BUICK OPEN

August 12, 2001

Billy Mayfair

BILLY MAYFAIR: Hey, the way that I played it on Thursday, I played it awfully well today, trust me. Friday too, yeah, okay.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Pitch-out. One thing we are not allowed to say in our house and our family is that word. My dad was a shanker and he never let me say that word. Maybe I inherited that from him, who knows. But you know, it's not bad enough hitting the shot, it is just standing there making out with people talk to you, they are laughing at you, but I think they are kind of feeling for you too because they have done it too probably, so who knows.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I don't know if I really left any out there. I didn't birdie --

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, I hope I didn't leave too many out there. I said to my caddie when I got done: I hope I finish top 25 by doing this. The conditions out there are absolutely perfect. There's no wind. The fairways are still pretty firm. The greens are soft. So there's a lot of birdies to be made out there. If you would have told me at the beginning of the day I was going to shoot 61 out there, I would have probably thought you were crazy. It's not something you think about, but I have been working with my golf swing all week. I had my instructor fly in Friday night, kind of worked a little bit yesterday, nothing was really all that great. We just kept on doing it and doing it and doing it. I hit a real good shot on 8, just on the back edge and made par. Then 9 I hit a 7-iron in about 15 feet from the hole and made that, and it just seemed like everything just kind of fell into place then. You hole one on 10 from the fairway, that's -- obviously hit a good shot, but that's a little bit of luck involved there too. You can't explain it, all of a sudden I just started -- the hole just looked as big as a tub to me and I was just trying to stay out of my way.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I think so. We really worked hard this year, Todd, my instructor and Dr. Bob Rotella is my sports psychologist, we really laid out a good plan for myself this year to back to really working on my short game and concentrating and staying focused and upbeat and in the present all that. So you can go low, so you can shoot these low numbers when you get a chance and obviously today it paid off a great deal.

BILLY MAYFAIR: (Laughs) Well --

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, the front side was absolutely pretty dull. I don't remember much about the front side be honest with you. I birdied No. 6. I hit an 8-iron in on No. 6 from about 150 yards, about four feet from the hole. Made that for birdie. Like I said, again, I hit a real good shot into 8. I had about a 10-footer on 7 for birdie. I just missed that so I felt like I let a shot get by me there. But like I said, I hit a real good 3-iron into 8 to the back edge of the green and putted it down and tapped it in for par. I hit a real good drive off of 9, hit a 7-iron in from about 165 yards, about, I'd say, eight, ten feet from the hole and made that. I started feeling a lot more comfortable. I guess I started feeling a bit more like I was at the British Open. I haven't had that feel, that confidence or feel in my golf swing and in my walk and all that. It fell like it was getting better. I can excited about it. Obviously I never thought it would happen, what I was going to do. I just started hitting good solid shots. And on 10 I hit a pitching wedge -- I am sorry, 10, sand wedge probably from about 110 yards, and probably flew about 115 yards. It spun back and went in the hole. Obviously that kind of gave me a spark in my step and all that, but I still wasn't thinking anything about records or anything like that. I hit 6-iron on No. 11 from about 175 yards, about ten feet from the hole and made that. 12, I hit driver off the tee. I hit 60 yards to the hole. I hit a little L-wedge, probably about ten feet short of the hole and made that for birdie. On 13, I drove it right underneath the big tree, and 13 today is almost playing like a par 4 today. They have got the tee on the back but they got it up front and they got the pin up front, the short -- one of shortest par 5s probably play all year, I hit a 3-iron from about 210 yards in the front left bunker and blasted it out probably about four feet from the hole and made that for birdie. Next hole I hit driver, real good driver off of 14 about 30 yards from the green and hit a little chip L-wedge about a foot from the hole and made that for birdie. Like I said, I went to 15 and 15 to me was -- I thought was the biggest deal because that's the hardest hole on the backside, I think. If you can get back at 15, then 16, 17, 18 are a lot easier than 15 is. I drove it right down middle of the fairway had about 190 yards, hit 5-iron about 15 feet from the hole, made that. Obviously then now I am really feeling good because I picked one up on a hole I really wasn't expecting to make birdie on. Drove it in the left rough on 16 and had about 280 to the front of the green; hit real good 3-wood just short of the green; probably about 20 yards short; didn't hit a very good chip and probably left it about ten feet short of the hoole and made that for birdie. We got to 17 and obviously we all remember what happened there on Thursday to me. I did make two there yesterday so I felt pretty good about it. Again, I didn't tee the ball up. I hit off the deck. 5-iron from about 202, and probably about 30 feet short of the hole and 2-putted from there. Hit a real good 2-putt there. That green is a tricky green today. 18 I hit a real good drive down the middle of the fairway. I had 145 yards to the hole. I hit a hard 9-iron probably about 12 feet below the hole; made that for birdie. So like I said, not only was I hitting it better but all of a sudden my putter got hot too.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Yeah, and on 18, that was a perfect putt. I had the putt from behind the hole. I knew exactly what it was going to do. The only thing I said is don't leave it short, don't leave it short.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Obviously it gives me a great deal of confidence. I think the most important thing though about going into next week now is the confidence factor, but two, I feel like I have found something in my golf swing. I feel like I am hitting it good, putting good, chipping it good. I don't have to go to Atlanta grinding my butt off the first three days to try and find something and maybe wear myself out. I am still going to go out and practice and play. I haven't played the golf course yet. I need to go out and do some work on it. But I don't need to go out and spend 8, 9, 10 hours out there and wear myself out like I thought I might have to to get prepared. So I think next week -- I think the most important thing about next week is obviously driving the ball in the fairway but is to stay rested, keep fluids in you and stay as focused as you can because it is going to be hot down there and it is going to be a long week.

BILLY MAYFAIR: You can do 8. (Laughs).

BILLY MAYFAIR: Chipped up there, that could have gone in. We could have been under nine putts. Like I said, all of a sudden the stroke felt good and the hole looked really big and fortunately the ball was going in.

BILLY MAYFAIR: I shot 61 at Dallas. I have the course record there, I think, someone else has tied that course record since then, but I believe I still got the course record 61 at Las Colinas. Not Cottonwood. We didn't play Cottonwood that year. That was before we started going over to Cottonwood.

BILLY MAYFAIR: We don't say shank. "Pitch-out. Pitch-out." It is a horrible word. My son will never know how to say that word. If he does he will be grounded for weeks if he says that word. But I just -- I tried to hit a hard 7-iron, pin was kind of in the front left part of the green. I had just come off making birdie on 16 and felt real good. I really wanted to hit a hard 7-iron there and I just got ahead of it. Sometimes my (inaudible) club comes from the inside and catches that hosel and there's nothing worse than that feeling and nothing worse than that sound. The ball I guess bounced around, and actually ended up in one of the signs with the bolts around it. Tony the PGA TOUR official and I, we must have worked ten minutes trying to get a pull out of the ground. Everyone's standing around, it's embarrassing, trust me. My best friend Phil Mickelson was on the tee. Funny thing about that Phil and I were in Ireland together before the British. He didn't believe me. He thought I way lying to him. He really did. No, no, Mark Calcavecchia was there, he seen me do it, all this stuff, and Phil didn't believe me. I kind of raised my hat to him and he raised his hat to me, and we have had dinner a couple of nights together and he is giving me a hard time, I got it up on the green. I made 4 on Thursday, but it was embarrassing.

BILLY MAYFAIR: That's all right. (Laughter).

BILLY MAYFAIR: (Laughs) he kind of gave me a high 5 when I walked off 18. He was walking down 9 and he gave me a high 5 because he knew I got by 17. Thank you very much.