The Mindset of a 59, Paul Goydos

[CBMaxwell]

July 8th, John Deere Classic

MARK STEVENS: Okay. I'd like to welcome Paul Goydos to the interview room. Paul just shot one of four 59s in TOUR history. Paul, if you'd kind of take us through your thoughts out there and your thoughts on being part of history, and then we'll take some questions.
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah. Well, obviously I wasn't thinking. If I was thinking I think I would shoot 74 or 5. You know, it was just a good day. First you gotta -- you have to commend the grounds crew here. I mean I was in the drugstore picking up a prescription yesterday. I didn't think -- I thought I was going to drown coming out of that place, it rained so hard, and then it rained again last night, and the golf course is just in outstanding condition, obviously, from that point of view. And they did a wonderful job to get us starting on time. I'll just start with the fact of giving credit where credit is due.
You know, good day. I would say that the key start to the round was probably on 5. I missed my only fairway and really caught a good break. Hit it in the right trees and the right trees are dead. I'm walking off the tee thinking I gotta chip out, and I get down there and my ball had actually gotten crooked enough to where I got into an opening where I could go over this one tree and get it on the green and I actually got on the green and ended up making about an 8-footer for two-putt to stay 2-under after 5; and that was a pretty good catalyst to the round.
And then I birdied 6 and 7 after that to get to shoot 4-under on that nine. And then the craziness just blurted out of me. I played 10 very well, and I made a bomb on 11 for birdie. I mean dead center. I made a really good putt from about 20 feet on the next hole for birdie, dead center. I made 125 foot on the next hole, dead center. These putts were going in those little holes you see on the greens.
It was like the one on -- after I made the one on 13 to get to 8-under, about 10 feet from the hole I'm watching it and I'm going, oh, no. Jonathan Byrd and Cliff Kresge are playing really well and they're not making anything. I got Laker warmup. I am making it from everywhere, and this putt's eight feet from the hole, and I go, oh, no. Right into the center.
And then the next hole I made a good birdie, and then I made a really good par on 15, and I think I was, what, 9-under at that point. You lose track.
And I kind of realized walking to the next tee if I birdied the last three holes, I could shoot 59. And they talk about you don't talk to the pitcher when he's got a no-hitter going, blah, blah, blah, but the reality is in that situation three holes to go, that's a pretty good challenge to yourself, and that's what I did, see if you can birdie three holes, see if you can make good swings and make good strokes and see what happens.
If you're playing this well, let's enjoy it. Let's try to make the most of it and have a good time. I think trying to ignore what you're shooting and just try and one shot at a time or whatever is your only shot, you kind of lose sense of the fun of what we're trying to do in that particular situation, in my opinion. And I kind of decided let's have a good time and see what happens.
I made a good swing on 16 and made birdie; played 17 very well and made birdie. And 18, I hit really as good a tee shot as I hit all day on 18. I hit 175, and there's no way I can hit a 7-iron 175, not gonna happen, no matter how hard the wind's blowing. Maybe at the British where the ball lands at 140 and bounces into 170. And I hit 7-iron as good as I could hit it, and I'm not hitting a little 6 to a front-lined pin. And hit 7 as good as I could hit it and got it up there I think it was 7' 3", according to ShotLink.
And I was pretty nervous standing there looking around. I was probably as nervous as I've been over a putt in my life was on that putt. And again, the putt would have gone in a thimble. Don't know why. That's just the way it went today.

[Youknowit]

So many low scores lately. First this and then Appleby. Then that kid shooting 57! 57, are you fricken kidding me? They just seem to go lower and lower lately but I really would try, if I were the PGA Tour and try to make winning scores around -12 like Firestone. If the course is easy, grow the damn rough already, speed up the greens, cut fairways in. This Bob Hope type scores are boring and not really golf. It's like giving me a course that's wide open, flags in the middle, and 6000 yards. Of course I'll shoot par or under but if you put me on a hard course I have to play great for that. Maybe the ratings are better but to me, I want to see these guys struggle a little bit like last week.