ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 1998

Gil Morgan

GIL MORGAN: Everybody finished?

GIL MORGAN: These guys were razzing me today. Maybe because I came in with my putter.

GIL MORGAN: Well, thank you. I think I got off to a slow start. I finally birdied the 8th hole. But the first few holes -- in fact, I knocked it on the 4th hole in two and 3-putted from the back kind of right off the back fringe. Just didn't get much out of it. And then the very next hole hit it in there about eight feet and missed that. So it was kind of a little depressing early, but finally I got the ball up there and made a birdie at 8. And then I think really the birdie at 12 was probably a thing that really kind of catapulted me a little bit. I hit a really good shot in there at the 12th hole with a 4-iron about three feet, and it just never left the hole, and I was able to make that. But other than that, I think the day was a lot better. Warmed up a little bit. You didn't have to wear three or four layers of clothes. And at the same time, the ball started going a little bit further, for one thing, and I was able to not make as many mistakes. So that was a plus on my side. That's about it.

GIL MORGAN: And 8. I knocked it over the green at 8, and then I pitched it back to within about eight feet and made that. And then at 12, I made that one, like I told you. And then at 14, I hit a driver, 6-iron, about -- oh, probably 18 feet right at the hole, and I made that. And then at the par 5, I hit a 3-iron, 3-iron, pitching wedge to probably within about 15 feet, I guess, 12 feet, and made that one. And then parred on that. And then I had a little bit of a tough putt at 16. I hit it just in the left rough at the tee, and it ran by the front of the green and landed on the back fringe. And I had a pretty tough putt on the back of the hill, but I made it within three feet, and I made that. I had a good putt at 17, even though I had a long wedge. It looked like it was going right in, a little short, and I burned it on the last hole.

GIL MORGAN: Well, there's a lot of good players up at the top going into tomorrow. So I think, you know, you're going to have to play well and not make very many mistakes, or, you know, some of the guys are going to go right passed you, I think. So it's just a situation you're going to have to go out and play solid golf. I don't think you're going to get away with a round tomorrow to survive.

GIL MORGAN: I think it's a good golf course for my game. If I can put the ball in the right spot and make some putts, I think I've got a good chance to play well and maybe have a chance to win. You know, it just seems like a pretty good golf course for me, overall. It just depends on how it pans out a little bit. I think more than anything, putting probably, a little bit as to where you put your ball in play off the tee and then into the green, obviously. But if I continue playing as well as I have tee-to-green today, I think I'll be in good shape but a little bit more pressured tomorrow. You never know exactly what's going to happen.

GIL MORGAN: I don't think you can ever be very comfortable in this situation. It's a just a situation to where you're going to have to play up to snuff or you're going to get beat, is the bottom line.

GIL MORGAN: 3-iron, 3-iron.

GIL MORGAN: What day? I didn't in the practice rounds. I think it's a little bit of an unusual hole: The situation with the water on the both sides and the bunkering and stuff. You can't get to the surface in two, so there's not any real demand to extend and go on out there with a fairway wood, or for me, a fairway wood or a green. It just doesn't lend itself to much reward. So with a 3-iron, I'm taking all of the water out of play, all the bunkers out of play. It doesn't go down far enough. The fairway is pretty soft on the downslope; so it didn't run but about 10 feet. But it made it a little bit longer for my second shot than I'd like to have had. But at the same time, I still had like a hundred yards to the hole. So unless something changes, wind direction or tee position or, you know, how am I doing coming down the stretch, I probably won't be too aggressive there.

GIL MORGAN: I couldn't get fired up. I hit some fairly decent shots starting out. I didn't hit it that bad. And then the 3-putt par at the 4th hole really -- because I drove it way down there I hit 4-iron into the green and I was anticipating to have a chance to make a three or four there and didn't. And then the next hole I hit it in real close eight or ten feet and just missed it. So I was a little bit down at that point in time and then when I knocked it over the green at 8, I thought: Well, I was way back over there. I was 30 yards over the green. So it was pretty frustrating thinking: Well, I did the same thing there yesterday. So I didn't really have a club for the yardage both times. It seems I hit 4-wood both times and it still went way back there. And I thought: Well, if I make another par, I'm really dragging but I was able to knock it up really close and make the putt. So that turned me around a little bit.