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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 11, 2008Steve FleschAUGUSTA, GEORGIA RONALD TOWNSEND: Good afternoon. We'd like to welcome Steve fresh who shot a brilliant 5-under par today. This is his first time in the press room and returning to Augusta National after three years and this is his fourth Masters appearance. We invite your questions. Q. Do you think the earlier start time was to your advantage? STEVE FLESCH: Yeah, there was a little bit of a lack of wind out there which any time out here is very welcome. Even with a little bit of wind today, I tell you, I drove the ball so well and hit my irons just great. I put them underneath the hole and putted extremely well. I made a couple great par saves after leaving the first putts five, six feet short. I played well. Playing early is always nice, though, because one of the nicest things was the pace of play. We never saw the first group. That twosome took off, and you know, yesterday it was a long day, because we waited on every shot. Today we just kind of flew. With Craig Stadler in the group, you're not going to wait long on your playing partners, either. Q. You had a lot of long irons into the par 4s, but the par 5s you just took advantage of. Just talk about the difference in the length of the par 5s and then taking advantage of the par 5s. STEVE FLESCH: I pretty much knew just the way the golf course is playing the first three days, as long as it was playing for me that I wasn't going to be able to attack many of the par 4s because I'd have anywhere from 3-iron to 7-iron into them and it's hard to be aggressive out here with those clubs into the greens on the par 4s. And the 3s are not real short, either. It not like you are going to go flag hunting on 12 all day, either. So the par 5s is where I'm going to be able to take advantage of the golf course, and today I was 5-under on them and 1-under on them yesterday. I didn't plan on going for the par 5s either but got two tee balls out there pretty good on 13 and 15 where I was able to go for the green. But the next couple of days, if I have to lay up -- I worked on my wedge game all last week in Jacksonville for three days, so I feel pretty good about that. I realize the fives are going to be where I'm going to take advantage of any opportunities. Q. What did you hit into 13 and 15? STEVE FLESCH: 13 I hit a 3-iron from 234 I think it was to the hole, 206 front maybe. I thought it was too much club. I wanted to hit 4-iron but my caddie talked me into hitting a 3, and he made the right call I guess. It ended up a couple feet. The hard part about that shot for me is it's a hanging lie with the 3-iron. I have a hard enough time with a 3-iron off of a flat tee box teed up, much less off a hanging lie. That's a tough shot for me but into 15, I hit a 5-wood I think from like 237, as well. Kind of taking the water out of play, but hey, long is not that big of a deal where that pin was and I kept it right and hit it right where I aimed it right off the back right of the green and made a great pitch. Q. You haven't been in here in a couple of years. How different did you find the course this week, the changes? STEVE FLESCH: Extremely. When I heard they got three inches of rain on Saturday, I was a little bummed out. I don't care if it plays rock hard and fast, as long as I can get some chase in the fairways where I can get some decent irons into the greens. But I played Sunday night late on the back nine and Monday and Tuesday, and I realize that it was going to be a big week for my mid and long irons. That's okay. I'm a good iron play and that's kind of the strength of my game. It's one of those things where if you want to be aggressive out there, it's hard to be aggressive with those clubs. Q. Was there any one hole that was a lot different than what you remember or dramatically changed? STEVE FLESCH: 11 is pretty different. You know it, because I don't know, I would think it would be more fun to watch guys hitting 6-, 7-and 8-irons trying to challenge the greens. Hitting 3- and 4-irons right of the green and 5-irons, it's just like everybody is bailing out on that hole. But the biggest hole for me is 7. I never thought that green was that easy to hit with a 9-iron or a pitching wedge, but now, hit a 5-iron in today and a 6-iron in yesterday; it's quite a challenge. So I think 7 to me is the biggest change out there. Q. Your reaction on 13, did you think it was going? STEVE FLESCH: I thought it was over the green. Because from where you're standing in the fairway, once it got kind of -- that back, left ledge, there's a little bit of a drop off till it gets to the back of the green. There's about five or six feet and I thought it rolled off the back edge, which is fine, but I was going to try to make a point to my caddie that it wasn't the right club. (Laughter) Then you heard the crowd kind of reacting to and he goes, "Dude, I told you it was the right bat." And I said, "Yeah, you're right. Good call." From where I stood in the fairway it kind of disappears over that ledge. I figured it stopped, but just like out here, it keeps trickling and trickling and it rolled down there perfect. Q. I was just curious from back in the little media stand at Amen Corner, you could see you hit the ball at nice, warm, Augusta Plaza and it seems like a minute later you got the big cheer. Curious what you saw? Did you ever see it come back into view? STEVE FLESCH: I saw it come back into view once it got below the slope