THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 26, 1996

Nick Faldo

WES SEELEY: Why don't we begin with the state of your game at the moment.

NICK FALDO: Well, feels pretty good. I have had a nice week working with Lead, so just my few little tweaks here and there. So it feels nice.

Q. Does the video cameraman follow you all the way around?

NICK FALDO: Today?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FALDO: Yeah. That is another day from Lead. I just did nine and he followed me.

Q. Every shot?

NICK FALDO: Just about.

Q. What happens now, you go look at it?

NICK FALDO: No. That is the beauty of it, you look at it right there. He has got that little playback screen; all that sort of thing. We can look at it right there. I'm just trying to do a couple of moves, so it is nice to, you know, see what you are feeling, basically. Because what you are trying to do-- You get good feedback. You said well, that felt like that it looked like that, so now I can do a bit of more or a bit less. So it is good feedback that way.

Q. Do you refer to it afterwards or is it just an instant thing?

NICK FALDO: Instant. There it is. Just instant referral to, as I said, whatever I am feeling, trying to do, you can then see. Add anything on what I still do; what I can still do more, basically.

Q. How long have you been doing that? I know you did some of it at Bay Hill?

NICK FALDO: Video work?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FALDO: Well, all the time. I mean, really. Lead is filming me for years.

Q. Actually on course?

NICK FALDO: Yeah. But Lead will come out in practice rounds, and he carries the video camera and puts a couple on film. But Dave is a video wizard. He is into all that. He created all this computerized golf thing, all that, so he is pretty nifty with the computer, so he enjoys doing that sort of thing.

Q. You have computer on the range as well?

NICK FALDO: Yeah. That was first time we did that last week. He has got his laptop computer on the range. He can do all this split screen stuff and put lines on it. He is clever. He can, so...

Q. Do you have old films of your old swing or previous swings?

NICK FALDO: They have got swings of me right back to -- they have got a library now, you know, back at Lakeland right back through obviously through '87, yeah. It is quite interesting to look at over the years what you were doing or what have you; had different leg actions, that sort of thing.

Q. You can transpose one swing onto another?

NICK FALDO: Yeah. That is what he can do, split screen it, all that sort of thing. The next thing will be 3D. Yeah, it will be 3D screen. You will be able to move around. I don't understand it. You got to put you on screen, and then wherever you want to come look from, you got the picture of you from any angle. So that is going to be the next -- that is what he is into.

Q. Is that technology expensive?

NICK FALDO: I really wouldn't know. Really wouldn't know.

Q. How close is that 3D?

NICK FALDO: They are doing it. They are developing it. Soon we won't have to go out on the golf course, just send and image. Sends a hologram image of myself on the course and dial a number in. That would be fun. Future golf.

WES SEELEY: You'd still have to come in here though.

NICK FALDO: Geez. I will send a cardboard cutout for that. If you are lucky it will talk.

Q. That is what we get now.

NICK FALDO: Oh, geez (LAUGHTER).

Q. How would you sum up the American season this year for you?

NICK FALDO: I think it has been a good -- it has been going well. I haven't had any -- well, I had had second; few top 10s, and I have played well. My game, I feel, was in good shape. I think really it has been going well, and I have been working on a few parts of my game. So it is all -- you know, a lot of things have improved well, so I think I am sort of waiting for it all to, you know, blossom.

Q. In comparison to other years, where is your game now this year?

NICK FALDO: I think better. I think hopefully, so far I am gaining more confidence with my swing at the moment. So I think, you know, in all parts of my game I'm feeling good at, so I think things hopefully -- hopefully some good things are in store.

Q. Do you like this golf course?

NICK FALDO: Yeah.

Q. Why?

NICK FALDO: Well, I like it now that they have done it over about five times.

Q. They have got it right?

NICK FALDO: Yeah. It is getting good now.

Q. Last year it was real firm. Is that the way you prefer it?

NICK FALDO: Yeah. I think they are going to try and play it tough. It is not meant to be a target golf course. I think, you know -- yeah.

