INTERVIEW OF RONNIE BLACK

DAVE SENKO:   Ronnie, thanks for coming in. Maybe just talk about your day.  You've got to be pleased with closing with a 65, third straight round in the 60's.  It looks like it's going to be a second-place finish for you. 

RONNIE BLACK:  Yes, I'm very excited about the way that I finished.  I made a swing change in the last week, week-and-a-half, trying to get my club around me a little less vertical, and I struggled with my swing today, actually.  I did not hit the ball the way I was hitting it. But I was a putting genius today. So that makes up for a lot of fun shots.

DAVE SENKO:   11 one putts. 

RONNIE BLACK:  Only 11?

DAVE SENKO:   Yes.

RONNIE BLACK:  I had some of them that were 50 feet away. Those were hard to hole.

DAVE SENKO:   You finished with 4-in-a-row. 

RONNIE BLACK:  Yes.

DAVE SENKO:   Birdies, just real quick, start off No. 1. Do you remember your shot sequence? 

RONNIE BLACK:  Yes, No. 1, I hit a very nice tee ball. No. 1, I played very, very nicely. I hit a wedge. It hit past the hole, backed up 18 feet, but it was probably a 15‑footer and I had a beautiful putt.  I scraped a driver on the next hole, hit a nice 9‑iron five feet from the hole, so that was pretty straight forward putt.

(No.) 8, that hole has been kind of after me, always. I didn't play very well last year.  I didn't play it very well this year. I hit a 4‑iron, just the best shot of the week.  It hit right in the middle of the green and rolled up there four inches from the hole, right square in line. If it would have rolled a little bit more, it would have gone in.

(No.) 9, hit a nice drive on 9.  The wind was really blowing and it kind of caught it and blew it to the left under a tree, and I had a tough shot to get out under the tree and I hit a mediocre chip and a bad putt.

(No.) 10, I hit a bad 7‑iron, decent chip that didn't do what I thought and hit a week putt. 

I made another 15‑footer on (No.) 11.  It was, really, a kick-starter for me. I just made two bogeys in a row, and I really needed that putt so I made another spectacular stroke. 

I made a great up and down on (No.) 13. I had a very, very difficult 8‑footer for par that I made. 

(No.) 15, I hit several really bad shots through that sequence. (No.) 9.  Not 9.  But 10, 12 was kind of weak. 

(No.) 13, I hit a bad shot in the bunker and made a great save.

(No.) 14, I hit it very, very poorly. And then my wife gave me a little swing tip and I made a posture adjustment, and I hit the best drive of the week on (No.) 15, and hit the best 5‑iron that kind of caught the ridge and went the wrong way, but I made about a 40‑footer for eagle.  That was just up and over a triple-breaker. You got to have a lot of luck to get that to go in, but I hit three great shots there.

(No.) 17, I hit a beautiful 6‑iron 12 feet left of the hole and had a very difficult putt. Again, just a perfect stroke. Perfect stroke. It went right in. 

(No.) 18, I hit a very weak chip to, I don't know, 10 or 12 feet short and again made a perfect stroke,  poured it right in.  Particularly the last six holes, I putted the ball just beautifully.

DAVE SENKO: Questions?

Q.            You didn't have a single 3‑putt all week, that's got to be pretty good?

RONNIE BLACK:  When I play the Tour, that's the way I make money.  I hit the wall pretty solid.  I don't hit it nearly as close as some of the other guys. I'm a good scrambler. I'm a good competitor and I make putts. I have not made putts like this for a while.  This is the best I've putted in, I don't know, quite a while.  I haven't put a time frame on it but it's years. So I'm excited about that.

Q.            Can you attribute that to anything?

RONNIE BLACK:  I made some technical changes, very simple stuff, releasing the putter a lot better and just hitting it right on the button.  For some reason, I got my optics where I can see down the line better.  I just couldn't see the line.  All of a sudden it's just opened up like a picture.

Q.            Were you scoreboard watching out there with Couples?

RONNIE BLACK:  A little bit.  I wasn't too worried about Freddie.  I was struggling with my swing.  Had I been a little bit sharper with my swing, as well as I was putting, I felt I could have come after him a little bit better. All I had to do was get it inside 15, 18 feet, and I felt like I was going to make it. I did not have control of my swing today enough to really be aggressive in the windy conditions.  I wasn't sharp.  It's a low round of the year so far.  I've had a pretty decent year.  The low round of the year, and my swing was very suspect.  I'm excited about my prospects to come.

