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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 11, 2011

Lucas Glover

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Lucas Glover into the interview room here at THE PLAYERS Championship. First of all, quite a week last week in Charlotte. You and your former teammate and good friend Jonathan Byrd going at it and you coming out on top. Just comment on what a special week that was for you.
LUCAS GLOVER: It was great. Obviously end of the week being Mother's Day was very special, and Wells Fargo, Quail Hollow week is always good, stayed with some friends right there on 15 and get to spend some time with their family and their children and their friends. So it was a good week.
And then finishing up with J. Bird on the playoff, 18 there, was pretty special for me because we've been friends since we were kids. So it was an emotional week but a good one.
JOHN BUSH: And now you're back at THE PLAYERS Championship making your sixth start. Not a lot of success here.
LUCAS GLOVER: Correct.
JOHN BUSH: Until last year, a third place finish. Did you find something special?
LUCAS GLOVER: Yeah, I said it last year after rounds, but for me it was just a game plan change, and that was fairway first. I was always kind of old school where I thought as far as I could drive it up there I'd be all right out of the rough but that's not the case here with the greens the way they are.
So I hit a lot of 3 and 5-woods and even some 3-irons where some guys might not. I just did that, played a lot out of the fairway, made a bunch of putts. That's usually a good recipe anywhere.

Q. Where did the game change thought come from? Did you figure it out on your own? Did somebody mention it?
LUCAS GLOVER: Well, I went through the show up as late as possible, show up as early as possible, all that stuff, and then I finally decided that really doesn't have anything to do with it. It's probably me. So I just started looking at it and thinking, well, what have I done poorly here? And I just didn't hit a lot of greens. And then I started thinking about, well, why not? Well, I am playing out of the rough most of the time, because most of these fairways do pinch in at 280, 290, or bunkers pinch in, or whatnot.
Coming into the week I had hit my irons well in Charlotte and decided I was ironing it good enough to lay back on some holes. Next thing you know Saturday I'm kind of close and making some putts and kind of kept the same mindset on Sunday and got hot on the back.

Q. So that's the same strategy for the U.S. Open?
LUCAS GLOVER: Well, there the golf courses are much longer as a whole, so you've got to drive it a little more. I don't hit it as far as some guys where I can attack with a 3-wood at a major. But if you can and you feel comfortable with the 4 or 5-irons, you can at an Open.
But around here, there's a lot of short holes where you have options. You can hit drivers or 4-irons. No. 12 is a great example. No. 6 is a great example here at Sawgrass. You can hit 4-iron to driver; it's up to you. And for me it was that in between, depending on the wind and whatever.
But an Open forces you to hit drivers because you don't want 3- and 4-irons into greens like that all day. It's just too hard.

Q. Did you find yourself at any point last year after that change and things going well, did you think, why didn't I think of this before, this is such a simple fix?
LUCAS GLOVER: Well, I think it was a combination of me being stubborn and then me not hitting my irons as well leading into the tournament. So it just might have been the perfect storm of reality setting in with a game plan and then still executing.
But, yeah, it was kind of a duh moment for sure when I got home that night. That was pretty easy playing out of the fairway. It was 8-irons versus wedges, but I'll take an 8-iron over a wedge out of the four-inch Bermuda rough any day.

Q. So last year's performance and then last week, is your confidence as high playing these tournaments as it's ever been?
LUCAS GLOVER: Yeah, I think winning before a big tournament like this kind of equates to winning the week before a major. It brings you back to reality because it is such a big event, it is such a big field. Not a lot of time to dwell on it because I do want to play well here because it is such a big event. So when I got here yesterday afternoon, it was prep time and game-plan time and still working on the things I'm working on.
Yeah, just going to try and do a lot of the same things I did last year, get the ball in the fairway, give myself as many birdie putts as possible.

