SHO_Transcripts (SHO_Transcripts.cfm)

Sunday Interviews: Craig Stadler - April 30, 2000

RUNNERUP CRAIG STADLER 66-69-69-71=275 (-13) [PLAYOFF] Craig Stadler: Have at it. Take your best shots. Q: I know it was frustrating but maybe just a couple of comments about the play-off and then we'll open it up for questions. Craig Stadler: Play-off pretty much sucked. Hit a lot of good shots. Hit a lot of poor putts. Couple of good putts that I thought I hit good putts. Hit one horrendous putt the first time around on 18. The second one, I don't know what the hell happened there. But short and right is not the signs of a very good stroke. putt on 10. I thought I played the left edge. But I hit a real good Played it left edge and it did not break at all. Just caught the hole. And then 18 second time around I thought I hit a pretty good putt. I just didn't quite hit it hard enough. Just let it tail off there at the end. It's not like I didn't get enough chances; that's for sure. You make such a good putt on 18 in regulation to tie when I had to make it and made a good stroke and good solid putt. And then do that the first hole coming back. Very ugly.
Q. Did you feel like you got tentative with it? Craig Stadler: Well, I -- I don't know if it was me. I'm sure it was probably just me. I didn't hit the ball very close to the hole today. But I hit a lot of good long putts and for birdies. But damned near everyone came up short. And I was short all day long. I tried to give it a little extra on the putt on 17, and I had a real good putt there and still came up short. And then 18 on the play-off hole, the first time around, just trying to roll it down there somewhere around the hole and I left it 4 feet short again or 5 feet short, whatever it was. I don't get it. I made a lot of 4- and 5-footers today. I bet I made 10 or 12 of them. I just kept leaving myself -- it wasn't anything new in the play-off or anything else. At least I started hitting the irons better. Good shots at 10 and good shot at 18. Actually all three of them -- well, the first one, regulation, wasn't very good. But the next two were pretty good at 18. To no avail. No matter how the hell close you hit it, if you can't make the putt, it ain't worth a darn.
Q. You kept bouncing back with good shots. But was it hard to focused when you were going back and forth to each hole? Craig Stadler: Not really. I didn't have -- I didn't have much of a second shot on 10 the second time around and I thought I hit a hell of a shot off the side of that bunker there. I had 169 to the hole and hit 9-iron right at it. And if it stays in the back fringe, it's okay. It jumped just in the heavy stuffi not a very good lie. Didn't hit a bad chip. I didn't hit that great of a chip from out of it. But saw that one right edge, hit it right edge, and it broke right. Obviously wasn't there on the greens so I needed it. No fooling me. Q. The first time on No. 10, did you think that putt was in? It looked like it was really right on it. A. On No. 10 I hit a good putt. I was watching his putt coming down from the left fringe and he left it about a foot short or 2 feet short, but it was tailing off pretty good to the left coming down. I CRAIG STADLER - ROUND 4 3 was on the same line on the other side. And looking at it from both sides, it looked like it was left edge or a hair out. I was so tentative on the first one and the second one, both, on 18 that just decided not to play it outside the hole, just play it left edge and give it a little more speed. And I cold cocked it right on the left edge and it didn't budge. Just caught the left edge, spun out about yea far by. But hit a good putt there. And then obviously it was too soft because it ended up just in the back edge of the hole, but I thought I hit a decent putt on 18. It certainly had plenty of speed to go in. I played left center, and it should have been inside Q. Pretty disappointing, though. Were you getting the feeling that it was still going to be left. your day? Every time you had the putt to win it and he was getting in trouble? Even at the end, he went under the bleachers there? A. I don't know. I didn't really think about it. You have your opportunities and you've got to take advantage of them and I didn't. I went 0 for 3. Plenty of chances to put it away and I couldn't do it -- or didn't do it, whatever. Q. What do you take away from this? A. Couple of Bud Lights. Could be a long night. First beer I've had since November. Q. First what? A. Might be long night. It's the first beer I've had since November. One on the way down here and I'm already feeling shot. Q. But overall, aren't you encouraged by your game in general? A. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy with the way I hit some shots in the play-off. But I've been playing well. So I'm kind of expecting it. I expect the middle of the fairway, to have an iron to the green. I expect a decent shot with my irons because I'm hitting my irons good. playing. CRAIG STADLER - ROUND 4 4 But I had no idea what was going on today. I was just I didn't look at the board at all day today. You could tell from the crowd after 17 that we were probably tied, but I really To have that many opportunities, it didn't know and I didn't care. Q. certainly doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth, that's for sure. Dick Harmon? A. up here. Did you talk to Dick very much this week? Huh-uh. I didn't get in till late and he came up -- he was Thursday and Friday I saw him a little bit. But it really I was swinging pretty good at it. was much need to it. He was on Q. the range a couple of times. It would seem to be a good thing that you didn't need him. A. Yeah, it's kind of a shame the way it turned out because I of putts. did putt very well this week. I was reading I missed some putts but I made a lot Really felt like I was stroking it good. the greens well, which is surprising for me on Bermuda, but didn't Q. of another good putt. And made some good putts. misread too many greens. A. Q. A. Q. A. Just one short Can you give us the lengths on the putts? The lengths of which ones? The play-off lengths and the one on 18. I'm sorry? The one on 18 that got you in. Regulation. I drove it in the fairway and hit a horrible Hit 3-iron -- or 4-iron but pulled it dead left, good second shot. Made that. chip shot about 6, 7 feet, I guess. First play-off I hit about 40 feet left of the hole and left it about 4 feet, 5 feet short and missed that. And 10, I hit 3-wood, 9-iron about 6 feet. 18, I hit driver, 5-iron about 8 feet, 9 feet, maybe 10 CRAIG STADLER - ROUND 4 5 feet. And 10, I hit 9-iron over the green, and I chipped it about 12 feet short, I guess. 