Interviews

An Interview With: JAMES MASON

CRAIG SMITH:  James Mason with a 3-under par, 68.  James, your second U.S. senior Open.  This first round, here, an awful lot better than what you can remember from last year, six birdies.

JAMES MASON:  A lot better.  I think last year I made one birdie in 36 holes.  So, this year I made a few more.

CRAIG SMITH:  Talk about your round in general.  Six birdies, I'm sure a lot of people would trade half that total today.

JAMES MASON:  Started out, I birdied the 4th hole, which was the 13th hole, par-5, up before three feet and made it.

Then, on 16, I knocked it about three feet and made it.

Then, on 18, I made about a 15-footer for par.  I drove it in the fairway bunker and had to chip out.

On the front 9, I made about a 15-footer on 2 for a birdie.

I 2-putted 3 feet for a birdie.

No. 4, I kind of 3-putted.

No. 5, which was playing awful difficult, I hit a 3-iron in there and made about a 15, 18-footer.

Double bogeyed 6, and almost made hole-in-one on 8.

CRAIG SMITH:  What irons, what clubs did you hit in to make birdie and talk about that.

JAMES MASON:  On No. 2, I hit a 58 degree sand wedge.

No. 3, I hit a 5-wood on it in two.

No. 5, I hit 3-iron.

No. 8, I hit 6-iron.

No. 13, it was a sand wedge.

No. 16, a gap wedge.

Q.  You mentioned almost a hole-in-one on 8, can you talk a little bit about how far you were and what the shot looked like?

JAMES MASON:  I hit a 6-iron, the wind was blowing to the left and it stopped about two inches to the right of the hole, about that close (indicating).  The gallery down there let me know it was right close.  It looked good from the tee.  Very rarely do you get to see hole-in-ones, but it was almost in there.

Q.  Are you a morning player or was this -- did you feel something this morning when you came out here?

JAMES MASON:  I really love to be the lead off group, because you get to play at a good pace, and you're the pace setter and you don't really have to wait, although we had to wait on the last nine once we made the turn.  But I enjoy playing first off.

Q.  You won the NFL Classic and played well last week, what do you attribute the resurgence in your game to?

JAMES MASON:  Just letting myself play.  My wife has certainly helped a lot with the mental side of my game.  And I'm just believing more in myself and believing that I can play.  It's an old cliche, but I'm kind of getting out of my own way and just letting myself play.

Q.  How does that change?  It is a cliche to say that, but it's not so easy to do that?

JAMES MASON:  Well, you're right.  And I just -- I had to make that claim or change or I had to give up the game playing at this level, because I was not letting myself play to my capabilities.  And it was just about 99 percent mental, because physically the last three or four years I had played really some good, solid golf, both in section events and mini Tours.  And I knew I had the game, I just didn't bring it to the right level.  And I just -- I have been bringing it more to the level the last two or three weeks.

Q.  How did victory change your life?

JAMES MASON:  It hasn't totally sunk in.  I was able to pay off all my bills was the big thing for right now.  But it's given me the ability to know that I'm going to be out here for at least a year, and should be out here for a year and a half, and hopefully, I can just continue to improve and play better and stay out here for four or five years.

Q.  How much does winning give you a sense of belonging, when you're playing alongside some of the legends of the game?

JAMES MASON:  Repeat the question, I didn't hear the first part of it.

Q.  To build on your last comment about winning, how does it feel -- does it give you more of a sense of belonging on the Tour when you're playing alongside some of the long time legends of the game?

JAMES MASON:  Well, I was a little nervous in Nashville, because I played with Bruce Fleisher.  I finally got over that a little bit and I played with Lanny Wadkins, who has certainly been a great player.  And I've just kind of gotten over the hump somehow.  I really don't know, I've just gotten more at ease with myself and letting myself play.  And I still have to pinch myself to say, "Where am I?  What the hell am I doing?"  And right now it's a pretty good feeling.

Q.  How close were you to having to leave the Tour?  You said if it didn't change around you were going to have to leave?

JAMES MASON:  I was in pretty good shape for the whole year.  I made up my mind I was going to do 30 qualifiers, Monday qualifiers, and I was about -- what, about halfway through them?  So, I was certainly dedicated to the whole year, but it was -- it didn't have a good start, but it's certainly got a good middle right now.

CRAIG SMITH:  How about your expectations when you came in here?

JAMES MASON:  I love the golf course.  I felt like if -- felt like if I can keep it in the fairway here, you can play pretty good.  I'm playing any irons real well.  And today I putted real well.  I missed a couple of short ones, but other than that -- and I made a few.  My expectations right now are hopefully I can just keep my name on the leaderboard, and we'll see what happens on Sunday.

Q.  Could you run through the double, what happened there and the strategy or what you were trying to do on that hole?

JAMES MASON:  A double bogey on 6.  I drove it in the fairway bunker, hit it pretty solid, the wind carried it a little further right than I thought it would.  I thought I could get a 7-iron out of there.  I thought I could get a 7-iron to the front of the green.  But it caught the top of the lip and I had about 130 yards.  I tried to hit a pitching wedge, and I was trying to hit it to the right of the pin, but the rough shut it down a little bit and I hit it in the bunker, and just didn't get it up-and-down.  Missed about a four or five footer for bogey.  I hit a good bogey shot, just didn't make the putt.

Q.  How many putts did you use today in that round and maybe you could tell us the best drive that you made today, distance wise?

JAMES MASON:  I haven't got a stat on my putts, maybe they've got them here.  They said I had 28.  That sounds like a good number to me.  My goal generally is -- if I get under 30 putts I generally play a pretty good round.  The longest drive was on No. 17.  I hit a 6-iron into the 465 yard hole.  I don't know how far that was.

Q.  You say you committed to as many as 30 Monday qualifiers this year, how much in the hole were you before you hit that NFL tournament?

JAMES MASON:  I figure it cost about $1,000 a week to try the Monday qualifiers.  I don't know, my MasterCard and American Expresses were getting decent balances.  I was winning a little bit of money on the mini Tours.  But not enough to pay them off.  But I've paid them off now.

CRAIG SMITH:  Thank you very much, and congratulations on your first round.

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