BUICK CLASSIC

June 10, 2000

Duffy Waldorf

DUFFY WALDORF: Yeah, I had a nice day. I played very solid today. I didn't -- I didn't get in too much trouble, and when I did I got up-and-down I made par. No bogeys today; so that was a big plus. Hit most of the fairways. I missed -- I don't know, I missed three or four greens, but I was able to get the ball up-and-down and just stay in there. I thought it was a pretty hard day to play golf, and to go around with no bogeys was a real plus; and I'm real happy with the way I just stayed patient and kept hitting the ball on the green and taking par where I could.

DUFFY WALDORF: Well, I think it's good. I mean, I can't really play like I'm in the lead. I should play like I'm just starting the tournament and go for as low round as I can, because there are so many guys that are close to me, great players, I'm going to have to -- obviously, just shoot the lowest round out of those great players, anyway. So I feel like I'm just part of the pack, since I'm not really in the lead I'm just going to go out there and play my best game and hope it's enough. But with that many guys close, you can't really feel like you've got a lead to protect or you're in the lead at all real.

DUFFY WALDORF: Well, it gives me a lot of confidence in the sense that I know how the course plays. I know how to score on some of the holes. And really, I feel like I have the right attitude to play the course. I think that's what you need. Whatever happens tomorrow happens. I feel like I'm playing really well and I feel like I have a good chance, and I know those guys around me are playing well, too. So it will be quite a shootout tomorrow I would imagine.

DUFFY WALDORF: No, not really. I mean, if I had -- if it was maybe me and just a couple other guys, a little more spread you would maybe look at the guys you're playing near, but I think -- I saw at least four guys right behind me. In that case it just feels like you're all even and you're going to go out there and see who does the best.

DUFFY WALDORF: Putting has been a little better this week, and I think overall, this year I think I've probably played maybe a touch better tee-to-green. I think I putted -- putted really well this week. Last year I putted great. I think I may have putted a little better last year, but still 18 holes to go, so I may still have had my best putting to go. My speed has been good. I've had a lot of good putts that were close, and maybe tomorrow I might make a few more.

DUFFY WALDORF: I think so. It seems like it's one of the courses I really don't think about distance at all, as far as distance off the tee. I'm always thinking position off the tee, what kind of club I need to hit, or what side of the fairway I want to hit it on or what type of shot. I never think about hitting it far, and some of the courses that we play in, maybe I think I'm thinking about hitting it too far or as far as I can, and here I'm always thinking about position and not worrying about the distance. I think that helps. It helps me off the tee quite a bit, I think.

DUFFY WALDORF: You'll have to ask me that at end when I see who is out there. I would think -- I mean, I shot 3-under today; I think that was a great round. I don't know what the low round was today was, but I think in the same conditions tomorrow, 3-under would be an excellent rounds, no doubt about it. Whether it's good enough to win, it's only in the stars, but I think that would be a very, very good score.

DUFFY WALDORF: I think this is my fourth time. Janzen, I played with Frost one year and Carter last year.

DUFFY WALDORF: Yeah, I think it's good. It's a good place to play from. Good to have everyone in front of you. I think it's probably a little easier to play in front and not play in the last group. But it's a good experience because you can -- it's a good place to win a golf tournament or be in position to win. I mean, that's the best place to be usually. So it's good -- good to get some practice from there.

DUFFY WALDORF: I was telling Rick the other day, I didn't break 80 my first two times here, and it's a course you kind of grew into. I think if I had just gone with my first two rounds here, I would never have come back. But I think as my game developed, the strengths of my game developed to find what's needed for this course, and I think that's why I play well here. I think it's a course that plays really hard and requires you to play position off the tee. And I found that the course in Texas, La Cantera, is another course that's quite a bit of position off the tee. Maybe I should play them all like that. If I pretend they are all position of the tee, I'll play well.

DUFFY WALDORF: I think rough-defined as much as anything. Rough-defined helps. And rough-defined, when you've got firm fairways, you've got to really picture a much more precise shot. In other words, you've got to hit -- if you're just playing a course with a 40-yard wide fairway and it's not -- relatively flat, you can hit a draw down the right or fade down the left or aim down the middle. Here it's usually you've got to hit a shape shot to fit the fairway, because it has a slope in it and it will kick off into the rough if you don't. So you've got to play a more precise shot on courses like this.

DUFFY WALDORF: What did I etch on my ball? "Putting machine" on one of them. "Happy days" on my first one -- "in a New York minute, everything can change." I had 15 pars today. I birdied No. 5s, the par 5. I hit it in the rough off the tee and laid up and had about 130 yards and hit a 9-iron past the hole about 20 feet and made the 20-footer down the hill. And I birdied No. 9. I hit a 2-iron over the green and had a short chip and chipped it up about four feet and made that for birdie. And then No. 10, I drove it on the front of the green. Had about a 20-footer for eagle and 2-putted. I parred everything else.