THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 27, 1997

Russ Cochran

RUSS COCHRAN: Golf course played perfectly for me, really, because I don't drive it particularly well. Fairways were soft. So, you know, it kind of made those a little more gracious. Hit it in the edge of the fairway. It is going to stay there, so that helped out. Then greens were soft, as well. So, not hitting it tremendously high or spinning it that much. That's a big advantage for me. Of course, my caddie and I knew that. We were hoping that with the softness, we could kind of go ahead and take advantage of that while we had the opportunity. And, then we are going to let it dry out a little bit, do a little rain dance, maybe -- probably tomorrow afternoon, then soften it back up for Saturday and Sunday.

RUSS COCHRAN: Birdied 2. Hit a driver, 4-wood, right in front of the green, and hit pretty good little chip in there about 6 feet. And then made that putt. On the second hole, I hit 7-iron in there about 6 feet, made that No. 3.

RUSS COCHRAN: Hit a sand wedge, driver, 3-iron, then hit a sandwedge probably, you know, 8 inches from about 95 yards.

RUSS COCHRAN: Birdied 11. I hit a driver and a 5-iron to lay-it-up and then hit a 79-yard sand wedge to about 3 feet.

RUSS COCHRAN: 12, I hit one -- hit 3-wood off the tee, hit a wedge, little sand wedge to the pin from about 105 yards, and I hit it just on the back fringe, about 12 feet, I guess, 12, 13 feet. Made that.

RUSS COCHRAN: 13, tough hole anyway, I think. Hit it just on the right fringe and 3-putted it. I hit 5 in there and --

RUSS COCHRAN: I hit the first putt about -- oh, about 6 feet from the hole, and then lipped the 6-footer.

RUSS COCHRAN: Probably 55 feet on the right fringe. Pin was tucked to left today, so pretty long way.

RUSS COCHRAN: I drove it in the left rough -- actually, no. I hit it -- 14, I bogeyed. So, hit that in the fairway, but I hit it -- a 5-iron in the right just off the green to the right in the rough over there, terrible lie. Pitched it out to about 15 feet. 2-putted for bogey. Next hole, made a great par. Drove it in the left rough and kind of got back on track. That was a big key for me. Chipped it within about 3 feet. Made it for par.

RUSS COCHRAN: 16, I drove it in the rough again. Was pretty -- kind of unhappy with myself. Laid up and, you know, you normally have a 60- to 80-yard shot if you are not going for the green there in two, but the pin was tucked right. I had to lay up. I had 150 yards in there and hit an 8-iron in there about 6 feet, so made a nice recovery from a bad drive and ended up with birdie. 17, I had almost holed it out. Hit pitching wedge just behind the hole, sucked back probably 12, 14 feet. I guess -- I don't know if it lipped out or whatever, but it was just -- you know, 6, 8 inches.

RUSS COCHRAN: Yeah, it must have missed it by an inch or so. I couldn't tell, but you fix your ball mark, obviously, the thing rolls by; it looks like it might have rolled from the tee, just right of the hole, or rolled back across just left of the hole -- looked like an inch, inch and a half from the line it had. Couldn't really tell. It was pretty close. One of the things that you kind of guard against there or that you are a little afraid of - it is hard to guard against it - you want to use the slope there as a kind of a backstop, but, you know, with that in mind, if you happen to catch one a little into a breeze or, you know, pinch it pretty well, if it hits and starts coming back immediately, you know, it is possible to suck it back in the water. But, you know, so when I saw it kind of coming kind of gently off the hill and not really running back too hard, then I figured it was going to be fairly close.

RUSS COCHRAN: Yeah, that is what I was thinking. It couldn't have been much just from lining up the divot and knowing that it took a little left kick and then spun back, it looked like it had to be an inch or two from the hole.

RUSS COCHRAN: Well, that is a great question. I was on the right fringe, about hole-high. I played it to go 3 feet right and then back, you know, maybe couple of feet back to the left. I was just kind of getting -- looking at it. And, I mean, the thing went probably 6 feet right. It rode -- I hit a little easy, and it rode the ridge for about an extra second, second and a half. It took it an extra couple feet to the right. Then, when it released back, it only came back a foot or foot and a half, so I was left with about a 6-footer overall there. You know, that is one of the toughest putts you will have. You have got to throw the breaks along with the speed into the equation and, you know, you have -- you've got your hands full on that putt.

