THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 31, 1996

Wayne Westner

WAYNE WESTNER: I don't think I played as good today as I played yesterday. I played really sorry, I think. I don't think I played as good today as I played yesterday. I just -- I putted really good today. I had a lot of up-and-downs. I wasn't hitting my iron shots that good today. Got a little steep on the ball, so I started putting really nicely and got a good feel for the greens. So I think if I start hitting them half decent, I could shoot pretty low. Bogeyed the first. I hooked my tee shot left. Got it out just in front of the green, pitched up to about six foot, missed that. Hit it on the green in two on two and 2-putted. Missed the green in the bunker left, at 3, up-and-downed it. Hit it on the green at 4 and it spun back down off the green to the top of the green and to about 10 foot, made that for par. 2-putted the next 4-par. Hit it just off the green on the right of--

WAYNE WESTNER: That is the par 5, talking about now.

WAYNE WESTNER: Up-and-downed it from the right side of the green for birdie. 8, I hit it to about 3 foot, made birdie, hit 8-iron. 9, I missed the green again long in the bunker. Up-and-downed that for par. 10, I hit it short of the green, just short of the green, 2-putted for par. 11, I hit driver, 5-wood, front edge of the green, chipped and putted for birdie from about 5 foot. The short hole, I hit it over the green into the bunker, up-and-downed that for par. Next hole, I hit driver, 5-iron just over the back of the green, chipped and putted for par. 14, I hit it in the middle of the fairway with a 3-iron and I hit 9-iron into the water. And I up-and-downed that for bogey. Par 5 I hit driver, 5-wood again onto the green and 2-putted and made birdie. Next hole I hit -- is the next hole a short?

WAYNE WESTNER: 4-iron about 20 feet left of the flag, made it for birdie. 17, I hit driver, 8-iron, 20 foot, 2-putted. And 18 I hit a good tee shot and tried to hit a 9-iron second shot; it pitched on the green and spun all the way right down the hill, really tough pin placement. And pitched up to about six foot and misread the putt; made bogey. But I think considering the way I was hitting the ball today, I am pretty happy with 70.

WAYNE WESTNER: Driver, 3-wood, just right off the green; didn't hit a very good second shot. I pushed it right and hit a good pitch to about six foot and made it for birdie.

WAYNE WESTNER: 15?

WAYNE WESTNER: That was about 30 foot.

WAYNE WESTNER: No, I think they were all inside 10 foot, but you know, they are difficult distances at 6, 7, 5, 6, 7 foot range.

WAYNE WESTNER: I am a good two green putter if the greens are smooth and they are pure, then I am a good putter. I guess the only greens I don't putt well on are fast bumpy greens. I don't think anybody putts well on fast bumpy greens.

WAYNE WESTNER: A lot faster than what we are used to or what we play on in Europe most of the time, but just like a couple of days and then you start getting a feel of the place, and they are really nice. You hit the ball on the line and if you read it correctly, it just goes in.

WAYNE WESTNER: Today was very mild out there. There is not much wind; very calm. I think there is a lot of good pin placements out there today. I think it was certainly a little easier today than it was yesterday.

WAYNE WESTNER: I would imagine the guys -- somebody is going to shoot low today, I think. Unless the wind gets up, and it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

WAYNE WESTNER: Not too many. How many greens did I miss today? I think I will count the ones I missed; that might be easier. I missed eight. A couple of those, the ball was on the green at some stage and it just like rolled off.

WAYNE WESTNER: Yeah, 18 and 4.

WAYNE WESTNER: Yeah, it is really close. I think you will see that a lot today, a lot of guys hitting it and coming all the way back down. Not easy pitch down there. You are thinking to yourself just get it on the green, it will come back down, or you could be there all day.

WAYNE WESTNER: Yeah, I hit a couple of 5-wood shots, hit 5-wood at 14, is it? 5-wood at 14 and 11, twice.

WAYNE WESTNER: 15, both par fives, beg your pardon.

WAYNE WESTNER: Ernie Els is a national hero. Not too many guys have won the American Open. He is something special. He is almost as popular as Gary Blaise. I am nowhere near there. I am pretty well known. I am a household name in South Africa, but not anywhere what Ernie is.

WAYNE WESTNER: That is a tough question. Just depends on how you are swinging the club. Most of the guys out there hit the ball pretty much the same. It is all mental attitude. And I think time off, what it really does, is just clear your mind of all the unnecessary garbage that you collect while playing week after week. One of the reasons I take time off is because I just get tired of the conditions in Europe really. I think if I was on the Tour in the states I might play a little bit more, because it is really enjoyable. You play good golf courses in nice weather. The tournaments are so well run. You are looking -- you kind of feel really special when you get to a golf tournament out here. The guys don't seem to be able to do enough for you. And we still haven't gotten to that level in Europe yet.