Q. Any changes?

NICK FALDO: I am sure there is a few subtle ones, but basically it is in great shape. Condition is fantastic. And I think if they firm things up, the greens will be very quick. So I think that is going to be --

Q. Would you prefer that, Nick, if they did firm it up?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, that will be good. If they make it so you don't want to hit 20 under winning this one, they can certainly have the golf course to what they want and make it into, you know, much more of a demanding shot-making course.

Q. But you would generally prefer a 5 under winning total to a 24 under?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, that is right, I would. That will probably suit me better.

Q. Although you have lots of birdies this year?

NICK FALDO: That is right, yeah.

WES SEELEY: They have asked the others in here, we will ask you. The 3 first-timers the last three weeks, what do you make of that?

NICK FALDO: It is a bit like, I guess, asking them. I am sure they suddenly see their fellow guys do it and they feel, well I can do that. But I saw a little bit of Tim Herron playing. Looked like he was swinging well and hitting the ball well, and they have got him to -- that is the state now, you get in a good confident mode and you just stick with it. I think they did really well those guys. They all played great on Sunday, which is very important, which is, you know, all credit to them.

Q. Did that surprise you that these guys hadn't been in the heat before played so well on Sunday?

NICK FALDO: Well, you know, it is there on paper, you are meant to sort of have the 20th and the 15th and 10th and a couple of seconds but didn't work, did it, really? These guys -- first time -- first chance to win jump in and took it. I mean, kind of unusual, I would have thought.

Q. Could it happen here?

NICK FALDO: Here? I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe this tournament will add a little bit more pressure, you know, as the week goes on. A lot more attention; a lot more of spotlight on them. And if the golf course plays tough, it will become -- as the pressure goes on, it becomes a bit like Augusta. What makes Augusta so tough, if you go out and play when you are relaxed, it is a piece of cake. When you go out and play it as The Masters and pressure time; that is when it is a tough golf course. So I think probably the same here, you got to hit the right shots in the right places.

Q. Have you checked your balls in your locker this week?

NICK FALDO: Yes, I have. Got all my equipment.

Q. How much of a blow was that last year for you, Nick, when you didn't --

NICK FALDO: It was one of those weird things where they had to go all the way from Japan. They left Japan and came through; didn't double check. I ended up getting a different golf ball, so it is just a different playing characteristics. Just messing me up on the day, simple as that.

Q. You flew virtually evergreen?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, I hit about 4 something -- like three or four shots long, and obviously can't hit them long at 17, that doesn't help, so it was a bit expensive.

Q. Are you playing Atlanta?

NICK FALDO: No, I have another week tuning and then up to Augusta.

Q. When will you go to Augusta on Sunday or --

NICK FALDO: Yeah, there is no need to -- if the weather is good, three days there is plenty of time.

Q. Any thoughts on Colin Montgomerie's new look?

NICK FALDO: Yes, he is the new tuner adjuster vertical hold on your TV (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER) Yeah, looking good, good luck to him. He has worked hard. I mean, that is quite tough to do that on off-season because you got to get up and do it, but I am sure he will notice the difference through the year, you know......

Q. Did you have any influence on his decision to do that?

NICK FALDO: None whatsoever, no.

Q. Is his workout as strenuous as yours?

NICK FALDO: Hardly. (audience laughter).

Q. You don't think he can hang out with you in the workout room?

NICK FALDO: He couldn't go the first lap with me, no. No, you would have to be an athlete or an animal to train with me.

WES SEELEY: Anything else for Nick Faldo?

Q. Did the kerkuffle at the fourth tee at Bay Hill upset you? Was that the real cause of the 8 or --

NICK FALDO: No. Unfortunately not, no the real cause was the bad drive, simple as that. I think it was then a chain reaction of all sorts of -- sort of get all the bad bounces and funny shots out of your system in one go, I guess. I wish it was. It really wasn't.

