home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 16, 2006

Bobby Wadkins

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN

DAVE SENKO: Well, just a couple of things before we turn it over to Bobby. Congratulations.

BOBBY WADKINS: Thank you.

DAVE SENKO: $375,000, the largest check of your career.

BOBBY WADKINS: The hell it is. No, I believe you.

DAVE SENKO: And you've moved into sixth place now in the Charles Schwab Cup list, and you also will earn a five year exemption to Hualalai, which I know your wife will enjoy.

BOBBY WADKINS: Yes, yes.

DAVE SENKO: And also a place in next year's Players' Championship in May.

BOBBY WADKINS: Yes , that's going to be fantastic.

DAVE SENKO: So with that, maybe just share your thoughts as the victory today.

BOBBY WADKINS: It was kind of a weird day. I start off I bogeyed my very first hole. I think Loren got off to a very good start. Did he not birdie the first couple or something? I mean, I looked at the board and I started the day four back and the last time I looked at it I was six back.

At that point, I am just trying to play some solid golf realizing that the wind is going to blow a little bit. Winning the golf tournament never even entered my mind.

I got a little streak on the backside where I birdied 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, and I looked at the leaderboard and I'm leading the golf tournament. So I just went from trying to make sure to maybe move up on the Charles Schwab and make sure I get a top ten today, and all of a sudden with three holes left to play I'm leading the golf tournament.

So it was kind of up and down. I mean, you know, it's hard it explain how you go trying to attack everything knowing that you have to look at the board and guys still playing good, and then all of a sudden you look up there at one time Thorpe and I were tied and then I made a birdie to take a shot lead. So it was hard to explain all day. You go out there just trying to make a big check, and now all of a sudden you're trying not to mess up and win the golf tournament.

DAVE SENKO: What happened on No. 1 on the bogey?

BOBBY WADKINS: I hit a perfect drive to the right side of the fairway. They had the pin in the back behind that big tree, and I nipped a little leaf on my second shot with the sand wedge, and it went back in the bunker and I missed an 8 footer for par.

Came right back and birdied the next hole, which is always good for me. Hit a good 3 wood and an 8 iron about 20 feet and made that for birdie.

Then on the very next hole I 3 putted the Par 5 right off the edge of the green. So then I kind of pared around to number

DAVE SENKO: 5.

BOBBY WADKINS: 5, I hit wedge about four feet, and I made that. I hit it right off the edge of the green on the Par 5 on the 7th hole and made birdie.

And then No. 11, then this is where it kind of got fun for me. At this time, I'm looking up and I think I'm tied for 4th or 5th and I think that's where I am in the tournament. I birdied 11 from 20 feet.

I birdied 12 from probably 30 feet. Pretty good shot, 8 iron from about 30 feet. But you know, got the pins cut close to the water and stuff. I had two shots left in my opinion in playing the golf tournament, and I couldn't knock it in the water there and I had to hit a good drive on 14.

If I did that, then I knew that I would be in contention the last couple holes of the tournament. So when I hit my 8 iron on 12 I was very, very pleased with that.

Then I made the putt and birdied the next three holes and I got the lead.

DAVE SENKO: On No. 14, you had a shot length of 32 feet. What did you hit

BOBBY WADKINS: I hit 7 iron. That was a great pin. They had as a sucker pin there. It was on the very left edge of the green over top of the swamp there. And only thing that you can do there is lose the golf tournament. I'm just trying to make sure I keep it 20 feet right of the hole. Just make a four and you get lucky and make three that's great and go to the next hole, and that's exactly what I did.

Q. Then you 3 putted 16 or 15 chip in at 68 and a half feet.

BOBBY WADKINS: You know, I hit a pretty good shot there on the edge of the green and it rolled back. And I was just trying to at that time, you know, there's a scoreboard right there and I saw where I had Jim by one or two shots, I think, and so I mean, I'm just trying to get it up there somewhere close and give myself a chance to make it and I make it. So that's solved that.

DAVE SENKO: Putter?

BOBBY WADKINS: Yes, I did.

DAVE SENKO: Then 3 putt 16?

BOBBY WADKINS: No, I hit it just off the right of the green. I had a little a pretty tough little chip shot. I chipped it about 15 feet and missed it.

DAVE SENKO: Okay.

BOBBY WADKINS: Really good drive on 17, and I had already decided that it didn't matter what Thorpe did in front of me, that if I hit a good tee shot I was going to go for the green. Because I just felt that if I make birdie the golf tournament is over, and it should have been. But we wanted to make things tougher on the last hole.

But I played 17 perfect. Hit a good drive on the right side. Hit a rescue great little chip shot up there at three feet and knocked it in. Now I got a two shot lead and Jim's making bogey up in front of me, so basically I got a 3 shot lead. My only concern is don't get blocked by the tree on the right.

Everyone you watch it on TV, and they always get caught up behind that tree. I just tried to hit it just power it down the left side of the fairway, and I turned over a little bit too much. That shot didn't bother me too much, because I felt I was aggressive and made a good swing. Then I hit a real good next shot and the wind knocked it down in the bunker. When I hit that shot, I thought I probably put it 20 feet right of the hole and the tournament was quite frankly was over. I kept it to the right, and everything about it looked good. It just didn't come out solid.

