THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 11, 1999

Grant Waite

GRANT WAITE: Start on the first hole, made a birdie on 1, bogey on 3.

GRANT WAITE: Pitching wedge, four, five feet, made it. And then bogey on 3, I hit it driving in the fairway bunker and hit it over the green, didn't get up and down, missed by 10 footer. And then birdied 6?

GRANT WAITE: 6, hit a driver, an 8-iron, 25 feet past, made it. And then birdied 8, made a 5-iron just over the green, chipped in from about 30 feet. Then birdied 9, driver, 4-iron and the green-side bunker and pitched out about 10, 12 feet, made it. And then just kept parring every hole, made eagle on, what's it, 14?

GRANT WAITE: Yes, 14. Driver and 3-iron, 12 feet behind the hole, made that. Then bogeyed 17, drove it in the fairway bunker under the lip and no shot. Hit the lip coming out and then hit it on the edge of the green and made bogeys, so... I played well. I was kind of a little scratchy early and then through the middle of the round played beautifully, hit a lot of good shots. And when I made the eagle on 14, I went to 5-under, I was really hitting it well. I'm a little disappointed to finish 4-under par. I still had a par 5 left and -- but you know it is the first round, so you're out there playing and things are going well, so I'm happy to be where I'm at. I think that today that the golf course, if you are ever going to shoot a low round, or it's on today, there's not much wind and the golf course is built obviously to play in a lot of wind, so its defenses are down a little bit. I'm not sure if anyone will go really low, but I think the grouping of the field should be pretty close together, you know, there will be a lot of guys around 2-under par by the end of the day.

GRANT WAITE: No, I don't know, everyone is a little different. Not for me, I'm just trying to play, have some fun and have a nice day out there. I did today and that's about it. The whole touring, the game and everything, if you want to think in a way that's going to put pressure on yourself, then go ahead. I think it's too difficult a game to do that. I'm just trying to have a nice day, you know, and go from there.

GRANT WAITE: No, I'm certainly, when I first came out I was thinking the way that you were talking about earlier, you know, oh, you know, I have got to shoot 5-under par today because everyone else is going to, you know, I'm hitting it good; therefore, I have to play well. It's not worth it because it is a long year and you'll wear yourself out in three weeks like that. It's hard not to do that. I just think -- I just think the more -- the better you are at thinking in a way that's conducive to you being in a nice frame of mind, in a good frame of mind out there the better off you are. And putting pressure on yourself is not the way to go. Some guys do it, Tiger Woods does it, it seems to inspire him, but Ernie Els does it completely differently. Everyone is different.

GRANT WAITE: No. No, I wouldn't throw clubs. I just beat myself up in my head, you know, probably better if I threw clubs.

GRANT WAITE: Well, you know, I have played about five tournaments. I made four cuts, and at Tucson I was 11-under par standing on the 10th green, and 12-under won the tournament. I was second to last group, ended up shooting 4-over the last nine, bogeyed the last three -- so to finish 20th -- so I had a very good chance there to win the tournament. And then at L.A., I finished like 25th or so, but the last day I shot 69. I 3-putted three times or else I would have been the top 10 there as well. So I have had an opportunity in the last few weeks to have good tournaments and a chance to win at Tucson, so the indications are there that my game is in good shape, you know, it is just a matter of going out there and making the right plays at the right times and finishing off the tournament, you know. If I could get into that up situation again this week would be great. You know, nine holes to play, a chance to win, that's what you ask for and you're not going to do it every time, but I'd certainly like to do it. I have won one tournament in 1993, I won the Kemper Open. And I have been second a few times and lost the playoff to David Duval in the Michelob when he won the first tournament. So I'm the one responsible for getting him going. Why couldn't that have been me. But other than that, you know, I'm -- I'd like to win again. But if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm just going to go out there and play the best I can and enjoy my time on the PGA TOUR.

GRANT WAITE: Yes, you know, every player out here, you know, wants to win a tournament and so forth, but I have played at Augusta one time, you know, for guys that aren't ranked real high. I mean, I'm 200 and something in the world. For me to get into Augusta, I'd have to win, so I'd love to do that, love to play Augusta National. I mean, the top 30 here gets you in, you know, all the tournaments, all the majors, all the big money tournaments and so forth. Those are all, you know, outcome goals, you know, but immediately I'm just thinking about going out there and playing every shot as good as I can, you know, be a little more accepting of it and have a smile on my face and have a nice day, you know.

GRANT WAITE: Yes, I had a great time. I really had a good time today. It was -- I'm going to take today -- what I did today and think about it quite a lot over the next day or so. I had good pairing with Jay Delsing and Mike Brisky, both are friends and we laughed and had a good -- told a few jokes. It was a very, very enjoyable day.

GRANT WAITE: No. No, we had -- just talking about different things. It was fun. It was a day that -- it's like when you guys have a good day when you play golf with your friends, you know, you hit a few good shots and you have a laugh. Then again, you know, share some good times and that was my day. I shot 68 in the end, so that was even better.

