ARCH WIRELESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 19, 2000

Dottie Pepper

DOTTIE PEPPER: This is typical of a windy day, lots of ups-and-downs. First one was at the 4th. Hit 8-iron in there to 15 feet. Bogeyed the 5th after driving it in the fairway bunker, hitting it long over the green, nearly into Flagler County. I had about 25 feet for par. Actually, hit a pretty good putt. Got it right back at the 7th. I hit 5-iron in there to three and a half feet. Made bogey at 10. Missed a putt from about 18 feet for par there.

DOTTIE PEPPER: God, I mean, I hit the ball off the tee. I picked up my tee and turned around. Next thing I hear Dale saying, "Stop, don't go." Kicked 90 degrees left. I never even saw it. I saw the ball in the air and assumed it was perfect. I had nothing down there. I was off there by a step or two and just had nothing.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Hit 7-iron in there. 11, I hit 5-iron in there, about 10 feet. Our putting exhibition on 12, wow (laughter). Hit 3-iron there. I guess it doesn't count as a 3-putt.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Isn't that pitiful? Just rolled it right by the hole. Kept going off the green. Then Annika made mine look good. Hit a worse putt than I did. That was amazing. I made the last one at 15. I hit 6-iron in there, about 12 feet.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, I didn't do much until -- I caught my first real good glimpses walking from 14 to 15. You almost have to walk into the score board to get from green to tee. Frankly, I was surprised. I mean, I knew getting the ball up-and-down at 13 was important. But I didn't know what Rachel was doing. I mean, I thought maybe I had a one- or two-shot lead over Annika. As it turned out, it was Rachel. Annika had fallen further behind with the bogeys at 13 and 14. Put a new perspective on what I had to do. I thought down on 15th I would have to make two birdies coming in to make something happen. As it turns out, I hit a great shot into 15, converted on that one. After looking at the leaderboard on 18, I realized that Rachel had helped me out by making 6 at 16. That being said, I was more comfortable.

DOTTIE PEPPER: That was huge. Just to be able to stick with the thought that I had going was pretty important. The pace of my putting has been really, really good for the last four weeks, ever since Mobile. I went through those unbelievable greens at Mobile with no 3-putts, over 72 holes, with the exception -- the score card doesn't say I 3-putted, but I think I did, at 12 today. That was the only one here. Given the size of some of these greens, the wind blowing, too, out of the four days the way it did, I think that was pretty monumental.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, I mean, you really need -- when it gets going like it did for her, you really need to pay attention to what you're doing. She struggled with the flat stick. It's easy. I mean, when the wind blows, you really feel like you have to hit good golf shots because you don't know if you can convert birdies. It all sort of mushrooms itself very easily. It takes some real fortitude not to get caught up in all of it.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Measuring? Oh, sure (laughter). I wouldn't have made them replay it though - this time (laughter).

DOTTIE PEPPER: Terry said it was her way. That's what I thought it was. She thought it was me. I said, "I'm not sure." Terry hopped right in there and said it was clearly her play. But I had to chuckle, I have to admit (laughter). It was all too coincidental.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I know (laughter).

DOTTIE PEPPER: Great learning experience. I never would have imagined I would spend an entire summer at home, not at 35. Maybe at 55, but not at 35. I mean, I know this is going to sound like I'm giving the guy a big old plug, but I am. Tom Boers is unbelievable, what he does with people with back issues. Stuff I do seems so simple. It's amazing. I mean, to come out and be able to play, play with no pain, after where I was in July, is really phenomenal.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I am pain free and drug free.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Like I said, when I was in Mobile, I wouldn't have been legal for the Olympics, but now I would be legal (laughter).

