MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2001

Lee Janzen

LEE JANZEN: I talked to Greenspan last night about what we are going to do for the economy -- no, just kidding. Today - yesterday's round, I set aside. Gave me the luxury of being able to just play my game today and be patient and not worry about having to be aggressive. So, even though I parred the first 11 holes, I was never really in any state of panic at all. I knew that the back nine was good yesterday to me and I knew there was still some birdies out there if I could just get anywhere in the red numbers today I would have been very pleased to finish that way.

LEE JANZEN: The first hole was probably the toughest par. I toe-hooked it in the trees and I punched a 4-iron just about two yards short of the green in the middle and I chipped it hole-high, but I misread it and gave myself about a 10-footer for par and made it. That's always -- you know, you start off in contention, the first hole you play sloppy and you are able to make a par, that really does a world of good. I think that was really about it. I was on the front fringe on 11, and I chipped it about three feet. That was the only other time I was really scared of making a bogey. The rest of the other holes I had relatively good chances of birdie that I missed.

LEE JANZEN: I missed the green on 3, but the pin was in the back and I was just over the back. It was really a makeable chip.

LEE JANZEN: I think watching it on TV over the years, you can somehow conjure up myths in your head that could affect you. I don't know what they have seen over the years. I'm sure everybody remembers Jack winning in 1986 and what he did to everybody else in the field; what it made him do. Just out-of-character things. You know, it all depends on what those guys will think about on the back nine. I really think it helps to play here a number of years, to learn the different conditions and what the ball will do, with the different kinds of wind. Like I said yesterday, every pin placement out here has a different strategy. You can play a hole two days in a row and play it completely different. That's really how you have to play some of these holes out here.

LEE JANZEN: I think they are firming up a little bit, but you can still fix your pitch mark -- they are still making nice marks in the greens still. I've played here in the past where you really have to search just to find a little indention in the green at all. They are still pretty receptive right now.

LEE JANZEN: It has been just the -- the back nine has pretty much done me in every time. Most years it was on Saturday and two years ago it was on Sunday. I guess it was just a matter of pressing a little bit. As soon as I make the first mistake then I think I've got to get it back. I guess the best plan would be not to make those mistakes but ultimately you make them. Vijay hit it in the water on 11 and he still won the tournament. I guess that I have to be in good enough position that I have to overcome those mistakes, instead of keep making them.

LEE JANZEN: The guys who tee off early tomorrow, who, knows how many people are going to make the cut. Traditionally the leader goes off late in the afternoon. If it is a short field, then the tee times will not be super early, so it will be that much harder to get the great early morning conditions and the warm weather. The wind will probably affect everybody. I think it will be hard for a lot of people to be at the top. You're right; if the wind blows, it is going to dry the greens out, make club selection tougher. Today it started to get tougher. The wind, when it comes out of the south, southwest like that, 14, 15: "Is it behind you or into you, is it behind you or into you?" Not a lot of room to hit it in those areas, so you have got to hit good shots.

LEE JANZEN: 12 was playing fairly easy again today. When we got to the tee there really was not much wind, and so I put my peg in the ground and I tried to hit as quick as I could before the wind picked up. I just -- I guess I tried to hit it too hard and I hooked it left of the green and I chipped it about ten feet past and just didn't hit my putt hard enough. It just rolled over the front left edge. 13, I hit a good drive again today. A little bit closer to the green than yesterday. I had 182 to the front, and the pin was in the back, so I didn't have to worry about how high I hit the ball. I could hit it and let it run back there. I really swung with the slope today instead of trying to get the ball in the air. I hit a low 3-iron, rolled by the green, just barely rolled by the pin to the back. It was still in the upslope on the fringe, and I putted back probably six feet past the hole and made it coming back. I was glad to make a birdie there, after hitting in the water there yesterday.

LEE JANZEN: If you are hitting it good and you are hitting your putts solid, they just seem to be skimming the edges, it's much easier to be patient. You know, if you're struggling and barely making par, then it is a little different. So, I felt pretty good. I kept hitting good drives and I kept putting the ball in decent places to putt from. I felt like every putt I hit today was solid and on line. Maybe just a little bit of speed here or there and I could have made a few more putts.

