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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 12, 2013Steve StrickerAUGUSTA, GEORGIA Q. Weird conditions that you had this morning didn't affect you too much. You seemed to play right through them. STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, we had ‑‑ yeah, we started off to some wind and then it died down and rained for a little while and now the wind is picking back up. They're going to have a tough afternoon. I think we got the better end of the day, I think, this morning. Even though we had some rain. But the rain doesn't really bother us, I don't think. But if it continues to blow like this, it's going to make things pretty difficult for them this afternoon. Q. From 5‑over at one point yesterday to where you are now you must feel slightly better. STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, slightly better. Yeah. I was kicking myself. I was 2‑under after 15 and hit it in the water at 16 and then went back to even. And it just didn't ‑‑ I just didn't catch the 6‑iron like I needed to and it came up short and went back in. And I was kind of kicking myself there. But finishing with a birdie on 18 is a good way to finish. And under par, and who knows what's going to happen. Q. What did you hit into 18 and how far? STEVE STRICKER: I hit a 7‑iron in there. I had 162 to cover the edge there and about 170 to the hole. But the wind is tricky. All the shots are tricky out there. It's just that type of course. You just got to try to be patient and plod your way along. It's hard to do sometimes. Q. Were you feeling the same as yesterday putting, even though you were still fighting for pars? STEVE STRICKER: I really only fought for a couple holes there. No. 1. And No. 2 was a good par, but I had a birdie putt there, I should have made it. The other hole, number 7, drove it left, tried to play the smart play and chip it up into the bunker short of the green and get an angle of the bunker shot and get up there and it's plugged. It must have just taken one hop in and plugged. So I think that's what was happening, a little bit of moisture in the sand and then it just plugged right in the pitch mark there. So I made a good bogey there. But just played solid again on the back. Except for the one at 16. So all in all pretty good. I feel good about where I'm at and hopefully I can put up a couple good ones this weekend. Q. Why is, the hole location at 1, why is it so hard? STEVE STRICKER: There's just nowhere to hit it. Q. On that knob there? STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, front left, over the bunker, you miss it left you're going to make five at best. And really just trying to hit it in the center of the green. Where I laid it up to short of the green I was in a perfect spot, a little uphill chip, so it was pretty good. So you just got to know where to miss it when you're out of position. Everybody's going to get out of position. Off the tee, even when you're in the middle of the fairway you're out of position sometimes because the pins are so difficult. It's hard to imagine trying to hit it close like at No. 9, you know, when we were there the wind was kind of blowing straight down and it's back into the corner there, it's just very difficult to run the risk of maybe making a bogey to try to make a birdie. So you end up playing in the center of the green and trying to 2‑putt and move on. Q. How is this wind? Is it more of a problem than other winds out here? STEVE STRICKER: It comes and goes. Gusts at times. When we were playing the last couple it would kick up and gust quite a bit and then lay down. So it makes club selection pretty difficult, especially on a course where the areas of which you need to hit it into the greens are small. So you have to make good club choices and it makes, the wind makes it difficult. Q. On an afternoon like this, what do the conditions favor? What kind of ball flight? STEVE STRICKER: A guy who is going to play smart, I think. Hit it in the fairway. You got to drive your ball well. And this course has gotten to be a tougher driving course over the years from what they have done to it. So you got to get it in the fairway and then play smart. There's not going to be a lot of aggressive play out there, I don't think. You're going to have to knock it on the greens and 2‑putt and try to maybe make them up on the par‑5s. Especially on the back side. There's some holes‑‑ one of my playing partners, I can't remember who it was now, said, somebody who set these pins must have been angry this morning. (Laughter.) I forget who said it. But there was a couple of hole locations that you literally cannot get it close. Like number 5, it's right up, I've never seen it that close to the front of that upper tier. It's two paces over the top. I mean ‑‑ and you're downwind ‑‑ there's no chance. Q. Ernie or Nick would have said it. STEVE STRICKER: One of those. (Laughter.) Q. I think it was probably Ernie. STEVE STRICKER: Well, he said it in a joking way. And number 14, that was the same way. Howling downwind and it's one to two paces, probably two paces over the ridge. I mean, it's where do you want to chip from and where do you want to try to get it up‑and‑down from at times. And it's frustrating, that's what's frustrating about playing here, I think, and that's where you kind of have to manage. And it's hard. Because we're not used to doing this, because you have to shoot it way over there and try to get it up‑and‑down from off the green to try to make par. So that's a different mentality. Q. You have a 14 year old out here, it doesn't seem to phase him, does it? STEVE STRICKER: It's remarkable. Has he really been here a month? Q. Yeah, he's been here awhile. STEVE STRICKER: It's incredible. Yeah. For him, I hope he makes the cut, because that's unbelievable. And I have a 14 year old daughter and to see her playing in one of the women's Majors at 14, I can't even fathom that. So he seems like a great young kid too. I met him on the range a couple times. I went up and shook his hand this morning. Yeah, he seems like a nice kid. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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