home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BOOZ ALLEN CLASSIC

June 9, 2005

Matt Gogel

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

THE MODERATOR: Matt Gogel, congratulations on a first round 63. This sets a Congressional Country Club course record. Can you talk about the conditions of the golf course and how you played. Very well obviously.

MATT GOGEL: Well, I started on 10. You know, that's 475, 80 yards uphill. You know, I made a good par. I think par's a good score on that hole anyway. Plays almost like a par 5. Made about a 15 footer for par. We were all short of the green.

From there played real solid. Hit the greens on 11, 12, 13, 14. Shooting at 14, I had to pitch out. Made another par. Made another about 15 footer. Through the first five holes or so, I was just, you know, playing pretty solid. But didn't give anything away. Made a couple nice par 5's. Got on a roll from 15 on.

THE MODERATOR: As far as the condition of the golf course, how it plays?

MATT GOGEL: Yeah, the course is in absolutely perfect shape. The fairways are a little soft still so the balls aren't going to run through the fairway, and the greens are soft. The greens are absolutely, you know, as perfect as you can get. They just roll so smooth. And I like poa annua greens. These are poa annua. I think you can make a lot of putts. For me they're easy to read.

But the condition of the golf course is no wind, soft fairways, soft greens, so scores are going to be pretty low.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Assuming your course record holds up, how many times have you been the leader after one day of a tournament?

MATT GOGEL: I don't know. Probably, oh, two or three times on the PGA TOUR. I really don't know the answer to that.

Q. From a golf striking perspective, this hasn't been a very good season for you. Kind of out of nowhere today?

MATT GOGEL: No, I switched irons about four tournaments ago and went back to a set of Ping irons. Not the same set, but Ping irons non the less that I played for 17 years. So that's helped me put the ball on the green with a little more confidence.

I'm driving it better. I've always been a pretty good putter. It's kind of my time. I really kind of hit rock bottom about a month and a half ago. I just had the, you know, most disappointing year I've ever had in professional golf. So it's finally kind of turned around. I'm getting some confidence.

I talked to Curtis Strange about this before: What comes first, good scores or confidence? And good scores is I think what breeds confidence. So finally I put some scores up. Then you can relax, you're more patient, you don't hit at every flag and you don't make as many mistakes. I really feel like things have turned around. I don't feel like I'm over the hump, but I certainly feel like I'm playing better and looking forward to the next half of the season.

Q. Have you played Congressional before?

MATT GOGEL: Yeah, I played the '97 Open here.

Q. Talk about some trouble spots.

MATT GOGEL: I was in a bunker on 7. I hit a lousy 7 iron. That was really the only bad swing I made all day. I got up and down, hit a nice bunker shot. But really in '97, the 6 hole is a par 5. For us in '97 it was a par 4. Extremely demanding hole. Of course, 10 is about a 4.75. That's a difficult hole, especially when they get the pin more back. You know, then 13 and 14 and 16, 17, those are all difficult holes.

The back to me is extremely difficult, maybe the toughest nine holes we'll play on TOUR really. Again, this is really for us much more of a US Open or major championship feel. But the rough is not as thick, the greens are not as firm. The backside is extremely demanding.

Q. (No microphone.)

MATT GOGEL: No, because, I mean, I had such a lousy year, I'm saying get as many under par as you can. You know, it's our time to go now. You know, I've had a lot of bad scores, I've had a lot of disappointments. I felt like I haven't really had things go my way on top of that.

You know, my thing is now just to get as many in and see what happens. Guys out here don't back down. It's important to be playing as well as you can.

Q. (No microphone.)

MATT GOGEL: That's a par 5. The pin is just over the edge of the pond or the lake there on 6. I didn't feel like if I laid up I could get the ball rolling my way. You can't take the risk of being short so you have to pass the hole. If anything, I was honestly trying to hit it in the left bunker and just go sideways through the hole and try to get eight feet or better and make a birdie that way.

When things are going your way, you come off a 3 wood you're supposed to hit in the left bunker, it starts to shape right in the middle of the green. It was a miss hit. But it ended up perfect, 35 feet or so, and I 2 putted.

Q. (No microphone.)

MATT GOGEL: No, not much at all. Avenel you really have to drive it way over on the left side. You had the tree over around the green up there. I really don't think it's very similar at all. It's a real nice setup here.

