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OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE PRO-AMApril 19, 2008Mark WiebeLUTZ, FLORIDA DAVE SENKO: Mark, thanks for joining us, following up your 66 with a 65 today, and right now you're 11-under going into tomorrow. Maybe just take us through your day. It looks like seven birdies and a bogey. MARK WIEBE: I had a bogey today. Well, weather was great. I noticed that when I got out here that there were some guys shooting under par, so I felt pretty good that the course was maybe letting us have some birdies. I played pretty good. I drove the ball nice again today. You don't know how many birdies you're going to have when you tee off, so seven birdies is always nice and I ended with a birdie so my beer will taste a little better when I have it tonight. The course is in great shape. It's kind of warm. The wind was tricky, really tricky, you had to be on top are your game. I think like we talked about the other day, you've got to be on top of it. I think I got lucky on a couple club selections and unlucky on some others. DAVE SENKO: Maybe just go through your birdies starting at No. 10, shot sequence. MARK WIEBE: Just to show you how hard the wind was blowing, yesterday I had a drive and to a back left pin, I hit a 9-iron to the green, and today I hit a pretty good drive and hit a 6-iron to a pin in the middle. So I think I was 154 yards maybe on my second shot. I hit a nice 6-iron to maybe 15 or 20 feet and absolutely shocked myself when I made it. It was a tough putt, downgrain, and just trying to get it close so I could tap-in, and it went in. I bogeyed the next hole, probably one of my best shots, I hit a 4-iron from 184 yards straight into the wind and hit a beautiful shot that ended up going over the green and didn't get it up-and-down. My next birdie was the par 5, 14. I hit a driver and 3-wood again. The wind was right in our face. Yesterday I hit a driver and 3-iron and had no problem carrying the cross bunker and today I hit a driver 3-wood and hit a 60-degree wedge from 63 yards and hit it to three feet, the pin is on the front right. The next hole is a tough hole. Hit a decent drive and just caught up in the left rough and hit an 8-iron to probably 25 feet and hit a great putt there. I had kind of an easy putt. It was uphill and you know, there was no, you didn't have to worry about -- some of the greens you really have to worry about the grain when you're putting up and over because you seem to be up against the grain and down the hill downgrain and that was kind of just the straight-up-the-hill putt. It was real nice. I birdied 18 again today. I hit a nice drive again today and I had 180-issue, 181, and hit a 6-iron, I choked up on a 6-iron and hit a beautiful shot and chased it back in there probably 15 feet and hit a great putt there to make the turn. That kind of gave me some good momentum going to the front nine. Let me see, I parred my way around until No. 5 and then I hit a rescue, which is like a 2-iron off the tee. I hit a sand wedge from 88 yards and to probably about six feet and made that. My next birdie was on the par 5 No. 7. Hit a decent drive, wasn't cutting the corner at all and we got out there and the wind, you know, it kind of did this all day and all of a sudden it switched and was downwind. I had 242 to the front and just ripped a 3-wood probably to 40 feet or something but on the green and putted it down to about two feet or three feet or something. Tapped that in. And I birdied No. 9. I hit a great drive, and great second shot to about 12 feet. My second was an 8-iron from 156 yards. And always nice to end the day with a birdie, and that was a tough pin placement, too. Q. Having won two weeks ago and the way you're playing now, is your confidence level as high as maybe it's ever been in your golf career? MARK WIEBE: I don't know if it's the highest it's ever been. I feel confident with my game. You know, although I didn't have a whole bunch of success on the TOUR, I still had a couple wins and I was in a few playoffs, so I played some good golf. I wouldn't say I'm as high as I've ever been, but I'm confident with my game. I like how I'm driving the ball, and that kind of -- you know, I'm putting nice. People say, oh, gosh, you're making everything. But did you see where I'm hitting from, I'm hitting from the middle of the fairway. When you're driving the ball nice, it really sets all the holes up for you, out of the fairway especially. I was in the rough a few times today and it's just a different ballgame in the rough. There's no way you can attack the pins, there's no way. You can