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GINN CHAMPIONSHIP HAMMOCK BEACH RESORTMarch 29, 2008Bernhard LangerPALM COAST, FLORIDA DAVE SENKO: Bernhard, thank you for joining us. Followed up your 67 with 6-under par. 66, today you are 11-under. Two shot lead going into tomorrow. Maybe just a quick recap on the day and get your -- looks like six birdies and no bogeys. BERNHARD LANGER: Played very solid today. Played a lot better than yesterday, better ball striking-wise from tee to green. Hit a lot more greens. Had a lot more opportunities. And didn't putt quite as well yesterday. The short game was brilliant, especially the putter. Today the game was pretty good, and the putter wasn't quite as good. Misread a cup of putts and left a couple short. Otherwise, it could have been two or three or four better but no complaining. DAVE SENKO: Start off, birdies on 1 and 2. Shot sequence on that? BERNHARD LANGER: Hit a 3-wood, sand iron into -- actually lob wedge, 3-wood lob wedge into 1, to about 8 feet. And then driver 5-wood, two putts from 30 feet. 7 was 3-wood -- actually, I birdied -- didn't I birdie 6? I thought I birdied 6. I had driver in the left bunker or waste area, whatever it is. 3-iron onto the front level of the green and 2-putted again from about 35 feet. Then 7 was 3-wood off the tee DAVE SENKO: Bernhard, thank you for joining us. Followed up your 67 with 6-under par. 66, today you are 11-under. Two shot lead going into tomorrow. Maybe just a quick recap on the day and get your -- looks like six birdies and no bogeys. BERNHARD LANGER: Played very solid today. Played a lot better than yesterday, better ball striking-wise from tee to green. Hit a lot more greens. Had a lot more opportunities. And didn't putt quite as well yesterday. The short game was brilliant, especially the putter. Today the game was pretty good, and the putter wasn't quite as good. Misread a cup of putts and left a couple short. Otherwise, it could have been two or three or four better but no complaining. DAVE SENKO: Start off, birdies on 1 and 2. Shot sequence on that? BERNHARD LANGER: Hit a 3-wood, sand iron into -- actually lob wedge, 3-wood lob wedge into 1, to about 8 feet. And then driver 5-wood, two putts from 30 feet. 7 was 3-wood -- actually, I birdied -- didn't I birdie 6? I thought I birdied 6. I had driver in the left bunker or waste area, whatever it is. 3-iron onto the front level of the green and 2-putted again from about 35 feet. Then 7 was 3-wood off the tee. Trying to remember what I hit in there. I think it was 6-iron for about a 12-footer. DAVE SENKO: And then on 12? BERNHARD LANGER: On 12, the par 3? DAVE SENKO: Yeah. BERNHARD LANGER: We all had great shots in there. The others and I were about 12 feet away with a 6-iron. And then driver 3-iron onto the green pin high, 2 putt from 20 feet. And the rest were more good up and down. On 17, I missed the green left. Actually, hit the green and rolled left and left and left and never stopped and then it was 10 yards off the green and chipped it to about 3 inches. Had a good chance on 18. Misread it, just went over the lip. Q. What was your comfort with the lead going into Sunday, historically? Do you like that position? BERNHARD LANGER: I'd rather be ahead than behind. But anywhere -- Q. You rather be ahead by 8, I'm sure. BERNHARD LANGER: I would. Q. Does it affect the way you go about your business at all? BERNHARD LANGER: Not really because it is too close. If I was 8 ahead, I might play a little more conservative. But with a one-shot, a two-shot lead, whatever, you can't do that. So you need to -- Q. If the wind picks up -- they are talking about that being a possibility -- does that do anything to you at all? It is not like there is anything you can do about it, I guess. BERNHARD LANGER: We got to cope with the elements, whatever they are. It is going to be the same pretty much for everyone since we play two tees. We are all out there at the same time. It is not like U.S. Open or British Open when one group goes off at 7:00, the other group goes off at 4:00 in the afternoon. We are battling the same elements also, the same course. It could be an altered pin position where I might not aim for the pin and go more for the middle if it is asked for, if it is too much trouble, too much wind, too much club. In general, I know I am going to have to go low tomorrow to win this thing. I can't lay on my laurels and just take it easy. Q. Bernhard, a lot of momentum swings. You saw Freddy makes that chip in on 15 and then he makes a double-bogey later. Tim Simpson chipped in for eagle on 10 and doubled 11. Is that kind of -- is that kind of swing out there waiting for you? How have you been able to avoid the high swings as opposed -- BERNHARD LANGER: It is. It is the type of golf course that can happened real fast. I said that yesterday. If