VALERO TEXAS OPEN

September 26, 2003

Dan Forsman

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Dan, thanks for joining us. You followed up a good round yesterday 64 with an even better round 63 today. You're one off the lead of Tommy Armour III, you hit 15 greens today and only 24 putts for the second consecutive day. You've got the putter working and you've firing on all cylinders.

DAN FORSMAN: I'm thrilled to go out today and follow up yesterday's round with a good round. It was miraculous what happened on the last hole when I made a bogey when I hit the ball left. I had an unplayable, and I was hoping it would be lost, because I drove my second ball right down the pipe.

The quirk of the rule says once you find the ball, regardless of whether it's lost, in this case it wasn't lost, it's an unplayable lie, so now I have to go back to the tee again. It creates a logjam. You have to go back to the tee, the guys are waiting on the tee, instead of just being able to go over and play my provisional.

I've had this discussion numerous times on the Tour. This rule they really need to revisit. They say you're right, it's kind of kooky, but what the USGA wants is that now you have to make a decision it's unplayable.

That's a good argument, but at the same time, it seems like the provisional ball is just as important as an unplayable drive would be. It's out-of-bounds, it might be lost, and you have got to hit it down the fairway. You play this shot in competition with the full intent there are consequences, then you get out there and you can't use it. I don't understand. That's a whole other issue.

Suffice it to say, it was a miraculous bogey. I hit my second drive on that hole into the left rough, I had horrible a lie. I chopped it out from 107 yards, it ran up the fringe of the green, there's a false front on the right side, it fell off into the fringe. It was about 18 feet right of the hole, I knocked the ball and it kept breaking. I went intermediate fringe, fringe, and then the green.

At that point you're reeling a little bit. You're a little uptight, your mind is swirling, if you will. I hit the put and I'll be darned, it goes into the heart. I walk out of there 13 under. All is good.

Prior to that, what a great day. I started on the back side today. I birdied 11. A nice par on 10. Birdied 11 to get to 7 under, a nice save on 12, made a 6-footer for par. I worked on my putting yesterday. It's feeling very good. I'm encouraged by that.

Birdied the par 3 down the hill, made about an 18-footer for birdie. I hit a wedge from 143 yards downhill and downwind a little bit.

The next hole, laid it up short and wedged it in there about four feet and made birdie on the par 5.

A good drive with an 8-iron to about 9 feet on No. 15, and made that putt for birdie.

And then made a birdie from about eight feet on No. 16.

And then made pars on the front. I finished 5 under at the turn.

At that point, I really wasn't paying attention to the leaderboard. All you can do is play golf one at a time and add them up at the end. I looked at the board and said these guys, are going low, Tommy Armour was going low, a bunch of 10s and 9s. Clearly it was a day to score.

I birdied No. 1, a wedge in there to two and a half feet.

A nice save for par on 12, long and right, made about a 6-footer for par.

Birdied 13 with an 8-iron to about six feet.

I had a chance for birdie on the par 3, missed that.

And then birdied 7, to get to 14 under for the day, for the tournament.

And made a nice par on 8.

Then we got to 9, I was standing around waiting, it seems we were waiting most of the day off the tee. This was another case of that. I guess in some respects it was a long day. It's a long two days of walking out there and I suppose I was a little bit too lax. They have a new tee there so you have to be careful because the right-hand bunkers are in play. I knew that. I didn't want to leak it right. I threw the right hand in it and pulled it left of the trees, the cedar scrub there. I was hoping not to find it. I found it. I had to go back, and you heard about the bogey.

All in all, it was a good day for me. I was surprised how calm I felt. One of the keys is I've been driving the ball well and hitting the ball solidly. The putter is working too. If you combine those elements, I feel very calm so far.

Q. You talked yesterday about the wave of emotion you were riding. Was it similar today at all or were you a little more low-key?

DAN FORSMAN: There's definitely something going on here. There's a force in the atmosphere. I mean, really it's amazing. I don't know what it is. I just think -- I have a suspicion I think I know what it is. That is, you do good things and good things come your way. It's a cycle of life, what goes around comes around. We'll see what happens this weekend.

