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DICK'S SPORTING GOODS OPENJune 27, 2010Loren RobertsENDICOTT, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: Loren, 30th Anniversary week of the Champions Tour. You shoot a back nine 30. Come from fourth back to win your 1 2th Champions Tour event. The way you won, you and Lonnie Nielsen last year's winner, sort of eerily similar. You both won your second tournament in New York, Lonnie won the Commerce Bank Championship, and then won this tournament last year. He won the '08 Commerce Bank Championship, and then won. LOREN ROBERTS: Right after Lonnie. I'm following Lonnie. THE MODERATOR: Actually both of you celebrated birthdays. Lonnie did the day after last year's tournament. You did on the 24th. Congratulations. LOREN ROBERTS: You gave me a nice cake in here too as I remember. Q. Right. Congratulations. You win your 12th Champions Tour event and have won one tournament for six consecutive years. Congratulations. LOREN ROBERTS: Well, thank you very much. It was a thrilling day to say the least. I don't know what to tell you. The whole back nine, and you know, I made the bogey before we go hole by hole. But I did an overview. You know, the whole tournament was the hole out for eagle there at 12. I drove it absolutely perfect there. Hit a poor second shot and came up short right of the bunker over the deep rough. You know, it was looking like I might make a five. Instead I make a three. Then to get to 12 under that just propelled me. Because then I birdied the next few holes after that to get to 14 and get the birdie and get right in there. I hit a good two-putt birdie from the front fringe at 16. The only blemish was the bogey there at 17. When I did that, I thought I was still going to be a chaser. I thought Forsman was at 15 or 16 under. I thought he was at 16 under, and I thought well, there went my chance there. So we're walking to the 18th tee, and I asked my caddy, well, I haven't seen a score out here. What is everybody doing? And he said well, there are three of you at 14 under. So that was kind of pricked my ears up a little bit because I thought I would definitely be a chaser after that bogey at 17. Then I absolutely pounded one, for me, pounded it down there on 18, and I had 125 to the hole. Perfect number for a pitching wedge. I hit it in there 7 feet left of the hole, and I had a really good look at a putt. I had inside left to left center putt. I love left to right sliders, and all i had to do is make sure I hit it hard enough and knocked it right in. As it turned out, it was good enough. But very satisfying day for me today, especially to play 18. To come back from that bogey at 17 and hit three really good shots and make birdie on 18 to get the win was huge for me. Q. You want to take us through the rounds and give us the length of shots and putts? LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I knocked it just up on the front left fringe on three today and chipped it down about three feet and made birdie there. Then I hit a really good 7-iron second shot at 6. Probably about 6 feet left of the hole and knocked that in to get to 2 under. The only two bad swings I made today were both par-3s. On 7, I hit a 5-iron, trying to hit a cut 5-iron, and I was lucky I got it over the lake. It was in the right bunker over there. Made a bogey there. Didn't get it up-and-down. Then I was up in the left-right bunker in two on 8. I almost holed it and hit it about six inches there. A good birdie, but I was just 2-under, and then obviously I holed the pitch for eagle and then get started there. Q. How long was that hole out? LOREN ROBERTS: Oh, I paced it off. Where I wanted to land it was 15 yards from where I wanted to land it which was right in the first cut of the fringe, and that's where I landed in the hole. I probably had a 22-yard shot. I think it was 7 over the bunker. Q. You hit a driver off the tee? LOREN ROBERTS: I hit a driver off the tee. Q. And your second shot? LOREN ROBERTS: I had a rescue. 225 to carry me to the green on the right side and hit a poor rescue, but it worked out. Q. It went left, right? LOREN ROBERTS: I hit it to the right. Kind of pin right over there. Q. Birdie at 13? LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, 13, I had 129 into the right left. I hit a good 8-iron in there and knocked it in. And probably the next best shot was a 3-iron I hit there at 14. I hit a really good 3-iron, just hit it really high and hit it probably about 12 feet, 13 feet right of the hole. Andy hit it close to me. I saw it get a good tip, and definitely when that went in, the game was on. And I got a new driver this week, and let me tell you, my old driver, 16th green would have been out of play for me today. With the old driver, and the new driver. 