DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 6, 1997

Sandy Lyle

SANDY LYLE: The 10th hole I made a nice -- I got off to a good start, a lovely shot to about 5 feet, 6 feet and made the putt for the birdie. And then the next par 5 on the 12th hole had a third shot out from the bunker, long shot with an 8-iron into about ten feet behind the hole. And I made that putt for birdie. That was 2 under after 3. And my first bogey came at the 14th, and I was using a 4-iron for the second shot, and caught the right-hand trap by a couple of feet. I made a reasonable bunker shot and finished out about 10 feet and made a bogey there. 7-iron the next hole and just behind the pin by 10 feet and made the putt. And, made a 10-footer on the next hole for birdie, as well. Things were really going well me in the 10-feet area. The greens are very good. No complaints with the greens. And, held par, I think from there on, making par at 18 was like a birdie, I was in the bunker, not too far, 180 yards, clean lie with a 6-iron to the back of the green. And, then the first hole I had a drive just caught a trap again by a few feet; came out just short of the green, 80 yards or so, to about 2 feet. So, I made a birdie. And, then I birdied the third hole, which is an 8-iron, hit it within 12 to 15 feet on the fringe, pin-high left, and putted off the fringe, quite a difficult putt and hold it for a birdie. The putter has worked well so far. And, then I made a bogey on the par 3. I hit it in the green-side trap on the right-hand side. Didn't come out too good for 10 feet and made the putt for par. And, I was in the fairway trap on the next hole. 3-wood off the tee. And, I had a nice sand wedge from there to about 4 feet, birdie. And then I played 9-iron next to about 4 feet. I made birdie there. Two birdies in a row, I guess it was. I hit -- just caught the fairway trap, played out with an 8-iron, got the right distance, which was the only poor break of the day, and there was not a nice lie, so making contact cleanly was almost impossible. It looked like it was very inviting for the water, but I thinned it and went right off the pin into the rough, probably 35, 40 yards past the pin. I hit the pin, almost dead center and came out to the side four or five feet and made a 6. I was thinking if I could get to the 7, why, that would be a nice little course record or something like that. It didn't happen, anyway. I was very pleased, 8 birdies and three bogeys. And the course has been -- still it's very tight. Even though there wasn't much wind today, it's still tight with the tee shots. The greens are putting really well.

SANDY LYLE: If we go through it now and see how many bunkers I've been in, it's probably not bad. Nobody out there is going to get away with that with few bunkers per round, either from the green or the fairway, probably more fairway than it is green bunkers.

SANDY LYLE: I don't know if I'll be leading yet.

SANDY LYLE: 5-under now. I'll take another three of those scores and be quite happy.

SANDY LYLE: No.

SANDY LYLE: I don't know where West Palm Beach is. It's a mystery name. I've been on Jacqueline's place, people think I'm staying with Jacqueline or something. But I've got a house, I've got a couple of months, in Jacksonville on the TPC course. But, basically, I'm playing out of Edinburgh, Scotland.

SANDY LYLE: I'm playing fairly full-time, yes.

SANDY LYLE: Where is my game at? Well, this is my first week out for three weeks. I played well at San Diego. I think what really seemed to kick things around, I lost my clubs on the airlines going to Pebble Beach this year. And I've just had to get a lot of new equipment. And I just tried something different. I tried the Callaways. I used them the first week in San Diego. Finishing top 20. So that was encouraging. I went home three weeks, and the weather was bad in Scotland, so, I couldn't really play. I came out here and played quite well with them. It seems to have risen my game to a new level.

SANDY LYLE: Yes.

SANDY LYLE: No.

SANDY LYLE: They finally got lost in Los Angeles or Monterey. I was going through Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Monterey. I saw my clubs getting on the plane going to Los Angeles, under my seat where I was sitting, so I know they were on the plane. I saw all three pieces going on the plane. But I never saw them again.

SANDY LYLE: I think it was U.S. Air, but I can't remember.

SANDY LYLE: Phoenix.

SANDY LYLE: No, no, I haven't. I haven't had a club contract for about 4 years, 5 years.

SANDY LYLE: I'll be playing more, 20.

SANDY LYLE: You'll be playing Europe very little this year, 5, 6 events maybe. The British Open, Lochlomond before the British Open, and that's about all I know for the time being.

SANDY LYLE: No, it's not really a priority. I've got two years left as an exempt player. I've got next year as well. I want to give it my full attention. It's been very hard over the last few years to play both Tours. Your standards don't stay high, because you're not playing enough tournaments in each Tour. So you drop. And, I think I'm a lot better than sort of 102 or whatever it is in the Sony rankings.

