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NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL INVITATIONAL

July 24, 2008

Bill Lunde

COLUMBUS, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Pretty good conditions, can you talk about your round and the course?
BILL LUNDE: I think the golf course is great. It's long, tough, and there are only a couple ways to make birdie out there: You have to hit a really good shot in close, or make a 20-, 25-footer at times.
The course is great. It's a big change from last week, because last week, if you didn't make par, you felt bad about it. But here, you make par, you actually gain a little momentum out of it.
THE MODERATOR: Do you like that?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, I think the tougher, the better. Kind of fits my style of play better. I think it's a great golf course to have the tournament here.
THE MODERATOR: One blemish on the scorecard.
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, I hit actually a 3-wood off the tee, just in case I hit the ball right-to-left, and that hole was left-to-right, and my 3-wood, it goes through the fairway on the left side, I'll be short of the trees, but it still went through the fairway and into the trees and tried to hit a low punch shot but had some overhanging branches and never really got it off the ground and scooted out there a little bit. Had a pitching wedge from 129 and 2-putted for bogey.

Q. How have you been playing? Did you see a good number like this coming yesterday?
BILL LUNDE: I've been playing good. I think the style of golf course fits me really just because like I said, you can't get to 25-under. I think par or around par is really good out here because it is such a good golf course and I think that just fits me better.
As far as how I'm been playing, I've been playing great. My putting, I always try to work hard on putting and become a better putter. A lot of guys, I feel like I don't make as many putts as I should but I'm sure if you asked 156 guys, they would all say the same thing; it's never enough, greed, I guess.
I've been playing well but just haven't been getting much out of it lately. In golf there's a fine line between playing good and missing cuts out here.

Q. Looking at your record in the guide, there's holes between the years you've been on the Nationwide. Where have you been playing?
BILL LUNDE: Actually I played out here 2004, 2005 and then I stopped playing golf completely until middle of last year, April of last year I started playing and practicing again. I actually went to work for Las Vegas Foundation, the group that ran the PGA events out in Las Vegas, and then worked for a title company for a while, and with the market the way it is everywhere, I quit there. And that was a tour starting in Vegas called the Butch Harmon Vegas Tour. And after talking to family and friends, I had an opportunity to play golf that summer and gave me something to do since I didn't have any other job to do and didn't have anything lined up and maybe could stay home and see if golf was something I wanted to do again. Did that, had some success and enjoyed playing and practicing again, and you know, back to Q-School to get back here again.

Q. What was your reason for quitting?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, I just wasn't enjoying any aspect, my bags would be packed Sunday night and I would be home and 6 o'clock in the morning, wake up going to the airport, and just wasn't enjoying golf. Even at home, hitting balls or playing or practicing for a while, it's like, I've been out here for an hour, it's probably enough. I was doing everything because I had to do it and not because I wanted to do it. In golf there's no way to be successful that way unless you're Tiger Woods, and I guess Tiger loves it more than any of us.
So it's just one of those things where I wasn't fully committed to it I was doing everything because I had to and not because I wanted to and it was time to get away and I didn't know if I would ever play golf again. The way things worked, fell back into it. I wouldn't change anything. It kind of gave me a new outlook on golf and I've been enjoying it ever since.

Q. (What weren't you enjoying about golf)?
BILL LUNDE: I was always real hard on myself playing-wise. So now I guess a little more laid back because I've worked and kind of gotten away. When I was working, I'd get invited to play a lot of charity scramble events, so I actually did learn something from it. Not playing and practicing, you can't expect too much.
So I would go out and try to hit driver as far as I could but I'd have 9-iron with no wind from 158 yards and I'd miss the green 25 yards left and back in the day I would lose it and at that point I realized I can't have any expectations. It's not like I'm putting any time into it, so hitting these crazy shots, I learned to laugh at it. In a way, I did take something out of playing the charity scramble events.
Yeah, I've always known my downfall was my attitude and being too hard on myself, and everyone that knows me can tell you the same thing; there's no mystery. I wouldn't try to argue with anyone about it. But knowing it and not letting it affect you or doing the opposite is hard. I think just being away somehow things clicked a little better and now I have a better attitude about golf.

