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KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY
March 26, 2019
JULIUS MASON: I'm The PGA of America's Julius Mason and I'd like to thank you very much for joining us today at beautiful Oak Hill Country Club as we celebrate the KitchenAid Senior PGA of America, and our defending champion, Paul Broadhurst.
But to kick things off, please welcome the PGA Director of Instruction at The Country Club at Mirasol, the President of The PGA of America, Suzy Whaley.
SUZY WHALEY: Hi, everybody.
JULIUS MASON: So Suzy, welcome back to Rochester, as you're a little familiar with this part of the country, aren't you?
SUZY WHALEY: I love it here. I feel like I've come home. I grew up in Syracuse, New York, just a little ways away, kindergarten through high school. Ski raced all around here when it was more so than we have out there now.
But I really do love upstate New York. It's just an incredible place to live and grow up. I cherished my childhood here -- oh, good gosh, that's me.
JULIUS MASON: Take us inside. How old are we here? It doesn't look like you're a snowbunny/skier person. You're competitive.
SUZY WHALEY: This picture on the left a little younger, I want to say maybe 11, 12. Picture on the right, I was training for the Olympics. I was at the United States Training Center at the time. I went to Sugarbush, Vermont. I wanted to race in the Olympics. We're not here for that today. I wanted to be a podium gal.
JULIUS MASON: First thing's first. Congratulations on becoming the first woman-elected president in the 102-year history of The PGA of America.
Tell us a little bit about how you balance a full-time job coaching and teaching, and then running an association of 29,000 The PGA of America professionals.
SUZY WHALEY: So proud obviously to be president and to be a part of an association of 29,000 PGA professionals across the country, like Jason here, who is in charge of all of this at Oak Hill Country Club, and we have members from the New York section that are here.
We have 41 sections, for those of you that are not aware of that all across the country, all of which have a governance model as well, and cherish what we do. We try to get clubs in people's hands and we have different roles as PGA professionals. I'm a coach, as you can see here.
I love PGA Junior League. That's one of our wonderful programs that gets youth 13 and under into the game in a team golf format with jerseys and names on their backs and it's something I absolutely love and we're excited to get that started this year.
Certainly we are all busy but I think PGA professionals thrive on that and we just love to serve our membership across the country, but most importantly, to get people loving the game like we do.
JULIUS MASON: Jason, by the way, thank you very much for your hospitality here this week. It's been absolutely fantastic.
SUZY WHALEY: Yes.
JULIUS MASON: Let's take a look at this video and let's remind everyone what happened here in 2008.
(Video played).
SUZY WHALEY: Pretty incredible moment for Jay Haas, an unbelievable leaderboard. His second major actually that was here at Oak Hill. We just have an incredible relationship with Oak Hill Country Club. We've been here 40-plus year with a relationship with the facility.
We'll have our seventh championship coming up here in 2023, The PGA of America, and of course, thanks to Deb and KitchenAid for their incredible partnership which allows us to host this event and really celebrate the amazing talent on the Senior PGA tour.
JULIUS MASON: So we're not bringing any of our championships to Oak Hill unless it was a spectacular golf course, right.
SUZY WHALEY: I mean, this truly is, and all of you having been here and witnessed that championship, walked the grounds, played the golf course, these golf courses, it's one of the best in the game. It's a championship venue that only brings us amazing highlights, like what you just saw Jay accomplish on that hole.
We are just proud to be able to stage this type of championship on sufficient an unbelievable championship venue.
JULIUS MASON: It's no surprise our major championship, which is only two months away, features the strongest field in senior golf but our field is also rather unique, right?
SUZY WHALEY: It is unique. For those that may not be aware, our field holds Masters champions, U.S. Open champions, The Open Championship, the PGA Championship, but as a PGA professional, we are incredibly proud that as up to 35 or more could be in this field who are club professionals who have qualified to earn the right to play here, who compete at the highest level.
