preach to a lot of amateurs that you should try to do the same thing all the time and I don't practice that faith in my short game, but, again, it works for me.

BRUCE LIETZKE: If I can remember, No. 11 is a par 5 what did I do on 11, Brian?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yeah, up-and-down; knocked it over the green. Chipped up about four feet from the pin and made that for a birdie. I parred -- by the way, I missed the green on 10 and chipped up about five feet and made that. Birdied the 11 with an up-and-down. 12 is a par 3. I missed that green to the right. Chipped onto the green and 1-putted from about two feet. 13 began the streak of my birdies. I hit a 7-iron second shot on 13 to about three feet. I made that for birdie. 14, I hit driver, laid up with a 4-iron and I hit a sand wedge three feet from the hole; made that for a birdie. Next hole is a par 3. I hit a 7-iron about 14 feet from the hole; made a big breaking putt. It broke about three feet. Made that putt for a birdie too. Next hole 16, I hit a 2-iron off the tee, pitching wedge to two feet; made that for a birdie. 17 is a par 3. Hit 8-iron, two feet from the hole. Made that for a birdie. And as I told you, on 18, my third shot going into the green with an 8-iron, hit the flag, bounced into the fringe. I putted through the fringe onto the green about five feet. I made that putt; came back for a saving par. No. 1, for my 10th hole, was a 2-putt par from 15 feet. No. 2 was a birdie -- the par 5. Over the green, chipped up to about four feet; made that for a birdie. No. 3, is that the par 3?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Came up short of the green, oh, chipped on to about three feet; made that for a saving par. Next hole is a par 4. I hit driver and a 7-iron to two feet; made that for a birdie?

BRUCE LIETZKE: 5 is a par 3. Missed the green to the right just in the fringe, but I putted through the fringe down to about six inches and I tapped that in for an easy par. The par 5 is next and I hit a real, real good drive; a real, real good 3-wood, just got to the middle of the green in two. Had about a 55-foot eagle putt that didn't quite catch the hole, but ran about three feet past; made that putt coming back for 2-putt birdie. No. 7, hit a driver off the tee. And, I hit an 8-iron to about twelve feet and I lipped that putt out. Knocked about two feet past; made that coming back. Oh, I am sorry. No, no, no. Oh, yeah, that is right. Then No. 8, the par 4. Driver off the tee, sand wedge to two feet; made that for a birdie. And then 9, hit 3-wood off the tee into a right fairway bunker. I hit a 3-iron second shot to the right fringe of the green, not quite on, but, again, I putted from the fringe and I was 60 feet away and ran my first -- that putt through the fringe to about four feet past the hole and I made that one coming back for a saving par. I think that is it. Lots of 2-footers in there. As I said, nothing -- no lengthy -- no chip-ins, no long, long putts; just a lot of real good iron shots and making all the putts that were makeable.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Well, I was brought up -- I had a father that was very active in coaching. My father was a basketball player. My brother is caddying for me. My dad was the basketball coach of his church team. He was an assistant baseball coach of mine. That kind of upbringing made me want to be involved with my kids. I can always remember growing up. I didn't get married until I was almost 30 years old. Even when I was single I knew I had wanted to be married and I knew I wanted to have a family and be very active in it. That is when my -- and once I got married at a late age and decided to have kids. That is when I knew golf was not going to be the No. 1 priority anymore. So, that is when I started laying out the plans of just about exactly what I have done. I cut my schedule back from 27 or 28, which was a full-time Tour, which is about average, I would guess. And, once my son was born, I promised myself I wouldn't play more than 20. I tried to keep it under 20. And that number kept getting whittled down the more -- the older they get -- the older they got, the more I wanted to be at home. So, I have got it whittled way down there now to nine or ten tournaments. And I have got to be thankful that the SENIOR TOUR is where it is today. If it hadn't turned out to be as successful as it was, then I -- these decisions would have been a lot tougher. I probably still would have done the same thing. But, once the SENIOR TOUR really evolved and became very permanent -- for a while, we didn't know how permanent that thing was going to be -- it has made me play guilt-free since then because now I know I can go back and play golf because I still dearly love to play competition and the SENIOR TOUR will allow me to go out and get my fill of a ton of competition. And, what I do now satisfies me enough that I can just play a few times. And, as long as I do what I am doing now, if I am in the hunt and have a chance to win, that will take care of me for the next three, four years.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Again that is when I cut back. I played 1980, 1981, 1982.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yeah, and I have -- Ben Crenshaw was the only one that talked me into going go over in the years that I wanted to. It was just never a tournament that I separated it from any other golf tournament that I played over here. Crenshaw begged me for years to go over there and finally I conceded. I mean, he just -- he had a full Nelson headlock on me convincing me that I -- to go over there and play. So I played those three years and decided that was enough, or else I wouldn't have gone at all.