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, it was a lot of abdominal work that I do every morning when I get out of bed. There's some simple stretching that is very passive. Most of his stuff is gravity-related and very passive. The stuff I was doing before was pretty active stretching. It was very harsh. The stuff I'm doing now is very simple. Every time I get a chance, if I'm just laying on the floor, watching TV, whatever, I go through it in five minutes. I do it three or four times a day. It's amazing the difference it's made.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Tom Boers, B-o-e-r -s.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Columbus, Georgia.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Tomorrow.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Can't wait for January, really. I'm pretty well-motivated to work hard over these next, you know, six weeks. It will be great. We have the Hyundai matches in the middle, which I think is a good check point for me. Three weeks later, start again. I think the schedule has worked out really well. Certainly my enthusiasm level is way up there right now.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, I'm going to play all three in January.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Absolutely. She literally did it from St. Patrick's Day to Labor Day. We'll use her as the example, that's right.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, I mean, I have to admit when I got in contention in Portland, I got a little nervous, thinking to myself, "I haven't touched a golf club basically for seven out of the last nine weeks. What the heck am I doing here leading a golf tournament, probably five, six holes to go?" It wasn't by accident. You know, you have to tell yourself that you paid the dues, you're supposed to remember how to do this.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, I mean, I played very well. I mean, the first day of Solheim Cup was an absolute flat tire. But Saturday and Sunday were very good. I played pretty solidly both days. I picked it right up in Mobile. You know, the par 3 last week was big. I carried it right into here.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I was surprised. I mean, I'm a Weather Channel fanatic. Somehow it didn't register out of the southwest at 15, which is what they were calling for. When I got out here, you're hitting these sand wedges that are going 50 yards. I played the first five holes without a visor. It wasn't going to stay on going into the wind so I just gave up. I think it definitely makes you realign your thoughts. Instead of going out there and playing so aggressive, I think it makes you go out there with the goal of hitting golf shots from point A to point B and hit them solidly so the wind doesn't affect them so much.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No doubt. No doubt. The combination of the golf course and the wind separated who was playing well. No question.

DOTTIE PEPPER: If I could look into the crystal ball, I would hope I could say yes. Like I said, it certainly makes my "off-season" pretty enthusiastic preparation. I'm anxious for January to get here, no question.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Stay healthy (laughter). If I'm healthy, I can play the schedule I want, and I think I can be competitive when it comes to the end of the year stuff, from the Vare Trophy to Player of the Year. Just being healthy over the last six weeks is proof positive of that.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Absolutely. I mean, it's very similar. It's not as bad as Fred Couples' situation, but it's always something you will have to address and stay on top of. Long flights are not good, sitting for long stretches at a time are not good. It's a minor lifestyle change, but it's no big deal.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No red-eyes because it has to have time to calm down before I fly. Miss exercising for two days, you're going to have to pay for it. Has to be done, stretching and the stability work.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Yeah, he helped me out Friday night putting. I mean, this is a guy that I think rolls it better -- he's probably up there with Loren Roberts as far as people putting the golf ball. He gave me his whole theory on putting in probably 50 words or less. It really made a lot of sense. Gave me one simple drill to do. I've been doing that for a couple days. It's pretty impressive.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Did that out here, yeah. It worked. Really simple.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Then everybody will know. It's basically keeping my head still. A way -- instead of thinking mechanics, just thinking about the basics of keeping your head still, letting the putter release. Instead of steering and trying to make the putt, go ahead, just make a good stroke. More often than not, it will go in. Kind of freed me up a little bit.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Well, short-term, I think. Long-term, if you look at only playing two tournaments since the middle of July to that point, I took it as a huge positive. You know, I in no way gave the tournament away coming down the stretch. Karrie had to birdie three of the last four holes to force a playoff. You know, I played extremely well all four days there. I think short-term, yeah, you're disappointed you didn't win the tournament. In the big picture, it was a huge step forward.

DOTTIE PEPPER: In July, uh-huh.

DOTTIE PEPPER: It was always an answer to. I had a difficult time lining up my answer for whatever reason. Jeff gave it to me at the Big Apple Classic. I putted reasonably well there. Made it through rehab, so that was good. It stayed in the back. Aside from changing putters, I've changed irons, changed drivers, changed the golf ball, all in the last month. I think I've got just a lethal combination going right now. I'm very happy with what's in the bag.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Tom was pretty confident through the whole thing that I may not play again for the rest of the season. But once we started getting things on the right track, things were progressing so nicely, he had to back me off because I was doing too much, on my own doing too much. I was anxious to play. It's kind of one of those Catch-22s where you start to feel good, so you try to do more. His theory is: You're starting to feel good, let's do a little less. That was very difficult for me because I was champing at the bit.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No. I mean, his reputation, guys that have much worse situations than I do, they're playing competitively all over the world. I knew I was in the right hands. He'd be point-blank with me if he thought there was any chance of that - and there wasn't.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Surgery was never a question.

