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MASTERS TOURNAMENT


April 6, 2006


Rocco Mediate


AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

CRAIG HEATLEY: Ladies and gentlemen, Rocco Mediate. Rocco, great round today.

ROCCO MEDIATE: Thank you.

CRAIG HEATLEY: Marvelous back nine. Congratulations, well played.

ROCCO MEDIATE: Thank you. It was a blast, as always, here.

CRAIG HEATLEY: Would you mind sharing a few thoughts with us as you went around.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I was very excited to play this week, as I'm sure all of us are out here, because I knew I was striking my ball like I used to and my body is feeling a lot better. So it's going to be fun to come into this golf tournament, this major, with some semblance of a clue on what was going on with my golf swing and golf ball. I was looking forward to seeing what I could do. I just felt just challenged myself as much as I can out there to keep playing good. You know, it's so hard and so penalizing and so good, that it won't let you lay down. It won't let you relax. It just doesn't. And if you do, pretty much the game is over. It was fun just to have I knew I would have a chance to shoot a good round. Whether I did or not is a different story because then you have to talk about putting and pitching and stuff, and that's a different game here. That was fun. I had a blast today.

Q. What's tougher here, to go around and make birdies, or to go around and not make bogeys?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Probably the not making bogey part. I kind of was keeping an eye of that and I just got reminded again. Certainly you don't expect to do that here.

Q. Ten straight pars to start out, were you okay with getting around at that point, making a lot of pars?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Absolutely.

Q. And then did anything happen to kick start things on the back?

ROCCO MEDIATE: No, I was quite you know, this course now and these conditions, par are a pretty nice score most of the holes. You have some birdie holes, a cup. But with the pins on some of the so called birdie holes you didn't have many birdie holes. I was very pleased. I made about a 10, 15 footer on 11 to make birdie and you're not supposed to do that on that hole. I actually kind of apologized to the hole as I left. (Laughter).

I had a chance, get through 12, it's only a 9 iron but just want to get through 12 even with a 9 iron in your hand, because a little mistake and you're making 4 or 5.

Then, you know, you have a shot at 13 and 15, I'm more so on 15. 13 is tough for me to reach and through 14 I wasn't concerned at all. If you said could I have taken 18 straight pars, I'd take it before I played, especially around here now. Maybe seven, eight years ago, no.

Q. Could you elaborate on what you were saying outside about the course being maybe harder for the longer guys right now with the way the fairways are running?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah, I was talking to Brandon, my caddie, walking up the first hole and I had 185 yards or so. And 20, 30 yards ahead of me, the fairway is basically gone.

Q. It's pinched.

ROCCO MEDIATE: So yeah, if you're going to have to drive it over that bunker which would be completely insane, but I'm sure there are a couple of guys who could do it, there's no room to hit holes like that have changed. 11 is the same way.

Q. The way you putted at THE PLAYERS Championship, what happened in the two weeks since then?

ROCCO MEDIATE: I went back and thought about what I wanted to do and I went back to the short putter and I just worked on it. I talked with Mr. Ballard, I talked to Rick Smith about it, I talked to them both. I got my arms on my body and I just work it with my body now. I have control again. That's how I try to do my golf swing so I just meshed it all together kind of.

I putted better today than I may have ever putted here, ever.

Q. This is not a good place to come with not having a lot of confidence.

ROCCO MEDIATE: You've got that right. That's what was concerning me a couple of weeks ago.

Q. How did you adapt to that mentally?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Well, I've been around, this is 21 years on this tour so I know what's going on. Once you get a taste of it, once I felt even in practice and practicing home on some fairly speedy greens, I felt like I could just bring it here. I know the greens a little bit here. I'm not a master by any stretch of the imagination on those greens but I kind of know them a little bit, which is good.

Q. Just curious that given that you have not played a ton the last couple of years and haven't played as well, if at all this week when you were here, did anyone ask how you got in this tournament?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Actually, they didn't. But I'd tell them, just look at last year's U.S. Open results and then they shut up. (Laughter).

But, you know I don't blame them. I haven't played a lot of golf and I've been hurt. I haven't played well at all. I've had a couple of events in two years. That's all body related, not golf swing or golf game related, because otherwise I probably could have killed myself by now. So, yeah.

Q. On a percentage basis, how much of the difficulty today is the revisions and how much of it is the conditions?

ROCCO MEDIATE: It's probably a 50/50. You know, when I first came here and I saw I didn't play last year, and the year before, whenever they made the first revisions, it was kind of like 25 feet of water. Remember how bad it rained last couple of years? The ball was just plugging basically in the fairways and the greens were soft. You didn't really get to see what and then they made it longer again. So then all of a sudden, I started hearing the complaints. This is the thing I was talking to my caddie about, guys complaining about this hole is too long or that hole or you shouldn't have done that to this hole.

