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MCI HERITAGE

April 17, 2005

Peter Lonard

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA

TODD BUDNICK: We'd like to welcome 2005 MCI Heritage champion Peter Lonard. Congratulations, your first victory on the PGA TOUR and your 99th start. Let's first talk about how does it feel to win your first PGA TOUR event.

PETER LONARD: Well, fantastic. It's something that I was wondering whether it was ever going to happen, particularly when I got six behind after three or four holes. Speechless. Something that you work towards a lot. It's something you wonder if you'll ever get to, to win, and it's a great feeling.

TODD BUDNICK: You made it interesting. All week long. You opened with a 62, which is the low start by a winner here. You closed with a 76 or 75 --

PETER LONARD: 75 (laughter).

TODD BUDNICK: The highest finish by a winner here, and you and Darren made it very interesting out there today. It was kind of back and forth. Talk about just what happened between the two of you out there today.

PETER LONARD: Well, he came out with all guns blazing, and I came out with my putter not acting very nicely. When you miss a couple on the first few holes, you think, oh, I've got four hours of this to go. I thought, come on, I need to hang in there. I made a couple of birdies, and tee to green I hit a lot of good shots. I hung around the mark, and he made a couple mistakes, which isn't that hard to do here. Obviously the turning point -- well, not obviously, but probably the turning point initially was 8, he made double and I made a birdie. I thought I was back within a shot.

It was one of those awkward situations where you sort of -- we were so far ahead we didn't want to make a mistake and let anybody else in, and then we just started watching each other, I don't know.

It was a weird game. I've never been in a position where I was sort of like that, and I think the thing that really threw us on the back nine was the wind turned around and started coming from a different direction. I actually pulled a lot of wrong clubs up until the last.

TODD BUDNICK: At any point did you think that you had brought the field back into it? There were a couple of guys sneaking up, 5, they couldn't get to 6, but --

PETER LONARD: I didn't think -- it probably looked a bit different, but it never crossed my mind that they were going to catch us. I still always thought it was between the two of us. The birdies were hard to come by, the wind was a bit fluky, the greens were really tricky, so I was trying to hit greens in regulation and give myself a lot of opportunities.

I did that reasonably well. I hit a couple of wrong clubs -- well, I hit more than a few wrongs clubs on the back nine, but I was lucky enough to pull the right one on the last.

Q. At any point did you think you had blown this tournament?

PETER LONARD: Walking down the 3rd hole I did (laughter). Actually there were five different holes I thought I had blown it. It's a tough track. You've just got to hang in there. If you don't finish 1st, you want to finish 2nd. It's just grind on and do the best with what you've got.

Q. Have you ever seen such drastic swings within one round of golf?

PETER LONARD: Oh, never. It was unbelievable. I expected him to come out playing really well. You know, I actually pulled the wrong club on the 1st, made a couple mistakes, putting was disgraceful. I managed to settle myself down again, but after about 12 or 13 holes, I don't think either of us knew who was leading anymore. It was sort of, he's got me by 6, I've got him by 1, then we're square, then he's ahead, then I'm ahead. We were just hanging on for our lives.

It wasn't until probably the last hole we were tied again and we had to start again.

Q. What did you say to him and what did he say to you when you walked off of 18?

PETER LONARD: He just said, "well done," and I said, "well, I suppose one of us was going to win it," and that was about it. Obviously he was really disappointed. You know, I had this feeling like we were going to go up-and-down 18, 17, 18 for the rest of the afternoon. You know, it just sort of fell my way.

Q. You kind of had a muted celebration up until now at least. Do you have a feeling now that you've survived more than that you've won something?

PETER LONARD: Well, I sort of think golf is a matter of survival, you know. It's sort of nice for the Top 5 to win $10 million and stuff, but if you're not winning $10 million this game is a game of survival. There's a fine line between making a lot of money out here and making nothing and having to get a job. This whole Tour -- many professional sports are a matter of survival. Obviously I didn't win it the way I wanted to win it today, but at the end of the day, if you win, you win. That's the way I'm going -- that's what I'm going to take out of it.

I thought tee to green I played pretty good today. My putting was ordinary, but I probably left six or seven putts short right in the middle. You hole a couple of them and it's a different story. I suppose it became a little match play there, and somehow I did survive, and I'll be able to sleep all right tonight.

Q. Did you notice a change in his demeanor or a change -- obviously over the first six or seven holes it looked like he was going to run away with it?

