What they said: Steve Stricker

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CROWNE PLAZA INVITATIONAL: Transcript archive

MARK WILLIAMS: Steve Stricker, welcome to the interview room at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Some pretty good playing out there. You got to be thrilled with a pair of 63's. I think it sets a record for the low 36 for the tournament. Talk about your couple of days.

STEVE STRICKER: Well, it's been good to say the least. It's been a lot of fun. I kept the ball in play very well, giving myself a lot of opportunities. I think I only missed three greens today. I hit the ball on the greens a lot. I had some short putts for birdies and some longer ones and made a little bit of both. But, obviously, rolling the ball very well on the greens and making a lot of putts.

MARK WILLIAMS: You got yourself in contention a lot at a number of tournaments, the consistency is good, a lot of things you are working to make it happen?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, it's been a good start to the year. I think this is my 12 event, halfway through my schedule. I have had some opportunities to win. I'm disappointed I haven't won one or two of them along the way. But I'm happy with the form that I've been doing, the play that I have been showing throughout the year. I would just like to finish one off. I know it's only halfway through. We a long ways to go and just try to keep putting myself in these positions.

Q. Was there one or two big differences this round from yesterday?

STEVE STRICKER: No, it was pretty much the same type of round. I hit the ball pretty much the same. I may have hit it a little closer today than I did yesterday. Yesterday I made, I don't know, I made some longer putts yesterday and today I think I hit it in there a little bit closer today and giving myself some shorter looks at it. So I think, if anything, you know, that was the difference. I was hitting it about the same and obviously putting it was good, too.

Q. Steve, when you get on greens like this, that are rolling like these, as somebody who has a reputation of being a great putter, do you sort of lick your chops when you see it rolling as true as it is?

STEVE STRICKER: You know, I think, obviously, I'm going up to every putt with a lot of confidence knowing that I had made a lot of putts these first couple of days, so I'm very excited to reach the green, and I look forward to putting it which is always a good thing.

I guess my confidence level is high when I've been putting here. I think the biggest thing is the speed of the greens. They are a little bit slower than what we normally play, but it's kind of the speed that I've been playing at home so far this year.

You know, we're just coming out of our spring and winter and our greens haven't been able to get too fast yet. This is kind of the speed that I'm playing at home.

I putted a lot at home, I didn't have to make too much of an adjustment coming here. I think that helped putting last week and putting some time in.

Q. Steve, in terms of this round, finishing of with a couple of birdies to maybe distance yourself a little bit more from the field, I don't know what will happen this afternoon, but how key is that, kind of a little extra added emphasis at the end of your round?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, obviously, when you can if finish off with a couple of birdies, it leaves a good taste in your mouth and makes the rest of the day feel a little bit better. But, you know, you never know what's going to happen this afternoon, somebody could go out and shoot 8 or 9 under and be right there leading.

So I just felt like I needed to continue to do what I was doing and not back down and try to hit the shots that I've been hitting all day and fortunate enough to make a good putt at 17, maybe about a 15 footer and a 3 footer at 18.

It was a good way to finish, and I just continue to do what I've been doing the next couple of days.

Q. Were the greens noticeably different at all, were they still just as soft, just as receptive, no real difference in what you faced yesterday afternoon?

STEVE STRICKER: No real difference. It was a little bit of an advantage playing in the afternoon and morning. We were able to keep going under very similar conditions. The wind was almost identical, the firmness of the course is pretty much the same, and the speed and the greens were identical, too.

So it was like there were no changes for us. I don't know what they are going to have this afternoon. For us, there was really no changes from one round to the next, and that doesn't happen too many times, but it happened yesterday and today.

Q. Steve, when you decided to rebuild your swing, is this pretty much why you did it so it would be so consistent? It seems since you did, it's been very consistent?

STEVE STRICKER: That was my goal, rebuilding it, because I wasn't very consistent before, and I would hit a lot of wayward shots. You know, I still hit wayward shots, everybody does, that's just the nature of the game. I am a lot more consistent. I feel a lot more comfortable with what I do on my swing. I understand it a lot more. I put a lot of time into it. I continue to put a lot of time in with it. So I was looking for consistency. I really didn't know what to expect when I went to work on it. But, you know, it's been a great run and hopefully continues.

Q. Steve, when you came out this morning, and you saw the conditions were the same as you left off yesterday, is there a sense of, okay, I need to pick up where I left off? This is my chance to go low.

STEVE STRICKER: I didn't really think about a number, or think about shooting low again. You know, early morning times, and late yesterday and early morning, is sometimes tough because you don't get a lot of rest, and you are right back at it again which is good at times. But also you don't, you know, you don't get that rest. You don't have a good night's sleep because you are still charged up from the round yesterday. So I just kind of came out and tried to ease back into it and tried not to force things.

Luckily I birdied the first hole and got off to a good start. I just plotted along. I take one hole at a time. I've learned that along the length of my career, and you just try not to get ahead of myself and all of those things.

So I just tried to wake up, you know, and get loosened up and go on. I start swinging a little more aggressively as the round went on, but I really didn't have, you know, a mindset of going and shooting another 7 under round. I just let it happen.

Q. I realize tournament records come and go, you would much rather have a trophy, what does it mean to have the lowest 36 hole total here, and you did it's by two strokes?

STEVE STRICKER: Really? I did not know that. I would rather have the trophy, and we're halfway through. I got to stay focused and try to continue to do the things that I did these last couple of days and try to, you know, just keep making putts. That solves a lot of problems. Just keep doing that, and hopefully, you know, I don't want to think about results. It's too early. Just try to continue what I'm doing.

Q. First, can you tell me the key to making bombs, long putts? That's the first question. And the second is, do you ever fret over a short putt these days?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes. If someone was to look at my stats this year you know, I saw at the TPC when we were going around there and throwing up stats everywhere on those Jumbotrons, and that's what got me going. I don't know what the stat was, from 15 to 20 feet or 15 to 25 feet or 25 feet and under, whatever it was, I was like 180th in putts made. So that hurt. I saw that and I was like, well, that's not very good. I realize I hadn't been making any long putts. That's where I went to work. That stat kind of fueled the fire inside of me, and I decided that I needed to do a little bit better job on it. That's what I did last week. Obviously it's paid off. And as far as short putt goes, you know, we grind over all of those putts. I don't take any of those putts for granted; a 2 footer or 3 footer, whatever it is. You have to pay attention and make a good stroke. Obviously, there is more on the line and a little more nerve racking, but they are all tough.

Q. Just to be clear, you were home in Wisconsin last week to practice?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes.

MARK WILLIAMS: Before we let you go, you said yesterday, the wind was a great equalizer around here, would you prefer to have it windy on the weekend or not?

STEVE STRICKER: Good question. I kind of like what's going on right now. It doesn't matter.

MARK WILLIAMS: Can we quickly run over your birdies?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, birdie No. 1, hit a sand wedge to about three feet.

Birdied 6, hit a wedge to 25 feet probably.

8, I hit it to three feet with a 6 iron.

9, made about a 15 footer, hit an 8 iron to 15 feet.

Birdied 13, hit a 7 iron to about 12 feet.

14, was about a 15 footer. I hit a 9 iron in there.

Bogeyed 15, I was right in the middle of the fairway. I don't know if I didn't get catch my 8 iron very good, or what, I came up short in the bunker, and I didn't get it up and down and missed about a 10 footer.

17, made birdie. I hit a wedge to about 15 feet.

18, a 7 iron to about three feet.

MARK WILLIAMS: Appreciate your time. All the best for the weekend.

STEVE STRICKER: Thank you.