MCI CLASSIC

April 19, 1997

Brad Faxon

BRAD FAXON: Well, it blew as hard today as I think it did the last two days, really, no difference in the pace of the wind. Little bit different direction today than it was yesterday. More like the first day's wind. It was trickier the front 9, I thought, than it's been all week. 1 and 2 had been playing kind of downwind. They felt more against; more right-to-left, and, you know, I drove it in a lot of fairways today. I hit -- I think, I missed 2. I didn't hit a lot of good iron shots into the greens, but I did a great job putting and scrambling for pars. And, the last few holes was kind of hang-on. The greens got a little quick and a little hard. And, I am looking forward to tomorrow. I would have liked to have shot a little lower score today. I know Nick is playing well. He has got to be awfully confident.

BRAD FAXON: Okay. 3: I hit a 7-iron second shot, beautiful shot to about five feet. 4: I hit 6-iron right and fat flub chunk, short of the chip and then chipped it close for bogey. 5: I made a great up-and-down from about 60 yards for par. 6: I made a wedge second shot to about 20 feet. You want to cover all kinds of less than routine things?

BRAD FAXON: 7: I hit it off the tree and it bounced 50 yards back right in the bunker; made a 20-footer for par. 8: I made about 7-footer for par. 9: Sandwedge, second shot to about 8-footer birdie. 10: Chipped it to a foot. 11: 15-footer for par. Then I started thinking, geez, I have had a lot of one-putts; missed the next one, 6-footer for par - brutal. Then made a great up-and-down on the 14. That was kind of the worst tee shot I hit of the day -- 13, sorry. Yeah, I hit a long left, hit a good pitch to about two feet, played good after that. Played good shots coming in, so I was happy coming in.

BRAD FAXON: Well, she was so nervous back there, she kept shuffling her feet. She had shiny white shoes and shiny white pants, and it was too shiny. I said, "I am sorry to do this, can you please move just back here just a little bit." And she couldn't even speak. I mean, it...

BRAD FAXON: I chipped it close, two feet.

BRAD FAXON: I just said, "thank you very much." (Indicating she had a look of amazement). She couldn't talk.

BRAD FAXON: Well, she was very nervous. I don't think she ever been out of that chair before. (Audience laughter.)

BRAD FAXON: This course, you know, we have talked about it all week long. It is very hard to pick the right club, to hit it the right distance here because you never really can tell exactly which way the wind is going. And, you know, it is a couple of things here. You have to be decisive. You have to hit it solid. Then you have to have some luck, because that wind is swirling. I think everybody is going through it. Nobody is hitting 18 greens around out here. But, it is not as big a factor until you get to the last three holes. But, the last three holes, it is predictable, but it is not on the first 15. So, even though you may feel more wind on 17 and 18 or 16, second shot, you, at least, know what it is doing. And, you know, you can play for that. You have 170 yards on 17, and you are smashing the 4-iron just hoping to keep it out there to the right a little bit and make your par. And 18, you know, what the wind is doing. But, you know, when you are back there on 7th tee or the 8th tee, it is very hard to kind of get exactly what it is doing.

BRAD FAXON: It had a little left-to-right, I think, as well.

BRAD FAXON: I would say it was a 2-club wind today, because I normally hit a 6-iron 175 and I hit a 4-iron; it landed behind; kicked back there a little bit but it is more trajectory than it is what club you use. How do you want to hit the shot.

BRAD FAXON: Well, I think what you are saying is true. You see that a lot. And I think you see it more so on more difficult golf courses, the more important tournaments. And, you know, you always see the named players come to the top. It is always amazing at Augusta the leaderboard is always guys you have seen playing well. And, I think a course like this - but, I have been there before. And I am going to shoot a bad round again on Saturday, I know that. But, I think guys, they get a little frustrated or a little nervous and they get out of their comfort zone and try to do things that they normally wouldn't do; maybe like hit a club off a tee that you normally wouldn't do. There are two things that could happen. You could make a bogey or two and panic and try and hit driver on a hole where you don't need to hit driver. Or, you can get up there and get -- most -- a lot of guys get so conservative, so nervous, or afraid, or fearful, that they don't swing with trust and, you know, swing, what I'd like to say, care free, maybe. But you see a lot of guys get up there and really kind of tense up because it is getting more important, instead of getting looser and freer, I think they get the opposite.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, you know, when people have asked me about putting lately, I don't read every putt correctly obviously and I don't make -- everybody wants to say you make everything. Well, I don't make everything. People want to laugh at that. But, I think what I have been able to do real well - and I hope I can keep doing this - is that when I read a putt and see the break, I play that and I trust it and if I hit it on that line and it doesn't go in, I don't get mad at myself for missing a putt where a lot of guys get mad at themselves. So if I hit it where I want to, then I am fine. And I don't make it so complicated that it is hard to hit it on your line. Sometimes I do.