down by the hole. Honestly from where we are in the fairway, that pin location looks like it's on the back fringe. Really it looks like there's absolutely no green behind it. Like you couldn't get the ball behind the hole without it going over. But yeah, that's why I kind of got the nice clap reaction because I hit the green, but I thought it might have trickled over and I didn't hear anything, but then like you say, a minute later, you kind of get the rest of the reaction, which was nice, but I still thought it was over. But it worked out perfectly. Q. Other than the 18-hole score, any similarities between the second round and the second round in '04? STEVE FLESCH: I must be getting too old. I don't even remember the second round in '04. Truly, I don't remember a shot I hit. I remember the score I shot, but I know the conditions were significantly different. I know it was a lot firmer and faster. The greens were a lot faster, and I think I eagled 15 that day if I'm not mistaken, as well. But you know, it boils down to, I have to be good with my wedge play around this golf course, because no matter how well I hit my irons, I'm going to have some tough up-and-downs and I'm going to have a lot of 3 and 4 and 5-irons. So I've got to hit my irons good and I've got to putt good. That's the same old -- the same old story. Q. Could you give me Billy's last name who was on your bag for a little while last year and why did you decide to go over to Paul? Was it simply because winning at Reno or a circumstance with Billy that he just didn't want to do it anymore? STEVE FLESCH: Billy Lewis. He was the best man in my wedding; I've known him forever. You know, he's remarried now and he's got four kids and we just kind of agreed that instead of being out on the road traveling with me for 32 weeks, it might be better for his marriage and his sanity and my sanity that he doesn't go another year. We're great friends. We had a great year last year, but Billy wanted to be home with his family more. That's the hardest part about this job is being away from home and being away from your kids, and Billy wanted to be home more. Ironically enough, thankfully enough, I won with Billy after I won with Paul, because Billy was home with his kids last week because I said, "Any time you're with your kids, I don't want you caddying for me. You've got to be home with your kids." That's when I had Paul in Reno and I won, and Billy was like, "Oh, great, it was probably me, it's probably me why he didn't win." And when Billy was on the bag five weeks later, we won at Turning Stone. It worked out perfectly. We just agreed, it started out it was only going to be a couple of weeks; a year and a half ago at John Deere was the first week he was helping me out. I was in between caddies and looking for somebody to hang out with on the road and I was like, hey, come out, we'll have some fun for a couple of weeks and we were together for a year and a half. We had a great run. One of those things, family comes first, and we both agreed it would be better for him to do that. Q. What happened on 2 and 8, and then the putt on 18, the first putt, did you get a little bit jazzed up a little bit? STEVE FLESCH: On 2, I hit it over in the right rough and played it up with a 5-wood and all I'm trying to do on the par 5s is lay it up to at least 85 to 95 yards because that's just a perfect, perfect, 60-degree wedge for me. I laid it up to like 88 yards or something like that and I hit it about three feet, 2 1/2 feet on 2. Then on 8, same thing. Drove it down there. Probably could have pushed a 3-wood maybe to the front of the green, but if I got right of the hole, it wouldn't have been in a good spot. So I laid it up to I think 86 yards on there and hit it about 12 feet past the hole and made a good putt. On 18, I was just saying to somebody else, I got so caught up in Johnson Wagner's Mark, that was right between my ball and the hole, I wanted to have him move it but I didn't know if I needed to have him move it right or left because by that point in the putt, I didn't know where the ball was going to be, honestly. Depending on the speed I hit it, it could have hit it if I put it low or if I put it higher. So I knew the line. I kind of got so enamored with his ball mark there halfway, that -- yeah, I knew it was fast. I just hit it a little hard and it doesn't take much for an error, you get compounded out here. I made a nice 5-footer coming back. Q. How big is Union, Kentucky? STEVE FLESCH: It's really not that big. I don't know how many people, but it's really growing. It's just a suburb of Cincinnati. It's ten miles from downtown Cincinnati. Q. What goes on there? How do people make a living and learn to play golf? STEVE FLESCH: A lot of horse farms. Q. Horse country? STEVE FLESCH: Yeah, it's kind of a horse country, a lot of farming, a little tobacco, stuff like that going on. Q. How many times did somebody try to change your swing from right-handed to left-handed to right-handed? STEVE FLESCH: Well, I started out right-handed and pretty much made the call to go lefty. I first started right-handed because that's how my dad played and I just figured that's how you played. I played baseball but I batted left-handed and was wondering why do I hit the golf ball right-handed and swing the bat left-handed. Finally when I was ten years old, we were playing with my uncle who was left-handed and I said, "Hey, let me hit one of yours," and I hit it and it just felt more natural and that's when it started. I switched over then. But