For some, it's their first major and for others they have played in multiple opportunities. Bob Sowards is our champion from PGA Golf Club last year at our Senior PGA Professional Championship. Bob's putting prowess; listen, Donald Ross would be proud. He's definitely one to watch because he has an incredible putting stick and he gets me by ten every time I play him. He's somebody to definitely look out for.
But we're really proud of the fact that ours can club professionals play the game at the highest level and we believe in playing the game. We want everyone to play golf more but we also find great pride in the fact that we like to be competitive and this gives them the opportunity to do so at the height level.
JULIUS MASON: So as if our championship isn't enough, I know you are all about the power of golf, and you attended a really special breakfast this morning, didn't you?
SUZY WHALEY: Yeah, I did. I had an opportunity to share some time with some of our veterans here in our PGA Hope Program. Thank you for your service and all you do for the rest of us.
PGA Hope is part of our foundation at The PGA of America called PGA Reach and PGA Hope is a program, the acronym stands for Helping Our Patriots Everywhere. It's a fully-funded program through our foundation which offers lessons and equipment to the military and to veterans who really, we hope, gives them a chance to assimilate back into society in a community environment through the game of golf where we want to give them vitality.
We want to showcase to them that golf can be a sport for them, but also a refuge for them where perhaps just for a few moments, they can just have joy in being outside, being with others that have experienced what they have. But also, it gives PGA professionals more than we ever could have imagined by helping and spending time with these men and women who we're just privileged to be around.
An incredible opportunity. We have Chris Novak here who is really our military and veteran liaison. Chris, I don't know where you are --
JULIUS MASON: Stand up, Chris, please.
SUZY WHALEY: Yeah, thank you very much, Chris, for your efforts. And then Laura Miller who certainly is one of our program specialists. We have three chapters here in western New York and from those chapters we're excited to welcome them in May, for those who have the opportunity to compete at the Secretary's Cup, which will be held on Long Island during PGA Championship week.
So thanks again for being here, it was really a treat and an honor to spend time with you this morning.
JULIUS MASON: Really special, Suzy, thanks very much. Next please welcome from Benton Harbor, Michigan, KitchenAid's director of global partnerships, Deb O'Connor.
Deb, so we've got to be going on, now, the ninth year of KitchenAid's involvement with the Senior PGA Championship. Something is obviously is working from your perspective. Can you tell us why KitchenAid is a title sponsor of this major championship?
DEB O'CONNOR: Sure. Can you believe it's nine years?
SUZY WHALEY: No.
DEB O'CONNOR: Yeah, it's gone so fast. But yeah, it gives us an opportunity to connect with our consumers. You know, if somebody comes on the course, they are at a golf course, they come in, they see all these appliances; they get a chance to touch and feel and even use the product if they want. In the future, when they go to buy appliances, they are going to remember that unique experience, so that helps.
We also get the opportunity to connect with the 29,000 members of The PGA of America, and in the nine years, I would say that the level of interest of KitchenAid has gone up. They know who KitchenAid is, and I've heard so many great stories from PGA professionals about their appliances. I would say that they are excited about KitchenAid as I am about golfer, so it's been really fun to hang with them.
And then the other thing I just would be remiss in mentioning is, the reason we initiated the sponsorship so we can play at our course in Benton Harbor, Michigan, every other year.
Our course is a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course. It's Harbor Shores. It's on Lake Michigan and it's amazing. It's really been a key part of revitalization of our community. We all know when we see a major championship on TV we want to go play that course, and so that's worked out really well for us.
JULIUS MASON: If there was an award for sponsor activation at a senior event, I think KitchenAid would get it every year. Can you maybe give us an idea of what all of us can expect when we come and see the championship in two months?
DEB O'CONNOR: Yeah, so we're in Rochester, and all I keep hearing is Rochester is a foodie town. We feel like we had to kind of up it a notch.
