MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 9, 1999

Tom Byrum

TOM BYRUM: A couple thoughts on today? It was a so-so day. I didn't do anything spectacular. I made some nice saves, a couple little mistakes. I still have a chance to win the tournament, which is my goal. Coming down the line tomorrow, if I'm in the same position, I'll feel pretty good.

TOM BYRUM: I made a lot of pars. I did make a couple bogeys and some nice saves. It was exciting for me at times, even though it was just a couple routine pars in the end on the score card. I think on the Front 9, I didn't have it real close to the hole, so I wasn't making a lot of putts. I was just 2-putting a lot. The birdie I did make even on the front was kind of a longer putt, 15, 20 feet. Just one of those kind of days where I did hit quite a few greens and I managed to 2-putt easily, nothing close to the hole, but then when I got in trouble, a couple times I got it up-and-down and made bogey. Pretty good day.

TOM BYRUM: I was all pars until No. 7. I laid it up and hit a little 9-iron about 15, 20 feet, call it 18 feet. I made that for birdie. Then I bogeyed 9, hit it in the rough, had one of those lies where you just can't go anywhere with it. I laid it up and hit a nice wedge up there about probably six or eight feet, maybe a little longer than that, probably eight feet. Just didn't hit a real good putt, missed it. I came back and birdied 10. I hit a 6-iron to 10 or 12 feet. Then I bogeyed 14. I had plenty of club in my hand. It was a 9-iron. I didn't think I could hit a full 9-iron over the green. Obviously I can. I made a good bogey there. That could have really slowed me down a lot, had I made a double bogey there.

TOM BYRUM: Yeah. Well over the green, probably 10 or 15 yards over the green on a hardpan lie, kind of in some rough. Tried to get up. The green is fairly elevated. I tried to get underneath it. I didn't blade it, but I sure didn't get underneath it either. It went over the green in the bunker. But I came back and made a nice birdie on the next hole. I made a nice save on 16. Up-and-down there. 17, I hit a good shot, 2-putted. 18, I actually thought I made birdie. Made a good putt there. Looked good until it just slid by.

TOM BYRUM: I hit a driver, 3-wood, just up by the left front of the green, chipped it up about two and a half feet.

TOM BYRUM: I'm just trying to have fun. I think that takes care of it for me, have fun. There's going to be mistakes when the course is playing like this. Don't let those slow you down too much or get too upset about a bogey here or there. Other guys are making them. It will be an exceptional round if you don't make any bogeys out here. It could happen easily, and I wouldn't be surprised with some of the names that are up there, they could play bogey free tomorrow and shoot 5- or 6-under and win the tournament. I think everybody up there could. There won't be any mind games. It's just a matter of focusing on what I can control out there, not the stuff that people like to talk about while playing golf on TV.

TOM BYRUM: The year before.

TOM BYRUM: That would be a good question. I'd have it all figured out earlier this year. I wasn't driving the ball as good as I was. Even last year I didn't drive the ball as well as in '97. I think just my overall game. Maybe it's confidence, maybe it's driving the ball or putting. Between the three of those, I had nothing like I had in '97 until now. I feel like I'm not driving the ball quite as well as I did in that year, but my putting is as good or better as I did then. I'm getting a little confidence, you know, just out of these last two weeks. I can see that I'm playing better. May or may not happen this week, may or may not happen this year, but I've bottomed out. I feel like I've bottomed out for the year and I'm on my way back up a little bit. Feel good about my game again.

TOM BYRUM: Can't drive it in the rough. You miss a green, most of the time you don't have just an easy chip. It's the same kind of lie you get in the rough if you miss a green most of the time. Bermuda grass around it, tough to control speed. Easy to go underneath. Easy to hit them too hard. There it's easy to hit it too hard past the hole and easy to leave it. You have to hit the fairways and you have to hit the greens. A lot of these are pretty tight. If you miss the shot, you're going to have a tough par. If you play safe, you have a 20-footer for birdie. It's tough to make those putts all the time. It just depends. You have to pick your spot, sort of be aggressive and pick some spots. Lay back, get it in the middle, take your par and get out of there. You have to play really well to shoot any more than 4- or 5-under. You shoot under par, you played pretty well. To really shoot 4- or 5-under, you really have to take advantage of your spots out there and not make a lot of mistakes.

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