FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 25, 1999

Larry Nelson

LARRY NELSON: I said it was the most exasperating day I've ever spent on the golf course. I don't think I've ever hit the ball as well from tee-to-green as I hit it today, especially from the fairway. I did miss a couple fairways, which cost me. I missed it 10 times inside of 10 feet today. I shot 72. Could have been 62, just as easily. It was really frustrating. This is the second round in three weeks that I've had like that. But the good news is at least I'm hitting the ball again. But the bad news is that I can't seem to roll it in the hole.

LARRY NELSON: Not for me. I hit the ball better than I did yesterday. I shot 66 yesterday. It is a harder wind direction, because you could not get to the par 5s -- we could not get to the par 5s today; whereas, you could get to three of them yesterday. And I would have been better off 2-putting on the par 5s instead of trying to 1-putt. But I think that was probably the major difference.

LARRY NELSON: I've actually been putting pretty good the last year and a half. This these two putting lapses I've had the last three weeks were -- hopefully it's atypical. I mean, my -- I haven't been puting that bad, but I felt like going cross-handed there a couple times today. I may have to go cross-handed tomorrow. I'm going to go out to the putting green. Actually, I have putted very well this year, even though I have gone through 10 different putters and styles. But I don't think I've ever had as much problems -- I don't think I ever lost as much confidence in my putting today, by the time I got to to the 14th and 15th hole.

LARRY NELSON: Missed some of them right. Missed some of them left. It was not consistent. Some of them you miss a couple right -- you miss a couple to the right, and all of the sudden, you have a right-breaker. And you say: Well, it's not going to break as much, and then it breaks across the hole. I mean, I played a little bit -- I played too little break on some right-to-left putts, and not enough on some left-to-right putts I had. I mean, any number of putts that go in today, any of the putts that go in today, gets me in a much better position going into the weekend. I mean, I'm very happy to be hitting the ball well again. Very happy to have some of my strength back. I feel like if I can get to where I can make some putts, then I'll start shooting some low scores. The length of the golf course -- I think one thing is interesting: The par 5s were longer, but some of the holes that were actually hard, because they played downwind yesterday were easier because they played into the wind it, felt like. I felt like it was kind of a toss-up about how the golf course played, difficulty-wise.

LARRY NELSON: The greens were softer. That helped getting the ball close to the hole. On these type of greens, with as much undulation, not too many flat spots, you really need it pretty soft so you can kind of land the ball in the same area where the pin is.

LARRY NELSON: I know I birdied the 2nd hole -- from 12 feet. I hit 9-iron -- no, I hit 8-iron, I'm sorry. Then bogeyed 4. I hit it in the left bunker and chipped it out to about four feet and missed it. My next birdie was 6. 6, I actually chipped it in from the left fringe, and it was just in the fringe. Actually, I could have putted the ball had there not been a big clump of grass right there. But chipped in from about 30 feet, I guess.

LARRY NELSON: Bogeyed 10. I hit it in the left rough. I missed green to the left. Putted up out of the -- off of the edge of the green up to about five feet and missed it. Then 17, I made a birdie putt at about four and a half feet.

LARRY NELSON: I hit sand wedge, yeah.

LARRY NELSON: Last hole, I hit it a little bit right, off the tee. I hit what I thought was a perfect 5-iron. It was sitting down in the rough a little bit. I didn't feel like I could get the ball up very quick, and actually the ball came out pretty good, very high and hit the limb. And I hit a 9-iron into the left bunker, and then I hit out of the sand trap. I hit it about a foot, 8 inches. One-putted the last two greens. One was 3 and a half, four feet. And the other one was six inches, six to eight inches. My wife could have shot 64 from where I putted today, and she doesn't play. And she would not have made as many mistakes as I did. The way it happens, some days, you read it wrong. There have been plenty of occasions where I read it wrong and pulled it, or read it wrong and pushed it, but I didn't do that today.

LARRY NELSON: Sometimes, when I go through -- you mean to help me read the putt? Sometimes I do. You know, in a lot of cases, I feel like it's good to have two opinions. Sometimes it's bad to have two opinions. Some days, I don't feel very good. I don't feel like I can see very well. It's good to have two opinions. Some days, I feel like I can see the line; so I don't have to ask. Two opinions are good sometimes. Two opinions are bad sometimes. Today, it really wasn't reading the greens as much as it was hitting where I wanted to.

LARRY NELSON: I'm going to putt until I'm about five two -- just settle right in there. I'm going to putt until I feel comfortable again. That's the whole deal.

LARRY NELSON: I don't change putters. I'm about to convince myself after 20-something years, it's not the putter. I don't know for sure. I don't want to ever take the blame for anything, but I don't feel like it's the putter.