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RBC HERITAGEApril 13, 2012Boo WeekleyHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Boo Weekley into the interview room. Here at the RBC Heritage after a 5‑under par, 66. There's something about Harbour Town that gets your blood pumping for you. Comment on another good day. BOO WEEKLEY: This golf course just suits me. It's very, very, very similar to what I grew up playing, having to hit it a certain distance off the tee, and having to shape your shots around the greens. Overall it's just a great layout. The greens people have done a real good job. They've got this place in excellent shape. The greens are rolling faster than ever. JOHN BUSH: Recap the rounds for us, how you got all three of the par‑5s once again today. BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah, I had a little bit of reflux this morning and thought I was going to do a little yodeling out there early in the rounds (laughter). You know, hit a good drive on 2, hit it up there just short of the green, just chipped it up and had a little short putt on 2 and made birdie there. No. 5 over there, I had a good little look at it there, too. I hit driver and rescue and chipped up about three feet and tapped that up. Made a silly bogey on the next hole, on 6. Just gave myself just a bad lie over there on my second shot. Then 8, I hit a good drive, knocked it up there, hit a little 8‑iron up there about 25, something like that, feet, and just got a good read off my caddie and made it. And 9, I hit it in there about two foot, not even that. I think it was about ten inches and made it. And then 10, just couldn't judge the wind there on 10. Got it up and down. 13 I got a good read off of Lee Janzen, he putted right beside me, about two foot behind me and got a good read there. And it just turned for me, which was going pretty fast. Thank goodness it hit the hole. And 15, the par‑5, I blocked the tee shot way right and had to get a ruling there. Luckily the ruling went in our favor; usually they don't. And then wedge got like 66 yards, hit a wedge in there close and tapped that in. And I parred in. Q. How much do you feel like the guy who won here two years in a row? Do you have the same feeling yet or is it different? BOO WEEKLEY: It's not quite‑‑ I'm still not quite as confident as I was the first two years I was here. I'm getting close. I'm just hitting a couple of iron shots that‑‑ I'm just struggling a little bit here and there, like the ball ain't quite turning. I see a shot that I want to draw five or six yards and it's going straight or maybe going right about four yards. So I'm not quite to where I feel as good, as comfortable as I was when I was here the last two times or the first two times. Q. What is it about this layout that seems to bring out the best in you, year in and year out? BOO WEEKLEY: Like I said, I just like the layout. It's just‑‑ one of these golf courses when you stand on the tee box you can envision every shot. And when you stand on the tee box every shot is just liketreelined, so you can kind of envision what you want to do with the golf ball. To me it just suits‑‑ every hole suits me in different ways, but it's kind of like I can sit up there, no matter if I block it right or pull it left, I still feel like I've got a shot somewhere in my bag that I can get it up and down to make par. Q. How close do you feel like the golfer who can compete anywhere like you did a couple of years ago? Is your game getting back in shape? BOO WEEKLEY: It's getting back there. I've still got to do a lot more work. I've gotten lazy, when I've been hurt, you know, the last couple of years, and I've gotten lazy where I don't actually go out and pound golf balls like I used to. I might now hit two or three hundred whereas before I hit four or five hundred. I worked harder on my putting. Which I've worked harder now on my putting than I did in the past, because I know I couldn't hit the balls. It seems like the putter has gotten a little better, but still a little bit of a weak spot I've got, where I'm streaky. But all of a sudden if it clicks, like it did today a little bit, I made some putts today. And if I can keep that going into the weekend and keep hitting it good, it's going to be a close race. Q. Physically are you feeling better now? BOO WEEKLEY: Oh, yeah, physically I'm feeling good. I've had some issues, I've gotten taken care of last year. And overall I feel pretty good about where I'm going with my game. I got a new instructor, Scott Hamilton. I started working with later in the year, last year, and I got me a new caddie, John Connelly, who used to be an ex‑player. And he reads greens good, where I struggle a lot. We're out there working, we're learning together right now. And I'm pretty sure once we get it all figured out, where we're going with it, it's going to be a good combo and we'll be back at the top. Q. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that you won here twice in a row, is there any other tournament you play where you get the reception from the fans that you do here? BOO WEEKLEY: Not unless I played at my home golf course (laughter). I mean, that's as close as it gets. It feels like home. The people around here are just as nice and genuine as they can be. Even when you hit a bad shot when you walk by the ropes, "It's okay, get this up and down." And not only are they saying it to me, they're saying it to other people, like Lee Janzen and the guys I was playing with. I was playing with Vaughn Taylor today. It shows the support here for this tournament is big.  