WGC ANDERSEN CONSULTING MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 26, 1999

Steve Pate

STEVE PATE: Well, they were both pretty similar. I got off to some nice leads early. I got both my opponents cut into those lids. I think Fred and I were tied for quite a while in the back. Never got back to that point. Apparently it has been nice to get off to a good start because I have needed it. It was nice in the first match that I didn't have to play the last two holes; so, I need a break right now.

STEVE PATE: Mentally, I would say it is a little physically demanding, judging by some of the shots that I hit on the last nine holes or so, but it is more mentally than anything. It is not like we have got to move somebody who was 300 pounds or run a 4, 440. You can kind -- if you stay mentally strong enough, you can get through the physical part of it.

STEVE PATE: Absolutely. The stroke average over the course of the year between the top guy and the bottom guy in the field isn't very much, and it is pretty much meaningless for 18 holes. Just one shot, that -- that isn't very much. Doesn't really mean much in one day, and it is not like tennis where what I do has a direct effect on what my opponent does. It doesn't matter.

STEVE PATE: It is good for me. (laughs) I love Match Play. I can figure I got a better chance of beating these guys one day at a time then for four. It is fun. I have always enjoyed it. I used to like when we played at the International when there was a cut every single day. Those of us with attention deficit disorder can focus better for one day than four; so, I really enjoyed it. From a player's standpoint, I think most of the players like it. Not all, definitely. You'd have to ask the ABC people what they think about it.

STEVE PATE: No. I find just the opposite, which is why I like it: A lot less on my guard. I can go ahead and spring one off in the bushes, pick it up, and walk to the next hole. For me, personally, it makes it a lot easier to play. Other guys may have different approaches, but I really like it. I feel like I can freewheel it a little bit more.

STEVE PATE: It was pretty good. Actually, my caddie, sister-in-law in Ohio, called up the local Domino's; ordered two pizzas and sent them out to the had putting green. We missed them by 20 minutes apparently.

STEVE PATE: I did, 'til about 5:30. Came out with a bunch of putters and knocked it down to one.

STEVE PATE: Oh yeah, different one.

STEVE PATE: It is a Scottie Cameron putter. Looks just a little bit different than what I was using, not much. My other one was tired. It needed the rest.

STEVE PATE: Yeah, because it may want to come back in the future.

STEVE PATE: I won the second hole. Made birdie. Hit it just in front of the green driver, 4-wood, about two yards short chipped it up about a foot. Won the 3rd hole. 6-iron about 20 feet; made it. Won the 5th hole. Driver and 4-iron about two yards short of the green; chipped it eight feet past and made it. Eduardo made bogey. 6, drove; made bogey. Right fairway bunker and knocked it. 2-putted from 35 feet and he bogeyed there. He won 8. He made birdie. I won 9. Kind of a gift. He made bogey from sand wedge in. Hit it just on the fringe and about 20 feet from the hole and chipped it six feet by and missed. I lost 10. Drove middle of the fairway missed green with 8-iron. Hit it out of the bunker about ten feet and missed. 13, I lost. Eduardo made birdie; hit driver and sand wedge about four, five feet. I won 14. Hit 4-iron to about four feet, and I think that is about it.

STEVE PATE: Oh yeah, I was aware of my ability to take leads to the 18th hole, too; so really wanted to get it over with.

STEVE PATE: No.

STEVE PATE: Yeah. It doesn't really matter.

STEVE PATE: No. I was more concerned with my recent history and the matches of being 2-up and somehow managing not being able to close them out.

STEVE PATE: More of the same. I am going to the range right now, actually. My work on the putting green was sufficient last night. Now I have got to figure out how to hit it better.

STEVE PATE: Well, after a year off trying to get dead in a car accident and not quite succeeding, it kind of doesn't seem like that big a deal when it is all over. I am trying just as hard, and I am just as intense when it is out there, but in the overall picture, it is just not quite as important as it once was.

STEVE PATE: No, not -- I mean, another reason I like Match Play, no. Because starting over tomorrow, it doesn't matter where I am at. It is not like you are out here with a lead trying to hold on, or you know: Oh boy, I am two back; I can win this thing. No, it is starting from scratch again. I seem to focus better that way, nothing that has happened the last three days means anything.

STEVE PATE: No, because it is the same thing first round end of it on Wednesday. The end is the end. Which you know, so that is why some guys don't like it very much. Guys that came here flew a long way and played one day obviously aren't thrilled about the deal.

STEVE PATE: It I just like the golf course. No particular reason. It is just a good basic golf course. Shots are pretty straightforward. There is nothing -- pretty self-explanatory. Good places to it. There is bad places to hit it. There is not a lot of luck involved. It is the kind of course that I grew up playing. I grew up playing before they got into the bomb craters and the island greens that you can move and all that BS.

STEVE PATE: Yeah. I got a new one. I just -- I took a handful of them out on the putting green last night and narrowed it down to one I putted a lot better. A Titleist Scotty Cameron putter.

STEVE PATE: Four, including my old one. I gave it one last chance and it didn't -- didn't last long.

STEVE PATE: Pretty slim. I am not surprised that a lot of the top seeds were gone out early, but I am surprised that there aren't any of them left.

STEVE PATE: Yeah, Eduardo and I took care of everybody's favorites.

STEVE PATE: Decent. Not great. Close. I have hit it well at times. I have putted well at times. Just not terribly consistent. My game gets strange. I just I play really well in spirits. I just hope to have one each day.

STEVE PATE: I am playing as well as I have ever have, except for one stretch in 91. Other than 1991, no, I haven't played any better than this really. Maybe a little more consistently, but it is kind of hard to say because there is a lot more good players than there were eight years ago.