Q. Can you go over your putts on the playoff hole? On television it looked pretty shaky.
LUCAS GLOVER: My putts?

Q. Yeah, you had a 15-footer to two-putt.
LUCAS GLOVER: Yeah, it was a little further than that. I misjudged my downhillers. I was short all week last week, and I think a lot of that was what I am used to at Quail Hollow, and that's that ball really rolling out. And they weren't quite as fast. I never really got used to it. So it was almost kind of over-respect.
When you're trying to lag a putt up, especially a downhill one that's traditionally been lightning, towards the creek, breaking towards the creek, last thing I want to do is roll it down six, eight feet by. And then that gets in your head, and next thing you know it's pulling up three feet short.
But I had the read right. I was just trying to roll it over the front edge. My mindset in that situation is still try to make the putt because I feel like that's how you produce -- or execute the best shot or the best putt or whatever. I didn't hit it hard enough.

Q. Would you tell an amateur, if I'm playing in a tournament, try to make it even or I'm trying to two-putt?
LUCAS GLOVER: Yeah, just roll it over the front edge, because you're going to hit a better putt. That's something I remember Brad Faxon saying years ago. I don't care if it's two feet or 50 feet, I'm trying to make the thing. Brad is a little different animal. He probably makes more 50-footers than anything.
But I remember him saying that because your mindset, no matter what situation -- in any other situations, make the putt. Why should it be different? Like I said, I was short all week. If I had all the ones back that I left short in the jaws downhill, I'd have made a bunch more putts. But just a combination of lagging and downhill and the read and all that, I just didn't get it there.

Q. Can you describe the 13th hole from the tee and tell us if you think it's a birdie opportunity?
LUCAS GLOVER: When the pin is left, definitely it is a birdie opportunity. I think 13 is one of the more underrated holes out here because the green is so dynamic. But usually between a -- depending on the wind, between a 5-iron and an 8-iron, depending on wind and where the tee is.
When the pin is left for a drawer you hit the right shot and the ball will roll down, especially the back left one. When the pin is up top, I think it's a lot tougher for a drawer, and that means me. Hit it down there super slow -- I did it today, pin was up top today, hit it low left and it rolls back to my feet.
But just a dynamic hole, but you've got to hit a really good iron shot to get it close. But left pin, use the slope, you've got a better chance of a birdie for sure.

Q. What's your strategy on the 17th and how difficult is it under tournament conditions and the pressure and the atmosphere?
LUCAS GLOVER: Strategy there is hit it where I can hit it again, and I haven't done a great job of that in the past. I think last year was maybe the first year I played that hole any good. It's a tough hole for me because it seems to always be in between clubs. I always say, well, I'll just take a little off of that and the adrenaline of standing there on 17. I've hit so many good shots that bounced over the back because of that.
Again, pin is up front or right, I don't really go at it. The middle pin kind of up on the shelf is really the only one I try to hit close. I'm trying to hit a spot so I have a small target, but I don't aim at many pins there.

Q. I need to ask a beard question. Are you getting positive, negative, both, and how long will it stay?
LUCAS GLOVER: Positive in person. I'm getting some negative emails and jabs from friends. My best friend just texted me. He's a dentist, but he said he's in talks about Hair Club For Men and wondering if the beard was interested.
I don't know how long, to be honest with you. It was just something that cropped up in the off-season out of laziness, and I thought, I've got to get this mess off my neck because it looks goofy, and next thing you know somebody said it looks good so here it is.

Q. My wife wanted to know if it gets hot?
LUCAS GLOVER: This is the first week it's been hot, and it's not a -- it wasn't an issue today or yesterday.

Q. The most interesting comment anybody has made, player, fan or friend about the beard?
LUCAS GLOVER: I did find out yesterday that my beard has a Facebook page, and I don't, so it's not me.

Q. Did you visit it yet?
LUCAS GLOVER: No. I don't think I can. I don't have one so I can't go look I don't think. I don't need to see that. I get scared in the mirror every morning; that's enough.
JOHN BUSH: Lucas, we appreciate your time. Play well this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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