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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK HOSPITALS CLASSICOctober 18, 2011Bill LundeLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA MARK STEVENS: Thanks for joining us today. Bill, thank you for taking time out of you practice to share your thoughts on the Kodak Challenge with us. Bill Lunde has a two-shot lead over Cameron Tringale going into the final event. Bill is at -19; Cameron is at -17. Bill can seal it with an eagle. He needs an eagle, not just a birdie to seal it. Cameron needs an eagle to force a playoff. So that's where it stands right now. At this time, Bill, if you could make some comments on your thoughts coming into this weekend, and then we'll go ahead and take some questions. BILL LUNDE: Thanks, Mark. You know, obviously it's been a long year grinding away on this deal. Kind of started off as a kind of friendly rivalry between myself and a couple players that were doing well. As the year progressed, it became a little more reality of that you could actually win this thing. And then that turned into for the last couple months of being nervous on Thursday mornings of the tournament because I'm on the Kodak Challenge hole, which means nothing, but in reality it was a big deal for me because I was leading and needed to make these birdies to stay up at the top and continue the effort to try to win this whole deal. So it's been fun, but I will be glad when it's over. Hopefully Cameron doesn't hole-out from the fairway and make eagle. MARK STEVENS: Okay. What's funny is since '98 there has only been two eagles on 17 at the Magnolia Course, which is the Kodak Challenge hole. In 2009 Charles Warren had an eagle, and then in '98 Lanny Wadkins had an eagle. There's only been five since 1983. This is for a sidenote. Now if we want to go ahead and take some questions from the media. Q. Couple of housekeeping items. You are playing this week in Florida? BILL LUNDE: Yeah, yeah. I'm down here and playing in the actual tournament. Q. And you haven't played since Vegas, right? BILL LUNDE: Well, no, I played the Frys. I played the week after Vegas. Q. Okay. I thought you told me you were thinking of shutting it down if you made eagle at 16, which you did. BILL LUNDE: Right, right. Well, that was kind of the ongoing joke with everyone. I said, You know, if I make eagle on 16 of that tournament I'll probably just walk off the course and call it a year. Obviously I couldn't do that. You know, Frys being such a close tournament for me, you know, quick flight on Southwest over the San Jose was kind of hard to pass up. And then everything with what Kodak does here at this event, it was hard not to come down and be a part of this whole deal, barring the fact that I win the whole thing. Q. So here's my question: When did you first realize that you could win this thing, and what was the strategy once you realized you could win? BILL LUNDE: I guess, you know, I've been up at the top of this thing for months now, so it's been kind of -- it's kind of been on my mind for, I mean, most of year, I would say. At the beginning I kind of unknowingly was making birdies and kind of joking with my caddie, you know, saying Hey, Kodak Challenge hole this week. We'd make birdie and I would go, Oh, that's going to be nice. And then as the year progressed, you know, it became more of a focus because here I am leading, you have a one-shot lead or what have you. So then, you know, we were very focused on the holes. You know, I remember in Canada -- I mean, in the last two months, I could probably name 'em all if I thought about it, every hole that I've played. You know, definitely grinding away. Every time I would have like a birdie putt, it meant a lot. I was grinding - not like I'm not on every putt out here - but I was very aware of it and trying very hard. One of the moments I think was it kind of hit home that this might go my way was I remember in Philadelphia at the AT&T, Tiger's event. Charley Hoffman was up there for this deal, too, he was playing right in front of me. I watched him make birdie on 17, a really good par-3 there. I watch him make this putt, and I'm like, Oh, gosh now he's got lead. I think at the time we were tied. Then I dump it in the water and make a great bogey, and so now I'm two back. Then I'm like, That's not good. So next day I make par. And then in the third round I had like this 50-footer, and I didn't care where this thing was going, but it wasn't going be short. I hammered it right into the back of the hole. The thing probably would've gone off the green it was going so hard. But I was so focused on this whole Kodak thing that I didn't really care what was going on in the tournament. I was just trying to play that hole as best I could each day. So I had that kind of feeling when that long putt went in on a good par-3, it was a big deal. Kind of had a feeling that I had a good chance coming down the line to be in this. Q. I was kind of curious, as this has gone on, has it kind of changed just the way you approach a round in that maybe you're not having that great a week, but you're going to get a decent paycheck. But then you get to the Kodak hole and all of a sudden the pressure kind of ramps up on you and you change your demeanor any? BILL LUNDE: Yeah, definitely. Obviously I'm aware of it every week. I think it definitely varies where I am emotionally in the tournament based on whether I've birdied the hole that week or net yet. (Laughter.) I could tell you like Thursday would be really quiet; Friday would be even quieter until I make birdie. But once we made birdie, then my caddie