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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 11, 2013Gary HallbergOMAHA, NEBRASKA THE MODERATOR: All right, everyone. We'd like to welcome Gary Hallberg to the Media Center, 3 under, 67 today. Gary, it hasn't been the greatest of seasons for you, but you obviously found something today. You lead the Champions Tour in putting this year, but you also hit the ball pretty well today. Can you talk a little about the round? GARY HALLBERG: First of all, if this thing rains out, will there be a playoff on Monday from here out? I'm kidding. That's my bad humor. It's not going to rain out probably. Still have to play three more rounds. No, I haven't hit the ball very well this year. I've been kind of working on all kinds of stuff with my swing. This week‑‑ I had last week off. I came here. It's kind of like none of that stuff's working. I'm just going to go play like a kid and get up there and hit the ball. This is a great course for that because it's very hilly, and every shot is different and unique. It allowed me to get creative and look at the shots, and, oh, wow, look at it. I got an uphill hook lie and the wind. I'm going to look at the shots that way. So I played that way, and it was really fun. That's how a lot of guys play all the time. I tend to get a little mechanical, if you will. I just had a nice day today. I just kind of relaxed and had some fun. So it was a nice day. THE MODERATOR: You started on the 10th hole, which played very difficult today, and you birdied. You started with a birdie on 10. GARY HALLBERG: I did. I hit a driver and a 9 iron. I took the driver out and went over everything and had a 9 iron and made a 15‑, 18‑foot birdie putt, which was a great way to start the day. That's‑‑ that was a big part of it. THE MODERATOR: Really good start there. Then you birdied 13 and 14 back to back. GARY HALLBERG: 13, I had about a two‑footer, knocked it in close. 14, I hit it in the sand, and I got it up and down. Knocked it a foot away there. That was good. So, yeah, 3 under there, feeling good. THE MODERATOR: You made the turn. You birdied Hole No.2, the par 5. GARY HALLBERG: Birdied No.2 with an eight‑foot putt, and then bogeyed 3. But then come to 6, and you birdie that as well. THE MODERATOR: You birdied all the par 5s out there today. GARY HALLBERG: I hit a really good shot on 3. I was only about 15 feet from the hole. I was in that high grass. There's no way I could get it up and down. Then I missed a couple of short birdie shots on the next couple of holes. And then hit a driver, 9 iron on what was it, 6? THE MODERATOR: 6, the par 5. GARY HALLBERG: That was nice, birdied. 8, I went over the green and chipped back and ended up bogeying there. But I drove the ball very well. I just had fun out there. I was real loose. You tend to want to grind and try. When you do that in golf, you play worse. Unlike any other sport. THE MODERATOR: Any questions for Gary out there? David here in front. Q. Gary, you live in Colorado. Do you play a lot of courses with this kind of elevation change? I think you said you played a course in college that has similar elevation changes. Talk about that. GARY HALLBERG: There's a course in college called Old Town, very up and down, very hilly, and I always played very well on that course. Very similar here. I think it probably helped me. Helped me kind of relax a little bit and have some fun, like I said. It's quite a challenge. You know, those practice rounds, it was hot, and everybody was real nervous as to what was going to happen today. So I was surprised very few players‑‑ there weren't that many players under par. How should I say? I thought there would not be very many players under par, and I don't know how many there are, but there can't be probably 20, is there? Something like that. Tough course. Really, really tough. Good for Omaha. It's perfect. Great fans. I mean, unbelievable. Go Huskers, right? Michigan and Notre Dame, they're always overrated. That "N" for knowledge too is awesome. Q. Gary, we talked last year on the phone, and you were one of the first guys to see this course. GARY HALLBERG: Yes. Q. What did you remember of it? How has it changed maybe from the last time you played it? GARY HALLBERG: I remember it was a fun layout. It was very hilly. Love the clubhouse, the setting. I wanted to sit out on that back deck there and have a cold drink and look out over that veranda there. That looked beautiful. Course is, boy, with the rough and the way they set it up, it's quite a challenge. The course was just fun to play, a lot of fun to play. And it's set up really good too. It hasn't rained so the ball is rolling. Conditions are great. It got kind of dry out there as far as the greens. They're getting a little brown. They should come back tonight hopefully. Q. Do the greens change during the round? Do they get harder and drier and faster? GARY HALLBERG: They got a little bit firmer. The grass grew too. So the green‑‑ they slowed up. They got a little firmer and a little slower, and they had kind of some brown spots out there starting to take shape. THE MODERATOR: And you mentioned you came here and really wanted to play like a kid again out here. What did you find in your swing? You said you hadn't hit the ball well all year, and you came out here today and played great. GARY HALLBERG: That's a secret. I don't know. I always talk about my swing. I tell, oh, I'm working it out. I'm Mr. Swingy Pants. A guy told me one time that I really respect, he said, when you get something that's working for you, don't tell anybody. It will lose its power. All you need to do is tell somebody, and they go, oh, yeah, I tried that. It works for about three days, and it goes away, and then you're done. So I can't tell you. THE MODERATOR: I guess you only need it for four days this week. GARY HALLBERG: It's my equipment. THE MODERATOR: Very good. Any other questions for Gary here? 67, very good round today. Up early tomorrow morning. Best of luck. GARY HALLBERG: Thanks a lot, everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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