GREATER GREENSBORO CHRYSLER CLASSIC

April 23, 2000

Andrew Magee

ANDREW MAGEE: Well, it started off a little rough, and I made a nice couple of par putts on the first two holes. And I putted well all day. That was the savior of my game. And I didn't give myself enough opportunities as I was hoping I would today, but I made some good putts. And I kind of hung in there and had a chance right through the middle of the back 9, beginning of the back 9, which I birdied 10 and 11, and he bogeyed 13. And I had my opportunities there on 14, 15, and 16, with wedges to all three of those pins, and that was pretty much the ballgame, right there. If I had to do it over again, I'd walk back to 14 and start over and hit that wedge again. They weren't all that difficult. You just have to get them close to the pins out here.

ANDREW MAGEE: Thank you. I didn't look at the board all day. I knew it was Hal and I. I didn't really think about what was second until the 17th hole when I plugged it in the bunker, and I thought, "Crap, what am I doing now? How much am I spending here?" That was the only bunker I hit it in all week, and it plugged. I hit a couple off the tee, but that was the only green-side bunker I hit for 72 holes, and I had a buried lie. Go figure. I played kind of the same every day. I missed too many fairways to really get something going low. And didn't get the ball close enough with my wedges. I think it's probably -- I didn't know a lot about the greens. I hadn't played here in quite a few years. I didn't know how the slopes were going to react. And it's probably from some inexperience, I think, to know what kind of shot to hit into some of these pins.

ANDREW MAGEE: I used the same club I used in the fairway. I think I was disgusted with the fairway shot and lost my concentration. That's not where you want to be. Chipping for birdie there. I had a wonderful punch out of the trees there, and I had a perfect distance for that club. And I was influenced with it by Hal's shot. He hit a nice, high, hot shot. They were yelling like I thought Hal's was really close. It influenced the way I hit my shot. I didn't hit it hard enough. Those were the turning point holes: 14, 15, and 16, right through there. I had wedges and had a wonderful angle at the pin on 16, and I didn't -- I had downhill putts on all of those. You had to have uphill shots, and get that uphill birdie chance. I didn't give myself the opportunities.

ANDREW MAGEE: Yes, the reason I played here is because I haven't played good at Hilton Head the last couple of years. I wanted to take a couple of weeks off and rest my elbow. I didn't have any problems all week. I put Greensboro back on the calendar. I'll be coming back next year. I enjoyed the week, and I enjoyed the golf course. I might have learned some things about the greens, and who knows.

ANDREW MAGEE: Boy, you are really fast with the stats. I know, I've thought about that. And I'd like to win a tournament, absolutely. And you go out there three strokes back on a Sunday, you know you have an opportunity to do something today; you've got to shoot a good score. I was thinking 66 all day that I have to shoot. And Hal didn't play his best. The pins were difficult; the greens were firm. Low score is probably Calcavecchia. He must have burned it up. Played early in the day, and the greens were softer. He got it going, it looks like. I knew I had an opportunity. Hal didn't hit that good yesterday it sounded like in the paper. I felt like I had an opportunity to win today if I could have shot a good, low score. And it didn't work out. I didn't drive the ball good enough. First couple of holes I was in trouble, and I got off to a good start.

ANDREW MAGEE: Yeah, at 14 I thought after he bogeyed 13, that was -- it's the poorest bogey he's made in a long time with a wedge into that green. I felt like 14, here we go. If I can get a good shot and make a birdie and get this thing tied, that was it. And he ended up just kind of increasing the gap after that. That was definitely the big turn: 14, 15.

ANDREW MAGEE: When you've got firm greens on Sunday, you've got the pins in the corner, yes. But obviously it played difficult, because the guys couldn't get the ball close to the hole. You've got to have the perfect yardage and a great shot to get it close, and you've got to make the putt. I didn't see really anybody knock any shots one foot or two foot for gimmees all week. Good shots would end up four or five feet, but it would give you a tickler or a little breaker. These greens are difficult. They have a lot of slope, and they've firmed up quite a bit throughout the week. And that's the typical PGA TOUR Sunday. That's what happens every Sunday. The greens get firm, and the pins are in the corner. You have to be patient and shoot to the middle. If you're in the back of the pack, you try to go for more, but it's pretty typical.

ANDREW MAGEE: You hope to get in position there. The saving grace is I did birdie the last hole every day, four straight days in a row. So that's kind of a neat thing. And birdied 18 three times. That's pretty good stuff.

ANDREW MAGEE: That wasn't a tough shot. That wasn't a hard shot at all. I was fortunate. The few bad drives I wound up with relatively easy punchouts. The one on 15 was probably harder. I had a clear shot right for the fairway. I wish I hit the 7-iron a little harder, would rather have a sand wedge than a 9-iron. That wasn't as difficult as the crowd made it sound.

ANDREW MAGEE: He didn't lose the lead. He was always in the lead by a stroke. He never lost the lead. He's a veteran. He's been there time and time again. And this isn't his first rodeo; he knows what to do. He knows to hit the greens and put the pressure on the other guy. And that's exactly what he did.

ANDREW MAGEE: You know, every time you have a good tournament, you expect to keep on playing good. And that's really not my nature. I have a good tournament, and then I quit playing for a couple of weeks and get hungry and go practice and come back out and go again. I'm not a streak player. I just kind of pick my shots and jump in and jump out. I've got no illusions for Houston next week. I have no idea what's going to happen. When I'm hitting it good and putting it good, I can go and miss the cut by four, I have no idea. I don't have any -- a lot of guys play good for a month or two months out here. It's not really my style.

ANDREW MAGEE: I think he's a definite dominant, top five player in the world, he's right there with the best players in the world. And beating Tiger at TPC after that great eagle Tiger made on 16, that shows a lot of guts and courage. We all know Hal has plenty of that. And he shows it time and time again. I respect Hal quite a bit.

ANDREW MAGEE: Oh, I don't know about that. I think everybody -- there's a couple of best players in the world. Tiger is, I think, clearly ahead of everybody else. When his game is on, he's far better than everybody else. But the next tier guys are definitely competitive and when they get close to him, they can definitely compete with him.

ANDREW MAGEE: When he's on his game, he's untouchable, I think.

ANDREW MAGEE: 15 was a pitching wedge.