FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 14, 2000

Hugh Baiocchi

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Firstly, obviously, the course did play quite considerably differently today. The wind was up. We were quite fortunate; we played maybe five, six holes early this morning without too much wind. But the wind certainly did get up, and it had quite an effect on the ball, particularly on the back nine. Clubbing was difficult and the pins were in some pretty tough spots. So the course I thought certainly played more difficult. I didn't play as well as I did yesterday. Yesterday, I hit a lot of shots very close to the hole. Today, I kind of -- I was a little scrappier than I was yesterday. I didn't putt quite as well, either. I didn't make any really significant -- putts of any significant length. I made a couple of 10-footers, but compared to yesterday, that was pretty insignificant. Yesterday, I made some really good, good putts. But it was a solid round. Every time I got into trouble -- I made a bogey at 9, a poor bogey. Drove it in the rough. Then I managed to birdie 10 which kind of got me going again. Then I made a bogey at 15, the par 3, which is playing really tough. I made a bogey there, and then managed to birdie 16, come back with a birdie. So each time I got into trouble, I managed to pick it up on the next hole with a birdie. But by and large, it wasn't as solid a round as yesterday.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: I birdied 4. The second birdie I made there; I made one there yesterday. That's a pretty tough hole. The wind was helping. I hit a 5-iron behind the hole, 12 feet, and I made that for a birdie which was a pretty nice start. Then I birdied 6. I hit a 4-iron -- I mean, a 3-iron from the tee and a pitching wedge to six feet, and I made that. 7, I hit driver and a 2-iron just short of the green and chipped it past -- about a 6-footer again, and I knocked that in for another birdie; so I was 3-under. I made a bogey at 9. I hit a bad drive. Drove it into the rough, left. Wind was strong left-to-right, and I couldn't see a shot off the tee. Missed the green in two and made a bogey. And then came back with a birdie at 10. I hit a driver and a 9-iron to, again, probably an eight-footer and knocked that one in. Bogeyed 15. I hit too much club. I hit a 4-iron which went through the sand trap up the left on the bank and I could only fluff it up there into the sand trap and managed to get up-and-down for a bogey. And the next hole 16 is straight downwind. I hit a 2-iron and a 9-iron to four feet and made a birdie there. And that was it, pretty well. So what is that, five birdies and two bogeys. So it wasn't quite as solid as yesterday, but it was a nice round. Any time you shoot under 70 on this golf course, I think you've played a heck of a round.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Certainly, this year, I would imagine. I finished fifth at Miami, but that was in that modified scoring -- I don't know what I scored there. I had a sixth place at Vegas, but I don't know -- I can't remember what I shot there, either. But I'm sure this is probably the best back-to-back in a long while, certainly, this year.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Yes. 9 was okay. I hit a bad drive and took my lumps; I took the bogey. But 15, I think, was a technically -- I hit a 4-iron. But I should maybe have hit a 5-iron, and I was mumbling to my caddy saying it was a bad play, and he said it was pin-high, it was the right club. So I got a bit mumbly and grumbly there, started acting -- but I managed to made a bogey. Came out of the sand trap on my third shot, three feet away, and holed it for a bogey. I could quite easily have made a double-bogey. I was okay. I'm handling myself a little better on the golf course. Maybe I've just reached that age where I've finally learned how to behave on the course.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: I did see her, in fact, at the beginning of the year. When I was playing in Europe, I was dealing with a sports psychologist, 20, 25 years ago.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: He was around your time. He was a little before my time. But I get always confused. Maybe coming from South Africa, I'm a bit simple, but all this stuff I battled with, I can't think of all these things on the golf course. Golf is not rocket science. You've just got to go find the thing, hit it again, find it and get in the hole and not get too annoyed about it. That's the tough part for me is to not get annoyed. I've become irritated with bad shots and silly mistakes, and I don't have a bad temper. I just kind of almost get down on myself. My caddy keeps saying: "You're too hard, you're too hard, you're playing okay." I said, "Well I'm doing these stupid things, how can I playing okay?" That's a problem I have is that I get a little down on myself. Debra Graham is the -- short time I spent with her, I think she's excellent. But as I say, I can't take too much of this stuff out on the golf course. It's not that big a deal. You know, you've got to be a little more positive. Leonard Thompson, who I played with the last two days, he has been seeing Debra; and obviously he won last week, and he thinks very positively. And he was saying that I do everything that she says I shouldn't be doing on the golf course.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Well, exactly. Just go and play, if you make a few bogeys, what the heck, it's not the end of the world. But it's tough to rationalize like that when it's happening. It's very tough to sit back and say, "Well, I'm having a bunch of fun." That's what my wife keeps saying, "have some fun." But when I'm shooting 75, 76 how could I be having fun? That's not fun. But I guess at the same time, you've just got to rationalize it. It's not a life-or-death struggle. Heck, life goes on.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Yes. Exactly.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Mike deVilliers. It's a French name or something.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Johannesburg. He's the head pro at the club where I've played all my golf.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Out here? Oh, yes I've worked with him for, heck, four or five years, leading up to coming out here on the SENIOR TOUR. I was working with him. I've been working with him closely for about seven years, I suppose. He's a very good teacher, good coach.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: He keeps saying to me that it's not a technical problem. When I bring him out here, he sees me hit a few shots. "You're swinging fine, it's more a mental thing than" -- but it probably starts, particularly with me, in my putting. If I putt badly, it kind of creeps into the rest of my game. And I haven't putted particularly well rest of the year. It creeps into the rest of the game and, the rest of the game gets shoddy and the rest of the game gets sloppy and it becomes a mental thing; and I start thinking I can't play because I've hit a couple of bad shots. So it kind of snowballs backwards. Hopefully, it will snowball forwards now, having played a couple of decent rounds and made a couple putts. But certainly, yesterday, the game started to become easier. When I made a couple putts, I hit a lot more good shots than I did in a while. And today, I hit some really nice golf shots, based on some good putting.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: I do play a lot. Well, I had two weeks off when I had the appendix deal.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: It wasn't planned, but it was still two weeks off. It's tough to -- this is my fourth year out here; so I should know when I've had enough and when I should be taking a break. In previous years, I have felt -- like last year, I took two weeks off in the middle of the year because I just felt I needed two weeks' break. And I wasn't planning to take them off, but I felt I needed them, and came back and actually had a bunch of Top-10 finishes just subsequent to that. But this year, I haven't felt tired, mentally or physically tired. This tour is really -- not a fun tour to play, because it's hard work it's very competitive, but it's not a stressful tour, or shouldn't be too stressful a tour, only 78 guys each week, no cut. That cut on the regular tour, that cut is lethal. It's not a tour that grinds you down, unless, I guess, you're in contention every week. If you're in contention every week then, like Fleisher and Irwin, then you need breaks. I don't need a break. Heck, I've finished 40th every week.

HUGH BAIOCCHI: Very true. Have you ever thought about being a sports psychologist?

HUGH BAIOCCHI: You're quite right. But I try not to take it kind of back to the hotel with me. Once I'm finished with the game, I just leave it behind and go swim or go to a movie or something. I don't sit there mulling over my game until the next morning. So I don't -- while I'm on the golf course. I struggle with the mental side of it. Once I get away from the game, then it's not a problem and I'm happy to -- I can watch TV or whatever without the -- the game doesn't worry me too much once I'm away from the golf course.