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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAIDMay 22, 2014Dan ForsmanBENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN KELLY ELBIN: With four birdies on his second nine, Dan Forsman is in with A 5‑under par 66 to lead the 75th Senior PGA Championship Presented By KitchenAid. The 66 is Dan's best 18 hole round in this championship. Dan, that birdie at 3, number 3, kind of looked like it kick started everything that led to a strong second nine today. DAN FORSMAN: Yeah, it did. I made a nice putt as well there. Hit a good 6‑iron shot from about 168 yards and that's the kind of hole where they use the up tee today, it was a little bit surprising, because we practiced from the back tee. So it was a shorter hole than maybe we expected, but even at that length it's tempting to kind of try to find the flag. When you do that, you do it at your own peril, because it's a challenging shot. But, ironically, all three of us made birdie there and I was the last to make birdie and mine was from 20 feet, so you can imagine the excitement of our trio as we walked off that green. KELLY ELBIN: Go through the six birdies and the bogey starting with your first hole, number 10. DAN FORSMAN: Yeah, 10, I hit kind of a poor drive, pulled it into the rough on the hillside there. And you're looking down the fairway and that hazard is staring you in the eye. Today it was into the wind, previously or yesterday it was down wind or no wind you could fly the bunker, but today was a little bit different. So I punched out and I hit a really good 4‑iron that climbed up that left side of the green and came down about eight feet away and made that for birdie. So that was like a kind of a roller coaster start I guess would you say to get that ball in position to make a four. From there I just played pretty solidly. Made routine pars. And then I birdied 15, the par‑5. Laid up there. Again, such an it's a great risk/reward hole, that is if you're really striping it. But even then you have to kind of keep your wits about you. It's not a hole that you can maybe necessarily make eagle on, even though you can reach it, but you can sure make a big number if you don't. Early in the round, certainly didn't want to make any mistake, try to keep the momentum on my side. Played solidly the rest of that back nine to finish 2‑under. Made a nice save out of the left hand bunker green side at 1 from about 8 feet for par. So that was really huge. Kept the momentum from drifting back to 1‑under. So hit a good shot at 2, just missed birdie. Then played a really nice second shot at 3 from about 85 yards, skipped it up the hill, kind of played a knock down, which came off brilliantly and it was three feet. Made that for birdie. Then as I mentioned, we all birdied the 4th hole. And then I made a nice save for par on 5. I hit it left. I was trying to‑‑ the wind was into us, I laid back too far and you're looking at the pin on that corner over there and it's just tempting you to come after it, but it's fraught with danger. I over compensated a 7‑iron and hit it left and had to pitch it down and made about an 8‑footer for par there. Again, putting is paramount to having a good round and certainly in a Major Championship and certainly on a Jack Nicklaus course that's groomed for a championship like this one is. After that, I hit a really good drive on 6 and I played a 5‑iron in there from out of a divot. That was another very strategic pin. The pin's back left, you can't miss it left there, if you do it's a virtual bogey if not worse, and I flagged it. I had about an, oh, 18‑footer coming down the hill right‑to‑left and hit a perfect speed right in the heart. Now the momentum is clearly going, but I got to face number 7, the daunting task. Which could have be one of the most beautiful and challenging par‑4s we have ever played in a Major Championship. I just can't get over how great a hole it is. We played yesterday, it was in the fog, so it was my first day to see the hole. Today was‑‑ I wished I hadn't, because I made a bogey. Hit in the left bunker and had to lay out and hit a wedge up there 15 feet and missed it on the high side. I hit a really good putt, it just didn't quite come in. I had to be a little careful there, because it was quick. If you get aggressive and you try to make it and you come low, these greens they get away from you. So came back and had a good 3‑wood and a wedge to 17 about oh, 10 feet away, and made that for birdie. And then 18, just kind of laid up short of the bunkers, in the green‑‑ I was thinking about going with a 3‑wood, but I was a little bit dicey knowing that, side hill lie, hazard left, wind blowing left‑to‑right, all kind of things that can challenge you. So I laid up and hit a wedge came up about three yards short. Back down the front of the green. And that's the razor's edge of Jack Nicklaus golf courses, because you think you hit a really good shot, it doesn't get over the hump, it rolls back, now you got the over and down from 25 feet and lagged it up a couple six inches away and tapped in for 5‑under. So, all told, it was a very gratifying day. Felt very calm, very relaxed out there. That was my focus going into the week. I tend to get a little bit ahead of myself and that creates some unneeded anxiety. I