DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 4, 1999

Franklin Langham

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Okay, I started off birdied my first hole, it was a good start to the day. Wind blew pretty good this morning there, I was eating breakfast, it was whipping. We got a little bit of a break this afternoon. I could really tell the difference after nine holes, there was still some breeze, enough to be a one-club breeze at times, but you just try to take advantage of the good shots you are hitting regardless of the conditions and fortunately I did. I have been playing pretty well. Had a good tournament last week and I am just trying to carry some of that momentum to this week. So....

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Yes, birdied 10. It was still into the wind. Driver, 3-iron and a sand wedge from 104 yards. Hit it in there about four and a half, five feet, made it. 12, actually that hole was still -- like I said, when we started still blowing pretty good. Hit driver in the bunker had to hit 5-iron, 5-iron, and then I made like -- that was probably the long putt of the day. I knew I made one about -- it was probably 30 feet. Made that. That was nice, sort of a bonus. Bogeyed the next hole. The long par 3, No. 13. One of the best iron shots of the day, hit right in front and just stopped, hit soft; chipped it up there about six feet, just didn't make the putt. Two holes later on 15, the par 3, I hit 7-iron in there about, oh, four feet and made that for birdie. 16, actually drove it in the divot. I hit a really good shot and hit it probably 15 feet above the hole and made that for birdie.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: 9-iron. Then let's see, 1, went for it in two, hit it in the green-side bunker on the right. Blasted out to about four feet, made birdie. Next hole, actually hit my only so-so tee shot of the day pull 2-iron first cut of the rough caught a flier back of the green. I was unable to get it up-and-down. Made bogey there. Kept hitting good shots. We came around to, I guess it was, 8 and 9. My next -- actually made really good par on 7, drove it in the fairway bunker, hit my next shot, had probably a 30-yard bunker shot, hit it out about a foot, so that kind of keeps the momentum going and kind of gave me some momentum going in to 8. I hit driver, 3-iron, went through the green, long, but I was able to chip it out of that rough. Hit really good chip to get it within six feet of the hole, birdie. 9, hit it in there about ten, twelve feet, made it for birdie, hit 7-iron, so, good way to finish the day finish with two birdies. I would have been happy if I shot 3-under just because score definitely matters, but I knew I was playing well, so, you know, it is just nice to get a good start on the week.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: I just started making the putts that you need to make to play well, the 12 and 15-footers for birdie and making some par saves that sort of keep the round going. I played -- I have been hitting the ball well for a while and you know, Riviera I had a tough time on the poa annua greens. I am from Georgia, I am used to the Bermuda. That doesn't mean you are going to make everything on Bermuda, but you feel a little more comfortable on it. I struggled out there. I could feel my game was starting to come around a little bit. Played well at Phoenix except for the last round and so I have had flashes of it. It is just part of being in the beginning of the year, a little rusty starting out. But you hopefully, like I said, you kind of work your way into a rhythm. My swing feels good and I am just trying to hit it and go chase it.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: From a player's standpoint, there are a lot of guys that can play out here. Maybe not a lot of guys that the media or the general public might not know their names or be familiar with them, I guarantee if you look at the winning score depending on the conditions compared to years before, it is going to be a good score that takes the win. Of course maybe the depth of field, you might argue it's not as deep, but it doesn't matter week in, week out, I think the two guys that went in the playoff last week would have won anyway, doesn't matter who was there. They were writing in the paper in Tucson after a while they felt we had a stronger field at the Match Play. You can talk about it, golf is a funny sport. You have got 144 guys that are capable of playing well. It doesn't mean just because on paper there is a weaker field that you can shoot 2-over and win the golf tournament. There are still enough good players here. It's going to take a good score.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: I glanced over. I am not going to say I didn't because you kind of like to see how the scores were going. It is the first round.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: I guess, I mean, you know, what names Norman and Price and those guys? You know, yeah, maybe, but like I said, it is just the first round. Those guys can shoot 1-over today and come out tomorrow and shoot 64 and be right back in the golf tournament, so, yes and no.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: It is always -- it is not what other people think, it is proving it to yourself a lot. And being the fact that I have kept my card and I know I can do it, you know, it eliminates a lot of unknowns I guess you can say. Therefore, you get a little more comfortable in your element, I guess, is the best way to analyze it. You get more familiar with the golf courses. Some weeks we play like the Hope or AT&T, play multiple courses, three, four courses. And I remember my first year, you are running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to get practice rounds in on all these courses, that is tough. This year you can kind of pace yourself a little more; you have the luxury of getting in more tournaments. I am going to be in the THE PLAYERS Championship, and I can kind of start getting to the point where I don't feel like I have got to play every single week. I try to regulate when I play, and you know, the courses that I am -- like I said, I am getting to know the courses, so I am going to try to play the courses where I play well or feel like I have a good chance of playing well, things like that. It enters in the whole mix. I guess I am a little more comfortable with where I am now. That doesn't mean I am going to go out there and kill everybody, but you feel like you have got a better chance starting out.