270 to the front fringe. That was a nice little two-putt birdie from there. Q. How far was that? LOREN ROBERTS: On 16, that was about a yard off the front of the green. Probably had a 22 to 25-footer up the green there. Q. Did you give yourself a shot going in? LOREN ROBERTS: Today? Q. Yes. LOREN ROBERTS: No, I didn't. This new driver, I didn't like the way I had been hitting my irons. But today I hit some good iron shots. Trying to make a little adjustment on the range this morning, and it seemed to work. It was a Band-aid that kind of kept me from bleeding out today. But I hit some good shots, you know. I got a new driver, and I think that's the key. This golf course is a tight-driving golf course. These trees have gotten so much bigger in the 15 years that I've been here. You've got to really get it down there. You've got 20 yards max on several of these holes out here to get them in the fairway. You've got to hit it down here pretty good, and that's what kept me in there. I drove it really good today. Q. What was the last time you were here? LOREN ROBERTS: I think, what was it? '94 or '95, I think. Q. I think it was '95? Do you remember the course? LOREN ROBERTS: The golf course is totally different. Obviously I won the tournament so, I'm going to be happy about it. I think the golf course is a great golf course. For a golf course that anybody can walk on and play, this is a fabulous golf course. It's in wonderful condition. It's a great golf course. Q. What is different about the driver? LOREN ROBERTS: You know, I got a new Taylor Made driver. I had an old Taylor Made that I've had for like five years, the old 510. And I got the new Super Deep R-9 driver, and definitely I probably picked up a good 10 to 12 yards off the tee with it. So I hit it good. Q. (No microphone)? LOREN ROBERTS: Memphis. Q. (No microphone)? LOREN ROBERTS: I'm involved with the St. Jude Tournament there, and I have been for some time. We have a TPC golf course that I practice at. We have a bunch of guys that play on various tours that live there, so it's a good place to hang out and practice. A lot of good players around. Q. Did you think you were going to be part of the playoffs? LOREN ROBERTS: I really thought we had to birdie 18 to get in the playoffs, to be honest with you. That's why coming off, when he told me it was 3 tied at 14 under coming off the 18 tee, it was like, well, I'm probably going to have to make birdie here just to get in the playoffs. Q. How do you make up your mind to play here? LOREN ROBERTS: Schedule-wise. It's all scheduling for me. And this time it fit good into the schedule. You know, the D.C. Open after '95, it went opposite the British Open a couple times. And I was playing there. And it went later in the year. So it's nice to be back again though, obviously (laughing). Q. You got 2-under 65, and you had a good finish in Iowa. And this is the time of the year where you can make some ground up and maybe catch up? LOREN ROBERTS: Well, Freddy's got a pretty big lock on it right now. But you never know what's going to happen. Next week we have Montreal, and then after that, it's a week off, and then there are three majors in a row, so I'm going to be dragging after those three weeks. Q. Can you talk about what it was like with the momentum of the back nine for you? LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I mean, a hole out to get to 12. It's like, okay, now I'm up tied for fifth at the time or something like that. The next hole, 13 has been a tough driving hole for me all week. And I got up there and I just made the eagle and said, okay, stay in your rhythm now. Don't get super excited about it. But at least you've got to look at it now. So I got up there and hit a really good tee shot down the right side of the fairway. Got it down to perfect yardage and allowed know make another birdie. You make an eagle, and you call another birdie, and that gives you momentum, and I just caught that momentum. Q. You mentioned Seattle, that must be hell for you (laughing)? LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I played all my practice rounds last year when I went up there for the Boeing Tournament. So I was up there a couple days and played some practice rounds. So I know the golf course, and I played there when the PGA was there, and there is a world event there. So I know the golf course. I'm not that worried about getting there really early. If I can go out and play nine holes and walk around Wednesday, I'm not worried about it. I know the course. Q. Do you like these conditions? Hot and humid? LOREN ROBERTS: Hot? This isn't even close to how hot it is in Memphis. Q. So you like it? LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I love it. Q. How will you celebrate now? LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I'm traveling by myself right now. I'll go call my life. She'll be happy. Probably going to start driving to Montreal. Get ready for next week. End of FastScripts |
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