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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

February 12, 2009

Bill Lunde

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome Bill Lunde to the interview room. Bill shot a -5 today and is one back of the lead. If you'll just start off and give us some general comments on your round today and then we'll take some questions.
BILL LUNDE: I think overall I just played solid, but the round was jump-started by probably a 60-foot putt on 12, the first par-3 on the back. I started on the back. So that kind of got me going early.
And then I just played solid, never got in trouble, kept it in play and just made a few putts here and there. I birdied three of the four par-3s and two of the par-5s, and I think more than anything I just never got in trouble. I hit one shot that kind of got fortunate on on 6, the par-5. I was going for the green in two and hit it kind of way off to the right, but it actually cleared everything on the right and ended up actually in a great spot to get up-and-down. I didn't do it, but that was the only shot I kind of got lucky on.

Q. You worked in like tournament operations or something like that, didn't you?
BILL LUNDE: Actually I worked for the Las Vegas Founders, the nonprofit organization that ran the PGA TOUR event in Las Vegas. I played Nationwide in '04 and '05 and then kind of half-heartedly went to Q-school and kind of gave up golf, didn't get through and gave up. I went to work for them for about ten months running the PGA TOUR event. I was doing sales and just getting the local businesses involved in the tournament, corporate tents and whatnot. And then I worked for a title company for a few months.
Then when the market started going down, I was pretty much going to lose a job, so I had to find something else to do. A buddy had kind of -- I got the first job through a friend and then the second job through another guy I had met while working. After that I didn't have anything lined up and I didn't know what the heck I was going to do.
There was a local mini-Tour in Las Vegas called the Butch Harmon Vegas Tour that doesn't exist anymore. That was going to be coming up. I think it started in June. That was like in February, March, April when I didn't have a job. So I decided I was going to do that after talking to family and friends. At least I could stay at home, spend a few months playing golf and see if I could make some money until I found out what I was going to do next and then also to see if maybe playing golf again was going to be enjoyable.
I had some success doing that, played well, and was kind of having fun. I think more than anything when I wasn't playing golf, when I was working in the kind of office atmosphere, it was always kind of funny me walking into an office sitting behind a desk with a phone and a computer. All I could say is it just never felt 100 percent. Obviously I was adjusting to it and it was reality and you've got to do what you've got to do sort of thing.
But when I started playing golf again, it felt like that's what I should be doing. I've done it my whole life, and it just felt kind of more that's where I belonged.
I obviously played that, then went to Q-school. I just missed my card by two in Q-school but got fully exempt status on the Nationwide, played well out there last year, finished fifth on the Money List to get myself here.

Q. So going back to before last year, when you leak off and then come back and rededicate yourself, did you hit it harder, because before that you really tried as hard as you could?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, the biggest change I made, I was always a guy that was very hard on myself, easily -- if I missed one shot, get mad sort of thing. So I was just way too hard on myself. So when I decided to play golf again, if I could just make one change, I'd become better, and that was to try to stay more level-headed out there and not get so pissed off so to speak. I was too up-and-down. I was happy, skipping down the fairways, and when it was bad, it was bad. So just tried to be more mellow and accept bad shots. Everyone hits bad shots. If I could just instantly make that change, I'd be a better player than I was before, so that was my main focus when I started playing golf again is to just have a better attitude. If you're positive, especially in golf, you're going to play better. I mean, if you're beating yourself up, it makes it even that much more difficult.

Q. Can you recall or tell me what your mindset was today, the one touchy shot that you had?
BILL LUNDE: Well, actually I hit it, and I was like, oh, God, it's going right. But you're completely blind on that second shot. Some people up there kind of on the top of the hill started waving "safe," so I'm like, anywhere on grass that's playing safe, that's fine with me. I knew it was safe right away, so I was like, well, that's fine.

Q. Have you played all these courses here?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, actually I played up here -- there's a Callaway Invitational in November up here, and I was fortunate to come up and play in that. That was the first time I had seen all of these courses. I had never played Poppy Hills until yesterday I played out there. So it was good to come out and play that and to see these courses.

Q. Where do you go, Spy tomorrow?
BILL LUNDE: Yeah, I'm over at Spyglass.

Q. Do you have a preference of the courses here?
BILL LUNDE: I think Spyglass is my favorite. I just think it's a great test of golf, it's got some phenomenal holes. You get a little bit of the ocean as well as trees and all that. I think it's a pretty special place. I mean, it's hard to beat the scenery out here at Pebble, I think. I don't know, for some reason Spy just sticks out in my mind, but I think all three courses are phenomenal, and it's just an amazing area, the Monterey Peninsula. It's just something you don't get to see every day playing golf.
Last week we were in Torrey Pines, and my caddie goes, "God, this place might be better than Pebble, how beautiful it is," and I'm like, "No, just wait a week, you'll change your mind." Sure enough, we played Pebble on Monday, and he goes, "Yeah, I made a bad call on Monday." It's a special place up here.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Bill.

End of FastScripts

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