CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

June 21, 2002

Len Mattiace

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Len Mattiace. 6-under 64 today has him at 6 under for the tournament. Len, you're having a great year. Looks like you're 15 out of 16 cuts, 3 Top Tens, including your first win this year. Tell us a little bit about today and then your year.

LEN MATTIACE: Well, today was a good day. I hit the ball real solid and consistent and I made a few longer putts today, which was the difference in the score. The last time I was in this chair was I think '98, and I made a hole-in-one on 11, so that was a good feeling, slam dunk on 11. That was fun. But it was a good day and I made a -- I made two 25-footers and a 40-footer on 5, 6 and 8, so, you know, those were really nice to see go in.

TODD BUDNICK: And then the season in general, I mean, it looks like everything is just kind of --

LEN MATTIACE: Yeah. Obviously, this is my best year. I've been seeing good things all year. I saw good things really in December and January and I was excited to play and I got the first win at Riviera, and it's been fun because it's been an improvement -- my game has improved one level up, so it's been fun to see that.

Q. What do you mean by seeing things? You mean gradual improvements?

LEN MATTIACE: A little bit better, yeah, a little bit further off the tee and hitting more greens, scoring average a little lower, only missed one cut so that's a sign of more consistent play, so everything is kind of a notch up.

Q. Can you put in perspective what finally winning the tournament was like for you?

LEN MATTIACE: Well, I'm -- very satisfying, relief. Those words come to mind. A lot of fun while it was happening, especially at Riviera.

Q. Len, I didn't get out there, but Greg Norman is out there, Jerry Kelly is a home-town favorite. Neither one of them made the cut and you played well. Could you explain how that goes? I mean, it's kind of ironic.

LEN MATTIACE: Well, I mean -- I guess this week that's how it goes. I like playing the Greg. Greg is all business out there. I played with him at Houston earlier in the year and now here. I enjoy playing with him.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's walk through the rest of your card. Looks like you actually started with a bogey on 12.

LEN MATTIACE: I bodied on 11.

TODD BUDNICK: 11, excuse me.

LEN MATTIACE: It a 9-iron just left of the green and chipped it up to about four feet and missed the putt *** 1st birdie came at 13. I hit -- I had about a 40-yard pitch, pitched that to about 8 feet, made that. And then the next birdie I hit a 9-iron on 14 to about 5 feet. 15, I hit a sand wedge in to about 15 feet. Next birdie --

TODD BUDNICK: 1.

LEN MATTIACE: Thank you. Number 1, I hit an 8-iron about 40 feet and made that.

TODD BUDNICK: So you made two 40s and two 25s?

LEN MATTIACE: Two 40s and two 25s so far. It was probably one of my best putting rounds in a long time. Where is the next birdie?

TODD BUDNICK: 5 and 6 were two 25-footers.

LEN MATTIACE: Right. 5, I hit a 3-iron to 25 feet. 6, I hit a 9-iron and came up short to about 40 feet. I made those. 8, I hit a 4-iron to about 25 feet and made that. But I've done a good job this week because the greens were so fast last week, I think most the players coming here, you know, these greens are great, but they're not as fast as they were last week. So when we hit a normal putt, the putts were coming up short, I'm sure, for a lot of guys, and I did a good job in the transition this week to get that to the proper speed.

Q. With the speed of the greens and the lack of wind, is the course playing as easy as it possibly could play?

LEN MATTIACE: Compared to yesterday?

Q. Yeah.

LEN MATTIACE: I thought similar. The wind is coming from the same direction. It's the same type of day. It's warm out. It wasn't cold this morning. Similar stuff.

Q. What would you say these are on the stimp?

LEN MATTIACE: I would say 10-and-a-half.

Q. And I heard they were up to 15 last Sunday.

LEN MATTIACE: Yeah. I would say -- yeah, I would say 13, 14. I bet they were 13. They might have been 14 Friday in the rain, and they might be 11 here or right around there.

TODD BUDNICK: Anything else, guys?

Q. So what kind of transition -- I mean, do you just work on -- obviously, you've got to hit it softer, but what kind of things do you have to do?

LEN MATTIACE: What do you mean, hit it softer?

Q. I mean, you have to hit it harder this week?

LEN MATTIACE: Right.

Q. Is there anything you can work on without losing your line and things like that?

LEN MATTIACE: Not really -- I mean, not really. Just hit it a little harder because we're so trained for last week. You know, we see the things, we see the putts going on Tuesday and Wednesday and we go, wow, you know, wow, this is lightning fast. So we try really hard Tuesday and Wednesday, seeing that by Thursday, Friday and we're trying to get the speed, and most of the guys have it by Thursday, Friday. You hope to.

And so, you know, then Saturday and Sunday you're right in there and then all of a sudden you come here and, you know, it's a level or two slower. So you have to adjust. You just have to, you know, adjust. So however guys do that, I mean, we're -- we see a lot of the similar greens each week, you know. They're like 10, 11, 10, 11, so when you see a 14 on the stimp, that's quite different. So when you come this week, you just have to adjust any way you can. Some guys putt uphill, you know, just a 20-footer and putt uphill and get the ball a foot or 2 by so that will kind of train your stroke to hit it harder. Any thing you can do to have proper speed this week because that's what matters this week.

TODD BUDNICK: All right. Thank you, Len.

LEN MATTIACE: Okay.

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