BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 7, 2002

Neal Lancaster

JOHN BUSH: Neal, thanks for coming by. Congratulations. 16 under par for the tournament. Second straight 67. Give us some comments and then we'll have you go through your birdies for us.

NEAL LANCASTER: I actually feel like I'm a little disappointed. I scored well again and today I finally struck the ball well and I was a little disappointed, I actually missed a short putt on the last hole. I could have put a big gap between me and second place. I felt like I could have legitimately got it to 20 under today.

Starting on the 8th hole, I probably missed eight times or six times from 12 feet or last on the last nine holes. I shot two under on the nine, and felt like I shot over par because -- I actually struck the ball better, but -- you know, I just feel I kind strike the ball that well tomorrow. I didn't strike it well the first two days.

The big tee today was the first hole. It was playing pretty much into the wind and I hit a 5-iron in there. I hit a good drive. It didn't release down the hill. I had 182 yards, hit a 5-iron to about 12 feet and made it for birdie.

I really didn't do anything, tried to be patient. Got over to the 7th hole and took advantage of the par 5s. I hit a drive just barely in the left rough and hit a 4-iron in the front bunker and hit it out about 3 feet and made it.

On 9, I hit driver, 2-iron just right of the green and hit a bad chip, hit it by about 12 feet and made the put.

I birdied the 11 foot, hit two good shots in there about 15 feet left of the hole and made that to go 3 under for the day. And then started leaving some shots out. I was hitting in really close and just couldn't make them.

Then 16, I hit it in there -- I missed a birdie somewhere, didn't I?

JOHN BUSH: You birdied No. 11 and 16 on the back.

NEAL LANCASTER: 16, I hit it in there 15 feet at the most for eagle -- driver, 7-iron. I was concentrating on the line so much, I just left it short, right of the hole.

I didn't hit a great shot on 17. Knowing you can't get it close, and I hit it up there probably 12 foot and missed the putt.

The last hole, I'd liked to have holed it on the fly about six, eight feet and missed it. It's kind of disappointing to end that way. I really felt I could have put some distance between me and second place.

Q. When was the last time you held the lead?

NEAL LANCASTER: Chicago this year.

Q. (Inaudible) ?

NEAL LANCASTER: Football is on today. That's about it (laughter). We had a good group. Me and Billy, both, we were struggling a little bit and then we started hitting some good shots. We just couldn't make any putts when we needed to, both of us actually. Like I said all week, if I can go out and not put any pressure on myself, I'll be all right tomorrow.

Actually today, I started trying a little too hard coming down the back side. I was trying to put some distance in between me and second place and I was grinding a little too hard on the putts. I felt terrible over the putter. That's hard to believe, being 16 under. I'm hitting all my putts to the right for some reason. I can't figure it out. I don't know. Maybe I'll shoot 5 under tomorrow and not be satisfied.

Q. You know how the board shapes up now. I'll ask a dumb question. There's favorites. There's underdogs. There's all kinds of guys in there. The guy flipping on his TV tomorrow, who should he root for and why?

NEAL LANCASTER: I guess it depends on where you're from. If you're from Canada you root for Ian Leggatt. I don't know how he played today, or Mike Weir. From North Carolina, you're rooting for me. And from Florida you have about 30 guys you can root for. I don't know.

I think people -- sometimes people should root for the underdogs. We don't have Tiger Woods this week. We do have Vijay here. He's right there at 13. You know he's coming. If I don't shoot five or six, I see myself not winning tomorrow. I don't think I can shoot 3 under and win the golf tournament tomorrow. I think I have to shoot 5 or 6 to win it. There's no reason I can't do it. If I don't go out and try so hard to do it, I should be find.

I'm going to hit some bad shots. I just have to accept the bad shots and go on.

Q. (Inaudible)

NEAL LANCASTER: Actually, I hit some bad shots today and I got away with them again. The 10th hole I hit it up there eight feet. I got away with a bad shot, actually. I had a good line on the shot, but I hit the ball right on the toe and it skipped up the hill about 8 feet from the hole. Then the golf gods got me back. I had a perfect putt and it didn't go in. That's golf.

Q. (Inaudible)

NEAL LANCASTER: I don't know. I try to get everyone to smile, I guess. They kind of know I'm not real serious about it sometimes. I try not to take it serious, but then I got on the golf course and I get too serious sometimes. Today, I got a little too serious for myself out there.

My caddie, he's starting to get wound up so tight. I'm calming him down. He's supposed to be calming me down. So we have got it going backwards. Actually, I made the putt on the 12th hole for birdie and he said, let me get beside the hole so everybody at home will see me on television. I'm going.... (Laughter) And all three of us, we just started laughing and said, "Get in if you want some."

