ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 8, 1997

Hale Irwin

HALE IRWIN: Well, I think am fortunate that I am only trailing by two. Gil played another very, very good round, very solid. It is a sort of repeat of yesterday. He is playing some of the best golf I have ever seen him play. His tee-to-green game was very sharp today. And, that wasn't the best putting round I have ever seen, but it ranks right up there with one of the better putting rounds that I have witnessed - a lot of putts he made. He missed a couple, too. But, all and all, he did everything that you would hope to do going into the third round and being a co-leader and he has emerged as the leader. So, we are now playing catchup with a gentleman that is playing exceptional golf. And, as I said, had it not been for a fast finish, I would be back there in the pack; we would all be looking way, way up there at Dr. Gil, so at least I have got a little bit closer and 2-shot lead is certainly not insurmountable by any means. That could be done in just one hole. Whereas, I would like to have a 2-shot lead and I feel fortunate in only being 2 back.

HALE IRWIN: Well, again, I say the key was that Gil just never made any errors. And, I made a couple and I probably I was a little bit loose. It was almost a carbon copy today for me on the front 9 in that I birdied 2 and bogeyed 7 again and birdied 8; which was identical to what I did yesterday. But, I did play a few loose holes there at 11 and 12 even though I made pars and I bogeyed 14 and birdied 15, 16, 17 to again get myself back into the game. But, it was looking very much like the same ole, same ole for me. And, I just -- I had to make some birdies coming down the stretch being, maybe even 5 back at one point - it was looking pretty -- well, 4 back, I guess it was - and so I am very happy to be only 2 back.

HALE IRWIN: Well, I think you can't look at it from that perspective. If this was a matchplay event, yes. It is not. And two strokes is -- I mean, you can call it what you want. You are going to, anyway. So, I don't look at Gil as the only guy to beat. I have to go out and play my game and -- which I did today, and it wasn't good enough. 68 is a pretty good score today all and all and I got dusted. So, I can't look at Gil and say, well, he is the guy -- sure, he is. He is in the lead. But, that is not the target. The target is playing better golf. And, with that in mind that -- certainly the secondary objective would be to overtake Gil, but, I mean, that is the case for all of us going to the last round: Whoever is the leader, he is the guy that you have to catch. That doesn't matter if it is the first hole or the 8th hole or the 16th hole, that leader is the guy that you are trying to get up to.

HALE IRWIN: 2, I birdied, like I said, 3-wood, 5-iron, and 15-foot putt.

HALE IRWIN: 7, I drove it in the fairway, hit an 8-iron just to the front edge and hit a nice solid putt to the back edge. Then I missed a 10-footer, so, I was -- I 3-putted essentially from the edge of the green. Birdied 8 hitting a very nice wedge shot from an old divot again to within three feet of the hole, making that. Actually, it was closer than that, two feet. And, 10, I birdied, just from the back edge about twelve feet from the hole. Made a nice putt at 11 for a second putt of about eight feet. Got a little aggressive with my first one. 12, I hit a fat 4-iron into the front bunker and got it out and made a 5-footer there for a par. 14, I drove it in the left bunker. Hit the lip coming out. 6-iron on the green and 2-putts for a bogey. 15, I hit a third shot wedge shot again. I hit 4-wood off the tee, laid up with a 3-iron. Then I hit a wedge probably a foot and a half from the hole for a birdie. 16, again hit 4-wood and a wedge to within six feet of the hole, making that. 17, 6-iron, oh, seven feet from the hole making that. And, 18, I drove it in the right rough behind the trees; had to play a high cut just to get it on to the green and 2-putted from about, oh, I guess, 45 feet, 40 feet. However long Gil says he was, I was the same, just inside him. Not the kind of ball-striking day that I have had the last two days. But, again, I kind of got it in, again, with that good finish, made a round out of it.

HALE IRWIN: That means that my swing is a little loose; I am not really in the groove where I want to get it. I feel a little bit -- in this weather, I tend to get a little bit short and that quickens my swing a little bit and so I get a little loose with that. I just -- I expect that in this -- the cooler the weather, my swing degenerates. The warmer the weather, I feel a little longer and a little more supple in my swing and timing is a little better.

HALE IRWIN: The thing you have to remember is that this is the game that you never have quite control of. Although, -- I have played like Gil has played. You get in that position where you just don't feel like you can miss a shot and he didn't. You feel like you can't miss a putt and he really didn't miss many putts. He got everything going so nicely. But, when you are playing against, all you -- all you can hope is you will keep your pace going; that you don't get caught up in watching that and thinking so much about that, that you forget about what you are doing. So, my attention is focused (A) on what I am trying to get on and, you know, it is like Duval, he kind of got off to a kind of a tough, tough start and we got off to a fast start. You spend time looking and seeing other things, you can get caught in that trap. So, I think what you have to remember is that it is -- we have got a long way to go still. We still got the last leg of the relay and a lot of things can happen. And, if you just keep yourself going, keep yourself going, and the secret - if there is a secret - or what I think is, you should always try to get yourself into a position for the last nine holes. Tournaments are generally won and lost in the last nine holes. If you can keep yourself in it and just keep going and just remember that there is still a lot of golf to be played and this is not -- this is a course that is yielding some scores right now, but if we get some pins and get the thing lengthened down a little, it is going to play more difficult than it has.

HALE IRWIN: I don't even know what the scores are. Two 8s; is that what you said?

HALE IRWIN: Yeah, sure, somebody could. You can get a guy shoot 64, 65 depending on what Gil and I do, it is entirely possible, yeah. You can even go lower than that because the greens are rolling nicely. We will have a fewer players tomorrow so the traffic on the greens won't be quite as bad. It is possible, sure.