SANDY LYLE: Well, I think it's technical, more than anything else. Some people say you play too many tournaments or you're being zigzagging across the pond all the time. I look at it now, as years have gone by, I've worked on some material in my swing that really has been the wrong stuff. That's what I feel the thing is now, that -- and that all changed just towards the end of last year, I was working on some new stuff. I got the crossover and pull-up going quite rapidly. I have to work my arms and work left to open my shoulder, and I was just crossing over all the time. I wasn't getting my weight through the ball. I was hanging back and crossing over. It was starting left of the target and drawing. It doesn't take you long to lose your confidence. So, since I've tried to keep my hands more in front of me until the down swing, hit down and through to the target, basically is what it is, keep it simple; I've been able to get my weight through the ball better, and keep my elbows going through the ball pointing down rather than coming up sort of chicken wing. I'm getting better contact with the ball and also I'm getting a lot better flight trajectory. Everything is just better. My irons are sharper. I'm not miss-timing them so much. So, it's just helped things a long way. It's been a very simple thing. I've been working the wrong material. I'm sure that's what happened.

SANDY LYLE: You can look at it either way. I thought it was the right advice at the time. You have to look at the situation at the time. I just found it wasn't.

SANDY LYLE: He said the magic word to me, "if you want to hit the ball high" -- I want to do something to make the ball fade. I cannot play the game hitting it left, I've got to hit it both ways. He said the only way you can do it is like Seve, you get behind the ball so much, you get in front of it on the way down, you're better off staying over the ball as much as you can, and then with an open stance, just hit out at the ball, like you're playing a block shot, basically. And that's been working really well. I'm not going underneath the shot. I'm just hitting out and through to the target, a bit more aggression.

SANDY LYLE: I think so, yes.

SANDY LYLE: Not 102nd, anyway. I would have said at the moment the way I played the last little while, I would have been happy to be more the top 30, anyway.

SANDY LYLE: If things carry on the way I have the start of this year, San Diego was a nice little push-off and I came back and started off again this year, it's encouraging. It's getting my confidence. And that's what I'm looking for. My confidence has been shattered for the last five or six years, and you wonder if you're ever going to win again. Your ball-striking gets better and your scores get better.

SANDY LYLE: There have been quite a few low times. I couldn't really name one particular tournament. Probably the lowest time is sort of like in '89 or where I was chosen for the Ryder Cup, I had to phone from the World Series in Akron to say my game is nowhere near my sort of normal standard and I don't think I can help the team. I'm a whole lot better off to pull out, and let somebody else that's playing well, I think it was Christy O'Connor, Jr. at the time was playing well.

SANDY LYLE: There wasn't too many people that have done that over the years, phoned up and say "I am not playing well, pull me out." I've never been since then. I've not earned the spot. But, that was a tough time, a difficult phone call to make.

SANDY LYLE: Well, I mean, I do it out here, a couple of wins has got to mean something, doesn't it? Probably make it harder for Seve to make a decision.

SANDY LYLE: They've still got a bit to go yet. It would be a hell of achievement to get in. But there's a long way to go.

SANDY LYLE: It's early days yet. But, if I win a major, or something like that, you can't leave me out. I'm still going to play four or five tournaments in Britain. So the golfers are keeping up the high standard, you never know, it can happen very quickly in this game.

SANDY LYLE: I was always looking forward to Augusta. The way I was playing in early 90's and that, the U.S. Open course or PGA course would have just ripped me apart. I wasn't consistent off the tee shots. My putting wasn't so sharp. So I'm putting with a long putter, is always new as well. I've been using it for 9 months, 10 months now. And I shot like 27, 28 putts today. So it's -- ever since I've started using it, my putting average has come down by probably 25 percent. 33, 34 putts a round, 35, sometimes 36 putts a round, and you can't survive out here doing that. You've got to be in sort of the 30's, 29, 28 putts. When I was winning out here, it was 28 putts I was averaging.

SANDY LYLE: Definitely.

SANDY LYLE: Yes, it will be.

SANDY LYLE: They're good. I mean, I putt well on fast greens. These are fast. These ones you can't mess with. If you put more undulation with the greens, they'll be almost as fast as Augusta. They're going to get faster as the week goes on, here rolling them and they'll get quick.

SANDY LYLE: No, there's no way I lost interest. I was just saying earlier when we started, I started working on some material that I think -- I thought at the time was good stuff. And it just didn't help my game at all. I was trying to get rid of this crossover and the hook shot. And it was just getting worse. The more I was working on it the worse it was getting and I couldn't figure it out. It didn't make sense a lot of times. Until Mac O'Grady told me to hit the high fade, and I can hit the ball with a fade or work the ball both ways, which is nice.

SANDY LYLE: It was last year. I spent an afternoon with him. And I'm so cheesed off with having this "aim it left" and so I changed the whole game.

SANDY LYLE: No, I don't think so.