ADVIL WESTERN OPEN

July 6, 2002

Neal Lancaster

JOAN V.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Neal, for joining us.

NEAL LANCASTER: Thank you, Joan.

JOAN V.T. ALEXANDER: Great round today. Best round here in your career at the Cog Hill. Better yet, great position going into Sunday.

NEAL LANCASTER: Yeah. I think I brought the rain on No. 3 today. I made double bogey there. And as soon as I hooked it off the tee, it started raining. I kind of wasn't prepared for it and then 3-putted the hole to make a double. You know, you got to be in the fairway in this golf tournament, and if not, you don't have much of a chance.

And luckily, today I was patient, which is not one of my best attributes, and I got around. I think I made eight or nine birdies. I'm not even sure. Actually, I left four or five out there. Missed a short one on 18.

But going into my round, No. 1, I hit the fairway, hit a 7-iron from 160 yards, hit it to about 3 feet, birdie there.

Made a good 2-putt on 2 for par.

Hooked it on 3 and was just trying to pitch it out in front of the green and actually hit too good of a pitch shot out of the rough and it went through the fairway into the bunker up at the green, then it started raining really bad and I hit a bad bunker shot 30 feet past the hole and 3-putted.

And probably a big key for me was parring four. I hit the fairway there. Hit a 9-iron about 40 feet, 2-putted. Really hard to hit it close on some of these holes.

Then I hit a bad drive on 5 in the bunker, was hooking everything, laid up, hit a wedge about, oh, five feet and made it for birdie. Got back to even par.

Good 2-putt on the next hole, par 3, playing 239. I couldn't even reach it actually.

Next hole, hit a perfect drive, had a wedge from 115, just hit the old amateur hack to the right, hit a terrible shot. Got it up and down out of the bunker.

8, hit a 9-iron from 138, oh, about 6 feet and made a birdie to go one under for the day.

9, hit a good drive, laid up, laid back, just wanted to be in the fairway and had 138 yards. Hit a 9-iron to, oh, I'd say 12 feet and made that.

10, hit a driver off the tee and hit a lob wedge I think from like 81 yards and it hit the stick on the first bounce and bounced off 15 feet to the right and I made it for birdie.

Then we waited 20 minutes on 11. Hit a bad drive right, hit a good shot out of the rough, hit a sand wedge to probably about 6 feet right behind the hole and hit a good putt, just misread it and made par there.

Probably the big key was the next hole. You got to have luck, got to have some breaks, and I was playing left of the hole 30 feet. The pin was behind the tree over there. I came off it and pushed it, and I guess it went through the tree about 12 feet from the hole and made birdie. It probably should have been bogey. That was a really big key.

Next hole, pull-hooked the drive into the bunker, had to lay up, so I just laid out to the right and hit an 8-iron, oh, to about 6 feet. Had a good par putt, and I misread it. Hit a good putt.

Next hole, you know, when you're playing good, you come back and make birdies the holes after you bogey usually. Most guys do. Next hole, hit a 5-iron, oh, 18 feet, good shot in there, big curling putt and made it for birdie.

Then we had another 20-minute wait on the next par 5. Had a good drive, hit a 2-iron just off to the left and hit a really good chip to about 2 feet for a tap-in birdie.

16, hit a 3-wood to the left side. Hit a 9-iron past the hole, hit a good putt, tapped in for par.

17, I just took it over the corner. The hole kind of sets up funny there. You could probably see something funny happen there in the tournament because you can hit just about any club you want to off that tee. I was trying to be aggressive. I knew I was near the lead or 1 or 2 back, and I had a perfect yardage, came off the wedge, hit it 25, 30 feet right of the hole, and misread the putt.

18, hit a good drive, had 191, hit a 6-iron in there, oh, I'd say 12 feet uphill and just didn't hit putt hard enough and it fell off on the left lip and I made par.

Q. Neal, you noted that patience is not one of your attributes, so how do you withstand those 20-minute waits?

NEAL LANCASTER: Well, after 14 years, you try to learn a little bit or patience. You know, when you play as long as I have, you can accept anything. Disappointment, failure, I've seen more failure than I have success. Not that I'm a failure. It takes a lot to be on the Tour for 14 years, but I've always been a player that was down there around 100 on the money list, and I'm just going to go out and do the best I can do.