So we have a few new things that we're going to do. We have the KitchenAid smoothie shop, and it's basically a mobile, cute little trailer that we're going to take around town in Rochester through the month of May, and just stop at different places, serve some KitchenAid recipes, smoothies and talk about KitchenAid and talk about golf. It's going to be a lot of fun.
If you're interested in where the truck will be, just follow us on Twitter @KitchenAid_golf. So you can see that.
I think the other thing I really need to make sure I talk about is the Fairway Club, because it's the biggest piece of our activation on the golf course, and it's this giant tent that has a demonstration kitchen and a lot of other product, and we will have a chef in there all day, every day, so.
You can come in, ask your culinary questions, talk about your favorite recipe or a recipe you're trying to re-work and get some help there, and then because we're in Rochester, we're going to offer something different this year where we are going to allow people to go through an entire recipe. They will actually come in and cook, and you will use several different KitchenAid products in the process. Hopefully you will come in and be inspired, and then one more thing I want to talk about, lots of new stuff.
While we were getting ready for the championship, I had the opportunity to meet the folks from New York Kitchen, and if those of you that don't know what New York Kitchen is, I would call it a place where culinary dreams come true. Because you can go and you can have hands-on cooking. You can go in the restaurant. You can have a party there. There's wine tasting, beer tasting. It's a great place.
So what we want to do is pick up that experience and bring it on to the golf course. So we're offering an upgraded ticket on Thursday. You will get to see golf all day Thursday with a clubhouse pass, and then around 6:30, you'll come on over to the Fairway Club. We have 20 cooktops and you will be able to be a part of this cooking class with our chef, Chris Covelli and a couple of the New York Kitchen chefs and you'll have a blast cooking.
Then when you're done cooking, we're just going to sit in the courtyard and have dinner from the -- so you'll experience the recipe and then you'll get to eat that meal, and it will last long enough that we are going to call it Under the Stars. It's going to be a fantastic night.
JULIUS MASON: As I saw the chef on the slide here, I'm reminded that you annually bring some of the greatest celebrity chefs from the culinary world to the championship.
What do you have in store this year?
DEB O'CONNOR: And guess what, it's no different this year. So on Thursday, we're bringing celebrity Stephanie Izard. Stephanie is from Chicago. She is the first woman to win Top Chef, Bravo's Top Chef, so we're excited to have her.
On Friday, we have Tom Colicchio. He has actually been a head judgment for Top Chef for years.
Then on Saturday, we have Alex Guarnaschelli, and if you watch Food Network at all, you know who Alex is. She's a lot of fun. She makes amazing food and she's going to be with us on Saturday.
Then, of course, because we're in Rochester, we're going to bring in some local chefs, as well. We have Steve Eakins from Radio Social. We have Chef Zolnierowski from Nosh. Of course Chris Roth from Oak Hill. And then on Saturday, a couple of the chefs from New York Kitchen, Matt Brewster and Mary Beth Brinkerhoff will be here on Sunday to kind of finish us up for the weekend.
JULIUS MASON: Chef Roth, are you here someplace? (Applause).
Deb, there are so many cool KitchenAid appliances, gadgets, gizmos. You live in that world. Can you pick a favorite, and if you have a favorite, do you have a story about a favorite Deb debits hard to pick.
DEB O'CONNOR: It's hard to pick a favorite, but my latest favorite is our toaster. You know, toaster, you drag your butt out of bed, you're dying and you just want to get your day going, and you grab some coffee, you put the bread in and this toaster is like, blaahhh, as it comes popping out with a big noise. That's not our toaster.
Our toaster, you put the bread in, it slowly goes down. You sit there, you're starting to wake up and when it's done, it goes ding, and it pops ups and it presents itself to you. It's so smooth and quiet and beautiful for a morning, you know, a crazy morning.
SUZY WHALEY: Agreed.
DEB O'CONNOR: That is my favorite. Now, my story, Colin Montgomerie, I was fortunate enough to get to play with him in a Pro-Am, and we were playing, and he got the toaster. So first as we start out, he meets me, "Oh, KitchenAid, okay. You got that toaster. That cool toaster. I love that toaster."