Q.            You have gone through Q‑School the last two years, are you looking?

RONNIE BLACK:  I'm not going again. 

Q.            This has to bode well for the rest of the year?

RONNIE BLACK:  Yes.

Q.            Was the swing change, was that kind of a sudden decision?

RONNIE BLACK:  No, I've actually been working on it for quite a while, trying to get the club, get up here and get my right arm flying a little bit, the club is too vertical.  I've always known that, but I saw it on video Tuesday 10 days ago. I just made a commitment that I got to get the club around me more.  The weather was kind of bad in Tucson, unusually, and I didn't get to practice it very much.  This is a Wednesday, I think.  I didn't get to do much with it.  But I came here working on it and made eight birdies on Monday and made six birdies on Wednesday and hit the ball just really, really crisply.  I didn't hit it as well in the tournament.  I never competed with this change.  It was difficult.

Q.            You mentioned it was fun. You came in and said that was a lot of fun?

RONNIE BLACK:  It was fun.  This crowd out here, we have a little bit bigger crowd out here at Newport than what we have at some of the other events.  With Freddie, it's a little bit more tricky, I think.  Freddie makes people excited.  There was a lot of yelling and screaming and people supported me very well, for whatever reason, that's why it's so much fun.  People were yelling from 100 yards away, ‘Hey, Ronnie you'll make it.’  It was exciting off of that.

Q.            You were feeding off of that?

RONNIE BLACK:  Very much so.  I played with Freddie yesterday.  His crowd was so big.  People were pulling for me as well. Not nearly like Freddie.  It's exciting to play in that atmosphere.  If you don't enjoy playing in that atmosphere, probably at this age, you're probably going to be selling insurance because this is what it's about.

Q. Ronnie, talk about the difference – the results here at Toshiba versus last year, what's the change from last year to this year?

RONNIE BLACK:  My putting.  I actually hit the ball.  I played half a year two years ago, and I hit the ball very, very crisply and putted very average. Last year, I had a couple sporadic tournaments.  I played great in New York where I putted great and played great and finished second there. But other than that, it just wasn't as sharp.  I understand my swing just a little bit better now and, obviously with the putter coming around, you can get away with a lot of stuff.

Q.            Who is your swing coach?

RONNIE BLACK:  I have been using a couple of guys.  A guy named John Basden.  I use his video camera.  And a guy name Mark Oswell has been working with me three years.  I've been working with both of those guys in Tucson. Both teaching pros in Tucson.

Q.            You said your wife gave you ‑‑

RONNIE BLACK:  My wife has watched me hit more golf shots than anybody in the world.  She is a good athlete and understands competition.  She understands my swing. Not necessarily Freddie's swing or Loren Roberts's swing.  She understands my swing. 

            The usual mistakes that I make, golf is very cyclical, and I get a little scrunchy in my posture, reaching for the ball, and the club starts flipping over.  It promotes me getting too vertical. 

After 14 greens, she came up to me and mimicked what the posture is supposed to be.  She didn't say a word.  She just mimicked this posture, gave me the ‘Come on, dude,’ and that's when I made my best two swings of the day, made the eagle. So I got to give her a little kudos there.

Q.            Is she your caddy? 

RONNIE BLACK:  No, she was just in the gallery.  I also have to give kudos to my caddy.  His name is Billy Poore, and I believe he is the best greens reader caddy that I ever used.  He was very sharp this week.  These greens are very difficult to read.  Between the two of us, we did a really great job of reading the greens this week.  I venture to say better than anybody out there.

Q.            So she made the motion and you just kind of saw her?

RONNIE BLACK: Yes. She positioned herself in the crosswalk where I had to walk over her, so yes.

Q.            What's your wife's name?

RONNIE BLACK:  Sandra.

Q.            Ronnie, did you think coming into today you'd have a chance to win?

RONNIE BLACK:  I played with Freddie yesterday.  Freddie can play lousy and shoot 67.  So I felt like I had to shoot a 63. And Freddie not to show up with his putter is what I felt like I'd have to have.