STEVE FLESCH: I was browsing around. I went to the grocery yesterday and I was browsing through magazines. I saw an article that I guess somebody wrote on Colin Montgomerie, who was talking about the belly. He mentioned all the pros of using it. I don't know if he listed any cons. And he said, "I'm going to continue using it until they tell me I can't." I agree. I don't think I might not even say, I don't want to give the USGA any ideas, I don't think you should be able to hinge a club on your body. But if somebody isn't going to tell us we can't, I think it's an advantage to do it. Langer and Sam Torrance putt almost straight 90 degrees off their chin. That's just a perfect pendulum. I think it's got to be addressed because I do think it makes the game easier.
Q. (Inaudible)
STEVE FLESCH: Well, if you can hinge a club off a point of your body, that's just that's the easiest way to make a pendulum. The pendulum is hinged at one spot. Obviously your hands are on the golf club, but the butt of the club is hinged on your belly, or a long putter is hinged on your chest. I'm not saying it's cheating or anything, you still have to make the stroke and you still have got to read the stroke, you still have to do all that, but for me it has made putting easier.
Q. What club are you most married to? What one have you had the longest?
STEVE FLESCH: I say that, but I don't switch irons and I don't switch wedges. Those are pretty much a staple. I haven't changed those at all. It's always putter and driver and 3 wood and 5 wood. It's pretty much all my woods and my putter, you know. I only have a couple of putters with me. I have plenty of drivers. My caddie's trunk is full of drivers.
I'm using a 580 TaylorMade right now. I have four or five set up right now with different lofts and different shafts. That's how I mix. I don't jump brands and stuff like that. I stay committed to one look. I think I have three or four driver heads that all look exactly the same but they have different shots which give me different launch characteristics or whatnot. I travel with a bunch. I usually end up, after about three or four weeks, getting a box together and throwing half a dozen clubs in them and shipping them home because I can't carry them.
Q. Did you sense your gallery growing in size?
STEVE FLESCH: Definitely, but it wasn't because of me. J.D. was playing well and it looked like he was really having fun out there. We were out there talking, Charles Howell and I and John. John, he's enjoying playing golf right now, I think. He's playing well, too. He's driving it fairly well, but around the greens he's really playing well. I just think he was having fun. And the fact that he was making birdies and the crowd kind of I think some people heard the hoopla when John hit it close a couple times, and our gallery grew. And I assure you it wasn't because of me.
Q. (Inaudible)
STEVE FLESCH: For me it is because the last time I played with him was the 84 Lumber when he had all his problems I guess last, when he retired early in the second round or midway through the second round and he had to leave. The PGA TOUR needs guys like John Daly. He makes the game exciting. I think a lot of people can relate to a lot of the problems that he's had. He's just a regular guy. He's got a heck of a lot of talent and he's had some problems. I think the better he plays, the better he feels and the better the Tour is going to be with him out here.
Q. Did you catch yourself watching him?
STEVE FLESCH: Always. I hope I have the tee so I don't have to follow him. People see him hit it 325 or something, and they say, how far is this little skinny guy going to hit it. Like I said, I'm glad John is playing well. I'll probably get to play with him tomorrow. He's a guy that I think it's easy for everybody to root for. Everybody wants John to play well and I'm glad he is.
Q. (Inaudible)
STEVE FLESCH: Maybe. I don't know. I hope he enjoys playing with me. As long as we have fun, that's all that matters.
Q. (Inaudible)
STEVE FLESCH: Not that he's an underdog, but I think he has been through so many problems I think everybody wants him to play well from my standpoint, if he plays well, I think it makes him feel better about everything. He's got enough distractions away from the game, God only knows. If he can come out and be in that bubble on the golf course and play well, I think it makes him feel better. For that reason, he's an easy guy to root for because people want him to turn the corner and get his life back to himself and have fun with it.
Q. Does it make it difficult with a big gallery?
STEVE FLESCH: They all shout words of encouragement to John. I hate to say the common man, but that's just kind of I mean, it's people from all walks of life and they're just out there to see John hit it 320 and just bomb it, and then he's got such a phenomenal short game. People who watch him are surprised by it. They know he can hit it a mile, but around the greens I can't think of a time today he was all happy with his 60 degree wedge he's playing with it Cleveland, by the way. Every time he hit it, he chipped it this close.
Our last hole, No. 9, he hit an unbelievable shot to a foot. I lost track of what my point was. He's fun to play with and the crowds they don't distract him because they're always shouting encouragement. Whether he's making double or making birdie, they're shouting encouragement to him.
Q. Didn't you outdrive him on 5? How did that feel?
STEVE FLESCH: I did. Following up on that, we were talking about how we don't think you know, Charles and I don't think the ball he's playing goes as far as what he was playing with last year. I don't want to go into that whole deal. He'll be in here to talk about it, if you want. I don't think what he's using now is affording him the distance that he's accustomed to, I'll put it that way.
Q. You mentioned an interesting thing. You played with him at the 84 Lumbar when he retired early. What is different about him now, mannerisms, and the way he plays?
STEVE FLESCH: Well, that's hard for me to say because I really don't know what he's going through off the golf course. I just know back at the 84 Lumber, all that buildup and a lot of stuff had come out in the paper, so it was all kind of right there. I'm sure he's taken care of a lot of that. It seems his mind is clear out there, to me. It seems he's able to concentrate on the golf. Where before, there was so much going on, golf was his only salvation of getting away from it all. There was so much pressure on him both on and off the golf course, even on the golf course he couldn't get away from it. Now it seems he's just enjoying playing golf, which is how we need him.
Q. How is your game?
STEVE FLESCH: I don't know. My caddie keeps telling me I'm so much more relaxed this year, I don't know why, because I'm still a stress case. I think winning last year really relaxed me, because I got that burden off my back. I don't know. Everything is good for Steve Flesch right now, both on and off the golf course. I'm just trying to enjoy it, trying to have fun. I mean, that's it really. I'm just trying to have more fun playing than I have in years past, not killing myself and beating myself up when I hit a bad one, just go find it and hit it again.
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