Q. Still enjoying yourself this year so far?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, I've had some good tournaments and bad tournaments. I haven't really found myself down or pissed off. Whatever would really bother me, I wouldn't carry over to dinner that night or the next round, and just letting it go and whatever happens, happens. I don't know if I just matured a little bit. It's hard for me to explain but it's easier for me to not take it so hard.

Q. What were you doing when you were working for the Las Vegas Foundation?
BILL LUNDE: I was in sales and marketing, raising the corporate, getting local businesses involved in the tournament and helping raise money and getting corporate sponsorship from local companies, which the money in the tournament went back to charities so kind of raising money for charity and getting local businesses involved.

Q. And that's when you were playing in a lot of charity events?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, it was kind of good for me to be out there playing in these charity events. I got invited to play a lot, because everyone knew I played golf and everyone thought I would be a good team member to have.
So I got invited to play a lot and it was good for my work at the time because I got to meet a lot of people and meet a lot of the guys that were supporting charity events around Las Vegas, so involved in golf, and it's good for me to play and helped my work.

Q. I notice it says that your grandfather got and you Charley Hoffman in the game. Do you still keep in touch with him? Is he a guy that encouraged you to get back in the game?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, definitely, we live probably 100 yards from each other in Las Vegas, and known each other ever since I can remember. My grandfather got us started.
I remember talking to him, kind of a good story about it, the guys in Vegas, they always said, hey, let's go play and I said, no, I don't want to play golf, you guys have fun. One day they got me out there and me not being able to practice, my only goal is to beat everybody. I'm not hitting balls and these guys are out practicing and I went out there shot 66, beat everybody, didn't even miss a shot. At one point in the round, Charley was my partner, so he was even loving it more than I was. He goes, amazing what attitude does, doesn't it?
So that was just a little something that I kind of picked up on and I'm like, yeah, I don't even play golf anymore but coming out with a good attitude, it's different. And when I went to play golf again, I talked to him a little bit. He's not the most -- you don't go to Charley with some deep conversation. (Laughter) It's more like: You want to barbeque and have a beer. It's not like, I've got a scary problem; he'll say, "That sucks, let's go get a beer.'

Q. Charley got you as a partner because you were the one that wasn't playing anymore?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, and when I did go to play I asked Charley what he thought about it and he goes, "Well. It was never a question of talent, just whether you want to do it or not." Just him being out there on the PGA TOUR and being around, he didn't think I was crazy.
THE MODERATOR: Do you just want to run through your round? 15, you made birdie there.
BILL LUNDE: 15, I hit 3-wood off the tee and hooked it into the fairway bunker, I think I had 153 to the pin and hit a 9-iron kind of to the middle of the green and hit a good shot to the middle of the green and made like a probably 20- to 25-foot putt to get my round going, which was nice.
THE MODERATOR: Bogey at 1 and back-to-back birdies at 3 and 4.
BILL LUNDE: 23, I drove it down the left edge of the fairway and where the pin was, the trees were overhanging and I had no shot. I hit this low hook from 147 yards and once again, a great shot to 20, 25 feet again and made that putt.
4, hit a great drive down there and hit a hybrid to the right side, trees overhanging, and cut a hybrid around at the green and hit a great shot, landed just past the pin and rolled through to a bunker, hit the bunker shot to two or three feet and tapped in for birdie.
6, hit a good drive there but it turned too much into the wind and rolled into the fairway bunker on the left and had a big lip on it. Didn't really have much of a choice and hit as much as I could to make sure it got out and hit 8-iron out and left myself 180 yards on the par 5 and hit a low 5-iron in there to probably 18 feet and made it.
8 was dead downwind, like 181 yards, ballpark, and hit an 8-iron right at it. Actually landed probably less than a foot from the hole, dead downwind, 20, 25 feet again.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Bill, appreciate you coming in.

End of FastScripts

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