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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 13, 2012Jay Don BlakeLAKE ORION, MICHIGAN MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Don Blake shot a 65 today and is 2 under par for the Championship. JAY DON BLAKE: What am I supposed to do? Q. Five birdies in a row. First of all, that's what we want to talk about. That ties the Senior Open record. JAY DON BLAKE: You know, I didn't even know I made five birdies in a row. I started looking at my card when I signed my scorecard out there. I didn't know that was a record or ties a record, I guess. So those things kind of happen. You kind of get going, and you don't think much. You just go do it, get it done, and add them up at the end. I had it pretty good today. Q. Did you really not know you had five in a row? JAY DON BLAKE: I didn't. Q. Do you prefer not to look at your card and not look at that stuff? JAY DON BLAKE: I mean, I just try the best that I can to just execute one shot, the shot I'm hitting, and focus on what I'm trying do at that time, and when I get done with the hole, I mean, if I make birdie, I'm excited. I just go to the next hole and try to execute the next shot. I know at one time, when I realized I did shoot 29 on the front and got thinking, well, if you make four birdies, you can get to 60. And five, you know. You think of that stuff, but that's a pretty impressive round of golf out here to try to even think of going that low. Q. Could you go through the birdies? JAY DON BLAKE: Let's see. Number 1's the par 5. Q. You can just go through‑‑ JAY DON BLAKE: Oh, where did they start? Started on the par 3, No. 5. I hit the 7 iron about three feet. And then 6, I hit a driver down there, hit wedge. Didn't hit a great wedge. I hit it about 30 feet left and kind of up a ridge and over and ended up knocking that in for birdie. And then next hole, I drove it down there, hit sand wedge probably eight, nine feet, just short right of the hole. Made that for birdie. Number 8, I hit wedge, spun it to about a foot, made birdie on 8. And then 9, I took driver and been cutting that corner with a driver. Hit it down there just in front of the green and only had 30 yards and chipped it about four feet and made birdie. Q. Nice run. You did have two other birdies on the front, 1 and 2 as well? JAY DON BLAKE: I birdied 1 and 2. Q. You had the feel going. JAY DON BLAKE: You kind of get in those moments, and you kind of like that. Q. Were the conditions again today sort of similar to yesterday where the greens were a little bit soft? They were a bit receptive? JAY DON BLAKE: I think this morning they were that way. I don't know if that's the same way they were yesterday, but you could expect the ball to kind of hold or check up. I mean, even shots out of the primary rough, that little first cut rough, hitting wedges and 9 irons out of that stuff, usually, yesterday afternoon, we were anticipating a bounce and then rolling 20, maybe 25, 30 feet after it hit. But they were kind of stopping and only rolling about five or six feet. So it was pretty, pretty able to kind of go at the pins pretty much this morning. Q. Jeff Sluman said yesterday he worked a lot harder on practice rounds and finding lines and looking at the way the ball moves when it hits the ground and all that kind of stuff. Did you do the same thing? JAY DON BLAKE: Yeah, that was kind of the key that me and my caddie was working on during the practice rounds is that‑‑ I mean, the greens got these back slopes. Everything kind of funnels back, funnels over here. Instead of trying to go to a pin that's four off the left or something like that, you can look to the right, and it's got a little bit of a pocket that you can hit it 10, 15 feet right and let it kind of funnel back. Instead of being real, real aggressive, you can be a little cautious, smart, and then it can end up in a good spot. So we tried to look at that stuff and tried to analyze that and use that in our preparation to play each hole. Q. A lot of guys have said you've got to be really precise when you play the golf course. Today you were obviously precise because you made a bunch of birdies. When you're in that flow of things, you're not thinking precise. You're just thinking I've got to pick a line and hit it. JAY DON BLAKE: Yeah, that's the thing we can always get in and stay in. Like I was saying, I didn't know I made five birdies in a row. I started looking at my card, I went three, three, three, three, three, kind of across there, and even a 2 before that. So that was kind of a nice run of numbers right there. You just get in the moment, and things just start happening, and you kind of feel like you're making birdies, but I never really paid attention. I know I made, when I made the turn in, I made seven birdies with a bogey and shot 6 under. But on the 5, I didn't know. So when you get in that position, you don't really‑‑ you're looking at the flag, you're looking at executing the shot. We're looking at the book, and we're just planning the shot. We're not really thinking ahead or thinking what we've just done. Q. You're also back in the tournament because that erased a little bit of a black number yesterday. Put a lot of red on there. JAY DON BLAKE: Yesterday, it was an interesting round. I started off, three‑putted 11, parred 12, birdied 13 and 14 and eagled 15. So I got to 3 under pretty quick and had some chances. I even three‑putted 16. And 18, I hit it through the fairway and had kind of a horrible lie. So I made a couple of bogeys there. I had a good round kind of started off yesterday on the back nine, which sometimes I kind of feel like that's a little bit tougher side. Kind of let it all get away. Mental part of the game, which we get in that frame also. Just doesn't seem like nothing can happen right. Today, for a while, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Mike Goodes was making the comment. He said give some of that luck over this way. You're taking all the luck. We were kind of having some fun, laughing about that It can go both ways. You just try to‑‑ when it goes wrong, you try to kind of take the least road of risk and try to kind of get away from that bad rut. Q. Like drag racing, it's easy to start fast, but it's tougher to finish well. JAY DON BLAKE: Yeah, it's kind of like that. If you get off to a good start, you got to make sure you have a good finish, or you're done. Q. Do you still do that? JAY DON BLAKE: I don't. I wanted to come out here, focus and prepare for the Champions Tour. I was kind of looking forward to coming out here playing. I kind of put that to the side so I could put all my time into practicing, playing out here. I'd like to get back in doing it again. Q. Given your 29, were you fine with the back nine? JAY DON BLAKE: Yeah, I actually hit it pretty good on the back nine. I didn't really hit a whole lot of bad shots. I hit some good shots. I just didn't get anything to go in. I made a kind of a silly bogey on 11 again. Yesterday, I three‑putted. Today, I got sand wedge just short right of the green, and I knocked it by about three feet and missed it. I missed a good chance on 12. And 13, the par 3, I hit it just off the back edge, hit it about eight feet by and missed it. So, I mean, I had some chances and then I made some stupid mistakes. Birdied 15, had a chance on 14 to make birdie also. Just kind of the way golf is. You just got to play every hole. You're not done until you've played all 18 so you just got to keep plugging along. Q. Thanks, Jay. JAY DON BLAKE:  Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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