THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 31, 1998

Andrew Magee

ANDREW MAGEE: Well, it was a very tough day, you know, on the range with the wind blowing, and blowing as hard as it was, I was going even par out there today is going to be a good score. We got out there, the greens were still holding, and, you know, shots were conducive. You know, hitting them close and making some putts, I was concerned that the greens might -- the wind might be blowing so hard on the greens you couldn't stay still. I never had an instance like that. So I guess it was a little easier on the course than it seemed at the beginning. But, you know, holes like No. 9 were pretty treacherous holes, and 14 and especially No. 9 into the wind, I saw both the guys in front of us, Duval and Tryba both hit it in the water there. I mean, most of the time it is a birdie hole and trying to make a nice par, but I started off good. I made a nice long putt the first hole which is a great way to start it. I hit a nice tee shot off the tee and hit a 9-iron about there and made a 30-footer on the first hole to start with a birdie. That gave me a chance to do something today instead of being so defensive. I started off in a positive note and got it going; I birdied the third hole. I was trying to get past No. 4 and getting this thing to 13-under right away. And hoping Freddie wouldn't be so hot, but he was. He was playing good, also.

ANDREW MAGEE: After 5, I which I didn't birdie, I don't know if I felt I lost the momentum. But No. 6 I bogeyed; I hit a good drive and 6-iron over the green and I missed it for par there. You hate to go backwards after making such a good start. I hit a pretty good putt that didn't go. No. 7, I hit a terrible drive and I think I only missed three or four fairways all week this week here, which was the key to playing this course. I was in position all the time. But 7, I hit my first really poor drive and it was the only shot all week I had to hit out of the rough on my second shot which I thought that might have been the key why I had such a good week here. I missed a couple other tee shots in bunkers, but I only had to hit one shot a full swing out of the rough this week, which that's probably never happened to me before. I made a good par on No. 7. I ended up hitting a good 5-iron from that deep rough shot 7 out of the middle of the green, 2-putted, that got me back going again. Then I bogeyed 8; tough hole. 8 is, you know, 4 and 8 are the toughest par 3s I've ever seen. You have to hit them in a 5-, 6-, 7-yard area. And then making the turn at No. 9. No. 9 was a tough hole. You know, I saw those guys make double in front of me; I hit a good drive and 8-iron, and actually that putt couldn't have gone in. I had a 40-footer that rolled to the edge of the hole, it bobbed up and rolled back at me. I was cussing the greens crew at that time for not pouring hole setting, but I made a nice par there. I made the turn at even par. And then No. 10, I made a nice 8-footer for par. And it kept me right there. I didn't bogey a hole on the back 9 all week, I think, which was the key, and I was thinking last night, I birdied every hole this week on the course except for 6, 8 and 18. So the other 15 holes I made at least a birdie during one of the rounds. These are things you think about when you're laying in bed. You're wondering what's going on, why has the work week been so good.

ANDREW MAGEE: No. You wonder what the hell is going on. I made that par on 10 and I felt like, you know, I had a bunch of birdie holes in front of me, and then the rain delay came. And for some reason, I've gotten stuck on No. 11 the last five years in a row. I am on No. 11 every time. I got straight to the same guy's house, hello Mr. Jones, how are you? What's for lunch? And the same thing happened to us this year as last year. We got in the fans right away, and the lady didn't know which way to go because the streets she had come in on were one-way going back, so this is exactly the same thing last year. By the time Ernie Els had gotten in and we had gotten to the clubhouse, it was time to repack the van and go back out again. So we decided to take a golf cart again because it took so long to get in. I went back and made my birdie putt on 11 after all that. It was 11, 12-footer downhill to get me back to 11-under, which I felt like, let's get it going. Let's try to get three or four birdies in here, and hopefully Freddie won't go crazy and birdie every hole and make this kind of close. Hit a good shot into 12, 7-iron over the water there, and very difficult hole. It actually had more green on it than a lot of the other par 3s on this course. The hole in front, had a nice par there. And hit a good tee shot on 13 and didn't hit a very good second shot. I wedged it about 25 feet and lagged it down for par. And 14, the tough 14th hole, I hit a good 3-iron off the tee and hit a pitching wedge to about 10 feet. I would have liked to make that putt and made a par. 15, I knocked a 3-wood on, the second shot up on the back right of the green and hit a nice looking eagle putt from about 50 feet that lagged down about a foot. All these putts are kind of like, I don't know. This is like if I can make one of these things, it might give Freddie something. After that, he made another birdie; he kept lengthening his lead. I was trying to hang on. Then it was a fight for second. Then I hit it a foot at 17 to get it to 123 under. I hit a wedge in there. I hit it a foot, just the kind of putt you want on that situation a 1-footer. It wasn't any more than a foot, pretty much an automatic maker. And the horn sounded again. I knew I had a one-stroke lead on Duval. Because Freddie, it's over. I got up-and-down on 18 for par had a great week. Best I've played since the first week of the year this year, and a swing thought on Thursday, it carried me through the whole week and got my shoulders moving a little better and it worked. Usually the swing thought lasts for about a day, and we had to find a new one. I found a good one Thursday and I stuck with it all week. Hit a lot of solid shots.

ANDREW MAGEE: Yeah. It's a technical thing. I was trying to keep my left shoulder lower throughout my whole swing this whole week, and I started hitting much more consistent shots on the range. I said, heck I'm going with it. I didn't have very good practice rounds. I hit the ball all over the place. Thursday morning I was searching for something. I was telling friends last week I was playing with I'm looking for a little magic. I need to find some magic if I'm going to play good. I did I found magic on Thursday morning and it worked. That's a lot of the ways we play out here on Tour. We don't have a clue what we're doing until we get there. You either find something or you don't. And I found something and it worked for me all week. I hope I can carry it over into next week.

ANDREW MAGEE: I told someone at the beginning of the week I thought 15-under was going to win. When you have Freddie Couples, Davis Love, Duval, Ernie Els, it's really likely all four of them are going to play crappy in the same day. Freddie and Davis on Sundays have really played well this year, and my other good tournament this year was the Hope where I played with Freddie the last day and ended up finishing third. So my best two tournaments are his best two also I guess this year. It's not too disheartening. I'm really pleased with the way I played. He finished 16 or 17. I couldn't get there. I missed some putts early in the week. I made some long ones I shouldn't have made, so I'm pretty happy with second.

ANDREW MAGEE: No. 3, I hit a 2-iron off the tee and a pitching wedge to about 12 feet; made a nice putt there.