PETER LONARD: I didn't really keep an eye on him. I knew he was playing really well, and I was just thinking, "if I miss another three-foot putt I'm going to kill myself." I was obviously involved in what I was doing. I didn't really take much notice of him. I suppose I thought there was a chance of getting back near him when he hit it in the water on 8. I thought there was a chance then.

Q. What does this do for your confidence, for your future out here on Tour? I mean, what's the big picture perspective of this thing?

PETER LONARD: I think it means I hang around for another two years at least, doesn't it? So that's a good thing. I can actually afford my house. It's the first step of what I've always wanted to do. You know, it's something I didn't think I was ever going to get to do ten years ago. Obviously winning in Australia was fantastic. I think I copped a little spray in the paper in Australia a couple weeks ago about not being able to play because I can't win in America, so that was a little bit of nice icing on the cake. You know, I would have been happy with life if I didn't win. I've done everything I can to put myself into position to win. You know, my only thought from the last ten years is as long as I give it every opportunity to win, if I don't, that's fine. If I do, that's great. You know, this is a great bonus and it's something that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Q. Were you pressing at all early? I think you made three putts in 15 feet or more and you three-putted from seven feet, and also, what did you think of the ball that stopped on the railroad tie? Were you worried that that was an omen?

PETER LONARD: You want me to say I was blowing when that was going on (laughter)? I thought it was going to stay up, and then it sort of started bouncing, and I'm thinking, "what the hell is that bouncing on," and then I realized it was the wood. I don't think anybody could get a ball to stop there if they tried.

I was really concerned about my chip shot. I was hoping his ball might stop mine. It was a little unlucky where he was and he got lucky in the end, but that's golf, it evens itself out.

Q. About the putting, him making three long putts early and you three-putting from I think seven feet?

PETER LONARD: Well, the 1st, I misread it from three feet, it was a little downhiller, and then he goes birdie and then he holes a nice putt on the 2nd, and I've got about a four- or five-footer for birdie.

I hit a pretty good putt there. I thought it was going to turn, and I hit it straight through the break, hit it maybe a foot and a half past, then missed the next one, and I can't really put into words what I was thinking, but it wasn't a great feeling, I've got to say.

Q. 14, obviously Darren hit first out of that bunker. Would you have played it out that far to the left if you hadn't seen Darren's ball or would that change your mind?

PETER LONARD: My ball was sitting in a hole. It was like someone stood on it. I don't know if that's where it actually landed, but it plugged, and it was like, if he's hit it in the water, how am I not going to hit it in the water? I was always going up the left, and I reckon I was probably half a foot from being perfect. My caddie was more excited about that shot than any shot I hit all day. I think the concern was all over his face, and when I chipped that down there, he's going, "oh, that's fantastic. Thank you."

Q. Did you guys ever find Darren's ball in that Heather? It looked like you pointed to something.

PETER LONARD: We found about four golf balls, but they all had the goopy-looking stuff all over it, and he wasn't able to identify it and he couldn't have gotten it with a shovel, so he elected to go back.

Q. Could you describe the conflicting feelings on 18? Here you're going to win, but you see a guy walking down to replay a shot; could you empathize with him?

PETER LONARD: Oh, yeah. It might have been me. It was just the strangest thing. We had been going head-to-head all day, and we made the odd mistake and got away with the odd thing. I think he obviously tried to hit it right next to the flag and took it on. I suppose looking at it, I probably put him in that situation because I hit a decent shot in there. It was the only right club I picked most of the day.

That's an ugly -- if it's you, it's an ugly feeling. If it's a fellow competitor -- we've got a good rapport together and we had a good day even though it was hard work, I think we all went a little grayer as we were walking around, but it was just a horrible sort of situation to have to stand back and watch him walk back 200 yards to hit another one.

Q. Is there less pressure to hit first on 18 where you didn't see him having the ball right there?

PETER LONARD: I don't think it hurt hitting first, particularly if I hit a good shot. If I hit a poor shot, then it's back in his court. I was more than happy to hit first and I was more than happy that I picked the right club for once.

