MCI CLASSIC

April 20, 1997

Brad Faxon

BRAD FAXON: I told Nick after we both teed off on 18, I said, "Geez, it was fun for three holes anyway." It was really great. I can't believe I made that long putt off the green on one. Then he answered with a beautiful 20-footer. And then we -- I birdied 2, and he made about 40-footer for birdie on No. 3 after I hit it to, literally, an inch. And I thought we were off. And then I slipped and bogeyed No. 6. I hit, you know, a 25-footer eight feet by and missed that. Missed about a 4-footer on the next hole for par when he made birdie. And then he birdied 8. He played great. Obviously, I would have had to shoot an unbelievably low score to catch him. I am happy for him. He is a great guy. He played well. And I am a little disappointed the way I putted. But other than that, it was pretty fun.

BRAD FAXON: Yeah, it was a great shot. Probably about twelve feet.

BRAD FAXON: About four feet.

BRAD FAXON: I birdied 1. 7-iron onto the right front fringe, had to be 60 feet. 2: Hit a wedge from kind of the woods, I guess, you'd call it. I had a clear shot and decent lie, hit it to about 5 feet. Then 8-iron to an inch on 3. 6: I 3-putted from 30 feet. 7: Such a good pin placement there. I hit in the bunker and hit it about four feet and missed. 9: I hit a sand wedge from about 115. Great shot to five feet. Made that. Bogeyed 10. I had to slice the second shot from the right side -- right rough, and didn't get up-and-down; missed about a 10-footer. Next -- I started hitting it pretty good after that. Really couldn't make -- I made a putt on 13 from about 15 feet, 18 feet. I hit a wedge. It was a different wind today. It was actually an easier wind, I thought. This was the easiest wind. Number 14: I got away with kind of a miss-hit iron. I pushed it a little; hit it a little thin, but it was perfect,, about eight feet away. You know, I am thinking all the time I am 4, 5 back, I've got to put some pressure on him. And, Nick is not the kind of guy that is going to make a whole lot of bogeys. I knew I had to make some birdies there. I had hit a great putt there; best putt of the day. It didn't go in. It surprised me. But he just kept getting up-and-down when he hit a bad shot. Made a great up-and-down on 12 and on 16. And 16 was kind of sad because I had a perfect sand wedge and just didn't hit it hard enough and left it on the front of the green. Then miss-hit and misread my first putt. It was a bad bogey there because it was playing pretty easy.

BRAD FAXON: 40 feet.

BRAD FAXON: I don't think so. I was feeling pretty good. I felt like I wasn't really in control, like I wanted to at the first few holes. Then I made those birdies. Then I felt more comfortable as the day went on, which was nice. And, you know, 4 was playing tough. He made a 20-footer for par on 4. And, you know, I hit a good putt on 5, didn't go in. Then 6 and 7, I think that was just --- that took a lot of the wind out -- that was a stinger there on 6 there, especially.

BRAD FAXON: I know it. I wouldn't have thought it starting out. It was a little bit breezy. 2-under is a good score there. I mean, probably the lowest score I shot on the front 9 this week. So, I mean, when you get a guy like Nick on a roll, you can't give him any breaks, and I did. I mean, if somebody said, you would have to shoot 64 today, I would have said

"Wow."

BRAD FAXON: We never really felt it died down until we played 18. It still felt likes it was swirling around there. It wasn't as hard. The wind wasn't as hard as the last three days, but it was a totally different direction, so it made the golf course play a little bit different. You could see that some of the guys had gone out and shot good early rounds. Davis had a good round. I knew Lennie Clements had it going early and Parnevik must have shot a good score. I don't know what he shot. But, there were definitely some birdie chances out there.

BRAD FAXON: I didn't hear the question.

BRAD FAXON: 7, 8 feet. Obviously, it means the difference between second and third.

BRAD FAXON: Is that right?

BRAD FAXON: I actually thought on the 16th hole, you know, if I hit that wedge, shot close to the hole, he was in the bunker, you know, he is, I think, he was 4 ahead. You know, if he makes bogey; I make birdie, that is a 2-shot swing, then it is a different ballgame. But, after that hole, it was kind of over. But, I mean, I still had to make birdie. He still had to make bogey. And, it didn't happen. But I didn't think I would lose a shot there.

BRAD FAXON: Oh, it was wonderful. It was great. Crowd was into it. We were all into it. And it was a dream start for me. And, you know, we kind of separate ourselves from the field for a second. Then, we kind of just got stuck there for a little. Didn't make any birdies. Then when he birdied 7 with a great iron shot, stone, and same on 8, I mean I think he hit a 9-iron into 8th hole. 3-wood, 9-iron.

BRAD FAXON: I don't think he is quite hitting the ball as well as he has -- I mean, don't let me tell you that he is not hitting it well. He hit a couple of hooks. I heard him say to his caddie that he doesn't feel like he can cut the ball. I know he likes to play the ball that way when he can. He is certainly playing extremely well. He doesn't seem to hit many shots that are, like I said, just not in the middle of the club face.

BRAD FAXON: No, I think the one on 6, the first one was a big misread. I just didn't play enough break or was just fast. And, same thing on 16, just really not -- careless first putts. I needed to play a lot more break and I left myself 10 or 12-footer second putts and I don't do that very often. It was nice to make that last putt. I mean, I know when you are -- you don't have a chance to win, you look at the leaderboard - you have to do something. That is sometimes the hardest time to make a putt. And, I was grinding on that second one. Because it is -- money is important, obviously. But, Ryder Cup points and finishing second is always better than third. So....

BRAD FAXON: Well, after I bogeyed 7, I look at the leaderboard walking off, I saw Lennie Clements got ahead -- I think, tied with me -- actually got ahead of me. Did he go to 10?

BRAD FAXON: I said, "God." I kind of got mad. (Audience laughter.) Not at Lennie, but at myself. And, I hit some good shots for a while and then -- I played -- 70 is not the worst score here. I just threw a couple of shots away from around the green.

BRAD FAXON: No, I didn't know that. Well, Davis -- I knew Davis shot a good score.

BRAD FAXON: I felt like I had to shoot a pretty low score to catch Nick. I didn't feel like he is going to be the kind of guy that is going to shoot 77 or anything like that.

BRAD FAXON: Well, yeah, I mean you have to -- like we talked about yesterday, it is a course you have to stay patient on; you have to put yourself in the correct part of the greens and everybody has to get some up-and-downs. He made two wonderful bunker shots on 12 and 16. I mean, great shots to three feet and he got the putter going. He putted great.

BRAD FAXON: Well, I am not thinking it is expensive but I think it is -- yeah, it was crucial, yes. Yeah, it was big. He actually missed a short putt on 6 for birdie. He had about 5-, 6-footer there.

BRAD FAXON: Thanks, you guys. Thanks for a good week.