No matter what happens, what a great week it's been. Will I be able to go on and write the story and hold that trophy on Sunday, that would be wonderful. No matter what happens, what a week it's been.

I had a couple of kids up on there on No. 9 green that I was with and met and had a chance to interact with on Tuesday. One kid was wearing plaid shorts. We were joking about that the other day. They saw that putt go in. It was magical, the idea that the ball went the hole. I said, You guys brought me good luck, and they smiled. There was a connection.

We don't get enough -- I don't get enough of that down here. We get in a tunnel, a bubble, no one touches me, you get isolated, blah blah blah blah, and you lose that interaction. I think of the Packer players, the great players, when they get a touchdown, they hug the fans. I had a picture of these guys. That's what it is about, isn't it? That's what gets people fired up and want to be a part of this game. That's what it's been like so far, and I hope it will continue.

Q. If the kid in plaid shorts is sitting there at 18 on Sunday and you sink the putt to win it, would you consider jumping in?

DAN FORSMAN: I'll tell you this. I'll tell him to come onto the green. I want everybody that was there Tuesday to get on the green and celebrate. I thought about it, too, when you're around something like that. If I can win that tournament, I would make a contribution to them or a scholarship or something meaningful that said this guy came, he did something good, he was successful and he gave more. Maybe that would be an example, an opportunity. That's a reason, a purpose to dig deep and do something meaningful out there. It's bigger than just me and my world and my accomplishments. Everyone is involved, aren't they? That's really great.

Q. You wouldn't do the LaCantera leap into the stands?

DAN FORSMAN: Oh, that's what you meant. I didn't follow that. I wouldn't want to hurt those guys. I'm pretty heavy. If they were all there and they would catch me, you better believe it, I would jump right in. And they would probably spill their Cokes on me, as opposed to the packer brew.

Q. Just to kind of go over, because I was a little confused, you hit the ball, it was unplayable, then you hit another shot?

DAN FORSMAN: I hit it left, initially. Anybody see it? The marshals? No signal. I had to play a provisional, because it's either lost or out-of-bounds. I hit my provisional down the middle. All systems go. We walk up there. The marshal never saw it. I hit it in the woods. We went in there and looked around. We can't find the ball. We look for two or three minutes. At that point I'm saying, even if we find it, I don't want to find it now. I looked in all the grassy areas where I would have a swing. It's not there. So at this point it's going to be an unplayable, if I find it at all, and I'm going to have to go back to the tee.

I said, guys, let's just go. Tony Wallin, our Tour official is right there on the spot. I said, Tony, can I go? He says, if you go to your ball and want to concede it's lost, they can still look for it, and until you hit your ball it's still not out of play. I said let's just go. And someone says here it is, I think we got it. I'm like great, I go over there -- and you've got have to mark your ball. It's crucial, isn't it? Because it could have been a Titleist ball that someone else hit in there. If it's not Titleist 1 marked with my markings, I can't identify it as mine. That's another significant thing why you see guys putting dots on them. Not because they like to calligraphy their balls. We all know that.

Anyway, so at that point, they found it. It's in bounds, but unplayable. My second ball is in the middle of the fairway. I go, okay, unplayable, let's play my provisional. That's not the way the rule is it. You abandon the provisional and you have to make the long walk back to the tee, or in this guy Tony Wallin said, I'll give you a ride back and I'll give you a ride back to the fairway.

To add more humiliation to the situation, excuse me guys, they're back pedaling. It's a small tee anyway. They must be pissed now. You can feel that. There was an energy there. It's true. That's the way it is. You know that. They hit in the crap, they have to come back. Here's another one, Look out. The gallery is looking. There is a cliff over there, I'm thinking where is that ball. Don't tell me it's in the rocks again. It was in the rocks, but it was sitting down. I could barely see the top portion of the ball. It was a really difficult like. To get a 5 out of it -- it was a 7. I was looking at 7 easily, and I get a 5. Those kids must have brought me good luck again.

End of FastScripts.