THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 12, 2000

Brian Gay

BRIAN GAY: 17?

BRIAN GAY: Wedge on 1 to 12, 14 feet, birdie there. 3, 7-iron, ten feet. 4, wedge, two feet. 9, I hit it out of the front bunker about 15 feet made that. 17, I was on the back fringe right behind the hole. 20 feet or so. The ball hung on the lip and was -- never stopped moving and fell in and then when I finished playing, they determined that it took three seconds too long to fall in, so I incurred a one-shot penalty which would be the same as tapping in, so I am at a 4 not a 3 there.

BRIAN GAY: To be honest, I really -- it was so far from the hole and the position that the pin was in, obviously, you can't afford to hit it too hard. It was downhill all the way. I knew if it got to the fringe past the hole, it could potentially roll all the way down the hill. It was such a long putt, I really couldn't get a great feel for it. I just tried to get it down there as best I could and obviously it was way short.

BRIAN GAY: I hit the putt. It was right on line. Halfway there I knew if I -- if it got to the hole, it was in. I started walking towards the hole and when I reached, got even with the hole to the side, I was looking -- I could see it was still moving and Jonathan said, wait, it is going to fall. I kind of peeped up there and looked, it was still never stopped and then it fell in.

BRIAN GAY: Well, the rule says if a ball is on the lip of the hole even if it's moving, it is at rest, which I don't understand that, but that is what the rule book says. The actual rule is after you reasonable amount of time to reach the hole, once you reach the hole, you have ten seconds to tap it in if it doesn't fall. Even if the ball is still moving, you have to tap it in once the ten seconds ends. According to them, they said it was three seconds too long. Personally I think it is a huge gray area. There is a lot of things that -- there is a lot more leeway than three seconds and it was a pretty important stroke for me. I mean, you can go on and on about, you know, it says reasonable amount of time to reach the hole. Well, if I'd a fell down on the fringe and gotten really emotional, it would have taken me way longer to get down there. I actually went down there pretty fast kind of to the side, so I mean, I guess if I'd a waited from the fringe I'd -- unless I laid down on the ground for ten minutes, turns out walking up there so quickly ended up what hurt me.

BRIAN GAY: I never started counting because I knew the ball was moving and now that I have read the rule in the book, I never knew you could hit them. So when it was moving, I never thought about touching it. It was obviously, no doubt it was going in the hole because it was straight downhill, it was hanging over the front edge and it was still turning.

BRIAN GAY: Well, the guy -- both guys I was playing with thought I was fine. They said, you are -- definitely wasn't too long. After I finished 18, Slugger asked me to go to the truck and look.

BRIAN GAY: Yes.

BRIAN GAY: Right.

BRIAN GAY: The rule official walking with us?

BRIAN GAY: I don't know if there was a rules guy walking with us. Everyone I was playing with thought it was fine. I had a friend of mine when I was going to the truck with Slugger said -- him and his buddy were on the cell phone on the TV timing it, my buddy told me on the way to the truck, it is fine doesn't worry about it, so.....

BRIAN GAY: I was aware of the ten seconds for sure; was not aware of hitting a moving ball.

BRIAN GAY: Only time I -- no, I wasn't thinking about it on the green. When we came off 18th tee Jonathan Kaye was telling me same thing happened to him at Colonial last year, and he didn't get a penalty, the ball fell in the hole and I guess they did the same thing, went in the truck. His playing partner was saying, you took more than ten seconds, they looked at it, I guess it was okay. But no officials said anything just Jonathan, they both said you are fine, he just told me that story. On 18th green it had no affect.

BRIAN GAY: Well, I played it about two cups (sic) to the left. Got a good line off JP's putt, almost identical line there. Didn't even -- all I knew is my caddie said -- I didn't know if it was a win, playoff, or what. I just knew I needed to make it. Got a good line off JP's putt. All I tried to do was get good kick speed on it.

BRIAN GAY: The first one had to be over 100 feet, I would guess. Back left fringe to the front right, pretty big green, had to be 100 feet easy.

BRIAN GAY: Yeah, I knew -- I could tell I was in the fringe and kind of right when I made contact, I could tell just really didn't come off the putter real good, and you -- half the distance that it went, I knew it was coming up quite a bit short, but it came up shorter than I expected, for sure. But I knew it was going to be at least ten feet short when I hit it.

BRIAN GAY: No, I didn't look at all.

BRIAN GAY: My caddie just said, you know, approach shot, he said keep it left, you know, I just knew I needed to make a par. I didn't know --

BRIAN GAY: 17, I hit an 8-iron, 163 to the hole pin-high about seven feet from the hole and just released to the green. 18, I hit 7-iron.

BRIAN GAY: What do I think of it? Obviously I mean, I don't know. I didn't know. I didn't know 'til I actually read that that -- I never knew that you could ever touch -- hit a moving ball, obviously, only in the case of being on the lip of a hole, clear on the ten seconds, I just think it was pretty gray as to the reasonable amount of time when if you ran to the hole, when you hit your putt, out of excitement you are hurting yourself because once you run up there, the clock starts. So in actuality you should probably dilly-dally around try to beat the rule. But it was a natural reaction.

BRIAN GAY: I might not be in a hurry to get up there, but -- but I think -- I mean, the only thought I had was the ball was still moving, it is going in the hole, I mean, never even crossed my mind since the ball was continuing to roll.

BRIAN GAY: Great week, very disappointing to have that happen, but very pleased with my play.

BRIAN GAY: He is a very good caddie. Extremely positive, really kept me pumped up today trying to stay aggressive instead of just trying to hole what I got, you know, to really go for it. He talked about winning all day. I think that is good in that situation because you tend to kind of lay down and play scared and you don't want to play scared. Got to go for it.

BRIAN GAY: He said, let's go, look, I don't want you to sign your card.

BRIAN GAY: I just think it is a distraction. I got playing with the leader so I know what those guys are doing that I am playing with. I don't think it is going to -- I am not going to benefit by watching somebody run off four birdies or whatever. I think best thing I can do is play my own game and not really worry about everybody else.

BRIAN GAY: Must have been good 20 feet.

BRIAN GAY: Yeah. I glanced at the sheet when I did sign my card. Gosh, I forgot now. It was a lot. I think it was 220 -- would have been around 220. Now it is 1 -- about 90,000, I think.

BRIAN GAY: I don't know -- how do you change it?

BRIAN GAY: Yeah, it is gray when you are splitting hairs on a couple of seconds. Obviously the TV is a big factor, people are calling in, everyone is looking at the stopwatch, it is a big deal, but I mean, I think, if you are looking for a lost ball and you got five minutes, if you don't find it in five minutes, it is a lost ball. Well, nobody is standing there with a stopwatch on NBC and you find that ball in five minutes and three seconds - you found it. I mean, the times -- there is somebody there with a stopwatch, I think it is such -- such a fine line there between the reasonable amount of time and --

BRIAN GAY: I think the -- rules are the rules. I am not sure how I stand on people calling in.

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