RUSS COCHRAN: Well, the whole ballgame for me is when it sets up softer, it is easier for me. I don't -- for instance, No. 5 -- No. 7, I hit a 5-iron in on No. 7. The pin was up front. There is a little slope off the bunker there. I could hit a 5-iron, feel comfortable, flew it in there, you know, it stopped. Roll down about 12 feet from the hole. Normally, if the greens are firm, I am going to hit that same. I am going to have to probably hit a 6-iron, because if I hit the 5-iron, I can't hold the green that well. The ball is going to go 30, 40 feet by. So, you know, it alters the way I play it. And, when it is soft like this, it also helps, you know, enlarging the fairways a little bit for me. Like, on 10, I hit it just to the left on 10, and it was kind of working towards the bunker and it hit and kind of stopped. So you know, those things, even though it makes the play longer, length is not the big thing on this golf course.

RUSS COCHRAN: Well, I think that the backside has a lot of birdie opportunities. I thought the -- I think the pin on 16, for instance is a little bit easier. The pin on 16, even though it is tucked near the water over there, it is easier to get it in that collection area, so if you are making those 6-, 8-, 10-footers, it is easy to get the ball 6, 8, 10 feet there. 17, probably has seen a lot of good shots in there they hit on that bank and spun back down where they got 6-, 8-, 10-footers there. I think you are probably trying to get around 13 today. 14 is a pretty good hole. You are trying to get around 14 and then, you know, maybe even 15. But, 16, you know, presents itself, you know, a chance for birdie as well as, you know, 10, 11 and 12. So, you know, it is just one of those things where, a couple of easy pins on that side and some short holes, that if you, you know, -- are treacherous, but if you are hitting them straight from the tee and playing well, then you are going to have good birdie opportunities. It is either good birdie opportunity or bogey, you know.

RUSS COCHRAN: No, I think you are reaching there. I really do. I think you need to -- we need to watch it through the course of the tournament because I think a lot of it had to do with the pins. I really do. 12 was in a little collection area. 11 was fairly easy. If you laid up on the left-hand side, the pin was pretty much looking at you. It wasn't anything crazy. Not over -- you know, it was 4 from the right, but if you laid up in the left-hand area, you know, you will probably hit a pretty bad shot if you didn't have 10-, 12-footer for birdie there. So, like I said, 12 was a little collection area too. If you hit it over one little hump, there was a little 10-foot area there. So I think that had more to do with it. I think not -- not necessarily to say that those pins are easy all the time, but I think with the softness, you know, might come into play, like you said, I think that helps out.

RUSS COCHRAN: 17 is, you know, you have to -- it is a crazy little hole. It is really unlike a lot of holes you play. You have to -- when the green gets firm, especially, it presents different problems. You want to hit a shot or you don't want to suck it back off the front of that green; the wind is always tricky. You can't feel the wind on left-hand side. Today it wasn't coming from the left, thank God, but it is hard to figure that out, which way the wind is blowing exactly. You can hit it over that green just as easy as you can off the front of it. And, you know, it is just, for me, I use that ridge, you know, it goes up the first part of the green and ridge is almost in the middle, I try to use that ridge as my bearings, kind of, as my focal point there and kind of work it from there.

RUSS COCHRAN: The rough was tough. I think again the greens helped out. If you hit it in the rough and you are talking about being able to hit it out of the rough into the softer green, it makes a huge difference. Greens, I think rolled well. They were fairly speedy, but they were soft. And, I could tell immediately like, you know, if you hit it in the rough maybe Sunday, if they don't get anymore rain or whatever, that it is going to be a totally different shot. Instead of taking a pitching wedge or 7-iron or whatever and hitting into the middle of the green and having it kind of stop, you are not going to have that luxury. If you hit it in the middle of the green, then it is going to roll straight over in that other stuff. So you are going to have to try to do sometime of shot making or take a few chances, trying to just carry this to the front so it wouldn't go off the back that type of thing. I think, like I said, for me, the softness really made the difference all the way around.

RUSS COCHRAN: Go cats.