|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 12, 2012Bill MoryLAKE ORION, MICHIGAN THE MODERATOR: Bill Mory, 74, 4 over par. Q. I see you three‑putted on what was that? BILL MORY: Three‑putted No.3. After driving in the rough on 1 and 2, then I three‑putted 3 and then hit it almost into the hazard on 4. That was kind of my bad stretch, started losing the shots to the right. Started to feel a little better on the last several holes but wasn't able to get anything as far as to drop any more holes on that, get the score down. I'm not unhappy with a 74 with the way I hit it on the second nine. Q. A lot of guys had problems on the back nine, and you did well on the back nine. BILL MORY: I got off to a good start, hit the ball really well. On really the first five or six holes, I gave myself really good birdie looks. Actually could have been a few more under at that point. I think I hit every green in regulation on the first nine. So that was pretty good. Oh, no, I got it up and down one time. I hit 8 out of 9 greens on the back nine. On the front, maybe only hit a couple because I was in the rough every hole. Once you're in that rough, you just can't hit it to the green. I couldn't get it to the green anyway. I think that's par for the course on this one. That's what the USGA wanted. If you drive it straight, you're going to have some chances. Q. Was this your first USGA event? BILL MORY: It's my first USGA event, yeah. Q. Is this exciting? BILL MORY: It's exciting, especially being in Michigan, especially being your home state. When this course was selected as the site for the Senior U.S. Open, it was one of my goals to get here. I feel blessed to be here. I was fortunate to get in on Monday after being an alternate in the qualifying. So I feel very fortunate to be here. No matter what the week brings, this will be a successful week for me. Q. Is that Chris that was caddying for you? BILL MORY: That's my son, Chris, yeah. Q. Is that a thrill for you? BILL MORY: It's exciting being with him and having him caddie for me. I had a chance to caddie for him in a USGA event. I caddied for him at the U.S. Public Links at Bandon Dunes. We had a ball out there. Hope to do that at the U.S. amateur with him. He qualifies next week. We enjoy being with each other. He helps me, and he's played a lot more competitive golf over the last five or six years than I have. I'm just kind of starting up again after taking 10 or 12 years off watching my kids play. So it's nice to get back out and play and compete. Like I said, I feel blessed to be here, which was one of my goals for the last couple of years. Q. Chris is in college, right? BILL MORY: Chris has just finished his playing eligibility at Michigan State. Just finished his playing career at Michigan State. He has one semester left. He'll graduate in December. I think he'll turn professional in January. He's going to head to Florida after that and spend some time down there and play a few events and see how things go for him. Q. I saw him at the Michigan am. I think he said he has 12 credits left. BILL MORY: He's got 12 credits left. He has just a few classes back. He'll go back and help Casey Lubahn with the team and help Casey do what he needs to do. He's got a couple of his teammates, some guys that came in with him, registered the freshman year, that will be back, the Ellis twins. He'll have some friends on the team still, and they've got some good new players coming in as well. Q. Seems turned it around. BILL MORY: It was a nice coaching change. Unfortunately for Chris, it kind of came at the end of his playing career. He really enjoyed Casey. Casey is the coach that signed him to Michigan State when he was an assistant. We were hopeful that Casey would have been there his whole career, but we really enjoyed having Casey back at Michigan State. He's going to be a good coach there. The program is definitely turning around. No doubt. Q. Course is good? BILL MORY: Course is fabulous. Course is fabulous. I don't think I'd change a thing. The fairways are certainly fair. When I talked to Dave yesterday, they said they really didn't do anything to them. This is the way the members play them all the time. The only difference is the rough is a lot more severe. And it was interesting because I had lunch with Tom Watson yesterday and asked him about the course setup, and he said this is the toughest they've played in several years, namely because the rough is much thicker and longer and more severe than anything they've played over the last several years. I don't think it's because of the fairways being so narrow, but if you miss them, you know, you're going to have a hard time getting it to