The entire round, he would not shut up about the toaster. And I was glad he was so excited about it, but then he started giving toasters away to the team. You know, hey, put this putt in and I'll get you a toaster; Deb will get you a toaster. So we're back and forth, back and forth. He was a little too excited about the toaster (laughing.)
JULIUS MASON: This seems rather appropriate to, I'd say, give a toaster away to somebody here.
DEB O'CONNOR: Kevin?
JULIUS MASON: Kevin, the general chair -- ladies and gentlemen, general chair of the championship. (Applause).
Kevin, when is your birthday? July 29? Ladies and gentlemen if your birthday is July 29, you're going to walk out of here with a toaster. Any July 29s? (Laughter).
Then we are going to go beyond July 29.
Do we have a July 30 birthday?
July 31? August 1? August 2? We're going to do this until somebody walks out of here with a toaster.
August 2? August 3? August 4? 5? August 5, very good.
(Toaster giveaway and audience giveaway)..
JULIUS MASON: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Paul Broadhurst to the stage.
Welcome back to Rochester. Today is about learning as much as we possibly can about you, but also maybe having a little fun along the way. So let's go ahead and start from the beginning, all right. Where did you specifically grow up, and when did you learn to play the sport of golf?
PAUL BROADHURST: I started playing when I was about seven years of age. I live right in the center of England. I live 15 minutes from the quite a famous course in the U.K. that's held The Ryder Cup many times, The Belfry Golf Club and the British PGA happens to be based there as well; A place one or two of you in the room may be familiar with.
Occasionally get the chance to play at The Belfry but not too often because I'm obviously quite busy. But that's where I grew up and that's where I live nowadays.
JULIUS MASON: You were The European Tour's Rookie of the Year in 1989. Can you talk about what the pressure was like on you after you won an award like that?
PAUL BROADHURST: The first year on Tour -- what a shocking picture, (laughter).
JULIUS MASON: Pat Kravitz back in the corner was able to find that little bad boy.
PAUL BROADHURST: Thanks very much, I appreciate it. I actually played in '88 at Royal Lytham as an the amateur and won the Silver Medal and I played the last day on Sunday with Jack Nicklaus and Paul Azinger, looking like that -- I apologize to Jack and Paul -- no, that is a shocking picture, I'm so sorry. (Laughter).
JULIUS MASON: Talk about the expectations after you win the Rookie of the Year. That's monumental.
PAUL BROADHURST: First year on Tour went great. You're never sure how your career is going to pan out but I achieved everything as an amateur I wanted to achieve. After The Open, experience, that was the time to turn pro. First few events went fantastically well. Missed the cut in the first one in Tenerife and finished third the following week in Dubai, another third position about six weeks later, and then actually won my first Tour event in my ninth event.
So in ten weeks, I had two thirds and a first position my first year on Tour, which enabled me to pick up the Rookie of the Year. The next year didn't go so well. The expectation level rises a little bit, and you're expected to be competing and sometimes that doesn't happen. I think I got off to such a fast start that it was inevitable that I might have some sort of reaction.
I had an injury at the end of '89 and had an operation on my wrist that sat me down for a few months, and my game wasn't quite so good in '90 but it got better in '91.
JULIUS MASON: So you win six times on The European Tour. Can you talk maybe about some of your fondest memories playing the Tour?
PAUL BROADHURST: I mean, my putting, my biggest win was The French Open. Just happened to be at Le Golf National, where was last year -- I'm not going into The Ryder Cup because we did quite well out there.
But certainly it is a fantastic course, Paris National, one of my favorites in Europe. Lucky enough to win a senior event there on the StaySure Tour in Europe, as well. As I say, horses for courses. Fond memories of playing Paris National. I think I won the tournament by eight shots, so you can actually enjoy playing that last hole, albeit one of the most difficult finishing holes in golf, I would say. But with an eight-shot lead, I could relax a little bit and enjoy the occasions.