nobody has tried to change me since. Q. It wasn't because you broke all the right-handed clubs? STEVE FLESCH: No, but it's not because I haven't broken any left-handed clubs either. Q. Your name came up Wednesday in Billy Payne's press conference and would you be able to offer an honest assessment on whether the Fall Series winners should also be eligible for the win to get into Augusta. If you could provide an honest assessment on strength of field, if you think it's worthy and if you had ample opportunity to qualify the way you did, basically through the Money List. STEVE FLESCH: I'm glad you asked that, because I was thinking about that the last couple of days with Johnson Wagner out there. I was playing with him, and I wanted to really thank the Tournament for allowing winners the opportunity to get in like that last minute. Johnson Wagner, he played great, he's an attribute to the Tournament this week, because he was so thrilled to be here; or even, I don't think his win otherwise would have gotten him in. To answer your question, I don't think all Fall Series events should be in. I think only the ones that have enough ranking points should get in. I'm not discounting any of them. I think they should -- they all should mean something. They all should have a value. I think they should have some FedExCup points involved with them, too. I worry about the sponsorship angle of it more than anything. It's what's the motivation for sponsors to sponsor those events if they don't count for anything except guys who are trying to keep their card. Yeah, you get the win, you get your two-year exemption, but if enough guys play and there's enough World Ranking points, I think it's like -- I think my win in Reno didn't get me into the World Golf Championships, but my win at Turning Stone did because there were enough World Ranking points. I think if there's over a hundred World Ranking points or whatever it is, I think just because it's a Fall Series event, it shouldn't matter. So if there's enough points there, I think it would be worthy of an invitation. Does that answer you? Q. Going back to last year, did you watch last year's Masters and watching players struggle with the conditions, did that lead to any nerves coming in this year? STEVE FLESCH: No. I watched it at home, reluctantly but I watched. I don't think I've ever missed watching a Masters since I knew what the Masters was. I watched at home, the early-round coverage, I watch the re-air to see if I missed anything. I sit in the basement and sulk. (Laughter). I was just excited to be back, but I knew coming in and especially Sunday when I got here there was going to be a premium on me driving the ball, not just in the fairway but solidly. If I'm mis-hitting my driver out there, all of a sudden a 4-iron is turning into a 3-iron or something longer than that. Honestly I'm hitting it as far now as I ever have. You know, we're just not getting any roll. Four out of five tee shots out there, you're still hitting into an upslope or an upgrade and you hit and it might roll from me to you. It's tough. If anybody knows how to get about 15 more yards in the air, I'm sure there's about 70 guys out here who would like to know about it. Q. Obviously people love for everything to stay the same but could you appreciate the need for change, either making it difficult or just the need from a course management -- STEVE FLESCH: Absolutely. I'll be the first to admit, guys are better now; I think the ball goes -- I'm not going to say too far, but the ball is the reason. And I can appreciate the fact that Augusta National wanted to make it play like it did years ago with similar clubs. But the hard thing for players is that I'm sure back then, the greens weren't rolling 13, and some of the slopes have probably been accentuated a little bit compared to maybe bermudagrass or whatever it was they had then. Guys are better. Guys hit the ball higher. We can spin it more now with some of the equipment. I think the equipment is what's kind of caused -- obviously I'm no brain surgeon here and that's why it's all been changed. I can appreciate the fact because guys are good and there's more depth on the Tour now and guys are still shooting low scores out there no matter how long and how tough you make it. I can appreciate it. I just hit 40 last year, I'm kind of working, I want to get it to where it's a little bit easier for me, but I understand why they did it. You know, now that it's back to that point, I'm not so sure we need any of the rough out there, because I think now it's playing how it was -- not that the rough is a big penalty, but I think now, it would be nice to go back to playing how it was ten years ago when the lore was there's no rough anywhere. Because believe me, you're not hitting short clubs into any holes out there. Q. Talked the other day about the belly putter. When did you take that out of the bag? I know your affinity for all your putters; how long has this one been in the bag? STEVE FLESCH: This one he's been in two weeks -- well, it's been in two weeks but it made a couple cameos three weeks ago. I won both events with the belly putter last year but the last five events, I really putted very poorly. I continued to hit it good but I made something. It's just simply a lack of feel, and that's kind of what I find is with the belly putter, I think you can significantly reduce your feel, especially on short, breaking putts from five, six feet. Here, even that putt I hit on the last hole is a 5-footer but I had to play it about