GTE BYRON NELSON GOLF CLASSIC

May 11, 2000

Billy Andrade

BILLY ANDRADE: Well, I kind of think that if it gets any worse, they are going to have to think about maybe calling it. The front nine was playable, it seemed, and the back nine just seemed to get tougher and tougher, over across the street. I don't know what it's like over here, but it's got to be very, very difficult. The winds, it's very strong, I don't know what direction it's coming out of, but it seems that the golf ball and some shots that in my group hit today looked like a whiffle ball out there. When you can't control your ball all the time, it plays -- it plays a lot harder. I haven't played this golf tournament a whole lot, and I haven't played Cottonwood but one time; so I really don't know much about it, but I know it's easier -- they say it's easier than TPC. But I'm elated shooting 2-under there and happy with it, and it's -- it's tough. Calcavecchia today had a tough time. Loren Roberts shot even; he played well. But I think the hard part about when the wind is blowing is chipping and putting. You know, you're not going to hit a lot of greens and you're going to hit some chip shots that are funny, and it's hard to putt. And when the conditions are like that, the scores go up, and that's what happened.

BILLY ANDRADE: Yeah.

BILLY ANDRADE: I do. I had a couple chances at birdies, but saved myself with some nice up-and-downs on the back. I haven't had a very good year, and my start hopefully will be here. I've played very well this year, I just haven't seen any results whatsoever. So hopefully, this will be the start of something great.

BILLY ANDRADE: If every day is like today, yes. I don't know what the highest scoring Nelson is, what the record is for the highest score, but if you have four days that blows like this, then definitely, you know, it's going to be hard. Where's Davis playing today?

BILLY ANDRADE: I birdied one -- I birdied 1. I hit an 8-iron about ten -- eight, ten feet, made that. 6, I hit a sand wedge about five feet, and the next hole I hit a sand wedge about three feet. So those were my three birdies on the front. On 9, I hit a 5-iron 186 yards thinking it was the right club, and I hit it over the green about 20 yards; so, it was obviously not a 5-iron. It was way the hell over the green, too. I was happy to make a 4. 10 and 11, I had a couple of opportunities there that I didn't capitalize on. And then the last hole, I had a pretty close putt there that I didn't make. But in between there, I made some nice up-and-downs, and I'm very, very happy with posting the 68 today.

BILLY ANDRADE: Yeah, I hit a 6-iron from 150 yards on 15 up the hill. Normally I hit a 6-iron around 180. I can hit is a little further if I needed to. And the minute I hit it, I started walking, because it was just crisp, perfect shot. And it came up 20 yards short of the pin, short of the bunker, and it was just like -- totally shocked. And then the next hole, 16, I missed the fairway left next to a tree; chipped it down. I had 80 yards to the pin and I hit a sand wedge, and the minute I hit it, I thought I was playing whiffle ball with my kid because it just went, whew, straight up, and it came up way short. I probably hit that about 60 yards. Loren Roberts, we were both talking on 17 and 18 how, you know, I think the hardest thing is patience and staying patient. And I think that's what gets everybody is you get a little testy, you hit some shots that are funny, and you start getting upset or start losing your patience, and when you do that, you're toast.

BILLY ANDRADE: No, I haven't. I haven't had a very good year so far.

BILLY ANDRADE: I think if you play in lousy conditions, they are really bad. You want it to be, like, perfect if you're playing bad.

BILLY ANDRADE: Not really, because I haven't seen results; it's not that I haven't played well. I've missed a lot of cuts. You know, I've felt -- I felt great over the ball. I just haven't made a lot of putts. My whole career, I've been a very good putter and I just haven't made anything. You know, everything is result-oriented. What you shoot is what you shoot, and if you're not shooting good numbers, you don't make any money out here. So I'm confident with the way I'm playing. I just haven't seen anything yet, and hopefully this will be a nice start to a nice stretch run, because I'm playing a lot of tournaments up to the Open. So I think it's going to be great.

BILLY ANDRADE: What you do mentally is you'd better birdie that hole downwind, because you know the hole coming back you have a good chance of making bogey. So you just know, you just know going out, you know, the way the wind is blowing that you need to capitalize on certain holes; and try to make some birdies or have a chance to make birdies on those holes, because you know the holes that are coming back into the wind are going to be very difficult to make par.

BILLY ANDRADE: I got off to a nice start with birdie, being 3-under out after 7; so getting off to a nice start like that puts you in a nice frame of mind and gets you kind of going. And after that, you're just trying to survive it seemed like, as the wind picked up.

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