But all my wins are special. It's tough to win out on tour, any tour, so any time you get the chance to win, you've got to take it, and I enjoyed it.
JULIUS MASON: So let's fast-forward to 2015 when, by golly, you are the Rookie of the Year on the Senior Tour in 2015. That doesn't happen with everybody. Are expectations a little different? How is your game at that stage of your life?
PAUL BROADHURST: I finished on the main tour in 2012. Played a couple events that year. My game was a mess. It wasn't good. Again, I had a shoulder injury in latter part of 2010 and 2011 I played poorly and 2012 I lost my card.
I was starting to play in the U.K. I used to play in the PGA Pro-Ams. I was finished on the main Tour. I had three, 3 1/2 years till my 50th birthday, and I met an old pal of mine, a PGA pro at this tournament I had just won and he was asking me how I played. And I said, "I played shocking, I have no idea what I'm doing, my game's a mess."
He said, "Come and see me."
My remit to him was, right, you've got 3 1/2 years so sort this out, because when I'm 50, I want to hit the ground running. Worked hard and had a chance to play in Pro-Ams and test out what we were working on.
So it was a really good 3 1/2 years. Probably the best thing that could happen to me was to lose my card when I did and really focus on my game and get in shape.
Because when you're playing on Tour week-in and week-out, you just don't have time to make changes and the big changes have to work straightaway, otherwise they get thrown out straightaway.
So I worked hard for 3 1/2 years, up until I'm 50 and as you said, hit the ground running, 2015, Rookie of the Year. But it was those 3 1/2 years of hard work and change.
JULIUS MASON: So for the amateurs in the room, are there any tips that you can give them, probably not some of the things that you were working on in that three-year period, any bits of advice that you might be able to share.
PAUL BROADHURST: Again, we were talking last night over dinner to Suzy, and I actually carry a mirror around with me in practice, and it's not to check my hair on the course, but I would place mirrors and I would check my eye line. I used to look at the ball -- I had that incorrect. I always used to look at the ball with my head tilted this way and for years, 25 years, the club and the backswing was always behind me and I could never get it out in front of me. So I always played with a big, dirty hook. My driver was not consistent. My long game wasn't particularly consistent.
And that's what we changed. We changed my eyeline when I look at the ball, and I keep a mirror when I'm practicing in front of me so I can check that my eyes are in the correct position.
I've also added to that, because I have a tendency to follow the club head back with my head, so my head moves this way, which again, encourages the club inside.
So I'm now a customer of Starbucks, and when I go into Starbucks, I sort of pinch a few of the wooden stirrers and now I have my practice routine. I look in the mirror and I actually put a Starbucks -- I'll say a straw in my mouth and when I take the club head away, if my head moves with the clubhead, I can see the straw moving, as well.
So it's basically a way of keeping my head still. If I keep my head still, it doesn't go in way and it stays still and the clubhead goes back on a better line, and as a result, I don't now hit a dirty hook. I hit pretty straight.
JULIUS MASON: Two things with this. I think I see that Starbucks is going to be a sponsor of yours moving forward, and I think new drink here is going to be called the Dirty Hook. I think that would work well here. (Laughter).
I think you're a perfect example of getting better with age. You won five times on the Senior Tour, including two majors. Are you playing best golf of your career now?
PAUL BROADHURST: Like I said, my long game is so much more consistent. I've actually become a decent driver of the ball, where I mean, my driving stats would be 30, 35 percent fairways hit in my 23 years on Tour. It's a lot better than that now.
You know, and that breeds confidence, certainly in my long game. I used to -- I say I used to be a really good putter. I don't know whether you have clips of last year, you may have, so there might be some questions asked.
My long game is much more consistent nowadays, and you know, and that can only help playing out here on the Champions Tour. It's a tough tour to play, and your game has to be A1.