I only had 195, I think, something like that, but 175 to the green, and I was tickled pink when I hit it, and I didn't like it when I saw where it came down.

Then the next shot, you know, I really think that I'm one of the better bunker players out here. I've always been a good bunker player. I'm trying to shoot away from the hole. Something I've never done in my life. I mean, I'm trying to not to aim at the flag. It's not going to be pretty, but you're going to get the trophy and get the check and get on out of here.

And then, I mean, I ain't hit a bunker shot like that since I was 15. I hope it's another I mean, that'd be 40 years before I hit another one.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: Well, I mean anybody that tells you that they're not nervous at that stage of the game is telling a lie. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that if you had a solid shot I mean, I had a lot of fluffy sand right there. Your tendency is to catch too much sand and the ball not go far enough. Just trying to make sure that I got it like I said get it out 20 feet by the hole and just 2 putt and get it out of here.

Hell, the next shot was the toughest shot I had all week, that shot in the grass over the green. I mean, I could take probably 50 balls back there and not get that up and down.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: No, I'm not going to say that, no. It was way too soft. That's my story I'm sticking to it. I'm the one that hit it, so I can make that assessment.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: What the hell is Lanny talking about up there in the TV tower? I mean, that's the bad part about with the about the whole deal. When I birdied 17, I know he's up there telling everybody, I taught him all this stuff and this is exactly the way we wanted it to be.

And now on 18 he's trying to get underneath the table and can't say anything good about me. But I had to make it. I can't imagine the abuse I would have caught from him tonight sometime.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: He better not be.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: Well, I don't know how to say this and still be and it is a major win. It's one of our bigger tournaments that we have on the Champions' Tour. They do a fantastic job here. They classify it as a Major. We get some extra rewards for winning this one.

I'm kind of old school. I mean, we have four Majors, and unfortunately most of us don't play in those anymore. That's the British and those guys. As far as the Champions Tour goes being a major tournament, yes, it is.

And I'm not saying that to take anything away from the tournament. Just from playing the Regular Tour for 25 years, you just realize that the Masters' and the British and the PGA are the four major golf tournaments.

If this is a Major tournament on the Champions' Tour, I think that that should be a little different there. If they want it call it a Major, I'm the first one to say, "Thank you very much. I'm a Major champion." I got the check. It'll be in my bank Tuesday, so I'm about as happy as it gets right now.

To answer your question, my whole goal this week you always play a little mind thing games with your mind. I came in here 15th on the money list, and the whole key is really finishing in the top 24 so you can pick and chose your Pro Ams next year. I mean, so I knew if I had a good week this week I could basically take care of my business for the rest of the year and kind of you know, if my back acted up or something happened and I didn't want to play, that I could take a week off. So obviously I have done a little bit better than that.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: Not for me. I have seen it and actually wondered what's going through this guy's mind? He's played 14 beautiful holes and now he can't find it. And luckily I didn't get that far. I just had one hole to go. I'm glad we didn't have anymore.

But like I said, most of the day I really thought I was in somewhere in 3rd or 4th position until I made that a little five birdie stretch. Then I realized what was going on. That's what we all play for. I try to tell myself, Don't get nervous, get happy. This is what you since you have been 23 years on the Regular Tour, this is what you look forward to. You know, you check your check and you get to go home.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: A whole bunch. You know, I think it just proved to me the same thoughts right there, that I had played well, I shot 62. Had the lead. They're all talking about the oldest guy maybe winning a tournament, stuff like that. It was fun because I played absolutely perfect the last six holes there to win the golf tournament. And today, the last nine holes I played perfect until 18. And then holding off Raymond, I mean, I hit a great drive with water on the right, out of bounds on the left, a lake on the left. I hit a 5 iron eight feet to win the golf tournament. You could not have done anything better, I don't care who you were. And the day you kind of came in which is kind of nice, because my very first tournament where I finished second in 1978 to Lou Graham, I had a one shot lead. I had a perfect tee shot that landed on a sprinkler head. Went up against the 150 bush where I had an unplayable lie. Dropped it, made bogey, he birdied the first hole, I get beat.

So, I mean, I had that was a long time ago, but I still remember that. So the things that I have done wrong in the past I have let sneak away from me and a lot of guys have beat me. This one I kind of snuck in there, and it feels good.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: Well, unfortunately, it's kind of you always love to come back where you've won. I haven't had great tournaments here, but I have had some decent rounds here. The golf course sets up nice for me. It should fit into my game. But on the other hand, we're going to Baltimore, which is two hours from my home. So where my son and wife couldn't be here this week, they can be there next year. I hate to see us lose any tournament, especially one that's been as nice as this one has been. The guys in the locker room and the golf course, you know, you get here and you've got a brand new Ford to drive. I mean, if you can complain about this week, then you need to be doing something else.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BOBBY WADKINS: Yes, it is.

DAVE SENKO: Anymore questions? Okay. Thanks Bobby.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297