Playing
in his first PGA Championship, Shaun Micheel became the fourth
first-time major winner in the 2003 season. Micheel played
a solid round of even par Sunday, punctuated by an approach
shot on No. 18 that landed inches from the cup and gave him
the title over Chad Campbell.
SHAUN MICHEEL: I
don't think there's much left. I spit it out there in the rough.
It's all in the golf course.
First of all,
I really can't believe that this happened to me. I showed up here
on Tuesday to play a practice round and saw how difficult this golf
course was. And after last week, I just was trying to make the cut.
I know that sounds pretty simple, but really, that was my main goal,
and I probably would have been happy with that.
As I got going,
and I started playing a little bit better -- although I didn't play
particularly well today, but I managed to hang on, and thank goodness
for a short game.
I just totally
lost my train of thought, so, anyway, bear with me today.
JULIUS MASON: That's
the kind of stuff we're looking for. That's good.
SHAUN MICHEEL: As
I said, as the week went on, and the days, I started striking the
ball a little bit better. I was thinking really well out there. I
knew how tough the golf course was and I didn't think anybody was
going to hit 14 out of 14 fairways or 18 out of 18 greens. I just
knew that as long as I could maybe make a few birdies and try to
keep the ball in the fairway, which I couldn't seem to do, that I
was going to have a pretty good chance.
When Chad made
that putt on the par 3 there, it sure changed my perspective, really.
I was pretty confident after making birdie on 14. So I really kind
of had to bear down. When he missed the fairway on 16, it wasn't
really a sigh of relief, but I was pretty excited when that putt
on 16 went in for me.
I guess, you know,
I'll try to be a little bit more descriptive today about my round.
Finally, I hit
the fairway off the tee on No. 1. That was key. I hit a 3-wood off
the tee. That's a very tough shot for me, a right-to-left hole with
a left-to-right wind. That's always been just a really difficult
shot for me. I had a nice, comfortable 6-iron into the green. It
was just a shot that I was just trying to get onto the green, in
the middle of the green, just to kind of get my day going, really.
Had a nice yardage. I was able to make a nice, smooth swing and it
went the perfect distance.
As I've been doing
all week, I made more long putts this week than I could really remember
in a long time. Ultimately, I think anybody will tell you that winning
a golf tournament, particularly a major championship, you've got
to make putts. You've got to make all of your short par putts, which
I did, with the exception of the par 3. I think that was maybe --
I think that was my second 3-putt. I 3-putted that hole both days.
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