BAY HILL INVITATIONAL

March 15, 2001

Steve Pate

STEVE PATE: The conditions on the front nine were about as easy as they were going to get out here. It wasn't blowing very hard and the greens are soft. It's a hard golf course, but just because the conditions are easy doesn't mean that you can't screw up. The wind is kicking up. It's blowing decent right now. It's supposed to get worse. It's a shame. I got out -- it was nice to get to have a fast start. I hit it close a lot. I made birdies on five of the first nine holes, and only one of them was outside of six feet. So that gave me a pretty good attitude going. I didn't hit it particularly well the back side, and I didn't try to do anything crazy. And I had a pretty good putt on 16 and hit it close on 17.

STEVE PATE: Generally, no. Not unless you have a plane to catch.

STEVE PATE: I love it. It's great. Other than the fact that I had to get up at 5:00, it's great; and here because it's not cold. I would rather play late if it's cold, but I -- for nine holes, the greens didn't have a mark on them. It was the best time I could have gotten.

STEVE PATE: No. We played fairly slow on purpose so we wouldn't catch them.

STEVE PATE: No.

STEVE PATE: They were all a hole behind. Maybe two. It was nice. Just take your time, don't have to worry about being on the clock and don't have to worry about waiting for anybody in front of you.

STEVE PATE: Yes, I do. Those of us who are a little volatile at times, it's kind of nice.

STEVE PATE: I don't know. The guy I'm playing with, I think. (Laughs). Like I said, I fed it in the water on 8. Wasn't happy about that. Got up-and-down for a boggy. Stand up on the next tee, just get to go up there and hit it. Don't have to sit there and wait and think. I think it's great.

STEVE PATE: I take a lot of time on the greens. But other than that, yes, I play quickly. I get to the ball quickly and I'm ready to go.

STEVE PATE: Yeah.

STEVE PATE: Sure is.

STEVE PATE: Nothing. A lot of it is the courses are getting harder. You get a lot of shots where -- this course isn't like that too much. But most of our TPCs and anything built within the last 15 years, you got a lot of chip shots that you wonder if you can even hit it on the green. You have shots that are taking you 15 minutes to figure out what you want to do; that, and the fact they are just harder.

STEVE PATE: Nay. No, I've been doing everything extremely average. Nothing well. I've been hurt a lot this year. My back has been messed up. I messed up my ribs. I felt decent at Phoenix. I felt decent at L.A. and I feel decent here, but other than that, I felt horrible.

STEVE PATE: Last week. That's why I had to withdraw. I pulled something. I had some muscles lock up in my shoulder and I started pulling on my ribs.

STEVE PATE: I started on the 1st hole and hit a 7-iron about five feet and made it. Birdied the 3rd hole. 3-wood, 8-iron about eight feet. Birdied 4. Driver, 3-wood in the front bunker and hit out about a foot. Birdied 7. Hit a 5-iron about 15 feet and made it. Bogeyed 8. I hit a driver in the fairway, a 5-iron in the water. Hit a wedge about ten, 12 feet and made it. Birdied 9. Driver, 4-iron to six feet. Birdied 16. Driver, 3-iron, sand wedge about 15, 18 feet and made it. And a 5-iron on 17 about five feet.

STEVE PATE: I think it's a lot of things. Yeah, equipment is better. Players are better. A lot of redesigns, especially; they don't have the room to get them up to 7,500 yards long. So he have to do something around the greens. And the people, the guy playing golf every day thinks they are great to look at. Whether it's playable or not is not important to a lot of people playing golf. They want something that's pretty to look at. So I think that's got a lot to do with it, too.

STEVE PATE: 5:00. Three hours, basically. Close to three hours.

STEVE PATE: Room. Fitness trailer. Whatever it takes.

STEVE PATE: I'd probably be for it. I don't feel too strongly one way or the other. You know, probably give it a little more even space between Augusta, PLAYERS and U.S. Open. I think it's a pretty good idea, but I don't think it's vital.

STEVE PATE: I don't think it's vital.

STEVE PATE: Yeah, it probably does. I hear a lot of guys say they want to play well there to get a good attitude going into Augusta. So, yeah, it does get short-changed. I go there and get a terrible attitude about my game, period. So it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not sure I ever played well there.