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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 20, 2008

Lonnie Nielsen

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK

KELLY ELBIN: All right. We had like to welcome Lonnie Nielsen to the media room at the 69th Senior PGA Championship here at Oak Hill Country Club. 12 time Western New York PGA Player of the Year. Lonnie is competing in his fifth Senior PGA Championship. His best finish a tie for 19th in 2005.
Lonnie, welcome back to Oak Hill and for that matter welcome home.
LONNIE NIELSEN: Thanks. Nice to be back.
KELLY ELBIN: Some thoughts, I know you're playing a little later today in the pro-am. Talk a little bit about your experiences here at Oak Hill, just to kind of get things going.
LONNIE NIELSEN: Well, I played here in the 1980 PGA. Not very successfully as I recall. I'm pretty sure I missed the cut.
KELLY ELBIN: You did.
LONNIE NIELSEN: I did.
(Laughter.)
LONNIE NIELSEN: Thank you for reminding me.
KELLY ELBIN: You're welcome.
LONNIE NIELSEN: I did win our Western New York Match Play here. Not sure what year that was. But it was later in my career anyway. So I've got some fond memories of Oak Hill and certainly of Western New York.
So it is a real thrill to -- I was so excited when I saw on the schedule that we were going to be coming back here. And it's a real thrill to be back home. And I have a lot of friends and family going to be coming up. So looking forward to a great week.
KELLY ELBIN: Open it up for questions for Lonnie Nielsen.

Q. Did you play yesterday, Lonnie?
LONNIE NIELSEN: Yes, I did.

Q. First impressions of what's out there?
LONNIE NIELSEN: I remember the course being hard, but not as hard as it was yesterday. Obviously it was a difficult day and they had the had the tees all the way back. Under the conditions that we had yesterday they would have moved the tees up a little bit.
The trees have grown up since I was here last. I kind of went over the course in my mind and there were several tee shots that were so much tougher than what I remember because some trees have grown up that kind of got in your, my line of sight anyway for some of the -- I like to hit the ball left-to-right off the tee and there's two or three trees that are right in my way.
I'm going to have to make some adjustments on some of those tee shots. Going to have to -- you have to work the ball both ways, which I think is the sign of a great golf course and certainly this is a great golf course.
The rough is unbelievable challenge. You're going to have to drive the ball in the fairway this week if you're going to compete.

Q. After struggling a little bit on the PGA and then going to be a club pro, can you talk about your decision to come on the Senior Tour and play there?
LONNIE NIELSEN: Yeah, it was -- I'd been at our club about 20 years and it just started to feel like it was time for me to do something different. And I was starting to play pretty good at the time. I felt like my game was so much better than it was when I played on the Regular Tour.
And to get a chance to do this again is such a blessing. I don't think I ever envisioned having the success that I've had in the last five years. Can't really explain why I'm so much a better player now than I was then. I think it's, I'm at a different place in my life. I'm more comfortable with myself and who I am and where I am in life.
And you just have to have that comfort level of feeling like you belong out here to play the way you know you're capable of. And when I played the Regular Tour I never had that level of comfort. I always was on edge. Every time I had a chance to do well going into a Sunday round, I had very few good Sunday rounds when I needed them.
And that's the thing that's been the best really about my game since I've been out here, my Sunday scoring average is, I think Sunday is my best day. And I really can't account for that turn around, other than just that different feeling of comfort.

Q. Slu said he's back home here and he's got all that periphery stuff going on, do you, are you fighting any of that this week, the distraction of being home and lots of friends here? Are you kind of battling that a little bit?
LONNIE NIELSEN: A little bit. I grew up in Iowa, originally, but then I came out to Buffalo when I was 30. And we play in Iowa every year and I've never played well there. So I hope that doesn't carry over here to Western New York.
But it's funny how just little things can throw you off. It's a little bit different routine. You're doing a lot more activities and hopefully I'll still be able to get my focus once I get inside the ropes.