JULIUS MASON: You mentioned 1991, all right, The Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island. Some say that was The Ryder Cup that put The Ryder Cup on the map. You went 2-0 in that Ryder Cup. There was a lot that happened during that week. Maybe just share a couple of some of your memories that can be shared in a public audience.
PAUL BROADHURST: I mean, first of all, I was totally in awe of The European Team. You know, we had the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Olazábal, Monty was a rookie the same as me. But I was in awe of playing with these guys. It's my third year on Tour -- I've never played with Nick Faldo. I had to arrange a practice round with Nick Faldo three weeks before The Ryder Cup because I had never played with him before.
So I was pretty much in awe of my team. I knew the names of the U.S. Team but I had only played with Paul Azinger at the time.
JULIUS MASON: But you belonged on that team.
PAUL BROADHURST: I belonged on that team. I qualified in the very last event in Europe. I needed to finish second on my own to get on the team, and lost in a playoff. You know, I had worked my way in and I felt as though I belonged there because I was playing some of the best golf of my life. But in that company, I wasn't so sure.
I have great memories, but I actually had to sit out the first three matches, which was, you know, tough to take because I knew I was playing really well. I probably didn't expect to play in the foursomes, because as I said, I had a dirty hook in the bag, which that was not great for foursomes golf.
But I was always a birdie machine in those days. Like I said, I was a good putter, and thought I could really contribute in the four-ball, but you know, my captain, Bernard Gallacher, he's the man that picked the team, and I had to sit out until Saturday afternoon.
I was paired with Ian Woosnam. I'll tell you a little story. We were on the practice area and we left the practice area and to walk to the first tee. It's quite a long walk to the first at Kiawah Island.
Ian Woosnam had played a few games with Nick Faldo and they putted terribly, both of them and Gallacher decided to split them up and I got Ian and we walk to the first tee -- my first Ryder Cup, haven't hit a shot. Sat around for two days. He put his arm around me, he says, "Broad, I know you're a really good putter." He says, "I'm putting terrible. If you see anything, just let me know."
Now, Ian Woosnam had just won the Masters in April. He was world No. 1 and he's asking a rookie about his putting. I don't think I can imagine Tiger Woods asking a rookie for advice like that.
JULIUS MASON: Did it put you at ease?
PAUL BROADHURST: Whether he did it on purpose or not, I'm not sure -- I'm a good pal of Ian Woosnam nowadays and he still won't admit if it was a ploy on his behalf. But I certainly went to the tee thinking I've got to do my little bit. I think I contributed enough for us to certainly win that match.
You know, it was great memories playing, but obviously we lost that one, so it was a little bit disappointing.
JULIUS MASON: Well, you talked about how stacked the team was. I think you have an image here of the team. I mean, there's a whole bunch of Hall of Famers on this list.
PAUL BROADHURST: Do you recognize the guy top right, third from the right? He's quite famous over here now.
JULIUS MASON: Looks like he might have spent a lot of time on television.
PAUL BROADHURST: We always said he was a comedian.
JULIUS MASON: Even in '91. Are there any stories you can tell of David Feherty?
PAUL BROADHURST: I can't, honestly -- I know David but I don't know him that well. No, there's nothing that really springs to mind, but I know he's well thought of over here nowadays and he's done fantastically for himself.
JULIUS MASON: He's a great friend The PGA of America and great friend of golf's.
We were talking last night as we look at all these legends on your European Team, and we were talking about the best golfers in the world that you have seen, and you kind of take a different approach to identifying categories.
PAUL BROADHURST: A little bit. I think it's really difficult to pick out one player as the best player. You asked me about Europe and America, and America, I went with Jack Nicklaus because I was blown over playing with him as an amateur. I thought he played incredible golf at Royal Lytham. But generally, I tend to pick out the categories.
Like putting category, best putter I've perhaps ever seen was undoubtedly Tiger Woods. And I would perhaps put Luke Donald in that category when he was world No. 1. Luke used to putt fantastically well, and I think his putting's not quite as good as it used to be.