think we all probably are guilty of that, in whatever endeavors we're involved with, but for my purposes this week I wanted to just try to stay in the zone and just take it one at a time. It sound trite, it sounds simple, but it's not. At least it hasn't been for me. And that's really been, I think, the key to the round today. KELLY ELBIN: Open it up for questions. Q. How good does it feel to you, you haven't really had great tournaments in a while, how have you kept plugging along? DAN FORSMAN: Oh, just trying to keep the faith. I think of Martin Kaymer a couple weeks back, there's a guy that fell off the charts and was written off, perhaps, now he's back on top of the world. So good for him. That's the nature of the game. It's elusive, it's a challenging game by any measure. Certainly, the older you get, the aches and pains come along. I had some hip and knee injury, sort of injuries that I've been dealing with. In fact, I told my wife, she says, you ought to have surgery and I really don't want to have it, but it's probably imminent at some point. But I'm icing down every night. I feel like I'm a baseball pitcher, maybe, only it's a hip. Maybe it's different. But we need those in our golf games. But long winded way of saying it's just a hard‑‑ trying to work at it, trying to keep it simple, not get too caught up in all the hoopla, you need to change this or that, and trying to be patient. I think that's really the key. On a golf course like this, as I mentioned, you just have to‑‑ you got to hit the shots. You can't get around this course without playing great golf shots. If you don't, you're going to have the unbelievable challenge to get up‑and‑down and save par. I think that's the essence of a great championship course and that's why, as great as it is to be 5‑under here in front of you tonight, my work's cut out for me the rest of the way and I just hope I can keep plugging along, getting those little feelings of confidence. I planted some seeds, if you will, and I'm trying not to trample those confidence seeds and today was a big boost for those. I think it was almost like I fertilized them a little bit. Q. Which hip is it, Dan, and is it just an injury or is it an arthritic condition that you may have to have a replacement? DAN FORSMAN: Yeah, I think it's osteo arthritis type situation. The irony is, I've been to two doctors, one said, you could sell them on e‑bay, it's perfect. The other guy said, the physical therapist said, he tested me, he said, no, it's your hip. Well, the guy told me it wasn't. He said, well he's a back doctor, he's not a hip doctor. So it's just one of those things that comes with being 55, going to be 56, having played this game a lot, a long time, and probably hit too many golf balls, hoping to perfect it, which was, in hindsight, perhaps a little, I don't know what you say, not the right way to go. Q. With number 7, it's a physically daunting hole, but mentally, how difficult is it mentally looking at it having the wind in your face, off the like and the hole? DAN FORSMAN: It is daunting. You hit in the right bunkers, you're virtually not going to get there to the green. So now you got to lay up anyway. So you have to ‑‑ today I tried to go with that position bunker out there in the center of the fairway. But it was into the wind we got there. And then I'm thinking, I've been hitting the driver good, but my miss has been a little bit of a cut block, and I'm thinking, man, if I don't hit this solid and turn it, it's going to get up in the wind and might not carry the lake. That's not a good thought to have. Particularly, when you're 4‑ or 5‑under at the time. But that's the nature of this golf course. You look at that fairway down there and you go, okay, I got to hit a shot. I'll try to hit a power draw up the right center. And I over cooked it a little bit, because I didn't want to tweak it to the right, because I know I can't get there from there, unless it's a perfect lie and I get in a decent width behind the lip of the bunker. It's just a great golf hole. That's the measure of the golf course, too. At this level, each hole, I can say, I can go right down the line, every one of them tests you. That's what it is. It's a great test of your game, both physically and mentally, and that's why it's, in my view, a great championship venue. Say what you want about the greens. Yeah, they're tricky and, believe me, I've had my share of challenges on those greens, previously here. But it is what it is and as you learn to play the course, you adapt to it and hopefully you know where to put the ball on the green and maybe get break brick or two that allows you to shoot a good score like I did today. KELLY ELBIN: Did the wind pick up at all as the round went on make it anymore challenging than when you started? DAN FORSMAN: It was pretty constant. I think it was fair most of the day. It came and went. I think it wasn't hard to judge, necessarily. It seemed like it came out of the same northwest direction. Some of the open holes, like 7, certainly was into the wind, you could feel it more than in the trees a few times. But it was just pretty consistent, I felt. KELLY ELBIN: Dan Forsman in with 66. Thank you very much. DAN FORSMAN: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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