get lucky. You know, I think I hit 11 fairways today and you know, that kind of instilled some confidence I think in the rest of my game, too, just being in the fairway. I like the way I'm working with my caddie. I like the way we're thinking. You know, sure, I'm confident. It's not the most confident I've ever been, but I feel pretty good. Q. Do you pay any attention to the people that are closest behind you? It do you look to see who particularly is right there, or are you just going to go and play tomorrow? MARK WIEBE: I'm sorry, it's a boring answer, it doesn't matter. All the names on this tour great, right. We all know them pretty well. I think it's exciting when I got done, somebody in the scoring tent said, "Hey, you might be [laying with Tom tomorrow." I said, "Awesome, playing a final round with Tom Watson? Sure, I'd love that." No, I don't look at the names. In fact, since I ended on the front nine there, were not any leaderboards really to pay attention to from 4 through 7. I don't remember seeing any, as a matter of fact. I don't know if I wasn't looking or too busy, and I didn't see a leaderboard until the ninth green, and it wasn't an electronic one, it was the one on the side of the green there, and I was leading by one and I thought, all right, that's sleep. I'm not a guy that looks away from the leaderboard. I look at it when it's out there and name-wise, I don't think it matters who is where, especially when the tournament is not over. At the end, you know, if you're No. 1, it's nice to see who you beat, for sure. Q. From what you've seen over the last two days, do you see the opportunity for a lot of movement, or is it going to be a grind? MARK WIEBE: I think the wind will dictate that for sure. I think the holes today, I thought the course played harder today than yesterday. You know, I played in the morning yesterday, too, so there wasn't as much wind; in fact, if any wind. I just think the pins I felt like were harder and maybe I felt like they were harder because you had wind to deal with, and it wasn't constant. It would be downwind, and then all of a sudden you could be ready to get up over the ball and it would change and be a side wind. You know, it changes your whole outlook on the hole, and if the pin is in the corner -- you know, I think any time you're in the hunt, it's a grind. I think you can make up ground on this course and I think you can lose ground on this course, easily. There's a whole bunch of wholes that you can have a two-shot swing, easily. You go over one green, like No. 1 today, our 10th hole, Des Smyth who I played with, who I thought hit a great second shot; and the pin is in the back right and it kept trickling over and down the hill and now he has nothing, and when he gets up the hill, he hits the green and it's back down again. So he hit a great shot to have a 15-foot par putt, and that's if you get in there and hit the green; there's a two-shot swing right there. So I think the golf course is exciting to play in that regard, for sure. Q. When was your surgery? MARK WIEBE: Which one? Q. The most recent one. MARK WIEBE: My knee, February 20 of this year. Q. And where was it, what town? MARK WIEBE: In Denver, Colorado. Q. And what was the specific injury? MARK WIEBE: I had a torn meniscus, and they just had to cut out the tear. The tear was inside the joint I guess, and they had to cut it out. Q. How long before you could hit again? MARK WIEBE: I really worked hard, really super hard. I played two weeks to the day after surgery, and I had to talk my doctor into letting me do that, and my physical therapist. I saw the physical therapist every day and he saw me working hard. I did tell him I could take a cart if I had to and they said, well, you're taking a cart or we're not releasing you to play. It was my left knee. Q. Two-shot lead is just kind of right there, not like great command of it, but you're not bunched either; if you look at it, is it yours to win or lose? MARK WIEBE: Well, Tom's not done yet. There's still guys -- I may not even be leading, the way he made, what, seven birdies yesterday on his back nine, who knows. Maybe I can speak for everyone; I think we all want to have a shot at winning on Sunday afternoon, and might be a boring answer but I'd love to have a chance coming down the wire on Sunday afternoon. I'd love to have a chance to win. Other than that, I won't be thinking much about it. Q. Because it's Watson, is it a little surprising that he didn't make as many birdies today, or goes back to just how hard it is to put rounds like that back-to-back? MARK WIEBE: It is hard when you have a round like