I look at it at the way a USGA event is. The Masters tournament sets up their golf course exactly how they want to set it up because it's their tournament. If you don't want to abide by what they do, don't come. And that's what I mean about it's 50/50. Changes are great, but the firm conditions make the same thing, make it just as difficult. When this course was short before, a lot shorter and it was firm, it still played pretty hard, even though you had short clubs in. Just a couple guys went berserk there a few years, mainly Tiger.

Q. Do you remember what you did during this week last year?

ROCCO MEDIATE: I have no idea. I was home probably with the kids. I played Harbour Town the next week.

Q. Do you wonder if your body will let you play consistently for a period of time?

ROCCO MEDIATE: I wonder every morning. I wake up, go, "okay, I'm good right now." It's just how it is. I've come to those terms. It's just how it is.

Q. Did you have any good near misses on the front?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Near misses? Birdie putts, let's see, near misses, 4, believe it or not. Just hit the left side of the hole.

Q. How far?

ROCCO MEDIATE: 25 feet right of the hole, which I'd take it there ever day for the rest of my life.

9, I missed one. You can't call it a near miss. I was eight feet above the hole. If you hit it a little too hard it goes down the middle of the green. So just one, not really. I made a good par putt on 5 and 7. So it evens out.

Q. Is it possible to give us a short list of ailments?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Just my back, that's the only ailment I've had and it's been a doozy.

Q. What did you hit on 4?

ROCCO MEDIATE: 5 wood, 249, 248 I think it was.

Q. Vaughn Taylor said you were a calming influence on him today.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I told him, not like I'm a big Masters veteran, I said, "Vaughn, a 7 iron still goes" well, 15 years ago it was 160 yards. "There's no green jackets hanging in the trees, just play golf." He kind of laughed. You could tell he was a bit nervous. Vaughn is a tremendous player. He didn't shoot a good score today, but that's fine. I said, I know you're upset, but big deal. You're going to be here a lot of years with that golf game he has.

Q. First of all, how many different kinds of treatments did you try for your back?

ROCCO MEDIATE: We don't have time for that. (Laughter) I've done everything and I still do a lot of stuff.

But the more I've taken it easy, the better I've felt.

Q. Everything, you mean like acupuncture?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Oh, yeah, sure, I've done it all.

Q. And when you go through a long period like that, how tough is it to how much does it play in your mind and how tough is it to get your confidence back?

ROCCO MEDIATE: It's really hard because when the body goes away, you can't do anything with the golf club and even if you can do partial things, you've got to come play against these guys. That's the killer. You can't come out here at anything less than your best to compete with these guys, you can't. No one can. And that's been the hardest part is trying to get back out here with some semblance of physical shape, reasonable shape, but sometimes it just doesn't work. It's been good since Doral. Doral, I felt really good, and I've hit my ball really good since then.

Q. How did you get back in reasonably good shape?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Lots of stuff. Just after back surgery, I did like I said, it's another whole day. But I do a lot of Pilates now and that's about it. I don't do much else.

Q. How long has this been going on?

ROCCO MEDIATE: '94.

Q. What's your morning warm up ritual to get

ROCCO MEDIATE: Just a little bit of stretching, nothing. I've stopped doing all that stuff, and I've felt better.

Q. Really?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah.

Q. We haven't really seen it firm and fast.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I haven't seen it since 2001, I believe, the last time I saw it firm.

Q. Is the golf course too long, No. 1, and No. 2, is it something that just drastically favors the long hitter?

ROCCO MEDIATE: It doesn't favor the long hitter. Maybe the par 5s do, you know, obviously they do on every golf course, though. But it doesn't because the corridors now, the fairways are so much narrower and they are so much more trouble that if they hit it off line they have got problems. The Magnolia trees up left off 1 are in play for those guys; not in play for me.

Q. You've got 5 iron, they have got 9 iron, isn't that a great advantage?

ROCCO MEDIATE: It is, but can they hit the ball straight enough that far up? Some of them can. It's hard shots for all of us now. That's even a better way to say it because you can't just bomb it anymore. You can't bomb it on 11. 10 you can still bash it down there.

But here is a good one. I just said this to Tiger yesterday or whenever. I said, "I don't understand the complaining about Tiger's hitting a 7 iron and I'm hitting a 4 iron." Well, he's a million times stronger than me and hits it 50 yards further. What's wrong with that? The strong ones are always going to be the longest guys. That's just how it is. I don't have a problem with that. I can still make a score. Can I beat a guy with a 5 iron and he has an 8 iron all day? Probably not. Probably not for the week. That's just too bad.

I'll say it again. If you can't do certain things around this golf course, you don't get to win. And if you don't like it, that's just how it is. It's whoever shoots a low score, I don't care how you shoot it.

Q. But can a guy your length do those things?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Absolutely, with these conditions. And when it's soaking wet, I cannot. But it's not, thank goodness.

Q. How difficult is it to change the mind set for guys who have been coming here for years and playing Augusta National a certain way and all of a sudden it's almost like a U.S. Open style?

