I played other sports, so when I played golf, I wanted to have fun. And hitting it far is fun.
It's very, very difficult to win golf tournaments.
It was a hole in one contest and I had a three.
The Longs event was the first LPGA event that I played in 8 years ago.
I mean I don't want to feel inferior to any other golfer in the world. You know if you do that, then you know you're giving them an advantage, you know, right off the - you know, right from the start.
I felt I could play in maybe a dozen tournaments a year as an amateur.
I think it's great fun sometimes when I am playing golf, just to give it a little uch, is to bet the other guy five bucks a hole or something like that.
An American champion, obviously being here in the states, is something that we all look at with the U.S. Open. But golf is played all over the world, and there are so many great golfers from other countries, and we're lucky enough that this is our home base to be able to play out of.
You have to make lots of birdies and give your opponent no chance.
I can sit here and hit all the balls and chip and putt all day long, but if you're not playing competitive golf... there's nothing better than competitive golf.
I remember winning the first time, you know, suddenly everybody expects, well, okay, now he should win every time he tees it up, win six tournaments.
I think I'm bad luck for Tiger because he missed the cut in Charlotte with me. But yeah, those are two of the best players of all time. Tiger's the best player of all time in my opinion, so when he's not in the field, it's a relief because he's such a great player.
Most nervous I've ever been is probably the 2007 Walker Cup. I was a little boy playing with these 8 or 9 other guys that were the best amateurs in the country.
For a competitive junkie like me, golf is a great solution because it smacks you in the face every time you think you have accomplished something. That to me has taken over a lot of the energy and competitiveness for basketball.
You know, when you're trying to get better at golf, you're always measuring your game up against other people to see what you've got to do to get better and to see if you can compete with them.
I do like match play. I like trying to match an opponent shot for shot. It's a challenge. And it's something different.
I feel more strongly than ever about this. I would like the professional game freed of golf carts. Golf is a physical game. If we are playing competitive professional golf, we should walk. When I can't walk 18 holes, I'll pack it in.
Playing golf led me to Georgetown. I played on the women's team there.
The first time I played the Masters, I was so nervous I drank a bottle of rum before I teed off. I shot the happiest 83 of my life.
The Masters is a very important tournament. You don't want to jeopardize your chances. The sponsors understand that.
I love to play golf, and that's my arena. And you can characterize it and describe it however you want, but I have a love and a passion for getting that ball in the hole and beating those guys.
That's the great thing about golf is you never know who is going to win. On good, tough golf courses, it brings it back to the best players. But it's always the best player that week is going to win. I mean, so it could be anybody.
How can I intimidate Tiger Woods? I mean, the guy's got 75 or whatever PGA Tour wins, 14 majors. He's been the biggest thing ever in our sport. How could some little 23-year-old from Northern Ireland with a few wins come up and intimidate him.
So my game is solid. So that obviously makes me feel confident, that like anybody else in this field, you name them, I feel like I've got the ability to win the golf tournament just as much as they have, and that's the way I'm going to take it.
People ask me, 'Would you ever want to play professional golf?' And I'm like, 'No. No, no, no, no. Just because I can hit a good shot every now and then doesn't make me a pro.'
