THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 31, 1996

Woody Austin

WOODY AUSTIN: Pretty similar in a lot of ways except today I made some bad mental mistakes; whereas, I didn't yesterday. But ball-striking was pretty close to the same. Yesterday I hit every fairway. Today I only missed one. Missed number 11 and then bogeyed. That was a mental mistake to make bogey there, and I made another mental mistake on number 9, 3-putted; so other than that, it was -- I went through a bad stretch on 9, 10 and 11 made some mental errors and cost me my two bogeys; 3-putted 9 and hit it in the trees on 11, 11 and then hit it in the water on my second shot. Trying to punch it out of the trees, so -- but other than that, I played -- as I said, yesterday hit it in the middle of the fairways knocked it on the greens most of them, and I am putting well. So...

WOODY AUSTIN: Birdied the second hole, hit it real close on the first hole, just missed, then I made about 40-footer on the second hole. I hit 6-iron in there. I hit it closer to 3 and just lipped it out. I had a good shot on 4 and just rolled it over the edge. Had driver and 3-iron into 5, just short of the green, got it up-and-down, made 6-footer for birdie. Good shot on the next hole just behind the hole about 15, 20 feet, made that. I hit 8-iron into 6. 9, I played it perfect. Hit 3-wood right in the middle of the fairway, hit 8-iron, kept it left of the hole, not messing with anything; hit it right pin high to the green, to the left green. Just started to get so much faster as the day went on, and I was putting so good that I just hit the putt too hard and, God, it ran eight, six feet by and hit a terrible putt coming back. So that was my first mistake. And number 10, hit it in the middle of the fairway and started thinking in some strange ways. Hit a bad shot, but made a good up-and-down and got on the 11th tee and somehow forgot to hit it. I mean, I hadn't missed a shot with my driver in two days. Got up there and was worried about the water, and I should have just hit something else, but I blew it way right in the trees, but didn't have a hard punch out and it missed about probably a foot from clearing the creek. Going over into the fairway would have been perfect, but just hit it too low and made a 6. Then played pretty solid from there. I hit about, oh, five or six feet for birdie on 13. I missed it from about 4, 5 feet on 14.

WOODY AUSTIN: 5-iron on 13. I played 15 perfect. Hit driver, 2-iron up there about 12 feet for eagle. Thought I had it rolled it right over the edge of the hole and then made a great 2-putt at 16, up and I barely up-and-downed on 17, and I had no more than a 10-footer on the last hole, didn't make it. I gave myself a lot of chances.

WOODY AUSTIN: I tell you what, my group, the last 5 holes was talking, they were getting fast. I mean, starting on -- starting on 12, they just started to get so fast, I mean, we had some trouble. We had some trouble. John 3-putted 12 and 13, and we were talking -- I mean, you just -- you got to the point where the first day that maybe the front 9 you could try and stroke them and make them. Now you got to the point where you can like, okay, I got to feed everything now. Really got to just-- those greens are going to get quick.

WOODY AUSTIN: If they had the slope as Augusta, most definitely. Most definitely. Because here there is not as much contour, whatever. But they are definitely as fast for the flat areas -- I mean, those last five holes were quick.

WOODY AUSTIN: Unfortunately, yeah, probably. But it also helps a person like me because the greens are firming up so you can't hold it on the green from the rough; you have to hit it in the fairway to hit it on green and you have to hit solid shots to get it close to the hole so that helps me out as well, so - but it definitely helps a better putter who likes -- like to feed the ball, who has that perfect feed control like a Loren Roberts who can feed in the hole because they are getting fast.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, a lot of them I play, we came out together. A lot of them. Scotty McCarron, his first year was last year with me. Tim Herron I knew, so he was -- Paul Stankowski, I think, last year was his first year or second. Paul Goydos I kind of played a lot with him last year he had been out here for a year so you know a lot of guys; you know what they are going through. So it is just nice to see, but it just goes to show, there is so many good players out here. When people talk about someone coming out and dominating the Tour, it ain't going to happen. It is just not going to happen. There's too many good players. Dominating nowadays is winning three times a year. Guy wins three times, oh, what an incredible year he had last year, three wins, so many top 10 -- you know.....

WOODY AUSTIN: I really -- all I can think of is the fact that they, you know, the fact that they have had so much rain they have been able to keep them cut low because they have had plenty of moisture not to die out or change color and now that the sun is coming out, since it is so short, it is just drying up that much quicker. I mean, I am not much on the agronomy or anything, but it just really is amazing how fast the greens were the last few holes.

WOODY AUSTIN: I don't know -- I think the Tour is at its peak now. Isn't it much better than it was when you had the dominant players? I mean, television and everything has made this Tour a success. Different personalities of different players have made this Tour a success. You look at a player, let us say, of John Daly's stature and the way he conducts himself. You look at a Phil Mickelson here. You have got two of the better players on our Tour right now and you have got total opposites. That adds to the flavor of the Tour. If you just sit there and you knock one of those guys out you say, well, this is the dominant player; you focus on him; you miss out on the Fuzzy Zoellers; the Peter Jacobsens who had just a phenomenal year last year, but anyone who knew him supposedly before then he was the funny man of the Tour. So there is so many great players and there is so many different personalities. I think that is what makes the Tour great. Not the dominant player.

WOODY AUSTIN: It hurts, yeah. Because right at my last year, we turned the corner and started being a very good men's golf program. I mean, people don't realize, my -- our starting five of our last year all have had their Tour card. That is pretty good for just five guys from the same year to have there Tour card. We finished 4 in the NCAA and three years later we don't even have a program. That is pretty hard. Not to mention we had a U.S. Champion. We had a good program, but not too many people knew about it. We didn't travel abroad and didn't go to the NCAA until my last year the first time my team had gone. But we became a great young -- a solid college program. It is sad, but we lost it.

WOODY AUSTIN: Yes, I guess they are entitled, but I just didn't understand getting rid of that. The football there brings in so much revenue. I just can't understand why they couldn't just keep it, but. ....