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WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAME MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 18, 2007Hubert GreenLarry NelsonJack PeterCurtis StrangeJACK PETER: I want to acknowledge a couple of people that are with us today. We have Hall of Fame member Carol Mann in the front row. Larry Nelson is also with us. You're going to hear from Larry in a few minutes. Larry was inducted last year. So you know, there are five avenues into the Hall of Fame. One is the PGA TOUR ballot, one is called the international ballot, the LPGA has a points-based system to gain entry, then there's a lifetime achievement and a veterans category. We're here today to announce the results of the PGA TOUR ballots and one of the selections for the veterans committee. Before we get to the announcement, I want to let everybody know there will be no inductee from the international ballot this year. Nobody received the appropriate amount of percentage. We will have other announcements throughout the year. You'll see announcements at the U.S. Open at Oakmont and also see an additional announcement at the British Open at Carnoustie. Lastly, Se Ri Pak is coming in through the LPGA points system when she plays her 10th event, which we think will be sometime around the end of June. Now, to introduce two 2007 Hall of Fame inductees, our newest Hall of Fame member, Larry Nelson. LARRY NELSON: Thank you, Jack. It's a pleasure for me to be here. It's really an honor for me. I'm not a rookie anymore. My rookie year ends today. But it's an honor for me on behalf of the 114 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame to be able to stand here and introduce to you the newest inductees, the 2007 group, that are here this week. A year ago this week, it was me standing behind the little blinds back there getting ready to be introduced. I really didn't realize what was going to transpire after the introduction, naming me as an inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame. I cannot say enough for the golf Hall of Fame or staff, Jack, Eleanor, Jane. They just kind of took care of me, my family, and everything that had to do with the induction ceremony. It was one year of kind of reflection, one year of being able to pull out stuff, articles that I had put away, didn't think would ever see the light of day again. With all those articles came memories. This is what these guys are going to be looking forward to this next year. I just wanted to say that I am happy and honored to be here and I'd like to introduce to you, especially the people who are listening on radio, to the newest inductees to the World Golf Hall of Fame. First of all, we have from the veterans category Hubert Green. Hubert had 19 PGA TOUR victories, including the 1997 U.S. Open, 1985 PGA Championship, has four victories to date on the Champions Tour. We're just very excited about having Hubert among this group. Secondly, elected via the PGA TOUR ballot with 70% of the vote, Curtis Strange. Curtis had 17 PGA TOUR titles, including back-to-back U.S. Open championships in 1988 and 1989. Curtis, we welcome both of you to the World Golf Hall of Fame. Just looking forward to what you all have ahead of you this next year. We're excited for you. With that, I'll turn it back over to Jack, who will answer some questions. Thank you very much. JACK PETER: Before we get to the Q&A portion of the press conference, I would like to ask Hubert and Curtis if they've had any thoughts since they got the phone call. We'll start with Hubert. HUBERT GREEN: Well, Curtis and I discussed this a little bit. We don't know what it's going to mean because you can't tell anybody. You're sworn to secrecy. I did tell my wife. A couple days later I told my boys and a few friends. No one has called me because no one knew what was going on. I expect, hopefully hope, there will be a few folks that call me up later this afternoon. But really you don't get a chance to experience too much of what's going on because it's been so hush-hush. It is a nice quiet feeling of I think success. When you're out hitting golf balls when you're younger, the last two years even, trying to improve your game, work on this, work on that, nothing's working, but you know you've done pretty well you don't know how well you've done. To be involved in this organization here is the pinnacle of life. I'm not sure if I qualify or not, but they're letting me in now, so the hell with everybody else (laughter). JACK PETER: Are you finished? HUBERT GREEN: Yeah. Curtis will be more to the point than I was (laughter). CURTIS STRANGE: Same thing. We haven't been able to tell many people. Although I will be honest with you, I've told quite a few. I go against the grain (laughter). You know, obviously it's hard not to tell immediate family, my brother, who has been a large part of this. You know, I had somebody ask me the other day, Did you get emotional, smile, laugh, whatever? You know, I didn't know what to think. "Overwhelmed" was probably the word I've used in the last 10 days or so. A couple of people I have told have gotten more emotional than I did at the time 'cause I think they look at it a little differently than I have. Hubert and I, whoever is involved in the hall, as Hubert way saying, we practice, we play, we play, we practice. We don't ever sit back and reflect on what you've done or what you hope to do. That's not in our nature. We're always trying to go