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: I think I missed the cut both times, I think. I think I have but the thing was, both times and going back to what Glen said, I think one year was only my third, fourth tournament because I was coming out of the TOUR school and you don't get into a lot of tournaments on the West Coast. Now I have played a lot of golf and my game is you know, four, five weeks along further than it was when I first came out. You know it is not just getting the ball in the hole, it is all that stuff that enters in.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: No, I think it should be an incentive. It is a great thing, I mean, I think it is good for golf, the amateurs I played with last week at Tucson they were talking about office pools and, you know, people -- it is kind of like the Final 4, you are picking your guys out of brackets. Any time you can create interest in the game of golf, that is what we are all out here for. We love the game and, you know, I think it is good. They are talking about maybe next year having Top-100 maybe instead of Top-64 and, you know, it is any time in the first year of something, you are going to learn and kind of have to play it by ear at the start. I think they are just going to try to keep their pulse on it; see how it goes.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: That has just been talk. I have heard from other players, nobody from the TOUR or anything, but you know, everybody is going to analyze say, well, maybe we should do this or that, I mean, it may not. May stay top 65. If it does, I am going to try to get in those Top-64 or 5, whatever it is. Any time something is in this first year there is going -- I think somebody in the media asked me that is -- it was in Tuscon last week, they said: You think it would be better if it was Top-100. Maybe it would. More better players, probably going to have a better champion. You have got to beat more guys. Match Play is a totally different animal than stroke-play. I think it is good that it is part of the game, you know, and people like to see it at the pro player.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Yeah, a lot of guys were like, wow, so it was -- those guys were in the finals played great, that -- everybody said that from the No. 1 guy all the way down to the bottom, that is just golf, and any one day anybody can be beat and that is why it is different than stroke-play, you know, time will tell, but I think it is a good thing.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Well, you know, except for this year, and, you know, you hear the talk about the course but luckily they have softened it, I think, a lot. Last year and the year before it was just tough. That is what got a lot of guys from -- stopped guys from coming here. I think what happened in the past you had a lot more named people playing in the -- in the field, like I said, I don't want -- I guess the depth of the field was stronger, but you see what I am saying? It was hard for anybody out of Tour school to get into this tournament. You had to be Top 5 out of Tour school. One year this tournament, they had to make a special -- they had to add guys to the field because the top 125 didn't get in. So, you know, they had to add to the number of the field. So in the past you have had a lot of named players -- I just think some guys have been turned off by the course, you know, but somebody is still going to win, somebody is going to make the putts so that is why I am playing, if you hit the ball good and you drive the fairways and hit the greens, you don't see a lot of the tough stuff out there, so that is hopefully what I am going to keep doing.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: You always heard a lot about it. It was first big -- I am from Thompson, Georgia which is 30 miles from Augusta, so everything led up to the Masters, but this was the first tournament of the year where a lot of guys like Norman and Price that didn't go out to the West Coast, this would be their first tournament of the year. So you got to see a lot of the guys that were going to be playing in The Masters and so, yeah, it brings a left of prestige up. Also this used to be the biggest purse on Tour and so that brings a lot of big names out too. Luckily with the popularity of golf going up, a lot of purses are starting to come up to meet this and be right around this level, so it is kind of nice. Yeah, this tournament has always been a great tournament.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: I think it will always be there. Man, where I am from, you knew me growing up. I kept scoreboards there at Augusta on 16 when I was in high school, so, you know, it is not something I go to bed -- if I was going to bed leading the tournament, I am not going to go, God, this gets me in the Masters; I have got to win, you know, because there is enough out there. That is all the extra stuff that happens after you win. It is nothing you really do about it before you win. So, to say it is not in the back of my mind, I would be lying to you, but it is not something that is going to dictate how I play. I am going to try and take it one at a time and keep playing. Yeah, but it would be a thrill to play there. Hopefully one day I will. I am planning on.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: I never saw a hole-in-one. I tell you one, probably watching Seve kind of do the things he did. Seve goes, you know, he is kind of a streaky player, so he'd miss greens; I remember him missing that green up to the right in that bunker and guys were blasting it out, and it was hitting and rolling -- he'd get in there with his putter and he would be upset because he didn't make it. I saw Kite lip-out there. That is the closest I have ever seen to a hole-in-one. But never a hole-in-one. Those are guys you admire and you have a great seat getting up high; just seeing them was great.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Yeah.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Yeah.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Yeah, actually I was on 18, we worked half days, so I worked that morning and I was on 18 when he -- yeah, it was pretty amazing, it really was. It was really neat.

FRANKLIN LANGHAM: Yes, got me a good seat and watched him almost make it. My buddy and I we heard the roar when he eagled 15. We just went and ran as fast as we could up to 18. That was great.