WAYNE WESTNER: Four years. (LAUGHTER)

WAYNE WESTNER: I didn't play much at all from 1988 until halfway through 1991.

WAYNE WESTNER: No, I knew what I was looking for and I couldn't find it, and I certainly wasn't playing any good in Europe; so I just quit playing for four years and just went home, practiced a little bit and did a lot of other things. I still kept playing and practicing, but I was only playing 5, 6 tournaments a year on our Tour. And then when I felt that my game had improved a little to where I could compete again, then I went out in the season again.

WAYNE WESTNER: Like I said, I am very involved in conservation. Investment banking is another thing we are involved in which is pretty good fun. Playing golf everyday with a lot of different business people, I think it is a bit pointless not to use it as contacts.

WAYNE WESTNER: Yeah. Like I said, I am playing this week, next week; qualifying for the U.S. Open, and I am playing FedEx. I have written to the PGA. I am playing the International. I am playing the World Series, and I have written to the tournament after the World Series. I don't know what that is? Milwaukee?

WAYNE WESTNER: Then I think it is the Presidents Cup, I think I might be playing in that, and then maybe I will get another start the week after that, which I think is Canada.

WAYNE WESTNER: Okay. Well, I have written to the tournaments around the ones that I am already there, which is the World Series and the International.

WAYNE WESTNER: No.

WAYNE WESTNER: I don't know. I was counting the other day. I have played the International three times. I have played the World Series twice a long time ago, though. I think I played the World Series in '88 and then again in '91 or '90, and I have played Milwaukee. I have played the BC and I think I have played Chattanooga. That is about it. Just a handful.

WAYNE WESTNER: 18th.

WAYNE WESTNER: At the International Golf Series. Doing well there one year and then come the last round or the third round you had to -- all had to start again from the beginning. That is a string format. You play your butt off for two days; you end up playing tied with everybody else.

WAYNE WESTNER: I do -- I work out on occasion, you know. I don't -- I am not a fanatic. I smoke, and I think you can do anything as long as you don't do it in excess; try and stay as balanced as you possibly can.

WAYNE WESTNER: I don't have to lift weights. No, I feel like I am strong enough. When I was a lot younger, I did a lot of weight training. I built up my legs and arms quite a lot so I think I am certainly strong enough. I think that is one of my problems in my golf swing is I might be a little bit too strong and the stronger you are the more difficult it is actually to feel the golf club. I run quite frequently when I am at home or on the Tour, maybe run once or twice a week, but I am not a fitness fanatic, no.

WAYNE WESTNER: I don't know, maybe 10, 12 cigarettes a day. I smoke more on the golf course, I guess, just enjoy smoking on the golf course in between shots and when you have got nothing to do.

WAYNE WESTNER: I have been to a lot of good teachers in the states. I have been to Lytham and spoken to Mac O'Grady;. Peter Kostis; Bob Torrance in Europe. I think that really showed me, more or less, what it was that I had to do, so I just went home and just worked on it.

WAYNE WESTNER: It's a long story. I think I went to David when I was a lot younger and I knew nothing about the golf swing and everything David told me to do was correct, but I exaggerated all of it; so I went from one extreme to the other and then that actually just destroyed my golf altogether. It certainly wasn't David's fault. It was just that I didn't know any better. He said stop sliding your hips across and keep them still, so I started to do less pivoting. He would say set the club on play instead of taking it back on one piece and I started picking it up andwhen you do that for 3, 4 months, 800, 900 balls a day, it is really hard to get out of it. And you lose touch with what the most important thing with the golf swing is and that is just the club head. If the ball is going right, the club face is open; if the ball is going left the club face is closed. You don't have to think about the muscle structure of the body in order to get the club face to be square. That is really what happened. And now all I really work on is the club face, the club head.

WAYNE WESTNER: I gradually realize that thirteen years down the road. We are not that sharp professional golfers, you know?

WAYNE WESTNER: Yeah, I am still pretty long. Like I said, I am not ridiculously long. I have never have been. I can hit it far enough to reach most par fives. That is enough for me. I don't think it is important to hit the ball far.

WAYNE WESTNER: No. I think my swing shortened over the years through playing in Europe, but I don't think I have intentionally tried to hit the ball shorter.

WAYNE WESTNER: Yeah, the wind and the conditions and the clothing that you wear. In Europe you are playing with two sweaters and waterproofs and it is a bit difficult to make a John Daly two.

WAYNE WESTNER: I am not too sure, but I think it is 10.

WAYNE WESTNER: I won in Europe twice and South Africa, I have won, yeah, it is about ten times total.

WAYNE WESTNER: You mean apart from home?

WAYNE WESTNER: Oh, yeah, definitely.

WAYNE WESTNER: Thanks.