forward. I think now we can possibly sit back and enjoy a little bit. Maybe that will happen. We're not quite sure yet how we'll react. It's certainly a wonderful feeling. My gosh, to think about being involved in an organization that goes back a long, long way, back to the greats that we grew up idolizing, that were our heroes growing up, it's quite overwhelming I think to think in terms like that. JACK PETER: Thank you. We'll now take questions from the floor and then to the teleconference line. Q. Curtis, going back to the days when your father was instilling in you the traditions of the game, you were an elite player of the 1980s, you refer to yourself as somewhat of a grinder, as you take a moment, think about your days in the game, your father's input, how does it feel now to be alongside the games Hogan, Nicklaus, all the others? CURTIS STRANGE: I'm not quite sure I'll ever put myself in those terms, great players. I'm very, very fortunate that I had some success. I'm very fortunate that some people voted me in. Over the past couple weeks you think about it. We were talking last night about some of the individuals that have been so supportive since day one going back to, say, your dad or whoever taught you how to play, those who have carried on with you throughout your career. But that in itself has taken me back to different times in my life that I haven't thought about in years and years. You know, high school golf, high school basketball, college golf, the times in your life that kind of were back there but you haven't really given much thought to. That's been a lot of fun. You know, trying to think about what you're going to say here on November 12th, things like that, is quite scary, I think. But, you know, to go back and think about, again, my dad or whoever taught you to play, got you involved in the game, it's kind of neat. Q. Curtis, what do you think you're known for? CURTIS STRANGE: What am I known for (laughter)? HUBERT GREEN: If I could say something. I don't think Curtis and I -- I think we're a lot alike. We don't look back. People have asked me about things in the past. I don't look behind. If I look behind me, I couldn't go forward. What people think about me, have to ask them. I mean, I don't know. I don't think about myself. I don't think about what I've done in golf. I think about what I'm trying to do, not what's happened in the past. The past is done. CURTIS STRANGE: Obviously, it depends on the time of your life that you're talking about, who was involved in that time. I mean, in my case, I hope it's a U.S. Open. It might be putting Tiger last in the Ryder Cup singles. Who the hell knows (laughter). It might be losing a golf tournament. I don't know. Nor do we really care at this point. It's all part of -- anything you've done is all part of your career. It's not good all the time. There's wins and losses, things like that. HUBERT GREEN: Different folks might think about me is the putt I missed at Augusta on 18. Some folks might think it's the win at the Open with the death threat or beating Trevino in the PGA head-to-head. I really couldn't care less. Obviously, I did miss the putt. I did win the U.S. Open and the PGA and now life goes on. Q. What are you most proud of? HUBERT GREEN: Getting in the Hall of Fame (laughter). CURTIS STRANGE: You ask personal questions. It's hard for us to answer. You have to ask other people, maybe other players, other people that have been around. It's tough. I know what I remember him for. Tenacity, finally, overachiever in a very, very positive way, and quite frankly winning the Open under difficult circumstances on Sunday afternoon. I don't think there's many people that could have done that. He was just daring the guy. HUBERT GREEN: How do you know it was a guy? CURTIS STRANGE: I don't know. HUBERT GREEN: Might have been him. Q. This is something that recognizes an entire career. How does it compare to something that was earned more immediately, such as a major championship victory? How would you compare the emotion and satisfaction of this to something earned on the golf course, like a victory? CURTIS STRANGE: That's what we could control, was our play on the golf course. This is I guess somewhat of a reward for longevity of success. I don't think of this in terms of just purely professional golf. I think of this in terms of going back to early junior days, being successful back then, which builds on amateur golf, which builds on college golf, which builds eventually to the pinnacle: the PGA TOUR. If it wasn't for junior golf, for me, I wouldn't be sitting right here. It's not just PGA TOUR professional golf. This was out of our control, being in the Hall of Fame with that vote, that type of thing. HUBERT GREEN: Forgot the question, he talked so damn long (laughter). I think this is almost a relief because you've been looking -- Curtis and I was talking about this before we were chosen. We hoped to get in. To finally get in the Hall of Fame, it's nice. Our record's there. We can't change it. Whatever we do in life now isn't going to make any difference. Right now it's sitting back and waiting and seeing if what we was doing was good enough to get in, we qualified. Thinking about days gone by, I think about my old pro Jim Dunkerly (ph) in Birmingham chasing me out of the golf shop. I was sitting down. He said, No kids can sit in the golf shop rain or shine. I remember him shaking the club. Q. Is there a moment that each of you can point to in your