Iron play, Olazábal. If Olazábal could have hit the big stick, if he could have ever driven the ball well, he would have won multiple majors. Did he win two?
JULIUS MASON: Yeah, Masters, twice.
PAUL BROADHURST: But he would have won a lot, lot more. He was such a poor driver of the ball, but his iron player was incredible.
Short game, Seve and Olazábal again. Par I said to you last night, I would perhaps put myself in the top 5 -- my short game used to be, I'm getting older now and my nerves are not quite as they were, but my short game I was blessed with a good short game because I have a big dirty hook off the tee.
Is that all of them? Driving. Driving. In Europe, I'd pick Lee Westwood out because Lee Westwood drives incredibly well.
And USA, David Duval at his peak. I played with him at Carnoustie when David, I think he was Rookie of the Year in about '96, and I played with him in '97, and he hit driver. I don't know whether you guys and ladies have played Carnoustie, but it's a really narrow golf course, little tiny pot bunkers, similar to the ones I've seen out here, actually, high faces. You get in them, it's out sideways. And David Duval hit driver everywhere around Carnoustie when I played with him and he just hit it pure. It was one of the best driving displays I've ever seen, so he would be right up there, as well.
JULIUS MASON: Oak Hill. You hit some golf balls yesterday.
PAUL BROADHURST: I did.
JULIUS MASON: In this Chamber of Commerce weather.
PAUL BROADHURST: Yeah, we practiced. I hit balls for an hour or so. Couldn't quite reach the markers on the top of the hill at 250. Need to get in the gym I think.
But no, it was a bit chilly and it was into the wind.
JULIUS MASON: Did you get out on to the golf course?
PAUL BROADHURST: Yeah, Max took me around in a cart. We had a little look at the golf course. Yeah, it looks great. I was really surprised coming out of winter how much growth there is on the golf course, because in the U.K., when we come out of winter, it's basically dirt and mud. There's no grass there at all, and it's sort of April, may, when the grass comes through in the U.K. Here, you have full coverage already. I'm sure the course will be immaculate come May.
JULIUS MASON: We were talking earlier, many people might not remember that you were here in 1995 working as a television analyst for European TV on the European side and Larry Mize was doing the American television side.
Is it tough to remember what you saw here in '95, what you remember, and maybe the quick ride-around with Max?
PAUL BROADHURST: I sort of remembered a lot of the holes. Certainly the finish, 14, 16, 17, 18. Couldn't remember 15 and when I say it yesterday, terrified me. Greens are this big (indicating), and you can't miss it left, you can't miss it right; and you know, so yeah well, what I did notice out there is it looks as though you have to play below the flag. A lot of the greens run back to front. Those back pin positions are going to be tough to get to. But it looks a real good test.
Not quite as I remember it because I remember it with quite a few more trees, and I think over the past 25 years, 600 trees or so have been taken down.
So the outlook of the course is a bit wider, but when you stand on the tee, it still is narrow as ever, just without, you know, some of the trees that perhaps weren't needed, really, to make it tight. And of course, seeing the video from 2008, the rough was like this.
So yeah, I'm sure it will be a real good test for us.
JULIUS MASON: David Charles, how deep is the rough going to be here for Paul?
PAUL BROADHURST: Not very.
JULIUS MASON: Let's leave Oak Hill and let's go back to Benton Harbor, Michigan and remind everybody in the room what happened last year.
(Video played).
JULIUS MASON: So true or false, Paul: After shooting a 72 in round one, you went and made a phone call to your travel agent trying to book a flight home.
PAUL BROADHURST: Correct. I was right on the cut mark, and I thought, if I miss the cut, I really don't want to stay here till Monday morning. You miss the cut, you want to get out of there.
So I did. I rang my travel agent and said what's the first flight out of here Saturday morning just in case, and he said, well, there is one, but it's going to cost you 1,500 dollars. So that was my incentive Friday to make the cut.
JULIUS MASON: That's Lorraine, your wife. Say hello, everyone. Winking at you down there.