And it means a lot to us players to know that even though we hit a bad shot, you don't hear them saying, "oh, I could have hit better than that." A lot of times you do hear that. "What was he thinking?" This is a good place(laughter.) Q. Can you quickly rundown what your health issues were and where you are with all of those at the moment. BOO WEEKLEY: Well, I tore my labrum in '09 at the TPC. And I pulled it off my‑‑ it's kind of lower in my back, left shoulder when I pulled it, and it kind of shot up on top of my shoulder here. And I had, I don't know what kind of cyst you'd call it, like a big pocket of junk. And what was happening was it was pushing down on where my labrum was tore at. And then they went in‑‑ I actually was playing inthat Tiger tournament‑‑ playing in it and I pulled a rib muscle where my cartilage was, goes on the ribs. And I ended up just having to back out of that tournament and I went home. And I think I was home for three weeks or a month or something like that.  And while I was at home, we went to one of the doctors there and he lanced me open and pulled that thing out and stitched me back up. And I felt like somebody put a new shoulder on me. I feel so much better now. I feel like I can actually go out and hit a ball without having to feel like, all right, don't go into the ground too hard, because I was afraid it might hurt more. But it's something that‑‑ it's healed now. And once I get some more confidence in my game, I'm healthy again. Q.  You made the Ryder Cup team a couple of years ago. How different are you to get back to that level? BOO WEEKLEY: I would love to get back to that level, but right now I'm just trying to take baby steps. I want to worry about what's in front of me and just go from there. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to play for the United States again. It's one thing we're out here playing for ourselves week in and week out, but when you go and tee it up in the Ryder Cup, you're playing for your country. But it's crossed my mind if I keep playing good, win a couple of times, yeah, I might get selected. At the same time I just want to go out and play golf and be competitive and just stay at the top and just work my way to where I know I can be at, because I feel like I'm a top‑20 to top‑10 player in the world easily. Q.  With the exception of the wind yesterday morning, the weather conditions have been just about perfect. Everyone is talking about the how good the greens are. Scoring hasn't taken off yet, is there a reason? BOO WEEKLEY: That's because the greens are pretty firm. The greens are, I think‑‑ I've talked to a few of the officials and the agronomist out here, and he said this is about how they've been every year. And I said, "I don't remember them beinglike this." Like we're used to flying, I'm used to hitting a 7‑iron 175. And now the ball is landing 175 but it's going like 190, to 185. It's just hitting and rolling out 15, 20 more feet than what you're used to seeing at a golf course, especially with Bermuda. Everybody thinks Bermuda it should stop within the first ten feet of where it lands. And that's what you're seeing out here right now is just the greens are firm. And they're just rolling out further than they should. Q.  Was it any more special last week watching Bubba win? BOO WEEKLEY: It was cool. I mean, it really was cool. Hometown boy. First thing is, we're all lucky, us three, being from the same hometown and growing up and playing golf. Granted Bubba is a little younger than I am, and I didn't get to hang out with him, by no means. But it was cool to be able to say, hey, we went to the same high school. We know each other. Q.  When you won here back to back, went on to the Ryder Cup and top 35 in the world and kind of became this folk hero. Do you miss all that attention or was it nice to be back in a more normal life the last few years? BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah, y'all make and break us. Y'all do. We can go out and play the best golf we can, but if we say one wrong thing or one bad thing, you can change about everything that happens to us. So, I mean, I enjoy the attention. I don't know anybody that don't. But at the same time it's time to get back to work, and just let everything else go to rest. What happened in '09 or '08, that's '08; this is '12. Let's start a new career. Every week is like a new career for us because every week any one of us can win out here. You don't ever know what can happen. Q.  Going into the weekend, (inaudible) how good of a feeling is that for you, a confidence? BOO WEEKLEY: It's a big confidence boost, especially knowing that I have won here twice. And the fans, you know, I enjoy the fans as much as they enjoy hollering my name. And the main thing is just going out and staying focused, and let the golf take care of itself and everything else, the friendship and the fans and everything will take care of itself, too. Q.  As far as you not feeling well this morning, was it something you ate? Is there a restaurant we should avoid (laughter)? BOO WEEKLEY: I don't know. I might have swallowed some dip or something, I don't know. I mean, I felt fine and I got out here and I had three pieces of bacon and a muffin, and what else did I have? I had something else, some toast. And I walked out there, got on the putting green, man, it felt like somebody just sat on my chest. But I got over it. I told my caddie, put an extra Tylenol in the bag, in case I did yodel a little bit on the side. I told my players, Vaughn‑‑ Vaughn just said, "Let me know. I'm allergic to that stuff." (Laughter) "I don't want to see it. I don't want to hear it." I said, "I'm loud, too, boy. I'm a screamer when I'm yodeling." (Laughter). On my first or my putt I missed the green to the right, or long, excuse me, I chipped it down and I had about a two‑footer, and I marked the ball, put the ball down, pulled the mark, stepped back from it, walked back up there fitting to putt, and literally I had to mark my ball and back away from it. I mean, I walked off‑‑ I had to walk off to the fringe. I thought it was fitting to happen right there in front of everybody. But it was all good. JOHN BUSH: On that note, thanks for coming by. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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