CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

June 30, 2000

Dave Stockton Jr.

DAVE STOCKTON: I hit it really solid. I hit it pretty good. I hit 14 greens yesterday, and I thought scoring conditions, someone could have gone a little lower than they did. I thought there was a 62 out there yesterday, but today I thought it played tougher. I hit 16 greens today, and played more -- a lot more solid than I did yesterday. So I'm looking forward to this weekend.

DAVE STOCKTON: Just the last couple weeks started feeling it come. It's been gone all year; so it's nice to see it show up some time. Then my dad and I won a Father Son a week ago Tuesday, Johnny Miller's up in Utah, and we beat Jack and Mike Nicklaus in a playoff, and that kind of gave me some confidence, and knowing that I was playing better. Looking forward to coming here. And Memphis last week, I shot 66 on Sunday; so I'll go three 66's in a row. I'd like to get stuck on that number. But, no, I feel really comfortable right now out there.

DAVE STOCKTON: Johnny kept saying we were the favorites in his tournament anyway. So it was fun. I made a 20-footer on the last hole to send us into the playoff, with Jack and Mike standing there on the side of the green thinking they are going to catch a plane to get out of there; so that was fun. I hit a pitching wedge in the playoff two inches. It was a one-hole playoff, and it was nice to win something. I had not won anything in a while; so I'm counting that as a win. And my dad is, too, I think, because he hasn't won anything in over two years. We were both pretty excited.

DAVE STOCKTON: I have no idea. It's funny, I got here Monday night. I came in on a bus with a couple other players from an outing in Cape Cod, and we drove in the gates, and I started smiling. And I'm looking around, and I didn't think any of the other guys saw me, and a couple guys go: "Look at Junior over there, he's smiling, he's so happy right now, he's at his favorite spot." And it is, I love playing here. You know, today was a good, tough day, and I just hit it solid, and I didn't put it in spots where you shouldn't hit it. And if I can do that another two days, we're in good shape.

DAVE STOCKTON: I don't know. I see my shots out here really well. I'm visualizing each shot really well out here. It's a mystery to me why I play well here every year, but I don't want to change it, whatever it is. You know, I just -- every hole, I love every hole out here. It's got the four best finishing holes on TOUR, I think, great theater, and it gets -- so many things can happen on the last four holes and there's not a lot of holes out there like that.

DAVE STOCKTON: I think so. You know, you have, what is it, I think 17 at Phoenix where you can reach it there. But I think this hole, 15 here, is the best short hole on TOUR, for a par 4, the best short par 4 on TOUR. Because you can make a 2, you can make a 1, and then you can make a 6. If just -- you can't say that about too many par 4s on the PGA TOUR. And you have to hit -- you're rewarded for a good shot, and you're penalized for bad shots. And there's several ways you can play: You can lay up short or you can hit driver. I hit driver pretty much every time, unless there's a funny wind. But I don't remember laying up. It's been a long time since I laid up there.

DAVE STOCKTON: Yeah, the greens are a little firmer, but today, you know, yesterday morning, we didn't have any wind. And that's why I was surprised that 6-under is leading, because I thought there was a lower score out there. But today, we had, you know, a good breeze blowing, and the greens are getting firmer, and the wind was kind of, you know, swirling around. The holes out here, they go different directions. They don't go out 1, 9, come back; you're hitting the wind different ways. You've really got to be in tune to where the wind is coming from.

DAVE STOCKTON: Yeah, I hit it -- I hit a good drive and had 2-iron -- I had 235 or 240 to the hole, and it was a perfect 2-iron. I missed it short right of the green, but it was far enough short where I had a good angle at the pin; and broke about eight feet. But it was a good angle and it just fell right in the edge of the hole; it was perfect speed. The chip, it was probably 50 feet. Birdied 15. I hit a driver over the right and I was really lucky. It was in between the bunkers on 115. I thought it was going to be in the bunker, and I was in between them and had a pretty good lie, and I hit an L-wedge about 12 feet from the hole and made the putt for birdie. Then on 1, I hit a perfect drive down the middle. I get down there and I'm in a divot. I got -- more than half of my ball is under the surface of the grass, and I dug a 9-iron out of there and hit it head-high, and hit it about 12 feet from the hole and I made that for birdie. So that was -- I deserved it. I told Hawk, my caddy, I said: "I deserve that birdie after that good drive and a bad lie like that. I deserved a birdie." And then 2, I hit a 3-wood off the tee and a punch pitching wedge from 118 yards, about five feet and made it. And the one bogey on 4 and that's it.