MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 7, 1999

Robin Freeman

ROBIN FREEMAN: Tell us about today? The day started out -- you have to help me out. I actually started out playing pretty well, just didn't make any putts. I had all the pars and a bogey. Do you want me to go through every hole?

ROBIN FREEMAN: There wasn't any highlights on the front.

ROBIN FREEMAN: I did.

ROBIN FREEMAN: I birdied at 11, and hit a driver and a 7-iron about 20 feet, made that. And next hole I missed a 6-footer for birdie. 13 I missed an 8-footer for birdie. 14 I hit driver, wedge to about five feet. 15 I hit driver, 3-wood TO the back of the green and chipped up, just on the fringe, about two feet and made that for birdie. 16 I hit driver, 7-iron to about 15 feet left of the hole and made that for birdie. 17 I had a 6-iron to about 25 feet behind the hole and made that for birdie. And that was it. 2-putted everything else. I think I missed two greens today. One fairway and two greens today. I know you're shocked, just like me. They can read my statistics for the year, they know I'm as shocked as they are.

ROBIN FREEMAN: Very easily, yes. The bogey I made at 4 was the only fairway I missed and I knocked it just over the green on 4 and basically had a poor chip to about 4 feet and then I missed that. I could have had a really good round today. I struck at the ball really well. I drove it on No. -- I guess it's 7, the par-5, drove it perfect, only had a 3-iron on that green and made par. I could have played -- I could have really shot low today.

ROBIN FREEMAN: Absolutely. I played the Monday Pro Am, I wouldn't say it was hot, but it was humid. I was in short sleeves and sweater. So this is a different -- this is the first time I've been here since they've changed it, the tournament is a later date. It's much nicer playing in the cool whether than it is the 150 degree comfort index that we used to play in. It was not that hot, but real hot.

ROBIN FREEMAN: Funny thing, but you could tell that I've been struggling with my putts, because I'm 180 on the list, I've been struggling all year. And just lo and behold my guru, not my teaching guru, my psychological guru, Bob Odell (ph.), I hadn't seen him, until this morning when I went out on the putting green, and lo and behold he was there. And he said you've got to free up. You've got to free up. You can't try to make putts. We've been talking about this for like years. I can't help it, I have to try to make putts. He said roll the ball. And I kind of got into that same kind of trying to make it, had some good shots on the front 9 and nothing went in, and basically in nice terms I said forget about it, and I just -- I didn't even -- I just freed up. I just let it go. I didn't care. I absolutely didn't care if I make it. And the ball started going in, and legitimately I could have birdied 7 holes in a row. The one at 18, though, I lipped out of 18 but it was going pretty warm down the hill. I was glad it caught a good piece of the hole, actually. But, yeah, I decided on the back 9 just to not try, not try to make a putt and it went in. It's amazing. Maybe that's why he's making so much money. I didn't know he was going to be here. We talk probably every month, at least once or twice a month. I forgot he was going to be here, and lo and behold he shows up.

ROBIN FREEMAN: Oh, off and on probably for about since '96. Is it supposed to be cold tomorrow? It was nippy out there. Especially that last couple of holes, there was a wind blowing, sun setting.

ROBIN FREEMAN: I can imagine tomorrow, luckily I don't have the 7:15 time. I was talking to Peter Jacobsen before I went out and he said he hit two great woods on 10 and couldn't get there.

ROBIN FREEMAN: I think that was a few years ago I was tied or leading after the first round.

ROBIN FREEMAN: I love this course, it sets up very well for me. I'm very comfortable on every tee shot. The greens are in beautiful shape. When I free it up I can make a couple, hopefully I can keep freeing it up for the rest of the tournament you've got to put aside all the bad thinking you've done for so many years and try and think about something else. And it worked out okay on the back 9.

ROBIN FREEMAN: When you're making putts it's easy not to care. When you're not making them that's the hard part. We talk about Faxon all the time, Brad Faxon, how great a putter he is. And he said the more I try the worse I get. And it's a very, very, very hard thing to do is not try. It's not that you're not trying, but you're allowing yourself to play, instead of getting in your way tryying to make something happen. My swing coach, Jim Flick, we were talking about that the other day about two weeks ago, and how I was just trying to get the club in position more and working on some things, and he said just swing the club, just swing it. It will get there, your body will do what it was supposed to do. And I did great today. If there is any way I can stop thinking for another couple, three rounds I'll hopefully be in great shape.

ROBIN FREEMAN: It's funny, yeah, it is. You talk to anybody that plays great or has had a great round of golf, they don't think. They just see it and go. But it's so hard not to think. I don't know how to explain it any other way, it's hard not to think. But it is. If you can get into that kind of mode all the time, that's what great players do. I had an opportunity to speak to Larry Bird about it one time and he just said I look and shoot, just look at the rim and shoot. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. But you just do it.

ROBIN FREEMAN: Maybe in looks (laughter.) Maybe I can hope to compare with looks, but nothing else, no. Absolutely nothing. He's my idol, actually, the man that I really enjoyed watching.

ROBIN FREEMAN: Yeah, they were. They were spiking up a little bit. But if you tell all the guys not to wear spikes anymore, we'd be in good shape. Some of those guys with bad swings have to have spikes, and I don't like that. But they were in good shape. They were rolling really well, they were firm. Every green is consistent. There's no green that's faster or slower or harder than any other green. They're in beautiful shape. I can't wait to get on them tomorrow without thinking, just kind of hit it. There's a hole.

ROBIN FREEMAN: I know what your question is going to be: Is it going to be that easy tomorrow? No. I've done it several times in my career where I've done that, and all of a sudden you miss some and then you've got -- you say what am I doing wrong? Doc and I are working on it hard. I'm trying to get to that point where I can, even when I start messing up, don't make putts, I can still free it up and let it go. There's a difference between not making putts, but hitting a good putt, and there's a difference between not making a putt and hitting a bad putt. And as long as you keep rolling the ball where you're looking, they're going to go in eventually, you can't help it. That's the whole key, if you can just judge yourself on how you're rolling the ball, and if you're hitting your line, and you're doing what you're supposed to do, and you have to be able to judge yourself nicely so you're doing what you're supposed to do, eventually they'll go in. Instead of I missed another 4-footer. You hit it where you were looking, you just looked in the wrong spot. That's what we're working on. We're working on that a lot.