you play really good shots, perfect shots, you will have birdie opportunities because you are going to hit the fairway and hit the right plateaus and have a shorter putt. If you are a little off, you will be in some big trouble. And that's what happened to Freddie. He had a great run of three or four birdies in a row and playing good and didn't even hit a bad shot -- not a real bad shot on 17. The wind cut a little bit, went a little left, hit the green. But left half of the green is really nonexistent. It might as well make the green smaller because it is there but it is really not, you know? So the ball just takes off. And then he left his chirp short. You probably saw it. You know, without really doing too much wrong, you end up with a double-bogey and that can happen on a lot of holes out here. Q. You think you are not doing too much wrong? BERNHARD LANGER: Well, today, I didn't. I hit a lot of solid shots, kept the ball in play in the right positions and set myself up for many opportunities. Yesterday, I hit a few loose shots but my pitching, chipping and my putter saved me. Q. Bernhard, how confident are you going in after putting together two rounds like you have? Not having played here last year, first time on the course, and putting two low rounds like this together, how confident are you going into the last round? BERNHARD LANGER: I am comfortable with my game. I have had some good games lately. Played well the last two times I was out here in L.A., had a win and a fifth. Been playing pretty solid this week. So I'm fairly happy. Not too many complaints. Q. Can you remember the last time when you were in contention week after week, and do you feel 30 years old again? BERNHARD LANGER: I was -- yeah, I remember it. In the '80s and early '90s, I was in contention a lot, especially over in Europe. Week after week, I seemed to be in contention certain years and that was fun. A lot of adrenalin, a lot of excitement. You're eager and happy to go out there and work hard at it because you actually are seeing the fruit of it. Q. Do you feel young again? BERNHARD LANGER: I feel like that's what I said when I was asked "What do I expect out here?" I expect to be one of the dominant players. If I can play to the level that I can play, I think I can be one of the dominant players out here and I can be in contention a lot. And that is my goal, and that's the way it's been most of the time the last ten events, not every time but most of the time. Q. When you talk about certain greens, parts of the greens being nonexistent and having to hit to the right part of the green to even have a shot, and if you do hit that right part of the green, you probably got a pretty good shot of birdie, sounds similar to a tournament you got coming up in a couple weeks. Doesn't it? Is there any relation you can draw between those greens and these? BERNHARD LANGER: A lot of it, yes. Right now they're actually very similar. They're firm like Augusta is firm most of the time, if they have it their way. If it doesn't rain, they're firm, they're fast. And you have lots of little areas where you have to hit it to. And if you miss that area, it is going to roll off the green or you have a 40-, 50-footer with three or four different breaks. You know, you're going up and then down and over and around and it's not easy, you know? It is easy to make a few 3-putts if you are 50, 60 feet away with these type of conditions and the wind is blowing as well. So, yeah, there is a lot of similarities. And the golf course we played last week -- or two weeks ago, I should say, Valencia, was a little bit like that. Even though the greens were soft, they were extremely tough. Q. (No microphone.) BERNHARD LANGER: No. Q. Whatever you were doing, it doesn't look like you were checking the wind. BERNHARD LANGER: The ball is not moving on the green, not today. It was blowing but it was only about 10 miles an hour maybe. Q. Was the course different today? Was the wind any different with the different pin placements? Did it play any different than yesterday or was it pretty similar? BERNHARD LANGER: Yesterday we had some really tough pins. Starting out it looked like one Sunday pin after another. We were going to say, "Where are they going to put the pins on Sunday?" They picked the hardest spots right now. Their thinking might have been knowing the forecast yesterday being fairly calm and Sunday's going to blow, might use some of the harder pins on Friday and make it slightly easier on Sunday when it's supposed to blow. But I don't know. There is plenty of tough pins on these greens. You can hide them all over the place. The wind was more consistent today. It was pretty much northeast-east all day long. Yesterday, it went from southwest ending up northeast. That was quite a switch. They had to be very much aware of when it switched and