Do me a favor, take a look at this slide and answer this multiple choice question for you, okay. The question is: What's more impressive, posting a 66,64,63 in the final rounds of a major championship; b, winning a major championship by four strokes; or c, matching the best 72-hole score, 19-under, 265 in championship history.
PAUL BROADHURST: That's tough. Tough one. Personally, I'd go for A.
JULIUS MASON: I would agree with you.
PAUL BROADHURST: Just for self-confidence, because now I know I can shoot low scores consecutively. Whereas previously, I wasn't sure.
I knew I could win a major, not necessarily by four, but by two. And I've shot 21-under once before, not in a major, so I know I'm capable of shooting those figures.
But 66,64,63, that's pretty special.
JULIUS MASON: So we talked a little earlier about your putting. This doesn't happen unless Jupiter aligns with Mars, right. Talk about your putting that week.
PAUL BROADHURST: Well, I just think the greens, they were not ridiculously quick. They were quick but not in the 12, 13 Stimp range. And they were a little bit European-looking. That's what I felt.
JULIUS MASON: Jack Nicklaus golf course.
PAUL BROADHURST: But you know, they did, they looked a little bit European. And it was a course I had played two years before, and in the last round, I shot 4-under in 2016 the last round, but made eight birdies in that; that hook was back in the bag.
So I knew I could play the course, and it was just one of those weeks. You know, my putter was red-hot. I mean, I've never holed so many 35, 40-footers in my life. You know, you look at that and think, there's nothing wrong with this putting. It is not like that every week, trust me. If it was, I would be in the winner's enclosure a lot more than I am.
But it was just an incredible week. The first round, I couldn't buy a putt, which is why I shot 1-over, but I knew I was playing well tee-to-green. Second day, I made a few, obviously, and then Saturday, Sunday, I made everything. First hole on Sunday, I hit a good tee shot. Hit a really poor 9-iron. Pin was back left and I hit it back right. 40-footer across the green, down the slope, in the hole, and that's how it all started, and you've just seen the one on 14. I just missed the green left. Got the wrong side of the pin. I got no chip at all. Tried to be cute and check it at the top of the hill and of course it didn't check and it's a way down the hill. I holed a 30-footer for par, and then you think, you know, my name's an the trophy, really. You start to think that way.
JULIUS MASON: After you win this major championship, there are a number of things that you have to do as champ. You have to go to a reception. You have to do media interviews. You have to sign a bunch of hole flags. We kept you there pretty late.
PAUL BROADHURST: A long time.
JULIUS MASON: You were the last one probably to leave the property -- and there, Lorraine, beautiful. So I guess my question is: What did you and Lorraine do after you left the golf course that night to celebrate?
PAUL BROADHURST: Like you said, everywhere was closed on a Sunday. The hotel we stayed in, the restaurant was closed. So we ended up going for a lovely meal at Appleby's. Dine in style. (Laughter).
JULIUS MASON: Is Chef still here? We're going to have to make sure Oak Hill stays open really, really late.
What's your schedule going to look like leading up to the championship here in Rochester.
PAUL BROADHURST: Well, I'm planning to arrive on Sunday, on the Sunday before, and will practice Monday and Pro-Am Tuesday. Then Wednesday I'll probably take it pretty easy. I'll practice a few putts and work on bits that I think need work on, but the lead-up to that, I know I've got four weeks, quite a long run on the Champions Tour leading up to that.
But I will go home the week before, see my coach. I think we're only home for five days and then fly back out on the Sunday before the tournament.
It's a pretty busy schedule, but I like coming to majors, having played a few tournaments, not necessarily the week before, but two or three weeks before. I like to feel as though I'm in control of the name and know what I'm working on and how the game is performing.
JULIUS MASON: Lorraine tells us that you're as competitive on the golf course as you are off the golf course. Is that a fair statement?
PAUL BROADHURST: (Chuckling) I would say yes.
JULIUS MASON: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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