10, 12 feet short. Q. Did you feel like the home team out there? A. No. Sounded like it. Q. Just didn't feel like it? A. No. I was a bit too much into it to think about it or worry about it. Q. Is that the much -- is that the most that you've really been into a round and have been that focused this year? A. The last two weeks, Hilton Head and here. I hit it on early. It's kind of turned around to where I'm shooting better. I'm making better scores and not necessarily playing any better or worse. But I figured out how to score again. And I was pretty into it today. I was pretty focused on what I was doing, so they say in the other sports. "Got to go out and give 110 percent. II "What the hell did you give yesterday? 80?" Never did understand that one. Q. When did you go left hand low on your stroke? A. Pebble Beach. So it's been nine, ten weeks now maybe. I just got fed up with the way I was putting. the last tournament I played before Pebble. At the Hope, which was I don't know what I did there, but it was horrendous. I was 9 under par, I think, and missed the cut. The cut was 11-under. It was 9-under and I was 36, 38, 37, 37 putts for the four days. So I was, what, 4 over par in putts and finished 9 under for the tournament, something like that. Hit every par 5 in two and all of them close. A lot of good shots. It was horrendous. Pat McGowen went out and walked with me at Pebble Beach. CRAIG STADLER - ROUND 4 6 And he said I "Have you ever hit cross-handed?" And I said no. We kind of messed around with it at Spyglass with it and started to feel pretty -- it felt awkward but it felt comfortable. And I can/t say that now because the first play-off this way. holel certainly on the second puttl but I never really mis-hit a putt And might read a few wrong but pretty much everything is solid. I hit a horrible putt the first one on 18. But the other couple were pretty good. It/s worked out well. Much more consistent. Q. Roughly if you just want to take a guess I how many people on Tour do you think putt that way? tell you. A. Q. A. Q. I have no idea. Not a clue. Percentage I it IS not half I is it? I don/t know. Might be. I couldn/t tell you. I couldn/t LEE PATTERSON: Anything else? Craigl do you feel like there/s a rustiness when you go four years without a win? Do you have to put yourself in that situation again and experience something that -- to feel good about? A. Q. A. Q. I didn/t get any of that. Try again. You haven/t won in four years. Yeah. Is there a rustiness when you're in a situation when have you a chance to win? A. I don't think so. If there was, I would have -- I wouldn't have hit the shots I hit at 10 and 18. I probably wouldn't have made the putt on 18 in regulation. But, no, it's kind of like - - liken it to snow skiing when you're not a skier. You go out for a few times and you skip a couple of years; you come back and you do the same CRAIG STADLER - ROUND 4 7 thing. It feels pretty much the same. You don't go out skiing five or six times a year as a 20 handicap and come back a 50. back basically where you were. You come I don't think so. The play-off was no different than the round of golf. 1 under par wasn't a great round of golf today but considering the winds and considering where I hit it a couple of times, it wasn't all bad. I made putts from here, Christ, every hole. That's why I'm getting so many damn gray hairs in here. I don't think so at all. You get to a point during the tournament. You get to feeling a little confidence and feel like you belong where you are. And if whatever was done in the past is over. It doesn't have anything to do with this week. Q. But just using your skiing analogy. If you're going through slalom gates and you're winning and you haven't been through them in four years, your line doesn't get back to right where it was after four years. A. If the opportunity presents itself, then it does. And you ask, well, why don't you present yourself with that opportunity more often? And I think there might be some more chances this year. Just mainly because the mind-set that I'm in. My work ethic has changed completely. And now I -- the last two weeks and -- in my mind, Hilton Head was still more important than this week, to me. Because I came full circle there. I went from being 46, almost 47-year-old that can't playa lick that goes out and misses every cut and what the hell are you doing out here, to somebody that can -- is back and, okay, now I feel like I can compete again. I'm hitting the ball good. I've got the confidence. I'm hitting my irons good. I'm putting well, with a few exceptions. So -- I keep saying last week because I didn't play last week. week. But Hilton Head was equally if not more important than this This weekl obviouslYI would have been huge if I would have won. And it was still a very good week. But second isn/t worth a shit compared to first. It/s not even close. Pretty much everybody knows that I and we know that more than anybody. But it IS certainly better than thirdl in hindsight. Q. Can you talk about your work ethic being completely different? What would you have done last year differently than what you did this year preparing for this tournament? A. Last year I would have done nothing. Would have taken the week off and maybe hit some balls a day or maybe Saturday or Sunday before I came down and then come down and see what happens. But now it/s to the point I almost feel guilty missing a day of practicel which I/ve never done before. But it/s a big change. But 11m enjoying itl enjoying it very much. Q. Was the -- when Robert hit it into the stands behind 101 was that a favorable -- favorable ruling? A. No. That was the shortest side. I think he probably -- if held have come out by the pickle buckets there over on the other sidel he probably would have had a little easier chip shot. But he didn/t have a difficult shot from where he was but didn/t have the best shot in the world. But he made a good putt. Somebody had to make a putt sometime I and the way it turned outl it probably wasn/t going to be me. And it wasn/t. Q. Was there one moment that made you decide III have to change the way I approach the PGA TOUR and my preparation for it?1I A. NOI it kind of built up over about two months I weeks and weeks of missing cuts and shooting 76s and 78s. Q. What did you do on that first day of your new regime? How did you start it? A. I couldn't tell you where I was or when it started. First day of the rest of your life. Don't know. LEE PATTERSON: Thank you, we appreciate it. A. Enjoy your champion. It's on his way.

Back to Transcripts Archive

TOURNAMENT COVERAGE

TRANSCRIPTS