If I can do what Neal Lancaster can do, maybe I'll have a chance with three or four holes left tomorrow. I have to keep my emotions intact. Someone wins a golf tournament each week. That's what happens. People are out there watching and they don't understand how hard it is to win one of these golf tournaments. All 156 guys in the field, they play great golf, but if you don't have it together emotionally, you're kind of in trouble.

Q. What's gotten your game turned around, what's got you playing well?

NEAL LANCASTER: Well, first part of the year I was actually playing pretty good. It's one day I can't drive the ball, the next I can't putt, but I felt good with all of it. It's something else different every day.

Basically, I've been working on, you know, my putting and my set-up with my golf swing. I'm trying to change my golf swing a little bit, trying to get the club more in front of me. I have a tendency to get my weight too far forward on the balls of my feet, and all of these golf teachers and everybody tells me with putting the ball, everyone says you got to have your shoulders square to the line. Well, I just can't putt that way, so I'm trying to putt like -- the best probably putter that ever played the game in my opinion up till Tiger was Jack Nicklaus. I'm just tucking my right elbow up on the side of my hip and trying to stroke it down the line. And I Open my shoulder further. Everybody told me square them up, I said I'll open them farther, so you can't ever tell.

Q. You've always made a lot of birdies playing well. What is it about your game that you've always done that and do you feel like even though you've made some changes, you're back to playing your normal kind of golf?

NEAL LANCASTER: You know, you got to drive the ball in position. I've never been a very good driver till the last couple years. My driving has actually gotten better. I don't know. It's just when I get it going and get a good feel for it, I keep it going. If I make a bogey or two, it doesn't bother me because I know I'm going to make some birdies somewhere.

In Memphis I had 23 birdies last week and finished 9th in the tournament there. Wasn't comfortable at all with my golf swing all week and probably only reason I got through it was because my short game was good. Now I'm starting to get a little bit more comfortable with what I'm doing. I'm usually a guy that gets out there and I get in a little bit of a hurry. If I don't rush myself tomorrow, I'll be all right.

Q. Can we talk about the circumstances of your victory at the Nelson?

NEAL LANCASTER: I thought it was great. It's a shame it doesn't rain every week. It was just, you know, being in the right spot at the right time. I don't even know, it was a 6-man playoff maybe? 6-man playoff and, you know, nobody had any idea that we were going to play 36 holes. It just happened to turn out that way. They didn't have much of a choice, and I was lucky enough to birdie 17 and 18, and I sat there for four hours waiting for the guys to finish and then we went out for a 6-way playoff. I was lucky enough to birdie the first hole and five other guys didn't, which is amazing because we were only hitting a 9-iron or a pitching wedge in there. My goal for the year was just to win a golf tournament. If I missed every cut, I just wanted to win one. That kind of got the monkey off my back, if I can get the 36-hole Byron Nelson off my back, but believe me, I'll still take it.

Q. How often do you hear about shooting 29 in the Open? Do fans bring it up a lot?

NEAL LANCASTER: I would say most people don't even know it. That golf tournament is so hard to hit in, it's unbelievable. And believe it or not, that's the only two Opens I ever played in. Oakland Hills and Shinnecock. You know, some people know, true golf fans, but a lot of people don't even know.

Q. You talk about keeping your emotions intact. How do you do that going out in the last group or --

NEAL LANCASTER: Birdies, just birdieing, just try to birdie a lot, and keep a lot of fluids in you is all I know. And I have to breathe extra hard because I'm a smoker.

Q. Find any good barbecue out here that matches what you've got at home?

NEAL LANCASTER: Actually, I don't even eat barbecue, and they have the best in North Carolina. I have access to the probably some of the best every day. I like the slaw better than the barbecue actually.

Q. (Inaudible?)

NEAL LANCASTER: Down in Greensboro. No. We do a thing at Greensboro for all the players and volunteers, about a 300-pound pig.

Q. Are you putting better now than you have in a while?

NEAL LANCASTER: I went back to a blade putter, which I've always used since I was a kid, and changed my set-up, got a little bit like you see them on the old days, got a little crouched in there and pigeon-toed and tucked my elbow into my hip and I'm really kind of in there with the putter, and I opened up a little bit and can see the line a little better. I'm probably putting better right now or feel like that, than I have in six or seven years.

Q. When did you make those changes?

NEAL LANCASTER: The week before Memphis.

JOAN V.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Neal, for joining us.

NEAL LANCASTER: Thank you.

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