THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ AND MICHELOB

October 28, 1997

Steve Elkington

STEVE ELKINGTON: We played -- you know, we played this tournament in '90 here. No, I don't play in the club championship, but I play a fair amount of competitive golf here throughout the year with members and friends, guests. You know, a lot of people want to come here and play this course because it's famous, so I probably host probably ten groups, probably one group a month out here, just on people that want to come play the course. I play a lot of golf with Robert McKinney, who's the club champion here, and Tad Weeks and Jack Burke. Most of the time, it's too crowded. Can't get on.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Well, I think, you know, I expect to do well. You know, I would like to have my game a little bit better, consistent the last couple months. But, you know, I know the course so well, it's almost I can play it in my sleep. I know all the greens. I think one of the things I think I've learned this week just from playing this course under these conditions is that I'm very strict with my strategy. I know exactly what I should be doing on every hole. And sometimes when I play the Tour, I don't think that way. I'm thinking better here than I was, say, last week just because I know exactly what I'm supposed to do here. So it's been a good, you know -- it's been a good opening for me all the way around. Like I said earlier, with all the employees, with the work it took to get the course the way it is, the way all this stuff is here, it's just been a big effort by all the people at the club.

STEVE ELKINGTON: You know, the hardest thing about Champions is the big greens, and they're very fast right now. I don't think there's anything harder to do in golf than to lag putt on lightning-fast greens, you know, from 50 feet, that's probably the hardest thing to do, other than maybe a 50-yard bunker shot or something. You know, the trick here is you stand in the fairway and the caddie tells you you've got 150 yards, it looks like you can hit a wedge up there with, you know, 120 yards and you finish up maybe hitting a 9 and try to hit it a little too hard, you come up 50-feet short and make 3-putts. So it's really a hard course to get the ball to pin-high. That's probably the hardest thing to do around here.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Oh, I never -- I don't think I ever think too much. I don't think anyone -- no, you know, it's -- you know, like I said, I have more at stake this week as far as being more of a host because I really want this tournament to go off well for the club because I'm a member. You know, I've been a member here for years. You know, I don't know what's going to happen, to be honest. I've got a lot of friends coming. I'm sure it will be distracting, but I'm used to it when I played the Houston Open and so on. So it's almost like, you know, talking about the stock market crashing, it's almost like you earn stock this week, it's either going to be worth 67,000 by the end of the week or it's going to be worth 730 or somewhere in between, so it can't be bad. You can't -- you know, everyone who comes here has had such a great year in their own certain time frame, it's just a matter of where you are on the scale of momentum. So it will be a nice tournament to be near the lead for me on the weekend. That's really my goal.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Well, I have two little children, first. You know, I have one my son who was born in March. He had colic for eight months, and my wife and I didn't sleep. So I just haven't played that much golf. I really have played probably about -- I think this is my 18th event. I probably played seven events less than I'd like. You know, probably two months more golf I haven't played this year. And for me, I just feel like I haven't had the momentum, haven't been able to put together -- come out from a four-week break and play well and then have another week off and so on. It's just been a strange year, although, you know, how can I point at my year and say it's not been a good year? You know, I had another healthy child and I've won twice. One of them was THE PLAYERS Championship where I probably played the best golf of my career. It's been kind of a strange combination. I would have rather that the consistency had been a little bit higher, but that's the way golf is unfortunately.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I've never really been able to sustain that type of golf for much longer than a couple months anyway. You know, I've hit up on that high level where a lot of these guys like Greg Norman and some of the guys stay longer. They stay months and months and months. I've hit those levels for maybe a couple of months at a time, then dropped back, then hit it again. So, you know, that's just where I'm trying to get my game to sort of come back that way a little bit. It's hard to work too hard because you sort of realize that the game sort of comes sort of when it wants to. You know, you can work and work and work, then all of a sudden maybe you come to Champions where it's your home course and you get a little momentum going, and that takes you on to who knows where. So, you know, it's kind of a hard game to put your finger on.

STEVE ELKINGTON: No, I think the course is probably the best I've ever seen it. They had the rough a little too high a couple months ago. It's now down to about 3 1/2 inches. I think it's fair. I don't think this tournament should be like a U.S. Open where you chip out if you miss the fairway. You can get on the green from the rough from maybe 170 yards, 180 yards, if you hit a squirrely one up there. It will be a good test.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yes, in a way. My wife and I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to play a little less anyway just because we have another one, and this year was going to be a year that I was going to play less, no matter what. It just so happened I went out and won a million dollars in two weeks, so that made it really easy for me to sit at home. But next year, I'll play more. Next year, I'll be up around 25 I think which will be more comfortable for me. I don't feel that comfortable not playing that much.

STEVE ELKINGTON: No, because I pointed to those. I was ready to play in all the majors. I missed the cut at the British. I had a decent Masters. I don't remember what I did at the U.S. -- yeah, a decent U.S., pretty average PGA. Nothing to write home about.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I think most of the players probably like it right now. It's really not that bad. You know, I think the guys have been in the sun all year, it's not bad to get our sweaters on occasionally. I think it's going to be 80 by Saturday, though. That will be more like Houston.

STEVE ELKINGTON: You know, I think -- you talk about your pretty elite 30 players anyway, but the guys that are hitting their irons solid -- when I say "solid," I mean hitting them up there pin-high or hitting them to the distance they want. They'll be closer to the flag than the guy who is not quite hitting the ball solid, and that's really -- it's going to be won and lost on the greens here. The greens are so big and so fast that -- and they've got a fair amount of grain in them. They take a fair amount of course knowledge. These guys pick it up fairly quick. That's why my goal is to be near the lead near the weekend because I know the greens so well that if I can get that sort of attitude where I'm up there, then I'll be fine. Thank you.