and I have almost like a little celebration over on the side. Thank God that's over with. We did our work this week. Now let's go try to win the tournament type of thing. So it just depends on if I've made birdie or not on how I felt about that hole at the time during the tournament. Q. Couple questions for you: Did you and Charley kind of joke about it? Obviously you're coming fairly late in the. Season, it's not like it was early when you guys were contending? Did you guys joke about it a little bit? BILL LUNDE: Yeah, for sure. You know, Charley, he wasn't planning on playing anymore after the Vegas event. But once he kind of saw where things were in the Kodak deal, he says, Well, you know, if I make eagle on 16 there in Vegas I'm playing the rest of the year just to try to take a million from you. (Laughing.) Being Charley, it didn't surprise me he said that. He tried to jinx me a month ago. He would be like, Oh, it's over right now. Lunde's got it locked. You know, everything you're not supposed to say. (Laughing.) So it's just in good fun. You know, it's been a fun deal. Q. And then the other thing is, can you kind of describe the balance of the year? You have this incredible thing happen to you. Obviously you're going to make more money on this - barring what happens this week than your play. BILL LUNDE: (Laughter.) Q. What's the balance of emotions and thoughts about that and how the year has gone versus this? BILL LUNDE: Right. It's been kind of an odd year, because I feel like I've played pretty well. I think I've made more cuts than I ever have this year. The consistency's been there. I just haven't put it together on the weekends. You know, a couple shots here or there on Saturday or Sunday have kept me from contending or having much better finishes. I have a lot of like 30th or 40th place finishes. It's not that far off of being a really good week and being in contention. So on the one hand I kind of feel like my game's progressing. It's just been a fine line from really breaking through and having one of my best years ever. And then on the other hand, I think any time you win anything on the PGA Tour it's a pretty good year. You know last year, you know, I won a tournament last year, and I would have told you I played awful all year except for a couple weeks there at the end I played well. I didn't really play well that year. And here this year I haven't won a tournament and I feel like I've played well and my game's been there. Golf's a funny thing. Sometimes it can feel great and you feel like you're so close and you never break through to contend in an event or have some really good finishes. This year it's like I felt that way the whole year and it just hasn't happened. So on the other hand, I've had this Kodak Challenge thing going on, which I don't want to say it took away from my play, but my focus was, you know, between all the players out here and friends and family, I've been talk about it with everybody. You know, like how cool it would be if you win it. You know, it's a constant thing. I come off the golf course and people would be like, Hey, did you make birdie on the Kodak hole? You know, it's a constant thing. So definitely been a focus every week that I'm playing out here at each individual tournament. So it's been a fun deal. Any time you win anything on the PGA Tour it's good. So I feel like my game has been close all year. It would be nice to finish it off with a good tournament this week and top it off with the Kodak Challenge and be happy with my year. Q. Yeah. Bill, one more if you don't mind. I got on a little late and heard you talking about Philadelphia. Did you talk about other holes? Did you make some bombs at a couple places? Are there one or two or three other holes that really stand out? BILL LUNDE: I could tell that you I made that long putt in Philadelphia and it was huge. It was the hardest pin placement of the week, like a 60-footer. I can tell you at TPC River Highlands, which is the Hartford event, it's a drivable par-4. You don't want to miss it to the right of the green. It's usually not a good angle or you don't really ever have a shot. I kept missing it right of the green. The one day I made birdie there I think it was final round. I hadn't birdied it all week. I hit the worst tee shot of the week on that hole. I'm up on the sidehill and the ball is above my feet. You know, it's in the rough. The pin, I mean, I got to like two feet of green to work with and it's on this back little tier. It's just an obscene angle and shot I'm facing. I just kind of Phil Mikelson it. It's like the shot of my life and stops a couple feet from the hole and I make birdie. It was an incredible shot. I don't know if I would have even tried if it wasn't for the Kodak. (Laughter.) But, I mean, it's little things like that that I remember throughout the year. You know, things have to go you're way. It's like winning a tournament. All the good little breaks that you get that you don't realize are happening at the time to win a tournament is the same thing. You go back and think about this whole Kodak deal, all the good things that happen to you on those holes throughout the year. Just make putts and hitting good shots and being able to make the birdies and eagle or whatever was needed. If I sat and thought about it, I could probably tell you more. I know Hartford, that was one of the greatest slap shots I ever hit in my life. Long putt in Philadelphia. I mean, any birdie I've made the last month was pretty good, because, I mean, I'm so aware of what's going on. I played the Wyndham in Greensboro. It's a tournament I don't usually play. I