how strong it was. Q. Bernhard, some guys who had good professional years before 50 play well out here and some guys who are in the Hall of Fame don't necessarily play well out here when they come. It is always an issue of how seriously they take it. It appears you have taken this as seriously as you've taken any competition you've been in in any TOUR. Is that a fair statement? BERNHARD LANGER: It's my philosophy. If I haven't prepared well, why am I here? I might as well stay at home. I am out here to play well and also to have fun. But I'm also here to win and do the best I can. And if I don't prepare, I can't expect my best. So that's my philosophy that if I go to work, I might as well give it 100% and do the best I can, and that's how I treat most things in life. If you ask me to do something, I'm going to give the best effort I can. I'm not going to give it 30 or 40%. Q. You have the same threesome to be going out tomorrow. How did you get along today? Is that a good group to play with? BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, it is fun to play with Freddy and Lonnie. It is very casual and calm guys, too. So it was a good group, yeah. We enjoyed each other's company, I think. End of FastScripts . Trying to remember what I hit in there. I think it was 6-iron for about a 12-footer. DAVE SENKO: And then on 12? BERNHARD LANGER: On 12, the par 3? DAVE SENKO: Yeah. BERNHARD LANGER: We all had great shots in there. The others and I were about 12 feet away with a 6-iron. And then driver 3-iron onto the green pin high, 2 putt from 20 feet. And the rest were more good up and down. On 17, I missed the green left. Actually, hit the green and rolled left and left and left and never stopped and then it was 10 yards off the green and chipped it to about 3 inches. Had a good chance on 18. Misread it, just went over the lip. Q. What was your comfort with the lead going into Sunday, historically? Do you like that position? BERNHARD LANGER: I'd rather be ahead than behind. But anywhere -- Q. You rather be ahead by 8, I'm sure. BERNHARD LANGER: I would. Q. Does it affect the way you go about your business at all? BERNHARD LANGER: Not really because it is too close. If I was 8 ahead, I might play a little more conservative. But with a one-shot, a two-shot lead, whatever, you can't do that. So you need to -- Q. If the wind picks up -- they are talking about that being a possibility -- does that do anything to you at all? It is not like there is anything you can do about it, I guess. BERNHARD LANGER: We got to cope with the elements, whatever they are. It is going to be the same pretty much for everyone since we play two tees. We are all out there at the same time. It is not like U.S. Open or British Open when one group goes off at 7:00, the other group goes off at 4:00 in the afternoon. We are battling the same elements also, the same course. It could be an altered pin position where I might not aim for the pin and go more for the middle if it is asked for, if it is too much trouble, too much wind, too much club. In general, I know I am going to have to go low tomorrow to win this thing. I can't lay on my laurels and just take it easy. Q. Bernhard, a lot of momentum swings. You saw Freddy makes that chip in on 15 and then he makes a double-bogey later. Tim Simpson chipped in for eagle on 10 and doubled 11. Is that kind of -- is that kind of swing out there waiting for you? How have you been able to avoid the high swings as opposed -- BERNHARD LANGER: It is. It is the type of golf course that can happened real fast. I said that yesterday. If you play really good shots, perfect shots, you will have birdie opportunities because you are going to hit the fairway and hit the right plateaus and have a shorter putt. If you are a little off, you will be in some big trouble. And that's what happened to Freddie. He had a great run of three or four birdies in a row and playing good and didn't even hit a bad shot -- not a real bad shot on 17. The wind cut a little bit, went a little left, hit the green. But left half of the green is really nonexistent. It might as well make the green smaller because it is there but it is really not, you know? So the ball just takes off. And then he left his chirp short. You probably saw it. You know, without really doing too much wrong, you end up with a double-bogey and that can happen on a lot of holes out here. Q. You think you are not doing too much wrong? BERNHARD LANGER: Well, today, I didn't. I hit a lot of solid shots, kept the ball in play in the right positions and set myself up for many opportunities. Yesterday, I hit a few loose shots but my pitching, chipping and my putter saved me. Q. Bernhard, how confident are you going in after putting together two rounds like you have? Not having played here last year, first time on the course, and putting two