FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 25, 2000

Bob May

BOB MAY: It is a little disappointment. I had a good chance on 18. I had thought if I made that putt, you never know what could happen. I don't know, Notah was playing pretty good. I probably would have made the putt if he had to. It would have been nice to see what would have happened if I would have made it.

BOB MAY: Like on No. 16 I hit it in the left rough. I am just trying to make sure I draw the ball and this one, this driver is not quite as easy to draw as my other one, so I favored the center of the fairway trying to work a draw. I got over just a little bit and drew it too much and put myself in the left rough which was not a very good place to be on a par 5 that we can reach in two.

BOB MAY: They had a tough pin placement today. They were nice enough to put the tees on that for us on that hole. It is a tough pin to get to. The shot Notah hit, that was just world-class. It is something like you see Mickelson hit. I mean, he didn't have much green to work with sloping away from him. I didn't get to see him hit it. I just -- I heard him hit, I kind of looked up because I was looking down, and I saw the ball land. I thought, boy this thing needs to bite. Well, it did. Next bounce it stopped on a dime. He hit a great shot. It would have been very easy for him to get it right over the other side and be down off the green.

BOB MAY: I don't think I really putted that bad. It all started on No. 12, I hit a good iron off the tee. I hit what I thought was a good 9-iron in there. Landed hole-high and just kind of caught a little bit of a dry spot on the green and released out and got into some -- just a little patch of some thick grass there. I hit a chip shot - you don't know how it is going to come out-I hit it, came out nice. Just didn't roll out. Played the putt on the right-hand side. I hit it. It hit right inside and spun out. So actually I think I hit 5 good shots. The next hole was where I hit my bad shot of the day. Good 2-iron off the tee, just trying to hit an easy 9-iron in there, kind of came out of it. Hit it high right just on the front of the green and it looked like from one side of the hole the ball was going to break left. Other side looked like it was going to break right. I thought it was going to go left at first; then might straighten out and go right. When I first hit it, it took off right, and once it got going right it caught that slope and just kept on going right. So that was kind of disappointing. That was probably the worst shot. Then the next putt just didn't give it enough break. But other than that, I hit -- I thought I hit a good putt on 15, and it never broke down. I just gave it a little bit too much. Then I don't know if you all saw on TV on 16, I thought I hit a great putt. If you -- they had cameras on both sides of me, like it was going right in. You actually be able to see the ball hopping right. It got something to move it outside its line. Then at the last minute it was trying to come back in on the line that I had it on. It just missed on the high side. I made what I think was a great putt on 17 to keep me in it and gave myself a chance on 18. 18 I had a two spike marks I was trying to go in between. I wanted to go up at the high one because that is at the pace I wanted to hit it, but I decided to go just inside it, and it just wasn't enough. It was a putt you didn't want to get too greedy with it and hit it you could run it by three, four feet, I was trying to make it, but I also-- was concerned with that spike mark and it didn't really throw me off. I just didn't hit the putt hard enough for the line that I chose.

BOB MAY: No, I didn't not until I -- when Notah -- actually after I hit my tee ball on 18 I asked my caddie I said, who is leading this thing. He goes, I believe Notah is. Then when Notah hit his shot in there, I thought it was about a foot or two, so I told him I said, I guess we have got to make two. He said, yeah, go right at it. I tried to hit a 9-iron up to the right draw it in there, and it went out to the right drew in there just not enough, but I still think it was a good shot.

BOB MAY: Oh, I learned a lot. I was patient. I didn't -- I don't think I hit any real bad shots to be disappointed about. By the way the scores are obviously I kept myself in it all day. There might have been some people think I was going to fall away, but-- heard Curtis Strange say maybe he should be in here saying, I am going to win and I am going to do this and that. That is nice of Curtis thinks I should be saying, but that is just not my type. Deep down inside I feel I can win and just because I don't act like that I don't want to be known as some arrogant brat out here or stuck-up guy because I say I can win. Just let your golf clubs do the talking and I have a lot of respect for all these other guys out here. It is not that I don't think I can win but I think, you know, loose lips sink ships.

BOB MAY: I watched the telecast last night. He goes -- he said that he would have liked to see me come in the interview and said: I am going to win instead of these guys are good players, da-da-da da. Deep down inside I felt I could win, but you start saying things like that, you are just setting yourself up for a fall. I mean, you don't have to express what you feel deep down inside.

BOB MAY: Yeah, he seemed confident. He seemed poised. Granted, Notah is a great player I am not going to take anything away from him but Colin Montgomerie is probably -- obviously he is, what, third in the world or fourth in the world, and you are playing where he lived, within an hour of that golf course. He was playing at his best. He was going for his 7th victory that year. Starting three shots behind him is kind of tough. But so it wasn't anything the same at all.

BOB MAY: Well, Europe, I did enjoy Europe and if I had to go back I would go back. It would not phase me at all. But I enjoy being over here. This is my home and it is easier for me to travel over here with my family. Colin Montgomerie and I talked, I said, why don't you go play in the States. He said it is just not home for me. That is why he stays in Europe. It is just not home. That is why I want to stay over here because this is home for me and it is easy for me to travel over here with my family. If the baby gets sick or something I can go straight to a hospital or a doctor and there is no language barrier, and all the terms are the same over here. It is easier to find places to eat and things like that. Maybe over there it is easier for him.

BOB MAY: You know what, for some reason this week I had a lot of patience. All year I have had very little patience and getting to the Open you know you are going to make bogeys, and I told myself just to be really patient there and believe it -- it just carried over here. It really didn't phase me because I was putting so well, I thought I will get a birdie somewhere here on the way in if I don't get more than one. The disappointment was on the next hole when I hit that first putt. That was disappointing. That was really the only disappointing part of it besides that 9-iron on the fairway. Those two shots back-to-back, but other than that, I wasn't -- never was really disappointed with the way I performed.