a cup and a half outside-right. When everything is kind of jammed up in your center like that, it's hard to only move that putter back and forth two inches because your whole body has to move, you can't move just your arms and hands and shoulders like you can with a regular putter. I got frustrated with it because I was hitting it a lot better and not getting anything out of my rounds. Earlier in the year I was playing good but not making anything. I just finally decided, if you want to be a great putter again -- I can be a decent putter with the belly putter but I'm not going to be a great putter and run the tables with it. You know, I just kind of made a commitment and said, I'm going back to the short putter and, hey, I might have some struggles early on, but I'll get my feel back. Because I'm such a feel player that that's the only thing that really gives me the feel on the greens that I want. Q. How many times have you won crystal and where is the stuff that you've already won? STEVE FLESCH: I think the only other crystal I won was my eagle on 15 last time I played here. So it's all right there in the house in the trophy case next to all the others. Q. Do you ever actually use it for anything? STEVE FLESCH: I haven't toasted anything with it yet, no. You know, it's funny, because that's the first thing Stad said after he made the eagle, "A little more crystal." It's not, "Hey I made eagle." It's, "Hey, I got some more crystal." (Laughter). Q. Paul said he's worked for half a dozen guys out here and feels like you have as much talent as anybody; when you're swinging good, you can play with anybody. What is your assessment of your own game and do you think you can win this tournament? STEVE FLESCH: You know, I tell you, when I get to hitting the ball solidly like I did today and actually yesterday, I hit it pretty good; I know I can win this tournament, or any tournament. I've always been a streaky player, and, you know, I play -- everybody plays on confidence. But I play on a lot of feel and a lot of momentum and a lot of rhythm. And not saying that other weeks I don't, but when I kind of get that feeling out there and I'm -- especially when I'm driving the ball well where I can set up my irons, because it's getting harder out here to compete, and it's hard to hit it as far as some of those guys can hit it. I still hit it far enough but to compete with those guys I have to take advantage of the par 5s and I like the fact that not everybody can get to the par 5s here. It's an advantage for the longer players, but at the same time, you can make a lot of bogeys and doubles going for these par 5s, too. It's not like these are just wide open par 5s that you can hit it 300 off the tee and you can get home. There's some dynamics to those holes where even if you are long, you still have to hit good shots. Q. Does Paul give you anything from either a chemistry standpoint or anything that other caddies have not given you? Just wondering how the yin and yang is between you two so far. STEVE FLESCH: Paul is a quiet guy, and every caddie I've had has been great in their own way. Paul is just very kind of level. He let's me rant when I want to rant out there and he doesn't like yell back at me. If I think I'm right and he thinks he's right, he let's me make the decision and he doesn't fight me on anything. So he kind of let's me do what I want to do, but if I get kind of going off on a tangent, not that I've ever done that, he knows how to kind of reign me back in before I hit my next shot. He's probably the best at doing that of the guys I've had thus far. RONALD TOWNSEND: Before we let you go, can we have you briefly describe your club selection. STEVE FLESCH: On the first, I drove it down the middle and had an 8-iron in there and hit it about 25 feet right of the hole. 2, I drove it down the right side and laid it up with a 5-wood and hit it a sand wedge about two and a half feet from 86 yards. On 8, I hit a driver down the middle, laid up with a 4-iron to about 86 yards, hit it to about 12 feet and made the putt. 13, driver down the middle and hit a 3-iron to 2 1/2 feet and made the putt. Then on 15, hit a driver and 5-wood over the back edge and pitched it down about a foot. Q. You mentioned a couple good par saves what, would be a couple of the better ones today? STEVE FLESCH: Boy, on 7 -- (smiling, turning to Mr. Townsend) boy, you guys made that green tough. I hit it on the left edge of the fairway but it was in the first cut, and I guess the only cut of rough, and hit a 5-iron on the right side of the green and that pin is kind of up on the table and anywhere past the hole, I was worried about putting it off the green more than anything, and that says a lot about confidence when you're worried about putting off the green. Left it ten feet short, and still had a downhill putt that broke about a foot and a half, and I made that. I really grinded on that and made that. I did it again on 10. On 10, I made about a 6-footer for par, a good putt, really good putt after missing the green just short. 3, I hit it on the front edge on 3 and hit it about 30 feet. I saw Johnson Wagner putt his ten feet by right before me and naturally I left my 30-footer about eight feet short and made another great right-to-left, downhiller with about eight inches of break. That was a big putt, making those two. RONALD TOWNSEND: Thank you all. Steve, thank you, and again, congratulations and good luck the rest of the week. End of FastScripts |
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