Q. It didn't affect your concentration?

NICK FALDO: No. Unfortunately, that is the way I have been driving. Struggling with my driving at Bay Hill; hit a lot of shots left and I hit three shots in that left trap all week; hit it there all week, so that was my spot.

Q. What spot do you pick for your first tee shot at Augusta usually?

NICK FALDO: Depending on the win, I mean if the wind is favorable you can blast it straight over it. But if it's not, then you got to go around that trap and that is the tough bit of the shot. I try and go left edge with a fade and sort of cut it back round and hit a nice hop and scoop it up the hill; that is really the shave (sic) I have got.

Q. Would you classify that as a difficult opening tee shot?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, that is a good one. You can't just blow it over the trap.

Q. I think you are only guy who has double bogeyed that hole and won the tournament?

NICK FALDO: Yes. I am different.

Q. You have done it twice in the two times you have won?

NICK FALDO: Really?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FALDO: I doubled it the first time I played it --

Q. I think so. I am not positive?

NICK FALDO: -- In 89?

Q. I am not positive. I think I saw two doubles on your card.

NICK FALDO: I don't think I did. Well...

Q. It is difficult?

NICK FALDO: Difficult doubling that to go 5 back, yeah and then win, that was -- yeah, that was a good comeback, that one.

Q. Do you remember the first tee shot you ever hit there; what you did with it?

NICK FALDO: The very, very first?

Q. Yeah, in competition.

NICK FALDO: Well, that was my first year I played, '79 no, I don't.

Q. Nick, you are leading the Tour in putting right now. Everyone knows you as a ball striker. Are you putting the ball as well as you had been in the late '70s, early '80s?

NICK FALDO: I think 1989 seemed like I could -- I made a lot more, '89, '90, but I -- obviously, however they are measuring the stats, I am getting, obviously, getting a lot more putts in, but it did seem like, you know, certain tournaments through '89 and '90 that I felt I sort of made everything inside 20 feet, so -- not at that stage, but who knows, it is -- certainly the putting has gotten a lot better over the last couple of weeks, so it -- keep it going.

Q. In fact, you are leading the all-around performance as well, which you know, I mean, arguably makes you the most complete golfer in the U.S. Tour?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, well, as I said, really most important ones are the stroke average. That is the one that is, you know, what we are all trying to do. It is not how. It is how many. So that is the one that is the important one, I think and obviously that and wins. That is what you are trying to do, really.

Q. How important is it, Nick, to go to Augusta with a win? Is that important to you?

NICK FALDO: Well, it would be nice. I don't think it is not the be all and end all. I think I feel like I am playing well. I'd like to think I can go out and have a good week this week and that will -- but whatever happens this week, I am quite happy with my preparation for Augusta.

Q. Is the putting conventional?

NICK FALDO: Yeah.

Q. Do you briefly go back to left low right?

NICK FALDO: I have tinted with it somewhere -- where were we? First week at Doral I finished one day and I was pulling a few, so I was swapping my hands over, but since then it has been -- Lead helped me just got me following through a little bit better and that you know, that is really been all I have been doing.

Q. Do you think Phil Mickelson's game is really suited to Augusta?

NICK FALDO: Well, yes and no. Yeah, well, yes, really, I mean, if he comes out and plays very -- you know, as well as he can play like when he wins tournaments, well, then, yes, his game would be. It would be good. Certainly the way he putts, what have you. I played him a couple of times earlier this year. His iron shots were great. Every iron shot was over the pin, so I am not sure how he is playing right now, but if he played his best, sure, he could be a contender.

Q. What makes him particularly good? What is it about his game that makes --

NICK FALDO: He has got very good tempo and the swing lines are very simple; clubs aren't playing well; club's swinging well, which is nice. He is not a hitter of the ball. He has got the bet -- one of the most fluid swings, you know, start right from take-away follow through. He is about one of the most fluid swing swingers there. When he is hot, he is hot. Okay?

WES SEELEY: Okay, folks?

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