THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 29, 1997

Tim Herron

TIM HERRON: Well, starting out I didn't -- it wasn't looking -- drove it down the middle on one, and hit a 4-iron in there about five feet and missed the putt for birdie. So I'm like, shake it off, I've been doing this for a month, miss little putts here in there. No. 2, made about a 30-footer from birdie. I thought all right, here we go, that's fun.

TIM HERRON: I hit a driver, 8-iron. No. 3, hit a good drive, hit my shot actually right of the right bunker and got it up-and-down, I kind of played the backstop, went up past the wall and came back down. So that was nice, I had a little bail-out there. No. 4, I hit 5-iron about 15 feet and made it. No. 5, I hit a driver down the right side, perfect, hit a 3-iron to about seven, eight feet, seven feet, and made it for an eagle. No. 6, I hit it driver, 8-iron to about eight feet below the hole and left it short. And then I got to 7 and pulled my drive in the rough thinking that I could be a hero and get it out of there. And I hooked it. Then I played out. And I had about a 15-footer for par and missed that. No. 8, I flagged it over the stick, probably 12 feet above the hole, made that, with a 5-iron. No. 9, I played -- hit a 3-wood off the tee and then I played a 6-iron about 25 feet left of the hole and made that, a little slider down the hill. No. 10, I felt I hit a pretty good drive, a little right, caught the right rough, I had to play out just short of the green, chipped it out just past the hole about 14 feet and made that for par. No. 11, I pulled my drive, almost in the creek, left of the creek, actually, and pitched out, hit 5-iron, and it was right on the bank. I could barely stand on the bank, it was on the water bank right next to the green, and flipped it up there about four feet and made that. And 12, hit 9-iron in the back bunker and it plugged, so somehow I just kept it on the green. It actually hit short of the bunker and the next hop it kind of plugged and it kept on the fringe somehow and 2-putted from there. No. 13, hit driver, 7-iron to about 15 feet and missed it. On 14, I hit about a 128 footer, 15-footer, I probably had a 15-footer. No. 15, I hit it in the right bunker in two, hit driver, 1-iron and got it up-and-down, hit it about three feet short of the hole. No. 16, I hit it -- I hit 4-iron to about 18 feet, 15 feet above the hole and made that for birdie. No. 17, I hit it about 20 feet and made that up the hill for birdie. I hit a 9-iron. No. 18, blocked it way right with a 3-wood off the tee, downwind, right to left. I tried to kind of get it up next to the green, which is probably dumb, after I hooked it there on seven, but I felt like I had a decent lie. Hit it down next to that tree on the left, somehow just chopped my next shot on the green and had probably about 15 feet for par and missed it and shot 66.

TIM HERRON: I could, I felt if I dropped it, it might be worse.

TIM HERRON: When it's playing wet you can use driver, when it starts playing fast, it could be like a 1-iron off of No. 1, if it's playing fast. You have to hit driver to get it out there. Jack gives you quite a bit of room, which I like, off the tee, because I hit the ball high and fairly long. And then the iron shots narrow in. I mean you have to get the ball in the fairway to get good iron shots in there to make birdies.

TIM HERRON: Lumpy? Derivation as in-- what do you mean by that? I'm only a golfer, we're not that smart.

TIM HERRON: I worked at a club up in Minnesota, that's where I'm originally from. And I walk in first day at work, 16 years old. I was shaped similar at 16 as I am now (laughter.) Probably a little less lumps. But I walk in and they go, yeah, you, have a nickname? I go, no. Get your ass down on the range, pick the range, and when you get up to the pro-shop you'll have a nickname. So I get up. I go down, pick the range, come back up and they go, we've got a name, it's Lumpy, and it's going to stick, so don't even try to get out of it. I've always had that. I've had different names everywhere. There was already a Lumpy in high school, so I was never called Lumpy by my friends around high school. And how I got it out on TOUR is when I won at Eagle Trace, Phil Reith, the guy that named me Lumpy, his brother played on the Senior Tour, he lived down in Boca Raton, down in the Fort Lauderdale area, he was out watching me and he told Dave Mar or one of the guys, you know his nickname is Lumpy, and somehow it got on there. And it's probably going to stick out here.

TIM HERRON: I don't mind it, it's a pretty harmless name. I thought I was, I lost about 20 pounds, and now I've gained it back.

TIM HERRON: No, R-e-i-t-h.

TIM HERRON: Phil and Bob. Phil Reith. He's the head pro at Wood Hill out of Minneapolis.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I was pretty good, and then I got a scholarship to the University of New Mexico, a golf scholarship, and I went down there and I worked there about six years. My next two years, I came up home and worked in the summers and played locally. And then became an All-American and then you start doing all the amateur circuits and stuff, so I didn't work there quite as much.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, just some my friends used to call me.