Q. (No microphone.)

MATT GOGEL: PGA Championship? I'd say that's fair. You know, I was here on Monday for the US Open qualifier, and obviously we had a huge storm come through Monday night. But I don't think that's what made these greens as soft as they are now. And I fully think they'll firm up, too, barring any rain. But for the US Open, for somehow, some way, those greens would not have been as soft as they were today. And that's the major difference.

When they get so firm, it just becomes tough. It's a battle all day. And that's what they want. The PGA Championship I think allows you to score a little bit more. So I think that's right, yeah.

Q. You played pretty well Avenel. Is there something about playing in this area?

MATT GOGEL: It's poa annua greens, again, are greens I won at Pebble, and those are poa annua greens, although a little more bumpy than here. But I like I like this time of the season. I live in Kansas City, so coming off the Southeast and Bermuda greens and Bermuda grass for me is difficult because I don't play it very often.

But I like you know, I like the area and I like the golf course. Obviously, people here at Congressional are being extremely generous giving up their golf course for us for a week, especially the swimming pool. I mean, I think half the membership could care less about playing in the hundred degree heat, but you bet they want their pool back.

Q. Did you qualify for The Open?

MATT GOGEL: No, I missed it.

Q. Was the frustration of that any carryover into this?

MATT GOGEL: I haven't had a great year really. To be quite honest, my priority is playing well the next four or five events, which are some of my favorite events. Here, playing at Congressional and then Westchester in two weeks and Chicago I played very well and John Deere where I played well.

You know, I wanted to play in The Open, don't get me wrong. For me right now it's important that I do well in the PGA TOUR. If I would have qualified for The Open, I would have had to take one of those events off that I really enjoy playing, and that would have been tough to do.

Q. You said earlier that you hit rock bottom in terms of your game about a month and a half ago. Could you elaborate on that a little more? What was it specifically?

MATT GOGEL: Well, you know, you get to the point where I think it was Dallas really because, you know, I started showing signs of playing well and I missed the cut there I think by two shots. I think the cut was even. I was 2 over. But I felt like, gosh, I'm playing well, I'm just getting nothing out of it. The type of round where you go through for six holes, you miss birdie, miss birdie, miss birdie, you hit one bad shot and you're underneath the tree. That's kind of how my year has been really. Just nothing positive has gone my way.

But, you know, I felt like that was it. I'm playing well. Things are going to change. And, you know, I played in Memphis, and they changed, I played pretty well the first few days, then obviously played well today.

Q. People on the TOUR have a sense that Congressional is a little different in the sense that not every Open course, the membership never turns its course over to the TOUR?

MATT GOGEL: Not in today's day and age. You look at where we're playing golf courses, we're either building golf courses, the TOUR is, TPC, or we're going to a new development where they want us to, you know, promote the area, promote the course or community or what have you.

I mean, this is a huge treat for us. There's only classic courses that I can think of that we play on TOUR: Riviera, Westchester, Pebble is a different feel. But Riviera, Westchester and here. I guess this year we're up in Canada at Shaughnessy, which is a very classic golf course as well.

This is a treat for us. I mean, you know, when I was coming on TOUR in 2000, these type of golf courses were starting to fall off the schedule. Like I said, members are being very generous to allow us to play here this week.

Q. Do you still get attention or people remember what happened to you at Pebble in 2000 with Tiger holed out in the fairway?

MATT GOGEL: Yeah, I'm surprised that they still do. I guess that's the star power of Tiger Woods. I think they probably remember the fact that I won in 2002 more than what happened in 2000.

I don't know. I mean, people have been pretty nice to me. Either they are avid golf fans and they have not better to do than follow golf, follow a guy way down on the Money List. They've been nice to me and I appreciate that.

Q. (No microphone.)

MATT GOGEL: Yes. So I guess this is probably my second lowest round on TOUR.

Q. (No microphone.)

MATT GOGEL: It's more recent.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about a couple of things. First of all, just about the mysteriousness of golf, a course record round can come out in a year like this.

MATT GOGEL: I'm sorry?

Q. Talk a little bit about just the mysteriousness of golf and how a course record round can come out for you in a year like this.

MATT GOGEL: Well, like I said, I feel like I turned the page a month ago in May at Byron Nelson. You know, the greens are soft right now. I mean, they set up the pins fair because we haven't been here since, what, '84, '85. You know, the US Open is just a whole different animal. So I think they're just trying to figure out, you know, they didn't want us to come out and everybody shooting over par. I think they were fairly generous to see what we could do on the golf course.

