MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2022

Sandy Lyle

Quick Quotes

Q. It is something to tell the grandchildren, yeah?.

SANDY LYLE: Something to tell the grandchildren. 100 major tournaments. So my round today, if I'm going to go through the round, was a lot tighter than yesterday. I didn't have so many -- well, I had some big numbers on a couple of holes. Likes of 12th with the 7 and drops at the back there in the azaleas and then hitting the branch coming down and staying on the bank. Dah, dah, dah from there.

All of a sudden it just got messy. Ended up with a 7, and I made three today. I double-bogey at 17, and I sort of chipped into the bunker from about 50 yards off a really tight lie. Made double.

That was four, five, six shots gone in two holes. Otherwise, it would be quite a respectable score even though I made hardly any birdies at all. I think two total birdies total with a chip-in at 18.

I played better as the kind of round went on today. I worked on a few things, worked on the swing playing a bit more as far as the impact area, and I think that seemed to -- at least the ball was sort of in your eyesight when you looked up, and I hit most of the fairways in the round today, which is all good. Even the last few holes I hit the fairways. Not as far as my playing partner is, because he was, like, 50 yards ahead of me, so he makes the 17th a lot easier. I can't hit it high enough and far enough to get into the flat bit, so I'm hitting 6-iron into 17 when he is probably hitting a gap-wedge or something like that.

It's a bit of a struggle because I'm not hitting it far enough on the finishing holes. But all in all, I feel it's a little tighter today and gives a bit of hope for the next few months playing in the Champions Tour.

Q. At what point does that struggle here become too much?

SANDY LYLE: It's unfortunate we had all the heavy rain as well on Tuesday and Wednesday, whatever it was. That doesn't help. I feel like they've been doing sand-base fairways to encourage the speed. That was told to us on Tuesday night by Fred Ridley. They want the ball to run and be faster, and, of course, with this rain it didn't do that at all.

So it would have made a difference of some of the par fours and par fives. An extra 30, 40 yards nearer because you are getting a little bit of run with your tee shot, and you are getting a little bit of run with your second shot. It all adds up at the end of a day on a par-five hole. My balls are basically running about 15 feet, if you are lucky.

It does make it hard, and a lot of long irons -- long iron coming into the 17th with a 6-iron. It landed only three feet over the bunker, and it still managed to just go over the back of the green, and I didn't get up and down from there.

18th, I had a good drive with the wind helping a little bit, and I was trying to hit a 7-iron. I'm sure you'll see some guys with probably a sand-iron in there today. It's a big difference. That's what you expect.

I'm not 21 anymore, and the club head speed is going down rapidly in the last sort of ten years, so I've got to work on the short game a bit more and make some putts.

I think probably next year might be the end of the Lyle attack on the golf course.

Q. Why next year?

SANDY LYLE: Well, I think my older son is coming out and a few of his buddies, and I think my younger son is probably coming out, so we're going to be full family, I think, so I think it will be the end of the day.

Q. What's the best advice you've gotten from somebody about when to know if it's time to --

SANDY LYLE: I think you know yourself. I know Fuzzy said some years ago that he puts his hand up in the Tuesday night dinner and said, 'I would like to let you know I'm going to retire.' Tommy Aaron and Charles Coody went on a bit longer and maybe they shouldn't have gone as far as they did, but that was their choice.

I'm still reasonably strong at nearly 6-feet tall, so I can still get the ball out there reasonable distances when I put my mind to it. I can still putt half decent. I've got my nerve still there, so there's always a little hope that making the cut and then making a challenge and coming in the top 20 or something.

Q. So next year you'll make special preparations, it could be your last and go out with a bang?

SANDY LYLE: I should go to the gym the rest of the year, and I might make a better attack on the golf course.

Q. So enjoy it Sunday.

SANDY LYLE: It's not easy. I was gutless by the time I got through nine or ten holes when it was just bogey after bogey. Not playing particularly awful. Just not chipping, not putting and dah, dah, dah, dah.

I've had worse in the practice rounds. I was hitting the ball far worse as far as the timing, and I would say teenage golf couldn't stay out of trouble kind of thing. I was just two holes well and then three holes awful and so on and so on, up and down. Your emotion level is up and down like a Yo-Yo.

I did work my caddie, who is a golfing coach as well, so we kind of figured a few things out and get the ball -- we'll get the club more down the line on the down swing even though I was a little inside, a little dippy, but if I can at least get the attack zone a bit better, I always tended to hang back and go underneath and just no power, and eyes are up rather than coming down and covering it.

