THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 25, 2000

Greg Kraft

GREG KRAFT: Just started out all right is all. Didn't play particularly well tee-to-green. Putted really well. I made all the putts I was supposed to make and just kept, you know, knowing that I wasn't really that sharp tee-to-green. I played more on the conservative side all day, trying to just keep it in play and hopefully find it later this afternoon and keep it where I didn't make any big mistakes on some of the tough holes. And tried to birdie the par 5s and shorter holes, which I did. First par 5, I birdied number 5. Hit a 9-iron from the left side of the fairway to about eight feet. The other par 5, I hit a pitching wedge to about 15 feet and made that. Bogey on 12. I was first to hit, and, you know, it's 147. I hit 7-iron 160 -- and I had about 150 it was 147 and the wind was blowing pretty hard on the hole before and you could feel it on the tee. So I punched a 7-iron, flew all the way in the back bunker; made bogey. Good bunker shot, good putt, but just made bogey. Just a misjudge of the wind. If I would have been second or third to hit in my group, it would have been a little easier shot with the distance. 14, sand wedge to about four feet. 15, par 5, I hit it in the green-side bunker in 2. Knocked it out about 3 1/2 feet; made another birdie. And then I bogeyed the par 3 next hole. I was first to hit again. I hit 5-iron. It landed right next to the pin, went over the green. Chipped down about six feet and missed it. Parred the last two.

GREG KRAFT: The greens are putting so beautifully, and there's so much grass on them, it's amazing they really don't hold like you would think, except for your scoring clubs, like your sand wedge, pitching wedge, 9-iron. You have to hit a really good shot. And I mean, I like it that way. For instance, 18, middle of the fairway, I had a pretty vanilla shot. It was 165 yards and it was just a normal 7-iron. I knew the greens are hard. If you hit it short it spins off or if it's pin-high, it bounces over, like my playing partner. So I took a 7-iron and I cut it back against the wind to actually add more spin to my shot, so it would stop. And you know, you have to be a little creative because they are firm. But the nice thing is they are putting just unbelievable. They are perfect.

GREG KRAFT: The first time there was a bug that landed on my ball, and the second time it felt like the wind changed a little bit, and the last time is when I decided to -- I said, "I'm just going to go ahead and slice it back against the wind and try to put more spin on it." The first time I was probably going to take something off of it, hit it a little easier and I just said, "I'm going to aim left of the pin, cut it against the wind, make sure it stops and get out of here with 2-under." Ended up being pretty close, actually. I figured it would blow more left once it got up there and maybe roll left, but it ended up pretty close. I was just trying to hit the shot that would stay on the green.

GREG KRAFT: The holes that they made the significant changes are -- I mean, number -- is it 6, the par 4 is 450? It played into the wind this morning. It was driver, 3-iron and that green is pitched and like a rock. I flew it right, pin-high, went all the way over the green. And the green was pitched back to front severely, and my chip I just got on the green and rolled all the way down past the hole about five feet and made it. But that hole was playing all you want this morning into the wind.

GREG KRAFT: Last week, tee-to-green was probably the best I've ever played in my 9 years on TOUR. I hit it just awesome. And just didn't get the most out of my putter. I finished 6th, but it was a -- Saturday, I shot 1-over and missed 10 putts inside of 15 feet; so I knew that I'm close to playing well. I spent a lot of time beginning of this week working on my putting. And traveling -- I got here late Tuesday, so my long game is suffering a little bit. I might be a little tired or whatever, but my timing just wasn't there. But the good news is my putter was, so the time that I put in to go fix it helped. It's just nice to be in like a -- you know, when you're playing good, you're kind of expecting good things to happen. Your marginal shots are coming out okay. And when it seems like you are between clubs, like on 18, the wind turned around I tried to cut a shot in there. When you're playing well, those shots seem clear to you and you always seem to pick the right one. When you're not playing well, every decision you make or your marginal shot always turns out to be a hard one and you hit a bad bounce. I think my attitude is really good right now and it's fresh and I'm excited play, and that helps.

GREG KRAFT: Yeah, I think -- everybody always shoots something, you know. Four days in a row, probably not. You know, I don't see anybody going four days in a row. You know, the pins were good, too. They are in some corners. Took advantage of some of the new parts of the greens they made, like on 7. When you're out there, you just never hit that spot before, so you're thinking, "I'm knocking it in with a sand wedge, is it going to shoot off the green because it's downhill?" A little bit of indecision I think is going to make -- maybe a couple days for people to get more comfortable with it. But it's just -- with the length and the firm greens, sooner or later, it's going to catch up to you out there. You're going to hit a pretty good shot and it's going to turn out not so good. I really feel for my playing partner. He played great today, and hit one poor shot the last two holes and walked away 1-over; and he was 3-under starting at 17. He played flawless all day, and he -- he hit one poor shot and ended up -- 18, he hit all good shots and made double. So that's out there. You know it's out there. So you've just got to be patient.