We have to be a little more relaxed tomorrow. We were pretty good today. I wasn't nervous when I went to the first tee. I guess the biggest thing I've got to do, I have to believe I can do it. That's the hardest part for me, not believing in myself. Today was a big stepping stone for me, especially playing in the last group, because you're playing -- that was the hardest time of the day to play. You're playing in the last group, you shoot 5 under. The greens were a little bumpy and the wind got up pretty good this afternoon. I have to go out and do what I have to do. If it's not good enough, we'll try again next week.

Q. (Inaudible) rooting for you and they like your attitude?

NEAL LANCASTER: When we started out today, we had 40 people following us and 25 media. So we had more people -- I looked on the 5th hole, we had more people in the fairway watching us than we did outside the ropes. There was 17 people in the fairway, and there was 12 watching us on the outside of the ropes, which is fine with me. It gave me somebody to talk to.

Yeah, I think they root for whoever is playing well at the time. They just want to see good golf, I think. They don't want to see any disasters, it doesn't sound like, out here. It's a Canadian tournament. It's an international tournament. It's a big tournament. But you have to root for your own guys, is the way I look at it.

Q. (Inaudible)

NEAL LANCASTER: No, I never think like that. I think basically -- honestly, I would love to win. It would change my life a little bit. I don't care if I win or not. Like I said yesterday, I just feel fortunate to be out here for 13 years and totally exempt and only been to the qualifying school once in 13 years, and feel fortunate I get to play golf outdoors every day. Same old story, if I win, I win; if I don't, I don't. I mean, winning on any tour is hard.

Being in this position, and I've been there a lot this year, I'm starting to understand how hard it is to win. But then I'm also starting to understand don't have to be perfect to win. You have to play smart. I think I could win the golf tournament if I get out and play the golf course and not play the competition. And today I played the golf course. I had some wedges I didn't like, so I didn't shoot over at the pin. I put the ball where I had to. I played the golf course, and took my chances on the par 5s. I mean, the par 3s and the par 5s is where this golf course is. If you can par all the par 3s and, say, birdie a couple of the par 5s, you're going to be in the game.

Q. (Inaudible)

NEAL LANCASTER: Eva Gardner, she's dead now. She's still more popular than I am. The biggest celebrity we ever had, though, Barry Foot. He won three world championships in baseball.

Q. If you do win the tournament, you will get more attention probably, presumably. Do you relish that opportunity?

NEAL LANCASTER: Well, they'll have to look for me for a few weeks, because I think I'll be finished for the year. If I win a golf tournament, I'll probably take -- I'll probably play two more this year, Williamsburg and Callaway Gardens -- well, maybe three. I might play in Tampa to, a good resort. But we'll worry about that one when it comes.

I'm not going in expecting to win tomorrow. I know Steve Flesch he can make ten birdies in 18 holes. He played great today. I'm just going to go out and do the best I can do. If it's not good enough -- I might drive it in the rough all day and never be able to hit it on the green and I'll just have to play short and try to up and down. You don't know until you get started and see how you're going out there.

Q. Yesterday you told me you were struggling a little bit. Those are odd words for a guy who's led the last couple of days.

NEAL LANCASTER: Well, the first two days, my ball-striking was getting better each day. The first day it was horrendous. It was horrendous. I must be like 12 for 12 in bunker saves this week or something. I'm not sure. I'm having some breaks. I'm getting up and down when I need to. Today, I think I only missed two greens, and one was by about 3 inches. You have got to have breaks to win any golf tournament, I don't care who you are. They say you make your breaks, but you can't make anything happen out there. What's going to happen is going to happen. You can only control it until it leaves the ground, and then the golf gods, it's all their choice.

Today I was disappointed because I struck the ball real ball. I hit the ball about as good as I ever hit the ball today, and I felt I could have shot 62 or 63 easy, but I never did anything with the putter. The first two days I was doing everything with the putter and wanting to hit the ball -- you know, I just try to do what I can do.

Q. Some people out there were yelling, "Go Texes."

NEAL LANCASTER: Yeah, I heard some of that. I didn't know if Texas was playing football. Texas, North Carolina, we have trees, though, they have brush. I guess that's about the only difference. Yeah, they were thinking I was from Texas, which is good.

JOHN BUSH: Neal, we hope to see you in here tomorrow, and enjoy your college football today.

NEAL LANCASTER: Thank you.

End of FastScripts....