GRANT WAITE: Yeah, some guys are very serious, you know, some guys are lighthearted. Some guys like to talk and some don't. Even some talkative guys have days where they don't want to talk, things aren't going well or whatever may be going on, but today we had a nice rapport going in the group where they were all just chatting away, cheering each other and just having a good time. That's what playing golf is all about, you know, seeing your shot, getting into what you're doing and putting a smile on your face and talking with your friends and having a good time. Why should it be that much different on the PGA TOUR, you know. Other than now and again the media will criticize a guy like Fred Couples or Ernie Els because they're not driven, you know, because they don't have that scale on their face and pump in their fist and running around greens and doing stuff like that. They do it in their own way. They're still very, very intent on playing good golf.

GRANT WAITE: I'm trying to. I just know that I have tried it the other way and I stress myself out and it's just not worth it. Because I'm going to play good or I'm going to play bad, and stressing out is not going to help me either way. So you just -- it is just a matter of knowing yourself and finding your own way. There's nothing too profound about that. It's just the way it is.

GRANT WAITE: Right.

GRANT WAITE: No.

GRANT WAITE: I'd feel left out if I deserved to be in there, but I haven't played well enough. I'm not even worried about that. Like I said, I'd love to play Augusta National, love to be in the top 30, but how am I going to do that? I'm going to do that by playing good golf. How do you play good golf? You take it down to the next level. Well, I have to do this and this, this part of my game I have to get better. My attitude has gotten to be like this, blah, blah, blah, and that's how you end up getting there. But just telling myself, geez, I should be at these tournaments, I want to be there, that's not going to get you anywhere other than depressed because you're not there. It's out there. It is a goal. It's not something that I think you just got to think day in and day out, that's where I want to get. So how do I get there now, it's by doing these things.

GRANT WAITE: Yes, I'd love to play that, that's another thing. I have played Dunhill Cup in New Zealand a couple of times, we lost in the final to United States, '97, I think. What are we, '99 -- maybe '97, '96 and that was an enjoyable experience. Team concept and, you know, it's fun.

GRANT WAITE: Yeah, it's St. Andrews, it's Scotland, you wear ski hats there in the summer.

GRANT WAITE: In '93 at Kemper?

GRANT WAITE: No. When I won in '93, in Kemper, I had no idea what I was doing, I had no idea what was happening. I beat Tom Kite by a stroke. At the time he was U.S. Open champion and, you know, I don't think I realized, you know, what an achievement that was, you know, until you go out there and you keep doing the same things and you're not getting the results and you struggle a little bit, then you get a little introspective, then you try a little on a few different things, you no, trying doesn't work in a lot of instances. You just got to know your strengths and weaknesses, improve your weaknesses, leave your strengths alone and then get a little bit lucky and play within yourself and have a good time out there and enjoy it. Your brain will figure out a way for you to enjoy yourself. I'm not telling you anything profound here. This is just my interpretation of me. It's not a recipe for anybody or everybody to do anything or -- this is how you do it because everyone does it differently. This is just from my perspective about me.

GRANT WAITE: Yeah.

GRANT WAITE: Yeah, I'm always inspired with great play, whether it be David shooting 59 and winning a tournament, or Tiger Woods in full flight is an awesome sight, Greg Norman, any of these guys, any of the guys on THE TOUR, from the top to the very bottom, when they are on, it's something to see because guys are shooting low numbers and that's inspiring. I love that. And I had my chance to shoot in the 50s and, you know, I'm proud of the fact that I played well and had my chance. I didn't do it, but, you know, I could do it again maybe one day, but to see David do it in the final round of a tournament to win a tournament, that's inspiring. That just shows you that the quality of golf that's played out here. Sometimes everyone focuses in on two or three players or maybe, I'd say 10 players out here, and Match Play, if anything, I hope was an eye-opening experience for everyone to realize that it's not that big a difference from the very best all the way down. And that's through top 64. You could have gone to double the field to 128 and you would have got as many or more upsets than you had that week. It is simply because the guys are good. There are guys that inch along above everyone else any given week. This isn't tennis where you can just dominate and keep winning and winning and winning. There are different variables over the course of the year. There are going to be guys playing better than others. At any given or any stretch of tournaments, you know, I could be playing better than most guys on THE TOUR if my -- if I'm hot.

GRANT WAITE: Yeah, sure, I thought about it, you know, I knew what he was going through and when he made eagle and made that putt on the last, you know, he's not really an emotional guy, when he makes that putt and he shows some emotion, that's not just for winning the tournament, that's for shooting in the 50s as well, it is like a four-minute mile. It is a barrier and it's something that's up there, you know, when you start making a few birdies you automatically start thinking that, you know, and he went through that little wall there. So he has that in his mind now that he's potentially at any time can make more birdies than anybody else, you know.

GRANT WAITE: It's my fault, my fault.

GRANT WAITE: I parred the last two holes. I had about a 15-footer on the last hole to shoot 59 and then on the hole before I hit a chip shot of about 15, 18 feet that lipped out, went on the edge of the hole.