GREG KRAFT: He hit a 3-wood off the right. He had a chip out, and then he hit his third shot long, right. Hit the green pin-high, released all the way to the back of the green and he 3-putted.

GREG KRAFT: It was '97. My shoulder was hurt so bad. I was playing by -- with Advil. I went and saw Joe and Dr. Yocum (ph) in L.A., and their diagnosis was it was loose, cut very loose and I needed to work out. They gave me a routine. I did it. It kind of went away; it would never go away. A couple good friends of mine back home thought surgery was needed. A couple of my good friends are coaches with the Yankees. They train in Tampa. They had me go see their trainer, and he said he could fix it. He said it will take a commitment. I said, "I'm ready to do anything." I kind of got into it in the off-season after '97,'98, and really hard in '98 and attacked it; worked Monday Wednesday, Friday from 6:0 to 9:00 every morning and worked on everything. And then I got into how great I felt that I just had -- I've been doing it ever since. Even during the off-season I go train with him. Same routine. I've got to get in early before all the ballplayers and everybody else gets in there because it gets pretty busy. If I get in early enough, it's hard. And you know, what's funny is a good friend of mine, John Huston, had the same problem in his shoulder; thought he was going to have to get cut on. I said, "Do me a favor, go see this guy. What the heck, you never know." And in 30 days, his shoulder has not bothered him since, and that was in November.

GREG KRAFT: Larry Mayol. He was with the Mets for seven years, did Olympics. He was with the Olympics one stint, United Tennis Center, Davis Cup.

GREG KRAFT: It was my left one.

GREG KRAFT: Billy Connors and Larry Mayol (ph). He came up to make a special, I guess, trip to see Columbus. Isn't that strange, the week of the Memorial? (Laughter.)

GREG KRAFT: Yeah.

GREG KRAFT: It's everything. It is stuff that you could not imagine. He actually gives me a routine that I take on the road with me that I can do my hotel room. I do bands. He had exercises with rice and these tubes, and I had to take them and spin it, and the burn deep inside your cuff was phenomenal. And then the other thing about it was the stretching and he was able to do, what they call "milking out the muscle." When you get knots, he would go underneath there and milk out the knot in the muscle. It was tough, painful, but it was worth it. I have not had a problem since.

GREG KRAFT: Exactly. If I was -- if I had a knee injury, I would probably go see a football doctor. But, you know anything with the arm and shoulder -- and it's helped. You see the commitment. You know, Doc Gooden was in there, Gary Sheffield, early in the off-season. They live there full time, and they talk about, you know, working out is going to help you more mentally than it is probably physically, just going through it. And nobody likes to do it. I don't know anybody that likes to did it. They are crazy if they do. David says he likes it. He can't like it. It's not fun.

GREG KRAFT: Just the discipline to get up at 5:30 in your off-season and go to a gym for three hours. I'm better off probably getting up and doing it, because the only thing I'm cutting into is my sleep. I would never be able to make it at 6:00 in the afternoon. Something is always coming up. But as a discipline, I like to sleep as much as anybody, but getting up at 5:30, three days a week to go in there, that's tough.

GREG KRAFT: October, November, December and first half of January.

GREG KRAFT: I go four days, but it's only an hour at a time. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

GREG KRAFT: I don't know. It bothered me. It was always sore, swollen. My swing had a lot to do with the injury. It wasn't until I fixed that as well. But the way I was swinging, it caused the injury, caused the stretching of the muscle, which made it loose. So it's amazing how much things are actually golf-related and baseball-related, how they tie in, batter's swings, arms and chest together, same as in golf.

GREG KRAFT: A lot of things. I know I can -- first off, I know I can win. I was leading, fell back, birdied three holes out of the last six to catch and get back in the lead and I -- I just -- you know, it was probably too impatient at the time. I could have -- you know, I didn't have to make birdie on that hole to win that tournament. There was a lot of holes -- I could have just played it safe and hit a safer club instead of a club that had to be perfect. I didn't have to birdie the last hole to win. I should have just been -- I had the whole world to the right. I had a lot of things that I could have done, but I'm taking a club I had to hit perfect, to hit the club and clear the water; and I hit it heavy and it was an awful shot. I know I can do it. Same thing at Colonial. I had the lead there. I know I'm close. I know it's happening. Just got to keep getting there.