May 31, 1997
DUBLIN, OHIO
WES SEELEY: We are joined by Vijay Singh, mostly because we haven't talked to a player all day. We've talked to the tournament officials about how the rain affects them and I'm sure they have questions on what you do in these situations. So I'll turn it over for questions.
Q. Conditions being what they were this morning and last night, are you surprised they even tried to play this morning?
VIJAY SINGH: It was okay when we started off. I think we played the first three holes, it was pretty comfortable until it started raining heavy. The greens are okay, but the bunkers and the fairways are -- it's very unfair if you just miss the green and you're in the bunker, normal conditions you would probably be able to get up-and-down, but with water in the bunkers, you have to drop it and when you drop if it's going to get plugged. It's almost impossible to get up-and-down from a plugged lie. I think it's very fair what they've done. We wanted to finish our round today, but I guess we have to come back tomorrow and see what happens.
Q. Vijay, how difficult is it for you to go out, come back, go out and come back, and then the waiting game is on?
VIJAY SINGH: I was only out once. I was on the practice tee when they had the first delay. But I was playing quite nicely when I first went out, for three holes, I had comfortable birdie chances on all three of them. I would have loved to go out and play today. But it's pretty hard. The waiting game is very hard. Tomorrow we'll see what happens. The weather forecast for tomorrow is about the same as today.
Q. What have you been doing all the day?
VIJAY SINGH: Nothing much, just talking to players and talking and watching TV. I went out there and putted for a while when it was drizzling a little bit, but there's nothing much you can do than watch TV, watch the Senior Tournament.
Q. As you mentioned to Ben when you first came in, that there's a concern about Monday. I'm not sure, are you in qualifying Monday for the Open?
VIJAY SINGH: I'm not, but a few of my friends are. It's up to the officials. I think it would be very hard for the players who are qualifying that they have to come out here and play on Monday. But they'll try to work something out, I'm sure they will.
Q. Do you have an outing Monday?
VIJAY SINGH: No, no, I don't. But I have to meet my family somewhere.
Q. I'd like to see if there's a balance in here, Vijay. Given the advantages and the disadvantages of wet weather, how do you feel about playing? I'm talking about soft fairways, no roll, but soft greens and receptive, how does that stand with you?
VIJAY SINGH: The golf course is playing really long right now. I've been hitting on the first hole a driver, 9-iron, 8-iron, and today I hit a driver 4-iron. Scott Hoch hit a decent drive and hit a 2-iron and couldn't reach the green. It favored long players this afternoon if he had gone out and played. If you have a 2-iron, 3-iron in your hand, no matter how receptive the greens are, it's going to be a difficult shot to get on the greens or close to the holes, especially with the pin placement being tough. But that's -- that's why I said I would have loved to go out and play this afternoon, because the conditions were really long, but it won't change much tomorrow.
Q. Was the ball picking up any mud in the few holes you played today?
VIJAY SINGH: Not really, just too much water on the ground. I think when we played the third hole there was water on the fairways and it was difficult to -- you have to catch the ball really good to get a good distance out of it, you could hit it heavy or get flies out of wet fairways.
Q. Vijay, what are the players saying? Do they think there's any way this thing will resume and wrap up?
VIJAY SINGH: They're all confident we're going to do at least 54 holes. The officials want us to play 36 tomorrow, I think that's a little bit too optimistic. But I think we're going to come out tomorrow and at least finish 54 holes. I think -- if you ask me, I think it will be a 54-hole event.
Q. If play doesn't resume, what is your opinion and maybe if you've talked to some of the other players what is the general consensus on how they determine the winner?
VIJAY SINGH: Well, it's -- I think you have a better view on that.
WES SEELEY: I'm going to do what my associates did and not conjecture a whole lot. There are a lot of decisions that can be made, but this isn't the time for them.
Q. Let me ask you this, then, if Scott Hoch is named the winner, is that one fair way of settling it if play doesn't resume.
VIJAY SINGH: That's the only way to settle it. If you can't play, you can't play. We can't go out there and play under the conditions that it is now. So Scott Hoch -- we all played 36 holes and he was the leader. It will be unofficial win, isn't that right?
WES SEELEY: No, it will be official.
VIJAY SINGH: I thought it was an unofficial win.
WES SEELEY: 36 is the least it can be to be official.
VIJAY SINGH: So there you go. I guess we'll all accept that, there's nothing much we can do.
End of FastScripts....
|