careers where you realized: I'm pretty good at this game, maybe I can make a living for the rest of my life? CURTIS STRANGE: I don't think, again, we think in terms of that. I think it's one step in front of the other, in front of the other, without tripping along the way. I don't think, coming through college golf, there was a day, a shot, a tournament, you say, I think I'm good enough. You just kind of progress. You were so focused on getting better that you just kind -- it was kind of the next step. I never really had a major hiccup in that process to really question could I play or not. It was the next step. HUBERT GREEN: Amateur golf, there was a guy named Matt McClinton (ph) who was the top amateur in Alabama when I was growing up. He turned pro, won his first event at Hattiesburg. It was a minor league tournament, but he still won it. The year before we turned pro, we played in seven events together. I won four and he won three. I thought, Well, I'm ahead of him right now, and he's coming through, maybe I could make it on the TOUR. My first year on TOUR, I won a tournament. I kept exempt throughout my career. I never had a chance to look back. As Curtis says, you go week to week, month to month, year to year. You don't think in '71, If I win here, I may get in the Hall of Fame in 2007. If I won the Open, Hall of Fame didn't enter my mind. PGA. You just go week to week, tournament to tournament. Once you're career's almost over with, now there's nothing left but hopefully getting in this organization right now. Q. Given the occasion of this, could you share some thoughts on Saturday and Sunday at Southern Hills. HUBERT GREEN: You mean the death threat and everything? Q. Yes. HUBERT GREEN: That was on Sunday. I remember Tom was right in front of me. On 14, par 3, I think he was one behind me or tied, hit out of bounds off the tee, which made me feel pretty good. I thought I had a two-shot lead right then. After I played 14, the USGA game up and told me that there had been a death threat on my life. We had three options. We could stop play, clear the course, I could play without a gallery. They could stop play and we come out the next day and finish up with detectors, and everybody that came in was secure. They had some undercover police officers in the gallery, not in uniforms, and we could continue play and they would be watching galleries. I said, Let's play. I can't be more nervous than I am right now. Let's get it over with us. Had a policeman walking with us on the fairway. It was the first time I had seen that myself. 15, I hit my second shot in the back of the green. The pin was in the front. I got over the putt. I'm thinking, Am I supposed to be shot? Hit the putt. Didn't hear anything. I said, Chicken. I 2-putted, won the tournament. I remember saying, Chicken. I didn't say it loud (laughter). Q. Championships and tournaments are claimed, honors are bestowed upon you. You've each had honors bestowed upon you in the past. As you approach the Hall of Fame, what has this honor seemed to mean to you and what does it now mean to you? HUBERT GREEN: I think it's starting to settle in right now. This is the first event since we received the honor. Now the public's calling me. My phone has rang three or four times since I'm sitting here on vibrate, it's sort of an (indiscernible) feeling in the back of my pocket. If it's not a death threat, it's going to be a pretty good phone call, I think (laughter). I think we're starting to really -- for me I'm starting to feel a little more excited about it. Not a real good choice of words here. But just to enjoy it. It's starting to settle in a little bit. I emailed my son this morning. I said, In an hour and 15 minutes, the announcement will be made, things will start changing for me, as I've been told. So far they're right. CURTIS STRANGE: Other than this time of year when it came up, votes came out, people asked you about it, I never gave it a whole lot of thought. Once again, it was out of our control. Now that it's here, I used the word "overwhelming" earlier. I think it's still a little bit of that. I look forward to this year. I don't know. I don't want to say satisfaction, because it was never about that. It's just a wonderful feeling that you're included with some of the greats of the game, all of the greats of the game, guys like Hubert. You might think we're peers, near the same age. We all respect and admire each other a great deal. I would never tell Hubert what I thought about his golf game, him, anything like that. You just don't do that out here. But these guys are all great players out here. Larry Nelson. Just to be included with them. Forget about Hogan, Nelson, Snead; they're so far above us. But the guys that are in the Hall of Fame that we relate to more, I have so much respect for every one of 'em. It's just nice to be included. Q. Curtis, can you express how hard it is to win two U.S. Opens in a row. CURTIS STRANGE: Well, it ain't easy. You're fortunate to be playing well at that particular time of the year, two years in a row, whatever it might be. The first one was extremely hard just because you haven't done it before. It was my first major to try to win. After that, you get on such a confidence high. At times when you're playing well, you almost seem to -- you know, talking a little out of turn here, you seem to almost get bulletproof sometimes: if you just play well, you're going to beat everybody else. The second one came along, and you just carry on. You build momentum as you get closer to the week. You build momentum during the week. Next thing you know, you have a chance to win on Sunday. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to win. I was fortunate. But the stars were aligned and I came through. It's not easy, but when you're playing well, all you can do is put yourself in position and hopefully things work out. A lot of work, a lot of stress, a lot of pressure goes along with it. It's not easy. HUBERT GREEN: If I could say something on that line. I never won two Opens back to back. I won a few tournaments. My gosh, I can't imagine the focus necessary to win two Opens back to back. I won my first, and the next year I missed the cut, wasn't even close. To keep that mental charge for all the things you need to do, you look forward to it and everything, it's just way past my comprehension. Q. Hubert, you won three PGA TOUR events in a row at a time when a lot of good players were in their prime, Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino. How difficult was that? HUBERT GREEN: Well, most of the time Nicklaus and Watson never played three in a row anyway, so I was ahead of them in that deal (laughter). My third event was very hard. As a matter of fact, a man named Larry Nelson was leading on the last round, and I sort of blew myself out of the last round on that tournament. On Sunday the wind picked up hard. It was rather hectic out there. I was about five holes ahead of Larry because of my bad play on Saturday. I made a long putt on I think 11 for birdie. I said, The scoreboard says I'm one behind, but I think I'm one or two ahead. I knew where he was. He was on No. 8. He had some tough holes ahead. I passed him in that hard stretch. Lucky I came out ahead of him. He had a tough way getting in with all that wind blowing. Q. What did you do your fourth week? HUBERT GREEN: Took a week off. It was Greensboro. Next week was Augusta. The worst part of playing Harbour Town, this was '77, Raymond was putting with Ben Hogan's golf ball which was a plastic cover. I said, Raymond, this ball is horrible to putt. Not coming off the putter head well for you. He changed balls two weeks later. Q. What do you think this is going to mean sharing this with your family and kids? They're older now. What is it like to have a moment with them when they fully realize what it is? CURTIS STRANGE: They're old enough now, 21 and 24, that they do understand what this means. You're right that they were younger when I was playing my best. They never saw dad really do well. But I think any child and any kid, doesn't have to be a child, understands how enormous a Hall of Fame in a particular sport is. That's something I don't think you have to really explain. Kids know about Hall of Fames. They know about being the best and all that. They're excited. They'll certainly share in it with me. HUBERT GREEN: I got an email from my middle son Patrick. Again, my kids are older, too. My youngest son is - how old is he - he's 23 now. They're all, again, past the experience. My youngest son was barely born when I won the PGA. My middle son sent me an email and just said, Wow, congratulations. I'm saving November 12th as a date on my schedule. He said, Wouldn't miss it. We'll all be there, a few other things to me that were very touching coming from a son. I'm not from a real emotional-type family. My parents weren't real emotional. To get these words from my son meant an awful lot. I'll save that email for a while. Q. Curtis, now that you've jumped into the Champions Tour with both feet, will you talk about how your goals for that tour and your performance there, what they are, how they've changed, if at all? CURTIS STRANGE: I've been playing a fairly full schedule. Haven't played very well. That doesn't change. I don't think we ever change our stripes. We want to keep improving, striving to be the best we can be on the golf course every day. As I just said in jest, Let's hurry up, I got balls to hit on the practice tee. That never changes with us. You see the old-timers earlier this week out here, 70 and above, playing on Monday and Tuesday. They still get mad at each other. They get mad at themselves and each other. They'll never change, nor do you want them to ever change. That's part of, I think, how golf is so special to all of us. Anyway, that's just all I'm doing. I continue to play. Hopefully one of these days I'll play better. Q. Curtis, other than playing the Champions Tour, what do you think we'll be seeing from you in the future? Do you plan in any way to try to get back into broadcasting, course design? CURTIS STRANGE: No, I right now am just playing and I'm fishing. That's what I do. No, nothing else. Broadcasting, no. I committed to playing golf three years ago. Enjoying that. It's always more fun if you play well. It's still not a bad gig if you play poorly. Like I said earlier, it's what we do. That's pretty much what I enjoy doing. JACK PETER: I want to remind everyone that the ceremony is scheduled for Monday, November 12th, at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida, at 6 p.m. It's free and open to the public. We would encourage everyone to be there. Thank you all for being here, enjoy the week. Again, thanks to the Liberty Mutual team. Congratulations, guys. Welcome to the Hall of Fame. CURTIS STRANGE: Thank you. HUBERT GREEN: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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