low rounds like this together, how confident are you going into the last round? BERNHARD LANGER: I am comfortable with my game. I have had some good games lately. Played well the last two times I was out here in L.A., had a win and a fifth. Been playing pretty solid this week. So I'm fairly happy. Not too many complaints. Q. Can you remember the last time when you were in contention week after week, and do you feel 30 years old again? BERNHARD LANGER: I was -- yeah, I remember it. In the '80s and early '90s, I was in contention a lot, especially over in Europe. Week after week, I seemed to be in contention certain years and that was fun. A lot of adrenalin, a lot of excitement. You're eager and happy to go out there and work hard at it because you actually are seeing the fruit of it. Q. Do you feel young again? BERNHARD LANGER: I feel like that's what I said when I was asked "What do I expect out here?" I expect to be one of the dominant players. If I can play to the level that I can play, I think I can be one of the dominant players out here and I can be in contention a lot. And that is my goal, and that's the way it's been most of the time the last ten events, not every time but most of the time. Q. When you talk about certain greens, parts of the greens being nonexistent and having to hit to the right part of the green to even have a shot, and if you do hit that right part of the green, you probably got a pretty good shot of birdie, sounds similar to a tournament you got coming up in a couple weeks. Doesn't it? Is there any relation you can draw between those greens and these? BERNHARD LANGER: A lot of it, yes. Right now they're actually very similar. They're firm like Augusta is firm most of the time, if they have it their way. If it doesn't rain, they're firm, they're fast. And you have lots of little areas where you have to hit it to. And if you miss that area, it is going to roll off the green or you have a 40-, 50-footer with three or four different breaks. You know, you're going up and then down and over and around and it's not easy, you know? It is easy to make a few 3-putts if you are 50, 60 feet away with these type of conditions and the wind is blowing as well. So, yeah, there is a lot of similarities. And the golf course we played last week -- or two weeks ago, I should say, Valencia, was a little bit like that. Even though the greens were soft, they were extremely tough. Q. (No microphone.) BERNHARD LANGER: No. Q. Whatever you were doing, it doesn't look like you were checking the wind. BERNHARD LANGER: The ball is not moving on the green, not today. It was blowing but it was only about 10 miles an hour maybe. Q. Was the course different today? Was the wind any different with the different pin placements? Did it play any different than yesterday or was it pretty similar? BERNHARD LANGER: Yesterday we had some really tough pins. Starting out it looked like one Sunday pin after another. We were going to say, "Where are they going to put the pins on Sunday?" They picked the hardest spots right now. Their thinking might have been knowing the forecast yesterday being fairly calm and Sunday's going to blow, might use some of the harder pins on Friday and make it slightly easier on Sunday when it's supposed to blow. But I don't know. There is plenty of tough pins on these greens. You can hide them all over the place. The wind was more consistent today. It was pretty much northeast-east all day long. Yesterday, it went from southwest ending up northeast. That was quite a switch. They had to be very much aware of when it switched and how strong it was. Q. Bernhard, some guys who had good professional years before 50 play well out here and some guys who are in the Hall of Fame don't necessarily play well out here when they come. It is always an issue of how seriously they take it. It appears you have taken this as seriously as you've taken any competition you've been in in any TOUR. Is that a fair statement? BERNHARD LANGER: It's my philosophy. If I haven't prepared well, why am I here? I might as well stay at home. I am out here to play well and also to have fun. But I'm also here to win and do the best I can. And if I don't prepare, I can't expect my best. So that's my philosophy that if I go to work, I might as well give it 100% and do the best I can, and that's how I treat most things in life. If you ask me to do something, I'm going to give the best effort I can. I'm not going to give it 30 or 40%. Q. You have the same threesome to be going out tomorrow. How did you get along today? Is that a good group to play with? BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, it is fun to play with Freddy and Lonnie. It is very casual and calm guys, too. So it was a good group, yeah. We enjoyed each other's company, I think. 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