LEE JANZEN: I expected to get my game going a little bit earlier this year. On the West Coast it was a struggle. The snow in Tucson, and then Phoenix, I missed the cut by a shot. Really, I was struggling to find a driver on the West Coast and that's probably what was the difference. Once I got to Doral I decided on a driver and I have been using the same driver since, and I've made the cuts in the last five tournaments and been in pretty good shape five straight weeks. My whole plan was to play the four tournaments in Florida and have the week of Atlanta off to get ready for this tournament, to see what I need to work on. I've played here enough to know the angle of the shots and the sidehill lies, and although we had a lot of rain in Florida last week, I tried to work on those things.

LEE JANZEN: I think -- ask the question what do I need to do to win, what's missing? I'm not trying to say what's wrong because if you ask what's wrong, you're going to ask get a bad answer. Don't ask bad questions. I think it's just been a lack of confidence. And what comes first, confidence or playing well, or can you just walk out on the tee with confidence? Somewhere along the line, I've just been trying to work on my attitude to give myself a boost to try and feel better about the way I'm playing.

LEE JANZEN: Well, '99, I put myself in position a number of times throughout the year to win tournaments, and I didn't figure it out; a friend did. He said if I had shot the same score on Sunday as I did on Saturday, I would have won about $8 million, and that was two years ago. You know, that would have probably been, you know a low stroke average, but I can think of four tournaments where all I have though do is shoot 1-under par on the back nine and I would have won. It's just frustrating to be right there, and 1-under par the back nine doesn't seem like much of a task; and I would shoot 38, 39 and 40. Very frustrating.

LEE JANZEN: Yes.

LEE JANZEN: I was using a TaylorMade all through last year the new model that came out, the 300 series; and I cracked the head of it after the season ended. So in order to find a replacement, I went through a number of drivers. When you find that magic driver, they are hard to replace. It just took me until Doral to find one.

LEE JANZEN: It's a TaylorMade 320. I tried a number of different shafts, stiffness, flex points, the whole thing, and finally get the ball flight I wanted. And when you are not driving it well, you question whether it is the driver or your swing, and that was probably the big difference. Once I got a driver, I knew was dialed in, then I could just, you know, if I hit a good shot and I knew I was swinging well, I hit a bad shot. I knew it was me and not the driver.

LEE JANZEN: Oh, yeah. I've driven the ball very well, other than two drives for two days, and that allows me to put the ball below the hole. If you are trying to hook it around a tree to get it on the green, it's hard to make it stop below the hole. At the same time, you are just trying to get it on the green somewhere and then you have these sidehill putts and downhill putts. The driving sets it up, but the putting makes the difference in the end.

LEE JANZEN: I hit a driver and 8-iron on 17 and went straight by the hole from the fairway, and I was just almost on the back edge. It was about 15 feet. Pretty straight putt. And on 18, I hit a 3-wood off the tee and a 7-iron to about five feet, and that was, you know, just like a left-center put. The pin on 18 is very accessible, so I think you're going to see a lot of birdies on that hole today.

LEE JANZEN: Earlier on, from seeing it on TV, I would have thought I had a better chance to win here, just because driving wasn't as important and it was all short game. After you've played here a few years you realize how important driving is. There's a lot of room, but you have to drive it on the right side of the fairway -- the proper side of the fairway. And then your iron game has got to be good enough to give yourself easy putts. You are not just going to make 30 footers from downhill putts. You just can't put yourself in those positions.

LEE JANZEN: I've been working out over the years. I've just gone to a new guy because Brett Boone sold us on him and my wife -- it's really my wife. After we built our house and she got done decorating and she wanted to get serious about getting in shape and working out, and she wanted to go to who Brett went to because Brett Boone has been bragging about him. But if you've seen him on TV, he looks like a bodybuilder; he's cut. My wife went to him for about a week and I went in there and I really liked him. So I've been working out with him, too.

LEE JANZEN: He lives in Isleworth, we play --

LEE JANZEN: Yeah.