Once I got that going and get the feel of it, the ball was starting to go down the middle of the fairway where I was looking. It's encouraging for the next few months, the Champions Tour, which I'll look forward to now, and I shall watch with interest to see who is going to be the winner here this week.

Q. Is there a occasion when you left here feeling down in the dumps and someone has had to pick you up and get you back --

SANDY LYLE: Oh, many times, yeah. More so in the last sort of six, seven years. Maybe not last year, but a few years before I was missing the cut by one shot twice in a row, and it's like, ah, it's really annoying. So near and yet so far.

Then last year I had a terrible quadruple bogey on the No. 4 from a thin bunker shot. Went straight into the trees the other side. Found the ball. It was out through the trees, and couldn't go back over because it was just a big blanket of trees. So I had to come down the fifth fairway and so on and so on. I ended up with a 7.

Then I had a short putt and then another shortish putt for bogey, bogey. So I've gone quadruple bogey, bogey, bogey in my first 40 minutes of the rounds, and I think I only missed by about three or four shots in the end. That was a bit annoying.

Then this week I've had that big number at 12, which wasn't helpful, and then double at 17. If I can not have those big numbers on certain holes, that would make life a little easier. But, yeah, I still enjoy it. Hitting it better, I and I think I can play, which is good.

Q. Going back to the 100 majors, what do you remember about the first one?

SANDY LYLE: Age of 16, I would say, playing in the Open Championship at Lytham. That would be the first memory really. That was two cuts that week as well, which is unusual. Normally it's only one cut.

I made the first cut by about three or four shots doing flying colors, and then I ended up missing the cut by, whatever, two or three shots because I had a big number on fifth or sixth hole or something. A par five, I couldn't get out of a bunker.

My heart was coming out of my chest for the first opening tee shot, amateur or no amateur or pro or whatever. I was just thump, thump, thump, thump and thinking, 'my God, I hope it's going to get better or get easier.' The feelings of this nerves and trying to control your emotionals and your hands and your putting. Not easy when you are 16.

Gradually you get used to those situations, and you deal with it. Nobody ever goes through it without some sort of panic stages at some stage.

So that was the first one at age of 16, the Open Championship. That was my most memorable start to a career of golf.

Q. You had some good moments today. You had the chip-in on 11. 15, the crowd was pretty packed there and giving you a big cheer. Is that kind of like the goal coming into a week like this is to produce a --

SANDY LYLE: I'm not just going out there to make the crowd clap. I want to for my own momentum make the cut. That's my challenge.

I know I'm not going to challenge the winners out here. It would have to be a complete freak. If it was really dry and the course is playing a little shorter, I could maybe put some scores up there, but I don't think it's going to ever annoy the big boys when they can hit the ball so far. But making the cut is my challenge at the moment, and keep smiling as best you can and entertain the crowd.

Q. I think it was yesterday Gary Player said in his little press conference that one of these days someone in their 60s is going to win a major. Is that crazy talk?

SANDY LYLE: No. Well, you have Tom Watson. He was only one week off 60 and in a playoff at Turnberry. It can. It shows you. Turnberry is no pushover have a golf course, and there he was just one week off 60 and in the playoff. It virtually has happened. He hadn't won it, but he has been in the playoffs, so that's as good as a win for the age of 60 years old as you're going to get.

I don't know if Tiger's ailments will hurt him along the ride. When he gets to 60, he still could be very competitive, but I don't know with the injuries he has had. He might be seizing up and losing a lot of distance, but he is one that could prove us all at 60 years old you can win a major. We'll have to wait for that one.

Q. You've been out here a couple of days. You've seen the changes in the weather. What do you think the winning score might be this weekend?

SANDY LYLE: Well, it's going to be cold tomorrow and possibly windy again, so I think anything around about 9- or 10-under will be a good score. I think we're rain-free, but it's wind and cold that's the next thing.

I think the pin positions usually the first two days seems the pattern can be quite critical, and then they tend to open up a little bit with the pin positions later in the week and especially the back nine on the last day you start to see a lot of birdies and things like that going on. I think 9- or 10-under would be a good. I would take 10-under right now.

Q. Do you have to qualify for that one?

SANDY LYLE: No, I'm okay.

Q. First time there? Decent venue?

SANDY LYLE: First time there. Yeah, the King's Course. That's the old one. I look forward to that. That will be good. I can commute from home.