	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 26, 2018

Tim Petrovic

Benton Harbor, Michigan

JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to Saturday at the 79th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Pleased to be joined by Tim Petrovic. Tim shot a third round 65 today. He's tied for the lead with Scott McCarron, three day total of 200 on the dot. Eight birdies and a couple bogeys on today's round. Let's start on 15, Tim, you kind of took a punch there and you.

TIM PETROVIC: Start with another one, would you.

THE MODERATOR: Well it looked like you were about to take a punch there then and go down two, got a little break and closed really strong and you're right there at the top today.

TIM PETROVIC: I hit a drive down the left and took a conservative line off the tee and then we had a grass mound in front of me -- I was kind of between a 5-wood and 3-wood and I didn't think the 5-wood was enough to get over if I hit it left. So it was a little sketchy with the 3-wood if we were going to get over -- there's a mound about five yards in front of me -- and we talked about it and we thought we could get over it. And I hit the 3-wood and as soon as I hit it I looked up and I heard this fat sound you don't want to hear, the ball hitting the grass in front of you. And it dumped over the hill and went in the water. So kind of gave a shot back there. But I think Scott missed his birdie putt there and kind of gave us a little life. But we finished strong. Made a putt just to let him know we were still there.

JOHN DEVER: More than still there, you're tied for the lead. You're playing with confidence though. I mean, it's pretty obvious. Seems like that, at least.

TIM PETROVIC: Yeah, I felt really calm all week for some reason I just felt really good Thursday coming out. We talked about that the other day, I felt really good on Thursday. I'm just hitting the shots that I know I can hit and I'm driving the ball really well. Sounds kind of redundant but that's what you have to do, you have to hit fairways and you have to hit greens and kind of plod your way around. And the only bad break, the only bad break I had today was I hit such a beautiful shot into 10 and instead of having a nice eagle putt, the ball ended up kicking down and went all the way down the right side of the green. And I hit ended up taking four to get in from there because I hit it up -- I actually had Jack's putt, I was a little further to the right and it caught some -- I had to actually putt it through the fringe, and it didn't work out as good as his, it came all the way back and went behind me. It went up the hill and came back behind me. So now I had like an 80-footer for my birdie putt.

It was kind of funny, we were laughing about it because Kevin was coming up and I said, do you want me to come up. And I hit my putt and it came back at me and I looked up and said, do you want me to come up again? So...

JOHN DEVER: We'll have to watch more tape. Let's hit the floor for some questions.

Q. At 10 what was your yardage and club for your second shot into the green there?
TIM PETROVIC: I had, I think I had 250 to that back pin and I think I only had like 210 to the front. I took a 5-wood just to make sure I got it deeper into the green and I hit it at the pin, unfortunately, instead of left. If it had been a little left it would have been perfect. And you know that green, if you hit in the middle of that green it can go anywhere and that's what happened.

Q. When you have given a lifetime to a game, what would winning a major mean to you?
TIM PETROVIC: Well I imagine from talking to some of my friends winning a major is pretty cool. So Todd Hamilton's a buddy of mine, I remember when he won the British Open and it was like probably the coolest thing he's ever done. And it kind of just happened, he wasn't expecting it. He was playing well at the time, he was having a great year, and it just happened.

But, yeah, to win -- it's been a long time since I've won, but to come out here and play with these guys and to win a major would be really special for sure.

If you look at that trophy, it's a beautiful trophy, but if you look at the trophy, you look at the names on that trophy, it's pretty special.

Q. You mentioned a long time since you won back in 2005. Tomorrow will you try to and be able to draw on those experiences or is that just kind of too long ago?
TIM PETROVIC: No, the memory's there. The hardest thing to do is to not try. Sounds like -- it's probably the hardest thing to not do. You're out there, you want to win, you want to win. And this week I've been really calm and really patient and if I can maintain that tomorrow, I think I'll be -- mentally, for me -- the physical stuff is there, it's just for me it's the mental -- if I could just stay calm and stay kind of even keel all day, most of the day, I'll be, it will help me coming down the stretch for sure.

Q. Also your life kind of changed in an instant on 18 when Scott missed his putt, you go from being one back to tied. Any preference, any difference --
TIM PETROVIC: No, no. He, no, he missed a short birdie on 15 when I made bogey, so that kind of, that helped a little bit. But I just still, I still knew I needed to finish strong. And making that birdie on 17 really helped. It gave me a little momentum going into tomorrow.

But no, he played great today. We both played, we made a lot of birdies, and I expect we'll be going at it tomorrow.

Q. How do you feel about the last group and what's been your experience when you've been in the last group?
TIM PETROVIC: Well that's where you want to be. Some guys say they don't want the lead they would rather chase, but I would rather be in the lead. I would rather be in the last group, that's where you want to be, when you show up here on Tuesday, Wednesday, you want to be in that last group. Because you have a better chance to win if you're in that group.

I'm happy to be in that group, I'm sure Scott's happy and we'll see, we'll have fun tomorrow, make a lot of birdies, see what happens.

Q. Do you know the last time you were in the last group?
TIM PETROVIC: The last time I was in the last group? In a major, never. Not on the Regular Tour. This is my first full season out here. I got a little bit of a taste of it last week, I think I was in the third to last group. I didn't play very well on Sunday, but I tried to motivate myself to play good coming out Thursday, Friday, Saturday. So I feel pretty good about it.

JOHN DEVER: You've got your family here. Were they coming up here any way or is this a late change, late addition to the traveling crew?

TIM PETROVIC: No, they don't travel. The girls are older now. They have got other responsibilities, boyfriends, cars. And so my oldest is out of school now for the summer, so she came out. And so they would probably come out about half the time.

But they're kind of laying low this week. They're letting me kind of go to the office during the day and we do our stuff at night.

JOHN DEVER: Did you find, did you get a hold of dad last night? Did you touch base?

TIM PETROVIC: Yeah, that was interesting. We were talking about that, we're playing a major and I'm leading after the first day and I turned my phone on and I didn't get a text from anybody. That was kind of funny. I'm like, is everybody okay? But no, he texted me last night, so he is aware.

JOHN DEVER: That's good to hear. Anybody else for Tim here? One more.

Q. After going as low as you did today it's hard to think that there's any room for improvement, but is there anything you'll be thinking about overnight trying to work on and trying to improve?
TIM PETROVIC: No, there's always room for improvement. You always think about those -- there's always a couple shots you want to get back. I gave a few shots, but I took some back. I made a few good, really good putts today. So I'm just trying to think about those all those good shots and good drives and good putts that I made today.

JOHN DEVER: Tim, wonderful round today, best of luck to you tomorrow and keep in touch.

TIM PETROVIC: Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297