MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 10, 1999

Tom Byrum

TOM BYRUM: Well, I played good. Obviously I played good enough to get in a playoff, so I can't be really disappointed. You know, I thought I'd be happier going into the week, if I could just get in a playoff and have a chance to win, you know, that was my goal. At the worst, if I just had a chance to win, I'd be happy. After getting beat in a playoff, it doesn't feel as good as I thought it would.

TOM BYRUM: I'd been putting well obviously all day, all week really. I'd been hitting putts with the speed I wanted. Wasn't really concerned about it. I backed away and made sure, which I thought I'd taken a safe enough line to the left. But I was just at such an angle, that slope, the more left I needed to hit it, the less speed; the more right, the harder I had to hit it. The more right, the more chance it was to do what it did. I thought I took a fairly safe route, but I just didn't hit it hard enough. That was a slope front going up there. I guess there was a little bit of rain coming down at the time. I just misjudged the speed, how much speed there was there in that slope. It was a tough angle. I guess I was trying to get it closer than what I should have been trying to get it at the time because once it got up on top, it was going to break back to the left rather than keep going to the right. So the more you aim left, the more it's going to finish left of the hole. I didn't want to leave myself too long a putt. If I could have it over, I'd make sure I'd get it over that. Really wasn't a thought. It really wasn't a thought. I was just trusting what I read and what I felt. Obviously, I just didn't feel like I was -- I didn't feel it was a hard enough stroke.

TOM BYRUM: Well, like I said, I'd been putting well all week. After he made his, you know, I knew I had to make it. It was a pretty straight putt. Might have been just a little bit of break in it. You know, I got over that. I was fairly calm. I trusted my stroke and hit a great putt.

TOM BYRUM: I got over it and blinded up a little bit too much to the right. Rather than hitting it fast, I wanted to back off it and just make sure I was comfortable. Once I had set my putter down, I felt like I was a little too much to the right. Rather than wiggle around a little bit trying to get what felt like back on line, I just wanted to start over and set my putter down was on line the first time.

TOM BYRUM: He really came on late. I really thought Mike had the upper hand really all day. He played well, well enough to really make it no contest, to where Notah and I shouldn't have had a chance. I'm sure he feels that way. I don't know what he said. I saw a lot of good golf out of him. I really like he was the guy to beat. If I could just get past him, I was going to have a really good chance. And I did. You know, here comes Notah out of the blue, making a couple putts out of the blue. He kind of had the momentum, too. Then it swayed back. I had the momentum when he drove it bad in the playoff. Then I hit a bad putt, got him back into it. He hit a good drive, I hit a bad drive. He hit a bad second shot. One of us, you know -- kind of the way we played all day really. He was kind of up-and-down. I was up-and-down, fairly steady, but then a little rocky at times. I really felt like Mike was the steadiest. He was just putting some short putts, putts that would have taken Notah and I out of the game.

TOM BYRUM: No. I didn't go look and see what he was doing. I wanted to assume that he had a lie over there and he could get to the green. I got over my second shot trying to hit the shot, trying to win it right there, trying to make a birdie. Felt like I hit a good shot. It just didn't get up over the ridge. You have to take that ridge out. I just didn't quite get it done.

TOM BYRUM: I hit that shot on that hole three times now. Like I said, I hadn't hit a shot to the left all day. I really thought I had that worked out of my driver. I'd been driving it good. If anything, missing it a little bit to the right. I aimed it straightaway. It just hooked.

TOM BYRUM: You know, I got it up-and-down a lot this week. I putted really well. I made some great putts. I think that's what you have to do to win a tournament, you have to putt well, obviously. I didn't feel like I hit it as good as I have in the past or what I even did last week. So they're disappointing, those two things. But the shot that you don't get up on the ridge, you know, that's not a big deal. I wasn't disappointed with that. The 3-putt, that hurt obviously. We could have ended it there, which would have been fine with me.

TOM BYRUM: It's a relief. I really did play golf today. I didn't worry about who was doing what. I knew if I beat the two guys I was playing with, I'd have a good chance. If somebody snuck ahead of me, if I just paid attention to what they were doing, they were playing well enough, if I could get ahead of them, that was going to take care of itself. I didn't look at any leader boards. I knew how those two stood. I felt that was good enough. If I wasn't beating them, I wasn't going to look at the leaderboard. I really did a good job of not letting that distraction factor into any of my play today. Didn't make any difference in that respect.

TOM BYRUM: 15 was a par. 16 I hit a little 5-iron about 20 feet. That was a good putt. I really felt like Mike was going to make his putt there. I still thought I was going to be one behind. As you know, he missed. 17, I hit a good 6-iron. Hit right by the hole and released to the back of the green, 2-putted for par. 18, the first time I hit a 5-iron and just blew it out to the right in that bunker. Got it up-and-down for the par. Forced the playoff.

TOM BYRUM: That was probably inside of ten feet. That was probably maybe about ten feet. Actually, pretty good putt.

TOM BYRUM: Both times I hit a 5-iron.

TOM BYRUM: No. I really didn't notice that. It was really not a factor.