that, especially birdieing seven of your last nine. It's hard to follow that up. Although he is Tom Watson; sometimes he's Superman. Those guys think differently than I do. But I really do think that pin placements today, pin positions today, along with the wind, made it a harder golf course today, I feel. Other guys might feel differently, but I just felt like it was harder to get to the pins today. Q. Have you played with Tom Watson in a competitive round? MARK WIEBE: Last year I played -- I won the SAS and I got to play in the players Championship. It was a week off and I got in that and, I can't remember which round, but I played with Watson and Gil Morgan, and it was just -- I haven't seen these guys for a while. They are great golfers and great guys. So, yeah, I have, and it's Tom Watson, you know -- Q. Never on a Sunday in a final? MARK WIEBE: I don't think we've played on Sunday. And I had played with Tom back on the TOUR, too. I'd have to go back and look. I don't know if I ever played with him on Sunday. Probably, with as much -- you play for 20 years, I'm sure we played somewhere on a Sunday. Q. Have you done anything differently to compensate for your knee injury as far as your physical play is concerned? MARK WIEBE: No, just working hard on my exercises and my stretching and then I have to ice and elevate, every single day. And this won't be an exception. I'll go back tonight when I get back to the room and put my knee up and put ice on it and get the swelling down. I will tell you it's awesome to walk again. The carts are a pain in the rear end. As much as I had to take one and I had to deal with it, I didn't like it, at all. So it feels great. My knee feels great and I think walking maybe keeps me looser; on the other hand, my swelling goes up, too. Q. So do you anticipate any problems with that in tomorrow's action? MARK WIEBE: No. Has not even crossed my mind. My knee has felt great. I've taken care of it. I've done what I've got to do and of course, icing. Q. Since you're still technically a rookie on the Champions Tour, wondering how much did you anticipate your 50th birthday? MARK WIEBE: Wow, that's really a love/hate deal. You know what, I was really excited to come play golf. I was excited to come play golf. Turning 50, I remember when my parents were 40. I was excited. But 50 sounds old, still, you know? I guess I was more excited than I was bummed out I was turning 50 already. I was very excited to come. I had no idea what was in store for me and I had no idea how neat it was going to be to see all the guys I started with on the TOUR again. And I came out and had a great reception and the guys were so cool, welcoming me out. And the first thing I got was: "You're 50 already," from everybody, Lietzke and Curtis and all the guys that -- I guess to answer your question, I was excited. But it's just another birthday, and again, I didn't know what was in store for me. Q. Can you compare and contrast the lessons you learned in this first rookie stint here, as opposed to the ones you learned on the PGA TOUR way back? MARK WIEBE: Well, you know, when you get on -- I didn't get on the TOUR until I think I was 26 or 27. You know, I was just a young kid. I really looked to some of the old guys, Dave Stockton, Fuzzy Zoeller and Andy Bean and Hubert Green, and a lot of guys that would help me along when I had questions on where to stay, how do you do this, how do you act in the Pro-Am, should I have a beer with them after; all of those questions. Now, now that I'm 50, it's a little different. I still ask things like, is this a party we should go to or not go to for the tournament, because I'm still not sure where I am. Because those guys are the life of the Champions Tour. Those are our personalities, and they should be. They are great entertainers and great guys and great golfers and great people and you know, if I go to a party or don't go to a party, I don't think I'll be missed like Fuzzy will be missed, so I still ask them if I should go. In fact, I saw him this week and asked a couple questions. And Jay Haas, I asked a bunch of stuff at the beginning of my Champions' thing. I asked Jay if he would just help me along the way a little bit about where to stay and what to do and how much to tip the locker room guys and everything is different, how much you pay your caddie, some simpler questions. But I think more life lessons when I got on the TOUR, than now, I hope that answers your question. DAVE SENKO: Just one other thing. Mark's 11-under, 131, ties the tournament 36-hole record. Congratulations. End of FastScripts |
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