TIM HERRON: No, no good. I can't say them in front of everyone. No, it was good.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I've been asked that a couple of times. I remember getting it up-and-down on one and that's about it, I think I closed him out on 14. I think that kind of set up the round, my up-and-down on the first hole and I made five or six, seven birdies during the round. I just remember I kept the ball in play and that I wasn't going to let up because all the college guys were heckling me on the range, man, they wouldn't want to play him, get beat by a 15 year old.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, for a half. I've always liked this golf course ever since then. I played my first USGA Junior here. I played U.S. Amateur here. I've played a couple of college tournaments where I've finished well out here. I think I finished second in a college tournament out here. So, yeah, I've really liked this golf course.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I remember making the cut on the number. I don't know, it was like 160 something. This is a hard golf course. And I was like 15, 14, I don't even know how old I was. What year was that?

TIM HERRON: So I was 16. I just remember hitting driver, 3-iron into the last hole and I just crushed two, I had a warm day. And I remember waiting on No. 10. There was like 20 guys for 19 spots and we were waiting and waiting and someone came in and turned in the wrong score card, so all of us got in. So we waited like an hour on No. 10, everyone is nervous, walking back and forth, not knowing what to do. So we all got in. And then I think I lost my -- I lost my first match.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, this is kind of what I grew up in.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I feel like I can control the ball better when it's wet. I can put a lot of spin on it. I hit the ball high, fairly long, and I think it plays more into my hands, and I feel like I'm more patient because I feel like when it gets going bad you can -- a lot of guys can get it going real bad.

TIM HERRON: Yes.

TIM HERRON: Probably about age five. But I played like a month out of the year.

TIM HERRON: I think three or four.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, my dad bought my sister clubs, she didn't want to play golf, so I said I'll have them. We used to go out chopping around every afternoon after he got off work. So it was fun. We lived next to a golf course and we'd play like three holes and just ran around and it was fun.

TIM HERRON: Well, I had 220 to the front downwind and I wanted to kind of hit a high 3-iron up to the right a little bit, work off the right bunker, if I hit it in the right bunker, it's not a real hard up-and-down, and I kind of hit it at the middle of the green, the wind took it and it hit perfectly on the front of the green, there was just a little ridge, and with the greens being soft, it just kind of rolled up, right across the hole and there's a little backstop there and rested right on that. But with that pin placement, you know, during like a firm condition you probably couldn't get that within 20 feet, if you play off to the right, for sure.

TIM HERRON: Yeah. The fairways are good. I think in spots they might be a little wet, but other than that the fairways are good, not a bunch of roll or anything.

TIM HERRON: It depends on the wind, but I probably hit it -- at the beginning of the round it was raining, so of course that takes a little bit off the ball. I probably hit it -- I carried it about 270, 280, in there.

TIM HERRON: No, not that far, not today.

TIM HERRON: I think it stopped around 7 or 8.

TIM HERRON: No, I'd take it on and off and probably the last four or five holes I took it off. Feels pretty good on right now.

TIM HERRON: I played well on the West Coast and in Florida. I didn't make a ton of money, but I felt like I've played well. I've had some hard times on Sundays, but I think that's all part of golf. And I've been solvent probably for a good month now. First it was ball-striking and then it became putting, I've been working really hard on my game. I feel like if I give it as much as I can I'll eventually get something back out of the game. So all you can do is work hard and try to stay as positive as you can. It's hard to do at times. But everyone goes through up-and-downs. I feel like I'm a talented golfer and that some day I'll be a real good golfer. But it's just all part of the learning process, stay aggressive at times, and learn how to play conservative at times. That's all part of the deal.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, probably that and putting. I'm not -- I'm not afraid to play well. In college I feel like there's a bunch of guys when there's a comfort zone. I don't really have a comfort zone. But then again I've asked some of the other hitters and they say you're going to hit it in the rough, just take advantage of when you hit it in the fairways, you play the Par-5s, you're going to hit some bad shots. You've got to learn how to get over the bad shots and find some causes why you did it. If you're thinking right, that's all you can do. Once the ball leaves the club face, nothing you can do.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, I felt like he was going to be special, but you never know when a kid is going to burn out, you know? You really don't have any clue. I remember USA Today a guy asked me and he goes, when do you think he should turn pro? I said I just beat him, I don't think he should turn pro right now. But I think he did everything at the right time. He's done everything right, and I'm glad that I'm in his era. I think he's only going to do good for the game and that he's going to put more money in our pockets, too, so it works out well. Just don't steal all the majors from us.

TIM HERRON: I must have been -- if it was in -- when was it, '92? I was 22.

TIM HERRON: No, I was still in New Mexico.

TIM HERRON: Stone. Mike Stone.

TIM HERRON: Well, sure, I wouldn't mind it, but you're ready for everything. I think the wind blowing and if it doesn't rain it will dry up a little bit, but I like a little wetter conditions, because I flop the balls around the greens and I think you can play a little more aggressive.

TIM HERRON: Well, it's hard to turn, but this is good rain gear. No, you don't, just try to hit the ball in play and take your licks, like in the rain -- I feel more comfortable in the rain because you're in places where you just hit it right. But like if you're in a perfect day and you hit a bad shot and you're like, man, I shouldn't be here, this hole isn't really that hard. You just kind of take the weather, what it can do.

TIM HERRON: Exactly. You just kind of try -- not trying to get in, but I feel like I'm more patient in bad weather.