FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 26, 1997

Robert Damron

ROBERT DAMRON: Well, I guess I just carried over from last week's confidence a little bit, carried over into this week. And, that is good. That is fine by me. I changed putters last week. Scotty Cameron sent me a new putter and a little shorter like the one I had used before I came out here. And it was - it worked very well last week and again today. So, hopefully, it will work well the rest of my life. I don't think it will, though.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah, that is the only thing that gets you going. If you don't putt well, you are just not going to play well.

ROBERT DAMRON: I can make some putts, yeah. They are really true and they are perfect speed to knock a lot of them in. John Cook did last year, obviously, he made everything. You know, they suit me, I think. Hopefully I will continue to think that through the end of the week.

ROBERT DAMRON: Here?

ROBERT DAMRON: On the leaderboard this year?

ROBERT DAMRON: I don't know, six times.

ROBERT DAMRON: I have dropped off a few times, too.

ROBERT DAMRON: I was tied for the lead after the first round in Greensboro.

ROBERT DAMRON: No, you have just got to keep making birdies out here or you will get spike marks up your back. They run right over you. It is not like last week's course where pars are good. You have got to continue to make birdies.

ROBERT DAMRON: I have been told that Frank Nobilo is eligible for Rookie-of-the-Year. You know, it is not something I can really think about or set my sights on because it is something that the players vote on. It is not something that I can achieve myself. If I play great, and somebody plays a little better, then they are going to win. So, I just have to keep playing well. If I get voted Rookie-of-the-Year then that will be great.

ROBERT DAMRON: Sure, I do. If he is in. It's his first full year on Tour and it's in the guidelines, then absolutely.

ROBERT DAMRON: Well, he's a little old, isn't he? (Laughter.) (Audience Laughter) No. No. I don't know if that is the case or not. I have been told it is. But, no, I think if it is the case, he deserves it to this point. Because he has got the win, of course.

ROBERT DAMRON: I started off on 10, and I started kind of slow. Hit some decent shots and missed a couple of putts early. Hit a couple of good putts that didn't go in and then on, what was that, 15 the dog-leg left. I hit it with pitching wedge about 15 feet, left on the fringe and made it. Then I birdied the next two. And so that kind of got me going. And then made the turn and had a little momentum going, hit it really close on 2 with an 8-iron. I got up-and-down on 3 for birdie, and then I had got up-and-down on 5 for birdie. I think my wedge saved me a little bit on the front 9. My back 9, I think that I got up-and-down on 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and then 2-putted across the fringe on 9. Up-and-down saved me a little at the end of the round.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah, I am from Kentucky originally. That is where they are staying right now. So, they drove down to see me. They don't get to watch very often.

ROBERT DAMRON: Mom, dad, aunt and uncle. I have got a few more coming tomorrow.

ROBERT DAMRON: Oh, no, they were coming anyway.

ROBERT DAMRON: Bayhill and TPC, I think it is, off the top of my head. I think that is it.

ROBERT DAMRON: Live in Orlando half the year and Pikeville, Kentucky half the year.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah.

ROBERT DAMRON: Yeah. Dad retired young out of the coal business and didn't like the snow and liked to play golf, so we started to spend all our winters in Orlando. And, yeah, we moved into Bayhill, and Mr. Palmer owns it, so, yeah, he was kind of a hero of mine growing up. I guess everybody else's too.

ROBERT DAMRON: With my game, a little. Not so much, you know, the way I hit the ball, but the way I approach, how I play and how I think and how I approach the game.

ROBERT DAMRON: Definitely. I was open ears for any advice that anybody that has been out here was going to give me. And I still am. I am still learning. There is a lot of stuff that I still don't know. And, you know, I have got a couple of good friends out here and we have a big brother system. If you have any questions, you are supposed to go to him and he has helped me out a little. So, I am always open for advice from the players.

ROBERT DAMRON: My first round out here on Tour this year -- was it Bob Hope? I 3-putted 18 for 67 and I was on the leaderboard the first round and I think that round helped a lot, actually, to feel comfortable and make a lot of birdies and see my name on the leaderboard. And, I just -- I played solid the whole week and finished 20th. So, I don't think I started with much of a downtime. I felt like I had pretty good confidence just off that, my first tournament.

ROBERT DAMRON: Bill. And, I am going to say 1974? Probably, I was about 2.

ROBERT DAMRON: 16, probably.

ROBERT DAMRON: I am a channel surfer, I wish I could find a ping-pong player. I used to play a lot back home. I would play him. I don't do much. I just, you know, crash at the hotel and if some of the guys want to go to dinner we will go and come back and watch a lot of television.

ROBERT DAMRON: Very much. Surprisingly so.

ROBERT DAMRON: Of course. You feel kind of a bond with the guys, all your first year, you know, you feel a little -- not intimidated, but a little awkward at first. So, you know, we try to feed off each other a little bit, I think. And I think that, you know, a few of them have come up to me and said, you know, I am glad to see you play well and it kind of helps motivate me to do well. So I think that is good.

ROBERT DAMRON: No, we don't hang together much. Pretty good friends, yeah, but we got a long well. We played together and we have discussed, hey, let us play golf when we are in town, but we haven't yet.

ROBERT DAMRON: No, not that I noticed. I didn't really pay too much attention.

ROBERT DAMRON: Pitching wedge to 15 and then made about a 10-, 12-footer off the left. 16, the par 5, I hit it 2, driver, driver, and just 2-putted from about 30 feet, 25 feet. And next hole, 17, was the best birdie I made all day. I hit cuts, so this wasn't the easiest shot he for me, hit my drive on the left side. There was a tree blocking me out. I had to hit kind of a wide draw around the tree, and to get it back to the hole and I hit it perfectly and the ball hit about ten feet short of the hole going right at it and it was about 8, 9 feet left of the hole, ended up probably the best shot I hit today, then I made that putt. 5-iron. 193. 2, I hit 3-wood off the tee and 8-iron right behind the hole, about 3 and a half, four feet. And made that. The next hole par 5, I went for it in 2, hit really good hard drive. And, 3-wood, I think I had 218 front in the wind hit 3-wood just through the left and got that up-and-down. I made about 8-footer. Then next hole, the next par 5, two holes later, went for it in two and knocked my 3-wood out to the right, got that up-and-down. Did I make one more birdie? No, that was it. The par 5, okay. It was about a 4-foot.