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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2010

Brian Gay

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

Q. You had one of the early tee times of the day. What time did you get up and how were you feeling?
BRIAN GAY: I felt good this morning. I got up about 5:30 and did the same routine. I came out and had some breakfast and warmed up with my trainer in the truck and went to the range. Same routine.

Q. You had a nice hot putter going early. How were you feeling the first few holes?
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, I was a little nervous starting out as probably everybody on the first tee there of a Major and everything.
I birdied 2 -- I made a great four on 1. I hit the wrong club from the fairway and came up short and made a good par. And then birdied 2 and 3. So it was a solid start.
Kind of wayward on a couple decisions with a 5-iron and a 6-iron on a couple holes. It cost me a couple shots. And it got quite a bit tougher once we hit about 7 and 8, the wind started kicking up and the back nine was pretty tough.
And 16 got me. I knew the wind should have been off the left and helping and the flag was blowing straight toward the water. And the pin was on the left and I played it too safe to the right and got over there dead right of the green and didn't commit to where I knew the wind should be instead of looking at the flag.

Q. What were you thinking on 12 when you hit that shot in there and you had a good look at birdie?
BRIAN GAY: That was my first dose of reality right there, really. I hit a great shot, pin high, you know, got what looked like a little bit uphill right-to-left putt. Of course I want to make it and I got just a little bit aggressive and ran it by three and a half feet and missed it coming back. And that stung a little bit.
But I came right back and I hit a perfect drive and only had about 205 to the front on 13 and the ball way above my feet. And my caddie was kind of wanting me to go for it and I was looking at it and at the last second I said, I'm laying up.
And I hadn't hit any real good shots off that slope in the practice rounds into that green. It would have been a 4-wood with the pin in the back. So I laid up and pitched it in there like three feet and made birdie.
I didn't hit a bad shot on 14, I hit it just right of the pin, over the false front, and it went all the way up to the back fringe and caught that ridge and went down to the far right and then I 3-putted. So kind of a little bit of a bad break there. But the big snafu was 16.
After 16 I could have easily shot 4- or 5-over. Those last two holes are tough, even though 18's downwind. I hit a good drive and I still had about 190, plus it's like 15 yards uphill and the tree was in my way still in the right side of the fairway, so it's a tough finishing hole.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRIAN GAY: Well, after finishing No. 16, yes. Before that, not really. Not that happy with it. It was a good start, a couple 2- or 3-putts, but.

Q. The weather out here with the wind, and when the course is playing hard and fast, is that kind of an equalizer for guys like you that aren't as long as some of these other folks?
BRIAN GAY: Well, if you putt good enough it is. When it gets windy it's even tougher to putt is the problem. And so a lot of holes where I'm hitting a 4- or 5- or 6-iron it's a big difference than hitting an 8-iron as far as the spin goes and ability to place it in the right spot on the green. My ball hits and just starts running and it catches more slopes. And it can end up, like 14, where it ends up 50 feet away from the hole on not a very bad shot.

Q. Talk about 16 there.
BRIAN GAY: I flared a 7-iron out to the right there, just wasn't committed to the wind there. It should have been down off the left, the pin was left over by water and the flag was blowing straight toward the water there and I figured that if the wind's out of the right, which I shouldn't have been paying attention to that, I was playing off the compass all day, I knew it was south, southwest and with the slope and everything, I shoot it over to the right, it should feed to the pin anyway, and I just made a mental mistake.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRIAN GAY: It ended up just right between the bunkers, just right of where they put that front right pin on that shelf there, it has no chance. I hit a great chip, I tried to stop it right on top and you can't stop it before the hole and it went right down to the edge of the fringe and I had, whatever, 12 or 14 feet. And that putt really fooled me. I played it just about a cup out and it looked like it was going back uphill to the cup and my ball broke more than I thought and it went five feet past and I missed it coming back.

Q. What did you hit into 12?
BRIAN GAY: I hit a 7-iron.

Q. Did you, at some point, notice your name up there on the boards as you went around the course?
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, I saw it because it's like on every hole it's up there by the green, so sometimes you just look up and there it is. But I didn't study what anybody else was doing.

Q. You get a little bit of a thrill or are you too focused?
BRIAN GAY: A little bit, but it was early.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRIAN GAY: I'm going to get some lunch and go to the work out truck and probably ride the bike.

Q. In terms of the golf, were you happy with the earlier time?
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, I think it was a good tee time. I mean it's going to blow the rest of the day, I would think and I don't know about tomorrow morning, but I think that I had a good tee time.

Q. I know you wanted a better score, but fact that you were able to get those two par saves going in and the weather in the afternoon, you can't expect low scoring the rest of the day. Do you feel like you hung in there?
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, I was hanging good and just really 16 was just not good. I made a bad decision there. And it was not a good thought process there on that shot. It cost me two.
But the best case scenario is it doesn't rain and they play in the wind all day. And if it doesn't rain until 8 o'clock, that would be the best case scenario.

Q. Best case for you.
BRIAN GAY: Well, for everybody. Then there's no delay and everybody gets done anyway. But it's only going to get tougher the rest of the day.

Q. Does it make it comfortable for you when you have a lot of support around here or in some ways does it make it more difficult because you have so much attention?
BRIAN GAY: Well any time there's this many people, in terms of friends and family, that are watching me, you know. So, if you're playing good, I think it helps. The same with anything. You get it going a little the wrong way and it's going to be a lot of pressure, but I just try to play my game the best as I can and not worry about everything else.

End of FastScripts

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