And on top that, you know, we're all pretty good players. There's 156 guys in the field, and everybody's capable of shooting a low round. It happened to be my day. But I fully anticipate there's going to be some 4, 5, 6 under pars. It's that way on TOUR. No matter where we play, somebody always gets out with a low round.

Q. When you say you hit rock bottom, is rock bottom for you "I'm throwing away the clubs"?

MATT GOGEL: No. I mean, it's obviously self doubt that comes in. But, you know, it's just you know you're capable of doing things. You know, I've won out here. I've played well. I've been consistent. I never had to really even worry about the top 125 on the Money List. You know, just to get off to a start this year where I was missing cuts, it's brutal on your confidence.

You know, I'm getting older. You're watching young guys come in hit the ball 330 yards. You go, "Man, what is my future?" And we were playing longer courses during that year. We played Houston, 7500 yards, New Orleans, 7500 yards, Atlanta, 7400 yards. We were playing some monsters out there and I was struggling.

Q. You changed clubs.

MATT GOGEL: Yeah, irons.

Q. Did you go see a psychologist? How do you get yourself out of the funk?

MATT GOGEL: Well, you know, it's tough to say. I wish I had the recipe because it won't be the last time I hit a lull. And you can see it. I mean, you play with guys I played with a friend of mine today Glen Day, and he's struggling. He's not that far off. You almost want to go up to him and say, "Glen, you're not far off." I wish somebody would have said that to me a month ago because you feel like you're miles away. I could tell from my 63 to his 77 or 76 or whatever he shot, that he's not far off.

THE MODERATOR: If we can go through your birdies today.

MATT GOGEL: First birdie was started on the back, so it was 15, the par 5. Hit it in there about 15 feet, made the putt.

16, I hit an 8 iron in from 150 yards. Hit it about three feet.

18, hit a 7 iron in. The pin is up front right, kind of in a little bowl. I hit a very good shot. Again, that makes the shot easier with no wind. About eight feet, made that.

1, I hit a wedge in from 130. I was about 12 feet, 15 feet at the most.

3, I hit a 6 iron in. Pin is up on the top shelf. I was up 30 feet. Made a long putt there.

4, I hit a 9 iron from 155 I believe, 150, 55. It was about 20 feet. Made a good putt there.

6, talked about it, hit a 3 wood in the middle of the green, hit about a 30 footer to about two feet.

8, I hit a 3 wood, got a little bit farther up than I thought. Only had 63 yards to the hole and was able to spin it back to about a foot with a 60 degree lob wedge.

Then parred 9.

Q. It noted in your bio that you met Mother Theresa.

MATT GOGEL: Yeah, it was great. The year before I was over on the Asian Tour, fresh out of college. I tell the story how I was 20 kilometers from the Great Wall of China, didn't go visit it, two blocks from Tienanmen Square, I didn't go visit it. My wife, she was my girlfriend at the time, but when she came over in '95, she says we're going to see some things while we're over here.

One was we were in Calcutta, India. The American consulate came up to us on Sunday and introduced himself. We were all heading out, going on vacation. We were actually going to Australia for a couple weeks. She asked if Mother Theresa was in town. He said, yeah, she's in town. She has a little mass every morning at 5:30. You're welcome to attend. She hired a driver, went over to her convent.

Never forget, it's like an old little infirmary really. It was just in a little old hospital. But anyway, you went upstairs, there were a hundred nuns sitting in this room, the priest is saying mass. She's up against the back of a wall sitting on a milk carton, if you can believe it, because her back is so bad.

Then they broke at 6:30 and said at 7:00 they were going to go out and feed the poor. Any volunteers that were here today could stay and help. There were tea and banana bread downstairs if you want anything. When I came up the stairs my wife said, I'm not moving, I have to see her pass by. My wife is not a Catholic, I'm a Catholic. She's an Episcopal.

She stays there. I come upstairs. She's talking to Mother Theresa. Oh, my. I threw a camera to a pal. We have a picture of the three of us. Looks like we sat and had lunch for three hours and were best friends. It was a pretty amazing experience.

Q. Did she know anything about golf?

MATT GOGEL: No. She asked where we were from. My wife said Kansas City. She said that she's been to St. Louis, which is not far. She asked if we could stay. We said we were heading to Australia. She blessed us. That was it. Had a little experience.

THE MODERATOR: Matt, thanks.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297