Q. Is there any sort of advantage you get from playing having played Oak Hill before and does that give you confidence going into this week that you played it a few more times than some of the other guys?
LONNIE NIELSEN: I might have played it a few more times. A lot of these guys have played here in the U.S. Open and the PGA and a lot of the top players have played here in the Ryder Cup. So they have every bit as much experience as I do and certainly they have played it under tournament conditions more than I have.
So I remember the course pretty well, I am sure they do as well. And it's just right there in front of you. There aren't any tricks to this golf course. You need to drive it in the fairway, put it on the green below the hole, which is generally short of the pin, and you need to chip and putt well here. You just have to do it all if you're going to have a decent week. It's a great test.

Q. Do you think that if you get in the rough here is it something where you have to chip out or is it more that you're just not going to get the ball to the green, but you'll have some chance to get it close?
LONNIE NIELSEN: You're not going to be able to get the ball to the green and they have so many holes here where they have water that crosses the fairway, so if you're going to try to get it up close to the green you are really taking a chance if you got an iffy lie.
You can hit the ball about 130 to 150 yards, I think, fairly consistently out of the rough. But anything more than that is probably out, unless you're just lucky enough to catch a pretty good lie. And the course is long enough where if you don't drive it up there, you hit it in the rough, of course you're losing out on the roll, so you're going to be back there 180 to 200 yards on all the holes.
So it's going to be real tough to, especially on, I don't know, I suppose any hole that's over 420, which it seems like most of them are here, it's going to be real tough to get there if you don't drive it in the fairway.

Q. You mentioned that there was some holes where you're left-to-right off the tree that now the trees have grown up and it's going to be, you're going to have to change your line. Can you tell us what holes those are?
LONNIE NIELSEN: Well No. 2 for sure. That tree on the left on No. 2 is, it's unbelievable how that hole has changed, in my mind any way.
I noticed on number 4, the par-5 as well. And on number 5. I think that both those holes it's a big advantage if you can turn the ball over slightly. So that's three of the first five holes.
Then it seems to open up a little bit. I don't remember any after that really where it was a factor. But three of the first five holes are all holes where I'm going to have to change my shot.
KELLY ELBIN: You also played in nine PGA Championships, can you give some thoughts in terms of playing in a Major Championship like that and what the value is for a club professional and then maybe ultimately what that's helped lead you to today.
LONNIE NIELSEN: It's just more of a treat than anything to be able to play in a Major when you're a club pro. You realize that the odds of competing against the best players in the world that are doing this every day, when you're at home giving lessons and selling shirts, are pretty small. But that doesn't keep us from trying and trying our hardest and getting so fired up to make that attempt.
It's such a treat for your members. That's, I think that's one of the real advantages when they have the club pros that are able to compete on a national level like that. They come back with all the stories of all the great players that they had a chance to meet and to play with and it just seems to expand the game to more and more people and bring them closer to the game. I think that's one of the real benefits to having the club professional play in this championship as well as the PGA.

Q. Because this course is so much longer than maybe some of the stuff you play during the Regular Tour, have you had to make some changes in regards to equipment? Will you be using maybe a 5-wood or will you put, add something to the bag to make a difference here?
LONNIE NIELSEN: Well, I put some rescues in the bag here in just the last 12 or 13 months, I guess. And so I feel pretty comfortable with those clubs out of the rough. My 3 and 4-iron are both rescue clubs and they work so much better out of the rough. I didn't get a chance to practice with them as much out of the rough as I should have yesterday. And that's one of my goals in my practice round tomorrow. Just to see exactly what you can and can't do with them.
But I hit a couple of shots with them and was pleasantly pleased with the result. You can't get them in the air very high, but you can hit a running scooter up there. And as long as we don't have that creek in front, it should, you should be able to advance it right up to the front of the green I think from 180 yards.
KELLY ELBIN: The two straight top-10 finishes in Champions Tour events coming in, does that give you a fair amount of confidence coming into a place like this.
LONNIE NIELSEN: I never had a start like this since I've been on the Champions Tour. I've always been a slow starter and looked forward to getting up here on bent and blue grass where I feel much more comfortable. And this is usually the time of year where I start to play well.
So I'm anxious to see how finish out the year. But usually this time of year I've got about 100 to 150,000 and now I'm over 500,000 for the year. So I'm off to a great start and I hope I can continue that momentum and finish out the year the way I have in the past.
KELLY ELBIN: Lonnie Nielsen, thank you very much.
LONNIE NIELSEN: All right. Thanks.

End of FastScripts

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