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00:00Ben, one of the first things I think about with your game is how great you were with the putter.
00:06We've got our little putting green here behind us, and that's what kind of reminds me of how good you were around the greens.
00:13And was that something right from the get-go as a junior when you picked up a putter that just felt easy and natural to you?
00:19You know, our old teacher, Harvey Penick, used to really encourage us to putt.
00:24He said, I want you boys to play, but I want you all to end up on the putting green.
00:28You know, I want you all to have matches with each other.
00:32It'll keep you sharp that way.
00:34And he said, you've got to putt for something.
00:37Maybe it's a Coca-Cola or something.
00:39But he said it always sharpens your skills.
00:42And he wanted us to putt because it's such an important department of the game.
00:50And as you know, here, it's another element.
00:59You know, you play tournament golf and you get to a set of challenging greens.
01:05But then you always kind of parallel that to what your experiences are at Augusta here.
01:12Right.
01:12Because these can be the meanest greens you could ever play.
01:17100%.
01:18You have to have such an imagination to putt here.
01:22And it's a lot about pace.
01:25And the pace has to be just right.
01:28And also, it's not a fable, but it's true that the putts tend to go down to the bottom of the golf course.
01:41And, you know, my old caddy, Carl Jackson, who helped me so much you can't believe during this time.
01:49And, you know, a lot of people thought that the spot was the 12th green.
01:56And he said, no, it's really not.
01:58It's just over the back of the 11th green.
02:01Wow.
02:01Where the water goes out.
02:03That's right.
02:03Where the bridge is.
02:04Where the bridge is.
02:05That's the one point.
02:06It's funny you say that because in my notes, in my Augusta National book, I have the pull going to behind the 11th green.
02:13So I got some good advice.
02:14There you go.
02:14And it's unbelievable how many times that affects a putt over a lot of greens.
02:22And you've got to know that.
02:24And I've always thought that, you know, we've only had like fuzzy zellers only the first time winner.
02:32I tried to join them.
02:34I know you did.
02:36I know you did.
02:38But there's a lot to take in, a lot to learn, not only about the greens,
02:43but how the shots play and the change in elevation.
02:49You've got to know where downhill and uphill is, what affects your club selection.
02:54But it only comes after a few years of playing.
02:57Right.
02:59So there's a lot to learn.
03:02But it's, to me, you know, I've played tournament golf all my life,
03:08but there was nothing, Smiley, like being in contention in this tournament.
03:14It was so much fun.
03:16It's the best.
03:17But it was, I know this, that my nerves were strung out like piano wire when I got in contention in the fray.
03:28It was so exhilarating.
03:30Nothing like it.
03:30And Justin Leonard, I was reading something that he said about you,
03:34talking about how you had the best speed of any player he's ever played with when it came to your putting.
03:40And he described how you would slice putts, you would hook putts, you would putt them off the toe.
03:46And this all speaks to just the creative and the feel that you have to have to be a good putter,
03:51and especially for Augusta National.
03:52There's not many places where you can play a 10-foot break and have it come around just right.
04:02And it's a lot of fun.
04:04It's a lot of fun, but it's nervy because it can make you look silly.
04:10It's done that to me many, many times.
04:12Where you can, you have a first, you have an approach putt from 30 feet and you leave it eight feet out somewhere.
04:19But it's done that to us all.
04:21Totally.
04:22Totally.
04:22But also, if you do make a putt like that for a save or something, it doesn't, it gives you a charge like that.
04:36It gives you so much confidence.
04:38Totally.
04:40But, you know, the golf course to me is you can't play safe and win this tournament.
04:47You just, there's a way to play it safe, but you're not going to score.
04:51And there's some times where you have to ask yourself to really hit a golf shot somehow.
04:58And it's tough to do, but you can, when you, you know, to get close to a flag, you have to shave an edge of a bunker closely or it has to go up a slope and then come down.
05:12It's hard to do, but when they come off, it really gives you some confidence.