went there solely because par-5 is easily reachable, and it's a Kodak Challenge hole. That was main reason I was there. And, you know, here on Thursday I have like 20 feet for eagle slightly downhill. I'm like, Wow, this is a huge putt. This would be huge to get eagle. Leave it like four feet short. So now I go from thinking, Okay, worst-case scenario I got birdie. My job is kind of done this week. To Oh, my gosh, I got four feet. Now I'm nervous and it's the 6th hole of the tournament and no one else is feeling anything. I've got this other deal going on in my head. I wiggle it in the left side. (Laughter.) Q. That's great. BILL LUNDE: It's just little things like that, you know. Like I tell everyone, it's kind of a weird feeling to be nervous on the 6th hole on Thursday morning on the Kodak Challenge hole because I know what's going on as the year's progressed and how bad I want to make birdie just to get it out of way so the rest of the week I don't have to feel like that. Q. When we were talking in Vegas before the tournament, you said you didn't want to think about how you were going to spend the money. Now that you're this close, have you given any thought to what you are going to do with the money? You told me that great story about how when you were not playing and you had $10,000 worth of credit card bills, how you were going to pay that off. BILL LUNDE: Right. Q. Now here you are with your card secure and all. Have you given any thought to what you might do with this money? BILL LUNDE: Yeah, no. Yeah, it's just a weird deal kind of referring to what we had talked about in Vegas. To be in debt and in this financial situation where things are very stress-free just from the changes that have happened in the last three or four years. As far as what to do with the money, I thought about buying anything from a new house to maybe like a sports car or something. But, you know, it's kind of been in the back of my mind it's kind of like nothing I really need or anything. It's just purely out of want and greed kind of thing. But the house thing is something my wife and I have been talking about just because you and I both now what the Vegas housing market is, and you can get a lot right now for the money. The house we live in now, we love our house, but if you run full speed out the back door, you won't be able to stop in time before the hit the wall. (Laughter.) With a yellow lab, you know, we would like to have more of a yard. So we have been shopping around for six months, not just thinking that if I win this Kodak deal we're going to do it. So that's something that could definitely make that new purchase a lot easier and more stress-free. Not nothing in particular. My wife and I are happy with the situation we're in. I think we're very modest people, kind of scared to do the wrong thing versus what can I do with all this money. (Laughter.) Q. One other thing about when you eagled 16, how big was that in relation to all the other big shots you made in this event? BILL LUNDE: Well, I think, you know, it might not have been the most difficult, but I think it was the biggest of all because here I am leading the thing. I know that -- I'm thinking, Okay, I'm 17-under to start the week in the Kodak Challenge. I'm like, Okay, I've got to make birdie. But if I could get to 19-under, that's a huge thing. That's 19 under through 18 holes, meaning that someone has to have an eagle on their card already and then have 17 more birdies. 19-under is a pretty good number. I knew if I could make eagle that was going to be a big deal for the Kodak Challenge for the week. You know, the first day, I wouldn't have even gone for the green in two. I hit a bad tee ball to the right and my backswing I literally have to swing through one of the pine tree branches on 16 fairway. I was 1-under par for the tournament, so I'm getting run over. Here is the Kodak Challenge hole and I'm trying to make birdie. I don't even think we would've gone for it, but my caddie I were like, Dude, let's go for this. What do we have to lose at this point? Let's try it. So fortunately enough I hit it on the front of the green. Then I had this like 50-footer, 60-footer, whatever it was, and it looked like it was going to go in. It just barely caught low side of the cup and kind of just barely lipped out with no speed. I was just heart broken. I kicked my putter in the water because I just thought I made it. I make birdie and we're walking off the green and Rocco goes, Dude, man you just made birdie. That was a hell of a putt. What are you so mad about? I'm like, Dude, Rocco, there is kind of a side thing going on here. I didn't really want to say it. He kind of thought about it, and he was like, Oh, my god. That was like a million dollar putt. I'm like, Yeah, that's why I almost actually kicked my putter in the water. He was like, Don't worry about it. You you'll make eagle tomorrow. Sure enough, I made eagle the next day. I just think because that 15-footer I had for eagle, knowing in my mind very well what it means to get to 19-under, that would be a tough number to catch. And then to actually make it, I think that's the shot that -- and plus, I did it in front of family and friends that were all watching that week, so it was fun. It was just a great moment, and I think that's the shot I'll remember the most if this all works out and I win the Kodak Challenge. MARK STEVENS: That was No. 16 at TPC Summerlin at the Justin Timberlake event. Okay, I think that pretty much covers it. Thank you for everyone's time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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