DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 5, 1998

Ronnie Black

RONNIE BLACK: I made very few mistakes, my short game was as good today as it's been not only this year, but for quite some time. I had a 3-putt on 13 from off the fringe. It was from about 60 or 70 feet, so you know you're going to do that sometimes. But I hit my putter beautifully today, I think was the key. I holed a bunker shot on 15, I guess was pretty key, too. That was the most exciting part of my round, I suppose. That was on 15, par-3. I was telling Lee that I'm very surprised that I'm surprised the scores aren't lower, because the wind is so benign, the golf course is in fabulous condition. I was telling him I expect somebody to shoot 66 or 65, actually, 6 or 7 under.

RONNIE BLACK: It will be harder in the afternoon. I'm waiting for somebody to break out this morning. I'm just telling you that I'm surprised.

RONNIE BLACK: No, it's blowing a little harder as the day goes on. But it's 10, 15 miles an hour at the most. And it usually blows here at 30. Guys shoot 67 out here when it's blowing 30. When it's 10, you would expect them to score lower. I got out early on Tuesday, and there was very little wind. I felt like I was getting no practice round at all, because the course plays different than on Tuesday. On 18, I think I hit 8-iron. I hit a good drive on a 4-iron. That's a huge difference. That is such a hard green to hit into, when you're into the wind with a long iron. It's so demanding. Naturally I baled out right, and got it up-and-down from the bunker.

RONNIE BLACK: I think 17 and 18 play harder, but by and large I think that the other wind is more difficult, the par-3's are so hard. Like 13 is into the wind, it would be a 3-wood, as well as the hole, No. 4. 4 is really a hard hole when the wind is blowing into you. It's actually one of the hardest for me. It's one of the hardest par-3's we play all year, into the wind.

RONNIE BLACK: I did.

RONNIE BLACK: You really notice the one on 18. I mean there was just nowhere -- with this wind, where it's coming off the water, left-to-right, there was just nowhere to hit your ball. It was either in the bunker or the -- what seemed like a ten-foot-wide fairway, with the angle and the wind blowing, you had a 10- or 12-yard target, it seemed like. So it was -- yes, that made a lot of difference. The others -- I think there was a fairway bunker on 14 that they took out, and that was pretty substantial, too. But still I couldn't hit driver today there, with the way the wind is blowing, there's nowhere to fit the driver in, it had to be so perfect, so I hit 3-wood.

RONNIE BLACK: The state of my game has not been that bad. I've putted poorly. I haven't hit it great, and so with that combination I haven't got anything out of it this year, this is really my first really good round of the year. It's the first round I've had a big smile on my face walking off the course.

RONNIE BLACK: I finished 5th last year, and 5th at the Honda. Last year the Florida swing was the best part of my year.

RONNIE BLACK: Not necessarily. I've played well in Northern Florida, but I don't think I've finished top 20 at Doral before. So, no, it's unusual.

RONNIE BLACK: There's truth to that. I seem to play a little better in the north. I play better in the summer, personally. Courses like Westchester and maybe Kemper. I play well when it's hot.

RONNIE BLACK: Well, let's take Calcavecchia, I mean he wins in Phoenix, wins in LA, he wins in Florida. Calc plays good wherever he goes. Bean hasn't been playing well lately, if he played in Phoenix right now the way he's playing, I'm sure he'd play good there. There's some truth in horses for certain courses, but almost any, especially the top echelon guys, when they show up playing well, no matter where they are, they're going to play well, in my opinion.

RONNIE BLACK: All right. I started out with a very nice 20-foot putt on the first hole. I had about 6, 8 inches of break in it, and man, it was fun. Kind of set the tone for the day right, because I didn't really miss-hit any putts today. No. 7 I drove it in the fairway, hit a nice drive, but those bunkers are so tight it just didn't quite stay in the fairway and I had a long -- probably about 160-yard bunker shot that I hit in there about three feet. So that was really cool. No. 10, I got up-and-down from about 30 yards for a birdie, made about an 8-foot putt. 15, I hit a poor iron shot, came up short to the right in the bunker and I just -- my bunker play out of this sand is really good. I don't really know what it is about the sand, but I seem to be able to control my distance almost perfectly. Every one I hit today was. Like I said, I finished fifth last year here, and I hit in 20 bunkers or something like that last year, and got up-and-down almost every time. It was like 18 out of 20 or 18 out of 21. And I think I was four for four today. Then on 16, I hit a perfect 3-wood and a perfect wedge about two feet and tapped that in. 17, I hit a poor drive, a poor second and I had about a 35-yard bunker shot that I hit about 8 feet and made a really nice putt and then got it up-and-down from the bunker on 18. So I didn't hit the ball that great. I hit a handful of really good shots, but other than that I hit it kind of mediocre, my short game kind of kept me in it today.