BAY HILL INVITATIONAL

March 15, 2001

Grant Waite

GRANT WAITE: Thank you. Any time you go around this golf course without any bogeys, it's an achievement in itself. The wind conditions on the last 12 or 13 holes that I played made that very difficult. But fortunately, I made a couple of good putts for par when I needed them. You know, the eighth and ninth holes today, which were my 17 and 18, were about as difficult as you are ever going to see them. So finished up my round after struggling on those two holes with two pars is very good. I started on No. 10. I birdied No. 10. I hit 3-wood and a little 8-iron to about 12 feet and made it. Birdied 13. 2-iron off the tee, little 9-iron, three feet and made it. Birdied 16. I hit driver, 3-wood on the green and 2-putted. Birdied No. 3. I hit 2-iron and a pitching wedge 12 feet behind the hole and made that. 4, I hit driver 3-iron in the middle of the green. Two putts. Then No. 6, I laid up. Just chipped a little 9-iron from 120 yards to about six feet and made that. So there's my six birdies.

GRANT WAITE: On No. 8, I actually drove the ball very well today. But No. 8, I got up there and the tee was way forward, and I haven't played it from way up there and I was a bit concerned I was going to go through the fairway into the bunker. So just tried to smooth a driver out there and I pulled it -- I pull-hooked it left short of the hazard over there on the left. Hit someone in the gallery. Then pitched down the fairway and I had 98 yards to the flag and just chipped a 9-iron, because you're into the wind and you want to control the spin. I was concerned about spinning back down off the green, actually back down into the water to about 18 feet to the right of the hole, 15, 18 feet. And I had about a three- or four-feet break. Maybe more, five-feet break and I managed to make that.

GRANT WAITE: That was more exciting than any birdie I made. No question. Sometimes a par is like that. You know, I walked onto the ninth tee and probably felt better than I had after any birdie all day, you're right. No. 9, I pulled my tee shot again. Those are really the only two bad tee shots I hit all day. Hit it left of the bunker and got a reasonable lie and hit a 4-iron on the green about 20 feet and 2-putted.

GRANT WAITE: I don't know if it saved me anything. It bounced before it hit a spectator, bounced and hit a spectator and it just stopped in the rough there. I was 25 yards from the hazard.

GRANT WAITE: I moved it 125 yards from the rough. Just laid it up to 98 yards. So actually I moved it less than that. I moved 115 yards because he had we had about 215 or so.

GRANT WAITE: No. 9, I had 198, I believe. So into the wind, 4-iron into the wind.

GRANT WAITE: Not as much as I would have liked. But --

GRANT WAITE: I would tend to take a score and make the worst I could possibly make on a hole and hit a couple bad shots, is what had been happening. I've been working very diligently on the scoring aspect of the game. The wedge play, trying to get more out of that. Because if you hit good wedge shots, whether -- like, for example, No. 8, you know, you can hit a poor drive. Everyone is going to hit bad drives and everyone is going to miss greens, but it's the ability to make a score at the end of those holes. The great players out here, the top echelons, Phil Mickelsons and Tiger Woods, David Duvals are doing that. They are doing a great job of scoring. On a physical aspect, as far as hitting different shots, I've got all of the shots that I need. There's not too many I can't play. The key is I have to believe in my ability to get out and to work on the parts on the game that I'm going to get the most benefit from. For example, if I take a wedge from 100 yards and hit a really good shot; I'm hitting two feet or four feet or five feet from the hole. If I'm hitting a 5-iron and I hit a really good shot, I'm 15 feet from the hole. Well, I know I'm going to make more 4-footers than 15-footers. So the key is, you know, those 5-irons and 4-irons and 3-irons, what they do is you keep those, try to keep those in play and you play a little more conservative unless you really have a good number and then you shoot at it. But, you know you've got to take advantage of the holes where you've got the 9-irons, the wedges, the 8-irons, because those you can control the direction and the distance a lot more than you can a 3-iron. So if you can drive the ball well and then you're a good wedge player out here, you've got a chance to be a great player.

GRANT WAITE: It seems to be that way. I think so. You know, I'm really working hard on those scoring aspects of the game. That's what's saving me. That's turning No. 8 from a bogey or a double into a par today. In the past I would maybe not have been able to do that. In a lot of ways, if you're scoring better, which I have been in the last year or so, it's because I'm doing a better job on the holes that I'm not playing as well on. I know I'm going to have so many holes I'm going to have chances for birdie on every single day. It's what do I do on the holes that I don't do quite so well on. That usually determines the way I play.

GRANT WAITE: Way too many times. You know, in Canada last year, one thing I learned from that whole experience was that if I play well, I can play with anybody, because Tiger is the best player in the game, no question. And last year, certainly he was the most dominant player in the game. He's still the best player in the game. He just has not won right now this year. So I took from that that I played the final round of a PGA TOUR event on a very good golf course and played -- and he had to play as well as he could to beat me. I was just -- I the tournament could have easily gone my way. I walk away from that disappointed I didn't win, but I'm also encouraged by the fact that I know that I can take the best player in the world and make him have to play as well as he can to beat me. So I just know that my game is good enough. It's just now whether or not I can do it on a more consistent basis. That's the question. You know, Tiger or Phil or whoever the case may be is doing it on much more often than I am. So, that's what I take from those experiences. It's comforting, to say the least, to know that if I do the right things, I'm going to play well and I'm going to have a chance to win the tournament, no matter who is in the field. That's all you can ask for.

GRANT WAITE: I think so. I very much think so. I think that Tiger has come along and he's -- at a time when everyone was like, oh, no one can beat Jack Nicklaus's record and no one can do this and there's too many great players and the depth and he came along and said, "Well, why not?" Everyone at first was kind of like, "Well, he can't be serious to think that he's going to come along and say these things." And then he went out and just started playing and just started beating everyone, doing all of these things that he talked about. I think that people start to realize that, okay, what is possible? Have we all been, you know, hypnotized to think that we can't do certain things. He's saying: "Why not, I'm going to practice hard. I'm going to work on my game. I think that I have the talent and I can do this." People now start to realize that he is doing what is possible in the game. If you totally believe in yourself, focus in, you can hit every shot or play well every week. I think now when you look at the players on the Tour look at their games, they are doing exactly that. They are looking at what Tiger can do and what he's done; and where am I in relation to that, rather than par for the golf course. It doesn't matter what you do to a golf course nowadays. Guys are just -- so many good players, their ability is so high they are going to shoot some close scores. This year, some of the scores that have been shot have been phenomenal, Mark Calcavecchia, Joe Durant. It's amazing.

GRANT WAITE: That's just a sign, again, of the depth of the field and the great players. The golf course is very difficult. It's going to be as many scores go the other way that are high out there. But you know when you take this many -- this amount of talent and put them on a golf course, there are going to be some guys who shoot some low scores, and you just want to stay with them as long as you can and give yourself a chance going into the final round; or on the last nine holes to win the tournament, and enjoy the competition and hope that it goes your way. If you do it enough, you'll win. You're not going to win every time and you may not win very often, but you will win if you give yourself enough chances.