ROCCO MEDIATE: It's really hard. When holes change, you are used to hitting it up in one place and go back and hit it. Like 11 and 7, that's the most drastic, 7 and 11, they are completely different golf holes but we're professionals and we're supposed to be able to figure that out.

I remember on 7, if you hit a sand wedge now I hit a reasonable drive and a 7 iron today, which is fine. I can go into a hole with a 7 iron. If the long guys want to get up and bomb a driver, they will have a 9 iron. That's what they should have, if they took it's a good shot. If it's off line, that's a problem. That's what they did here and I think they did it right.

Q. When you walked off 18, what were you feeling, surprise, shock?

ROCCO MEDIATE: No, it wasn't surprise. I was very pleased. Because I kept, you know, coming down the last four or five holes, well, last three holes, really, after I birdied a couple and around 13 birdied three in a row, geez. I didn't want to get in, you know what I mean. I'm 4 under par. All right, I wanted to at least I wanted to try to make all three more. But I wanted to continue to hit solid shots and I did that and I was very pleased. I hit my best drive of the day off 18 and that's a hard driving hole for anybody. Like I said I'm challenging myself out there. I'm not necessarily I'm just trying to keep going. If I get something going I'm trying to keep going. My body actually did what I asked it today, and it better keep listening.

CRAIG HEATLEY: Rocco, it was a fabulous 68. Would you mind just taking us through each hole as you went and just give us what you hit on each hole if you wouldn't mind.

ROCCO MEDIATE: Every hole? That would bore you guys to death here.

You know, I hit a good drive off 1 and hit a 6 iron to the middle of the green. In 1991 that's what I hit to the green was a 6 and 7 iron, pretty much.

No. 2 I hit it down the middle, laid up with a 3 wood in the bunker which is what I wanted to do. Almost got it up to the top but didn't and made a nice 5.

3, I drove it in the right rough with a 3 wood. Hit a little chip 8 iron into the tree 15 feet from the hole and made a nice 4. That pin is in a nasty pin well, they are all hard.

4, I hit a very nice 5 wood middle of the green, pin high, which surprised me and 2 putted. That hole is playable. Tiger's probably hitting a 3 iron there. What's wrong with that? I think it's fine.

5, I hit a decent drive, just a foot in the right rough and then I tried to play tried to revert back to 1960 and hit a little 5 iron run and bounce it short. I didn't want to carry it on top of the rough and it ran up to the top, looked at the hole and came back down and I 2 putted which was fine. I tried a shot that guys probably don't try very often which was cool.

6, I hit a 6 iron back 20 feet and missed.

7, I hit driver and 7 iron.

8, I hit it just in front of the green and pitched it about eight feet and missed.

9, I hit 7 iron eight feet above the pin and missed. That maybe was the fastest putt on the golf course because the wind was behind me, I'm like, "Oh, geez. I didn't hit a very good putt."

10, I hit a good drive and a 7 iron about 30 feet right of the hole. I didn't challenge that pin. That's one of my points. It's sitting right there going "come on, come on over here," but you can't. Unless you hit it perfect, you're going to make a 5, at least I am. I made my 2 putt.

11, I hit it in the left rough over there and made a birdie. I hit a 5 iron about ten feet and made that. I wasn't really trying to make 3, I was trying to make 4.

Then I hit a good shot on 12 with a 9 iron. You're standing up there on 12 with a 9 iron going, "just stay in there now, let's go." You get a little bit of miss and it's a 5. It may be the best hole of all time, that hole, with a 9 iron.

13 surprised me. In the practice round, I played with Phil and I played who did I play with on Sunday? I don't remember. I hit a driver right where I was looking, just outside the right edge of the left trees and it went this far through the fairway and kind of sat down, which is what the rough is for. I was surprised it went that far. I figured if I went on that line, I'll hit a 3 or 4 iron perfect but I laid up and made birdie, hit a sand wedge close, well, ten feet.

14 was an example of what I was saying outside and in here. I hit a good drive and I had 168 or something like that back into the wind a little bit. I wasn't thinking of seven iron but that was pushing it. I hit a 6 up in the air, carried it past the hole about five yards and made a birdie, a 30 footer. There is another example, if I hit 7 iron I'd still be out there chipping. I'd never leave the hole.

15, I hit it in the left rough and laid it up about 15 feet short of the hole and made that one par that broke a mile. I couldn't believe the break in that putt.

16, I hit a 7 iron, taking the long out of play and I didn't quite hit it long enough, hit it short and came done and 2 putted. If you challenge that pin, there's a lot of things that happen on that hole that are not pretty.

And 17 I hit a good drive just to the right rough about another yard at the most and I hit a 6 iron a little short, 2 putted.

18, I hit my best drive and a 6 iron just on the back fringe just missed for birdie and skipped into the scoring tent. (Laughter).

CRAIG HEATLEY: Adds up to a pretty good 68.

ROCCO MEDIATE: That was fun.

CRAIG HEATLEY: Well played and all the best for the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts.

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