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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 10, 2008Brian BatemanAUGUSTA, GEORGIA BILLY MORRIS: Ladies and gentlemen, we are delighted to have Brian Bateman with us. Brian had a very fine 69 today, 3-under par, and at the moment, tied for second place in the Masters. Let's just start with questions. What questions would you have of Brian? Q. This course, do you feel comfortable on? BRIAN BATEMAN: I was today. It's a tremendous test, but I think it's as fair as any golf course we play. You know, it was a lot of fun today. I hit the ball well. My driver got away from me a few times to the right, but for the most part, I hit a lot of fairways. And I controlled my distance with my irons, especially on the par 5s with the wedges and made a couple of, you know, testy three and 4-and 5-footers that you have to make here. And then to birdie the last was just a bonus putt because it was a pretty big breaker left-to-right. Q. How long was it? BRIAN BATEMAN: 16, 17 feet. Q. You said something about fair; what does that mean to you guys when you say it's a fair test? BRIAN BATEMAN: Well, I think if you drive the ball well, you have an opportunity from the fairway to decide if you want to attack pins or not. And if you do drive the ball in the fairway, and you hit a good iron shot, you can be rewarded with a decent shot at making birdie. You know, the only shot I hit today that I was caught off guard was on No. 6. I hit a good 7-iron ten or 12 feet left of the pin, which wasn't too bad, but it caught the swale and I was on the front left fringe and had 70 feet and 3-putted for bogey. But I think for the most part, this golf course, it's right in front of you. There's nothing tricky about it. If you drive the ball well, you can take advantage of some of these pins, if you've got your irons dialed in. Q. How were you able to turn your round back around? BRIAN BATEMAN: No. 2 was key. After the first hole, you know, the jitters of playing the first hole your first Masters, I hit a good little chip to 2. I was just in front on the apron and had a testy little 6-footer that was just outside the left edge, and hit a good putt there. Then I hit it close on 3 and was just a tap-in birdie there, so I was 2-under after three and felt like I was in control of my game and then gave it back. Like I said, on 6, was just a long 3-putt. 7 I hit it in the right trees and could not do anything but chip out sideways, and that's the penalty pay for hitting a poor tee shot. But I think the second shot on 9, the 6-iron I hit four feet really got me going. You know, maybe I was treading water a little bit after those two bogeys, but that really gave me a little confidence, and I carried it through the back side. Q. Before you played in your first Masters, how did you think the course might set up for you and after your first round, how do those match? BRIAN BATEMAN: That's a good question. I talk to a lot of friends and fellow TOUR players who have played here for years and asked the same question, because I heard for so many years the golf course changes Thursday morning. What I came here a month ago the fairways weren't very tight and it was damp and chilly and the course was extremely long, but I was glad I came just to get the nerves out of the way, and seeing Magnolia Lane for the first time, coming through the gates. But I feel like the golf course sets up well for me because my tendency off the tee is to draw the ball, so a lot of right-to-left shots. And I'm above average in length so that if I do make good contact with a driver, I'm hitting a shorter club than most guys. I think what surprised me most today was my putter. My speed was good pretty much all day, and my putter can get streaky at times. So to have good speed on these greens, especially when you have a big breaker from 30 feet and you don't have too many 4- and 5-footers to save par, it takes a lot of the stress out of the day. Q. With nobody really running away from it, did you ever look at the leaderboard and gain a little confidence knowing that you were right in the hunt? BRIAN BATEMAN: No, I didn't look at the board at all today. You know, it's way too early. And I take that back, I looked on 16 when they put my name up there for the first time. I turned to my caddie and said, "Wow, they are showing us some love." You know what, it's early in the week. There's a lot of golf left. I was just trying to stay in the moment and really focus on the task at hand. I felt like with Todd and I playing in a twosome today with all of the threesomes, we had a lot of time on our hands, and for me, that's what I'm the proudest of today is that with all of the time that I had in the fairways, I didn't second guess. My mind didn't wander and I didn't get ahead of myself and that was a good test for me today. Q. How would you characterize walking to the first tee today? BRIAN BATEMAN: I told myself walking to the first tee, you only had one first tee shot at Augusta, and I wanted to make the most of it. And boy, I was glad, I hit a good one. I think once I got in the fairway on the first hole and hit a good iron shot, and made a pretty good 2-putt from 30 or 40 feet, I think my nerves calmed down quite a bit, and of course the birdies early helped with the nerves as well. Q. Can you go through your birdies and bogeys on the back? BRIAN BATEMAN: I birdied 13. I bogeyed 14, birdied 15 and 18. Q. Did you go for 13 or 15? BRIAN BATEMAN: I laid up on both. Was in the first cut, or was in the rough in the right on 13. Really had no chance to go. 15, I was just barely in the rough, and I had a squirrely lie and still had 250 to the hole and it was not worth taking the chance. Q. And describe 14, how you made that bogey. BRIAN BATEMAN: 14, I hit my driver in the right trees and hit a good little punch-out down to the front right and had just a nasty chip over a swale and hit a decent chip up about eight feet below it and had a really bad lipout there, which I thought I had made. You know, that's what's going to happen here, too. Those holes are cut thin, tight, and they had better be the right speed if you want to make any putts lip-in and that makes every putt difficult if you know you have to make it a center putt to make. Q. And 18? BRIAN BATEMAN: It was really neat. I hit a good drive and had the perfect number for a 6-iron to a fairly difficult location pin in the back left. Todd hit a great chip from the left pin-high area and kind of gave me an idea of what the speed was going to be like. You know honestly I was just trying to hit a good putt. I wasn't trying to make it. I knew it broke 12 to 14 inches to the right and I knew it had to be the perfect fringe and I could not clean the mud off the ball, and so it was just a matter of picking the line and going with it and it was just a bonus that it went in. Q. When you see these greens as a first-timer is it intimidating at first? BRIAN BATEMAN: It is, because I feel like the more you play here, the more you learn about them. Every day is a learning experience for me. These greens, if you're on the wrong side, you can have some tremendously difficult breaks and speeds. One thing that surprised me when I came here for the first time, and I used a local caddie here, was the grain in these greens that you don't see. And it really opened my eyes to a couple of putts, especially on the back side where he was telling me the grain went a certain way, and it makes a difference; at least it has for me. I don't know how other guys are treating them, not in a thick, bermuda, grainy way, but there's just a subtlety to them that can dictate -- when the ball is rolling so slowly on a downhill putt or on a sidehill putt, the grain can take over and break more or break less. I feel like I'm still learning these greens. You never master them, you just hope you have good speed, and today I did. BILLY MORRIS: Brian, thank you so much and good luck the rest of this week. End of FastScripts |
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