CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 4, 1998

Duffy Waldorf

Q. Why don't we start off by going over your round, if we could.

DUFFY WALDORF: It was a nice round, obviously. I didn't make any bogies today. I had six birdies. I played well. I put the ball in the fairway a lot. I didn't hit the ball close a lot, but when I did, I made the birdie, so that was a good thing. I started with birdie number three. I hit a drive and a seven iron to about two feet, and then I birdied number six to par five. I hit a sand wedge about 15 feet and made it. The next hole, number seven, I birdied with -- I hit a -- what did I hit? A pitching wedge. Wow, pitching wedge from about 135 to about 15 feet and I made it. Then I parred all the way to the par five on the back, 13I. Tried to go for it in two, hit a bad second shot to the right in the rough. Hit a good shot out of the rough about 20 feet, and made it for birdie. And then number 15 I laid up and had about 115. I hit a sand wedge to about -- actually, hit the pin and finished about a foot away. And then number 16 I hit a six iron; 17, five, I hit it about 20 feet, made it for birdie and parred in.

DUFFY WALDORF: I've been in a few tournaments like that. It seems like you get nice conditions and that's what happens on this TOUR. When you get wind and hard greens and high rough, usually the scores are spread out quite a bit more. There is some rough here. But the fairways are nice. They're wide enough and the greens are holding. The key is the greens of holding, and they don't usually -- they can get pretty firm around here and they're not big greens. When the greens are small like this, but they're holding, you can throw it right at it. That's what's happening. I think a lot of the guys are able to be aggressive and play right to the pins.

DUFFY WALDORF: It was interesting. You look yesterday, I noticed a lot of scores from the afternoon, you know, the guys came back. It seems like -- I mean, the course is still -- it's a good, solid course. If you have a stretch where you struggle, you fall behind a little bit. There's also a chance to come back. It seems like there's a lot of that. Guys are having a hot round, not playing as well. Like myself, I didn't do much the first two days. I came back. It's like Scott Gump yesterday, he came back with a lower round yesterday. It seems like you can struggle for a while out here and get it going and get back in it. It's a matter of will somebody go ahead and play solid for 36 holes and take it all away.

DUFFY WALDORF: Uh-hum.

DUFFY WALDORF: Mainly I was not -- my short game was bad, and I really don't have that bad a short game, but when it's bad, it really shows up in your score. I just wasn't playing to score, really. I was playing to look good and play well, and not necessarily score low. And when you -- I've just basically been asking myself, do what it takes to score low, and the answer is not necessarily hitting the fairway every hole, or hitting it close, but making the putts when you knock it close for birdie and getting up and down when you miss the green.

DUFFY WALDORF: Actually 15. I didn't really see it. I wasn't even looking up until that point. I kind of -- one of those rounds, you sneak up on it. I think I looked on the front side. I had a good start three under. Still only six under for the tournament, pretty far back. Numberwise, I wasn't that far back, but four shots back, but when you see like eight, eight under on the -- nine under on the board, you feel like you're a long ways away. I hit it closer on the 15. I looked up. All of a sudden, he was right there, pretty exciting. Those are exciting holes anyway.

DUFFY WALDORF: Yeah, I think so. I think I'm going to just enjoy the day and do a little more chipping and, you know, tomorrow is a long way off. Still got long time till tomorrow. A lot is going to happen today on the course.

DUFFY WALDORF: Too many guys to finish, there's a lot of guys. I still feel like I'm in a position like I was today. I'll be chasing and need to shoot a good low round tomorrow to have a chance.

DUFFY WALDORF: No. The group in front of me was on the green on 16, so we were standing there watching the guys putt out on 16 and he was -- I looked over and saw him, you know, dropping there off the tee. So that's when I watched. He was two groups in front of me.

DUFFY WALDORF: Yeah, I put balls in the water.

DUFFY WALDORF: Well, yeah, I have. Fortunately, I haven't done it for a while. It can happen any time. You play courses like this where there's water real close, he just -- he found himself in a situation where I'm sure he could have laid one down the fairway and you get when you get in between shot. It makes it tough. Especially when you got a good round going, you think you can pull it off. It was obviously a do-or-die type of shot.

DUFFY WALDORF: 195 yards?

DUFFY WALDORF: The thing was he was in the rough. If he was in the fairway, it wouldn't have been a problem.

DUFFY WALDORF: 200 yard shot over water is a challenge. Out of the fairway I feel pretty good, we do it quite often out of the rough, if you miss it at all, you come up short.

DUFFY WALDORF: Two reasons I work on my chipping. It's always a very important part. I think chipping helps the long game a lot too. There's a rhythm you get into when you chip. If you get that rhythm down, that's basically the start of your back swing right there. Not only helping my feel and touch around the greens, I think it's helping my back swing a little bit too.

DUFFY WALDORF: Thank you.