Q. Given the ups and downs of putting this week, do you stick with the short putter?

PETER LONARD: I knew that question was coming (laughter). I don't know. If you ask me walking off the 2nd or 3rd tee, obviously not a chance, but I think it had a lot of good vibes. Maybe I brought it in a little under done. When I got under pressure, when you haven't really picked one up for over a year and you have to hole putts, it becomes quite difficult. I did a lot of practicing with it this week, and my caddie wants me to stick with the short one. I think I will at the moment. I think a bit of success with it breeds confidence, and even when I was walking off the 2nd and the 3rd, I just kept saying in my head, "good putters miss putts, you have to deal with it and get on with it," and I think within reason, I did today.

Q. I'm sure that when you're visualizing the day that you would win your first PGA TOUR tournament it was not like this. What was that like; was it one of those days when every shot was striped and every putt went in?

PETER LONARD: Yeah, I just lipped out on the 18th for a 58 (laughter). I had to take 59 and just get on with it (laughter). That was what I was dreaming of.

Q. You had some health problems early in your career that set you back a bit. Can you describe the road back from that and were there times when you thought a day like today might never happen?

PETER LONARD: Oh, yeah. That happened probably -- it's almost 10, 11, 12 years ago, so it's taken me that long to actually win one. It's been a long road. I think I was playing in Europe when I was 23, 24, was hoping to sort of emulate the Normans and the Baker-Finches and the guys that have come ahead of me and I'd play in Europe for a few years, and by the time I was 26, 27 move over to America and take on the PGA TOUR. Obviously that has taken pretty quickly, and next thing I'm selling Mars Bars and sausage rolls in a pro shop. So that was a little different. I think working for a living is overrated, so it's amazing how much you start practicing and training when you actually have to work.

It also fell into place. That was unlucky with the illness, I've also had a lot of luck. I played well in a tournament which got me my European card. I'm not going to go back out on Tour and leave my job until I win a tournament. I won the second to last one of the year in Australia. At the same time, I just got my European card, so all of a sudden I've won, which is what I wanted to do, and I've got the door into the European Tour. I went over there, played seven tournaments for the year and quit my job obviously.

Obviously everything has been pushed back a long way, and there's been a lot of great things that happened and a few dodgy things, but I think everyone cops it.

Q. Describe your teacher or learning how to play golf; who were the major instructors or players who influenced your swing style?

PETER LONARD: Okay, well, I didn't play a lot of golf as a kid, played most other sports. I was about 16. I said I'm going to play golf for a living, and much to my parents' disgust, the first couple of years I just played, and when I was about 20 I sorted out a coach, a guy called Gary Edward, who I pretty much coached with him up until about nine months ago, and about nine months ago I went and spent some time with Leadbetter. Obviously Gary was a big influence on my game most of the way through, and Leadbetter has been a great service to me the last eight or nine months, and it's all going well.

TODD BUDNICK: We'll just go through your card real quick, if I can go through it quick.

PETER LONARD: Bogey on No. 1, hit the wrong club for my second shot. For some reason it was going 100 miles per hour. Chipped it over the back, hit it to about four feet above the hole, had a downhiller, what I thought was right to left, but apparently it was straight, and I made bogey.

The par 5, I hit my drive down the left, hooked a 4-iron around just short of the left-hand side of the green, which was the perfect spot to hit a nice little chip up to the hole, chipped it to about five feet, ran that about two feet past and missed the one coming back.

5th, hit a good drive around the corner, hit a 3-iron to the right edge of the green, chipped it to about five feet and holed it.

8, hit a good drive down there, had to turn a little 5-iron around the tree, hit it to about 20 feet and holed that.

9th, I hit a 2-iron down the left, too far left, got stuck behind the trees, thought I could get it up-and-down out of the front bunker so I hit it in the front bunker, and I got it to about four feet and lipped it out.

12, hit it left again through the fairway, got behind the trees again, had to hit a hook 7-iron around into the trap, thought I could get that one up-and-down, but I didn't get that one, either. I actually got that to about five feet and missed that.

Par 3, hit it in that -- I don't even know what that is. I hit a 5-iron; should have been a 6-iron. I actually hit it on the line I was trying to hit it, but I hit the wrong club. I was very happy to get that one on the green and two-putt.

17, I hadn't picked the right club up until then, and that was so different. I got up there, I thought it was downwind. I can't remember what the yardage was, about 175, so I hit an 8-iron, thought it was coming right down on the flag, and I was 40 yards short. Hit it 10, 15 feet past the hole and left it short in the heart.

TODD BUDNICK: Well, Peter, congratulations and enjoy your first PGA TOUR victory.

End of FastScripts.

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