the green. Q. If you hit it straight, you won't have a problem? BILL MORY: Yes. If you're not straight, you're going to have problems. Obviously, hitting it into the fairway is a must. It's a must. Q. Especially on No.2 and No.3? BILL MORY: My swing just got a little loose on the back my second nine, and I started spraying it a little bit. Once you hit a few shots offline, you start trying to manipulate a little bit to try to get it back in play. I missed it on both sides of the fairway. I started missing it right and trying not to hit it right. Next thing you know, I'm in the left rough. But, fortunately, I was able to scramble my way in and at least get it in under 75, which was kind of the goal at the start of the day. Q. Live another day tomorrow. BILL MORY: Live to play another day. Who knows? Maybe I could hit it straighter tomorrow. Maybe a few putts will go in, and we'll see. I have no idea what the cut score will be here. I can't imagine it's going to be real low. Looked like some guys were getting it going out there today. Q. Could be 2 over. I'm just guessing. BILL MORY: Could be over par. I think it could be over par. Q. Do you change your game at all with the fairways being what they are? BILL MORY: Well, I didn't because the golf course is long enough for me where I kind of need to hit driver most of the day. So the biggest thing for me is just trying to curve the ball the right way on the right holes. There's a few tee shots out there that are just really awkward for me. The second hole is just a very awkward tee shot. I lost it way right there. I did it in every practice round. Chris says, just aim it left and let it come back. Went dead right. But for the most part, I think I'll try to play my regular game tomorrow. Q. 10 seemed like a rough spot. BILL MORY: I don't think 10‑‑ of course, you're hitting a hybrid or a fairway wood off the tee. I hit it rough starting out. I was a little nervous, a little tight. Didn't finish my swing there. I think there were some tougher driving holes than that. I think you can, even if you miss it on 10, you can somehow get par. I think you start missing it on holes like 8's a tough hole to drive, I think, tough fairway to hit because, if you hit it a little left, it goes into the left rough. So you're kind of fighting it there a little bit. I think 11 is a pretty good driving hole. You've got to take a pretty good angle there and cut that corner. And if you hit it a little too far left, it runs out down the left side. 4, you've got to hit it up that left‑hand side or it all runs into the right rough. And I think, to me, the key holes to drive it, you've got to drive it strong on 16. You've got to drive it strong on 18. Get it in position for a second shot, and both of those holes seemed to play pretty long today. 11, another one. Those play so long, if you don't hit it solid there, if you hit it in the rough, you get no shot. If you don't hit it solid, you're going to have a long shot in. Q. Isn't 11 the one with 50 uphill, something like that? BILL MORY: Yeah, and it was a little bit into the wind. I caught a flyer in the right intermediate rough. I hit a really good drive there. I just had 190 to the front, and I hit a good solid 5 iron, but I was at a perfect lie in the intermediate rough to hit that shot. And I hit my other best drive of the day was on 16. I hit it to the corner and only had a 6 iron in there. But if you don't hit is solid on 18, we might be playing in other bunkers. I hit a pretty good drive and just carried the bunkers in the intermediate rough and had to even chop it out of there. This has plenty of length for me. There's no question. Q. So it wasn't a question? BILL MORY: No. In fact, just reading about it, the golf course is short, but the greens are small. I'm thinking, I'm not sure it's that short as a par 70. I played with Bernhard Langer on Tuesday, and he said, I was hearing about this being short, but this doesn't short. Q. He said that Monday? He said it doesn't play short? BILL MORY: No, it doesn't play short. And holes that are a little shorter play a little‑‑ like 8 plays a little uphill. Even if you hit a good drive there, you're playing at least one extra club up the hill. Q. What did you do on 9? BILL MORY: 9, I hit a 19 degree hybrid, and I hit it good right up the left‑hand side, and it was about five yards too long, maybe three yards too long. It was in that left rough. I had to just chop it down to the bottom of the hill. And fortunately, got it up and down. Made par. That was one of my better tee shots of the day. I should have just hit one less club. Q. Thanks, Bill. BILL MORY: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|