DOTTIE PEPPER: We brought a surgeon in three weeks before Solheim Cup, one of the guys who is an understudy for the man that has been doing all these hip surgeries as of late. He was only concerned because the hip pain hadn't gone down yet. The MRI, everything was really pretty good. There was no disc problems, nothing structurally wrong. The fifth lumbar was starting to degenerate a little bit, which at age 35 it should be starting to do some of that. I mean, from a very mechanical perspective, your vertebrae start to lose moisture, start to dry out, get dark on an MRI. My fifth is a bit darker than the others. I had some fluid in the joint to the right of it which was causing the pain. More exercises just hit that specifically, and a switch on to Viox made all the difference in the world. It was literally five days later, he gave me the go ahead to go start hitting golf balls.

DOTTIE PEPPER: He called it a functional overload. That sounds like something very politically correct. Doing too much when your body can't handle it. I mean, I'm getting a little bit older. You've got to be a little smarter.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I went from a Tour Prestige to the now V1-392, switched in Mobile.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I'm hitting it almost a club further than I was, almost one club further.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Do I have any extra? Little white boxes. They don't even have proper packaging yet. I think by Christmas.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I switched irons prior to Portland. I switched balls in Mobile. I switched drivers this week. I spent a day out testing in Carlsbad right after the par 3. It was a week ago Wednesday. I realize that the face was so deep, I had to send Dale to the local golf shop on Thursday to get me long tees. I've never, ever played with things like this. This is unbelievable.

DOTTIE PEPPER: The face is deep. Couldn't get the ball on the center of the club face without having the ball teed up higher than the standard tee was. With the Bermuda also, because it's not cut down the way Bent is. I couldn't get the ball to stay on the tee without it falling over (laughter).

DOTTIE PEPPER: It's 975-J.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I guess so. They're easier to see when I'm a long way away, too (laughter). That's good. I can lay them down behind my ball marker and see them.

DOTTIE PEPPER: The driver? Absolutely, direct relation. You need to tee the ball higher to get it in the center of the gravity of the club face, yes.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No. Club head is bigger. It's where it normally is, but the club head is bigger.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I'm not sure. 15% bigger than the other Titleist driver, the 975-D. It's 15% bigger than that.

DOTTIE PEPPER: That's fine. That's what you're trying to do. If you showed up on Wednesday or Tuesday of tournament week, could honestly say to yourself you didn't want to be in the last group in the heat of it Sunday afternoon, then I don't think you need to show up. That's exactly where you want to be, and it's fun. Granted, you have a stomachache by the time it all ends, but the relief kicks in quickly (laughter).

DOTTIE PEPPER: I don't know. I've never been one of those players.

DOTTIE PEPPER: What's the length of the hole? Anyone know?

DOTTIE PEPPER: 256. Pumped up.

DOTTIE PEPPER: I thought I had it. I was tracking. Really, at the beginning of the day, I was trying to get to double digits. When I saw the wind blowing, I thought that would take care of a lot. It did.

DOTTIE PEPPER: No, not quite. What would have ruined the day is if I forgot to sign the score card. That would have ruined the day.

DOTTIE PEPPER: First week of August.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Went to St. Louis, played the ProAm, couldn't go anymore.

DOTTIE PEPPER: It's been building for a long time. There was no one I have specific swing. It was a cumulative thing, absolutely.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Oh, yeah. You normally make compensations. You don't want to be in a position where something hurts, so you make compensations.

DOTTIE PEPPER: Dale brought me 250 of them. I think we're down to 240. Would you like one (laughter)? That's a big tee.