BRAD FAXON: I don't know. I didn't count. I just know when I started thinking about that on the 13th hole I missed one so, I messed up thinking about that.

BRAD FAXON: I am in a good mood. I am happy. I am really psyched about playing with Nick. I would be psyched playing with Tom or Tom. Actually, those guys are great players, and they have been playing well the last -- Tom played a great weekend at Augusta and Tom Lehman and Watson finished fourth. So, you know, it is not like they are so far behind that they can't catch up either. I would like to see it windy again. It makes it harder for guys who go out and shoot a low score. You know, I want to be nervous. I want to be in that position where, you know, everybody wants to be Sunday afternoon.

BRAD FAXON: Right. The harder the conditions, I think it is better for the guys playing well and, you know, it is just more of a challenge.

BRAD FAXON: It is phenomenal. I think the last round we played together was the third round at Turnberry at the British Open when he won and we both played great that day. And, I have known Nick for a long time. He is one of the first guys I met when I -- even maybe before I turned pro, but he has always been a nice guy towards me. I don't know one person on this TOUR that can say one bad thing about the guy. He is a terrific guy. Great player. A guy I respect a lot.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, you remember Crenshaw's quotes a couple years ago when he said, this guy hits it like Hogan, he hits it off the center of the club face as well as anybody.

BRAD FAXON: I think it can help if you are only two guys close to the lead. Lehman and Watson are -- you can tell what is going on here; especially with the crowds here, they are pretty responsive to your shots. But, you know, I haven't had as much experience as I'd like and this is great for me.

BRAD FAXON: Aggressive, I don't think, is the right word here. I mean, I think you want to be cocky with your swing, but you got your strategy here; can't be too aggressive. I think it is more conservative here. You got to take what you can take. Some of these holes, you have got to place it on the greens. I wouldn't say -- "aggressive" to me isn't the right word.

BRAD FAXON: No, I don't think so. You know, I mean you have to have a lot of things go right to shoot 65 here or 66. I don't think being aggressive, like hitting driver off every hole is -- that is not the way this golf course is meant to be played. It is not the way I am going to play it.

BRAD FAXON: Well, I am never going to be super comfortable. I don't think anybody is comfortable, butterflies flying around your gut coming up the last few holes. I think that is where you want to be. You know, maybe the last four, five years.

BRAD FAXON: Distractions of what?

BRAD FAXON: No, that was -- I don't think anything bothered me at Augusta other than that I didn't play well. I mean, I was psyched to play. It is hard not to get keyed up there.

BRAD FAXON: Absolutely. I think what helped me there I think was winning, getting myself back up on the money list where I want to be and back on the Ryder Cup, you know, team and, you know, just feeling a little bit like after having such a slow start that, this is where you want to be and, you know, thinking about winning, thinking about playing great. And, you know, I am not going to go there on the first tee and say, oh, boy, I am going to win this tournament, but, you know, you got to go out there; you got to get into that mindset where, okay, let us play one shot at a time; let us be in a great mood all day and let us try and hit, you know -- play your game plan, and I think that is what I did at New Orleans. And, the results take care of themselves after that. If I can keep doing that for the rest of the year, I am going to be a lot better off than getting mad at one little swing or hitting a shot off the toe or the heel. I was getting mad at a good shot that was off center club face for a while.

BRAD FAXON: It might. I think that back in 1991, 1992 when I was playing pretty well, I was learning then. I don't think I exactly had it. But I think it comes and goes too. I think sometimes you can play pretty well, getting in position, but not really have a lot of confidence. But, confidence is what it is all about. When you are confident, then you want to be there.

BRAD FAXON: Oh, absolutely. Definitely. 16, 17, 18. 16 was huge today. The speed of the putt is incredible: How much harder or softer you have to hit it. The ball was wobbling.

BRAD FAXON: I will tell you on the 16th tee tomorrow. (Audience laughter.)

BRAD FAXON: Thanks.