BRUCE LIETZKE: There is some truth in that. I don't like many of the things that go along with playing championship level golf. But I have also never done anything to purposely lose a tournament or avoid -- I have never done anything to avoid that recognition other than skipping a lot of tournaments and that is not the reason I skip tournaments. I skip tournaments because I have a family. If I didn't have a family, I would play the Tour fairly actively, even at this age, I would probably be playing 18 or 20 tournaments a year. But, he is right, I never have enjoyed or liked all of the wrappings that go with winning tournaments and the recognition. I have never wanted that, and still avoid it at all costs - at almost all costs. I would never lose a tournament on purpose. I would draw the line there, but I try to avoid all of the other, as I call them, trappings; some of the things that some of the players out here dearly love. And, I don't like the recognition and -- but I would never and never have lost a tournament or avoided it on the golf course.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I don't think I could have been a much better player. Would I have won more money if I played more tournaments? Absolutely. I would have had more money and it probably would make sense that I probably would have won a few more tournaments if I had more tournaments on my schedule. But, I don't think you judge a player by the tournaments that he didn't play in or the tournaments that he didn't win. You judge a player by how he played, when he played, who he played against, but don't judge somebody when he didn't even play in a tournament. So, yeah, I could have had a better record. I don't know that it makes me a better player. You judge a player on other things and not tournaments that he skips or tournaments that he didn't play. That is my opinion.

BRUCE LIETZKE: I just don't like the recognition at all. I don't particularly like playing in front of people and I don't like being in front of cameras. I like money. But, money does not drive me - definitely isn't one of the driving forces behind me. But, golf has been my job for 24, 25 years. It just so happens it is a very visible sport and those are the parts of my job that I don't like. But, I would imagine everybody here doesn't like certain things about the job that they have. I love my job when I am out on the golf course and playing pretty much. It is my own game. I don't get a lot of pleasure out of beating other players. I don't -- I have never had any grudges or I just don't gain any certain pleasure out of beating anybody. I just like playing good golf and I love winning golf tournaments. But, strictly for the -- I love winning tournaments for the pleasure it gives me. We did a great survey -- we did a survey in the locker room one time of guys on what is the greatest feeling about winning a golf tournament. And I can remember Johnny Miller saying the greatest thing -- Johnny Miller -- you would think winning a tournament, putting out on 18, and the applause, or being interviewed, or, you know, whatever you would think guys would say -- Johnny Miller said: The greatest thrill was after it was all over and he was in an airplane by himself and just looking out a dark window at nothing. Craig Stadler said the greatest thing about winning a tournament is going to the tournament the next week and walking into the locker room and having players slap you on the back and give you high-fives and needle -- say something about the way you won or something like that. That is the greatest thing for him. The greatest -- the all-time greatest feeling I have ever had in my life, as far as my golf career goes, was winning my very first tournament which was the Tucson Open in 1977 and my 1976 TransAm I had to drive home. I celebrated by eating What-A-Burger that night after the press conference; I had to drive that night because the next tournament was the ATT Crosby and I had to -- I had to drive all day Monday. I actually started driving Sunday in a TransAm Firebird by myself. I plugged in -- boy, this is bad, this is going to date me. I plugged in an 8-track tape - (Audience laughter.) - of Lyrnard Skynard and for the drive from Tucson -- and I made it to about an hour on the other side of Phoenix before I finally came crashing down and just couldn't drive anymore, that two or three hours, whatever that was that, is the highest -- that is the closest I have ever come to heaven without a doubt - maximum volume; Lyrnard Skynard on the 8-track, and just having won my first tournament. If you don't know the circumstances, I made an 82-foot putt to beat Gene Littler in a playoff on the fourth playoff hole - my first tournament victory as a pro - that is it for me. That is the greatest thrill in golf for me. But, it wasn't the golf. It wasn't the putt. It was me, me, patting myself on the back for the next two, three hours and listening to Lyrnard Skynard. That is the pleasure that I get in golf. It is not -- it is not the TV cameras and it is not the big check at the end of the day either. That is nice. But, that is not the reason I play. I play to be in that car and to pat myself on the back. I guess that is the best way of doing it. That is the purest joy for me is telling myself that I did a pretty good job.

BRUCE LIETZKE: 1977 Tucson National.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Came back to the 18th hole. Played 15, 16, 17, tied all three holes and 18, we came back to and he hit it 15 feet. I hit it 82 feet. Dusty Murdock, one of our TOUR officials, walked it off. I made it. He missed it. That is the old green. If you can remember, it was a giant green. I was on the very front. The pin was back left and it was walked off at 82 feet. The old green at Tucson National was just gigantic just a huge green.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Okay, thank you, guys.