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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAYMay 5, 2008Maggie BrooksTony MaloneJon MillerJoe SterankaDenis WatsonJULIUS MASON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Julius Mason the Senior Director of Communications and Media Relations for the PGA of America. Welcome to Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, for our Senior PGA Championship media day. As you all get settled in, please turn your attention to the monitors for a moment for a little history and tradition that is the Senior PGA Championship, please. (Video played). 69 years of history in 5 minutes. That's pretty good. Thank you for joining us today. We're done. We have some very, very special guests in the audience, ladies and gentlemen, that we'd like you to meet. First, PGA board member and District No. 4 director from Lockport, New York, Joe O'Shaughnessy, thank you for joining us today. From the Western New York PGA section, President, Jon Hoecker, Vice President, Chip Clover, and Executive Director, Bill Dimas. From Oak Hill Country Club, the host with the most, and thank you, again, for a wonderful time last night, President, Jim Condon. The man you love to hate if you hit more rough than fairways today, Superintendent, Jeff Corcoran. And if you like what you saw when you walked through these beautiful doors of this clubhouse today, ladies and gentlemen, please meet General Manager, Eric Rule. Also joining us from our Senior PGA Championship office right here at Oak Hill Country Club, the PGA of America's Championship Director, Todd Alfred. From the PGA of America in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, David Charles, the Director of Senior PGA Championships. Earnie Ellison, director of business and community relations from the PGA of America, down in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, from the Rochester City School District Superintendent, Jeanne-Claude Broussard. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce our newly single digit handicapper in government here, Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Executive. MAGGIE BROOKS: Oh, I get to talk first, I'm just sitting back and enjoying the day. Thank you, it's an honor to be here. I have the easiest job in the room today. I just get to say thank you to everyone involved in this amazing event. This is the time of the year that Rochesterians come out of the house and kick off the festival season. And this will be the start of what is always an amazing summer of golf in Rochester. I want to begin by congratulating Oak Hill Country Club on becoming the first golf club in the United States to host all of the rotating men's premier championships. And for bringing Senior PGA to Rochester and New York State. This is absolutely wonderful. Not only will golfers come from around the globe to compete for this prestigious title, but visitors will come from all over the globe to experience the great tournament, but also to experience Rochester and Monroe County and all that we have to offer. So this really does put us on the map. It's an economics boost, it is something that we should all be proud of. Monroe County is certainly pleased and honored to be a partner in this endeavor. So I just want to encourage everyone to come out. Tell your friends. Come out and enjoy the tournament here. Denis, we're thrilled to have you here as the defending champion today. I was out there playing behind you, not quite as well as you, I might add. But I was out there playing behind you. It's a great course, and this will be a great event. Something we've looked forward to for a long time. Thank you very much. JULIUS MASON: Maggie, as always, thank you for your hospitality. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to turn the microphone over to the General Chairman of the 69th Senior PGA Championship, long time friend of the PGA of America, Mr. Tony Malone. TONY MALONE: Thanks, Julius. On behalf of the Oak Hill Country Club, and the entire Rochester community, we're pleased and excited to host another major championship, that being the Senior PGA Championship for 2008. Oak Hill which was open for play in 1925 is one of America's most praised and enduring homes of major championships. East course combines precision off the tee and from the fairway. I think Denis might attest to that later on in his remarks as he did a pretty good job out there today. As Maggie had indicated, the only course in the United States to host all six rotating men's championships, and was recently named Golf Digest number 25 on America's top 100 list. The east course is in magnificent condition, and ready for these legends of golf, many of whom have competed here before. To all of our viewers, readers and listeners, it's not too late to witness this championship in person. Tickets are still available. You have in your media kits the pricing schedules for that, for anyone that is interested can call 1-800-PGA-GOLF. We encourage everyone to take advantage of the ticket pricing, because starting May 9th, as the gate ticket pricing will be at-gate ticket pricing will begin. The best part of all, juniors 17 and under will be admitted free all week if accompanied by a ticket bearing adult. In closing, we on the tournament committee are very proud of everyone's hard work to make this a successful and exciting championship. We can't wait to roll out the red carpet, and we hope that everybody has a good time that week of May 19th. Thank you. JULIUS MASON: Thank you very much, Tony. Now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome live from New York, via telephone, fresh off the heels of the Kentucky Derby. The Executive Vice President of NBC Sports, Jon Miller. John, are you with us? JON MILLER: I'm with you, Julius, thank you. I appreciate it. The Derby. Then later this week we had the Players Championship, and then we come to the Preakness, and then we come to the Senior PGA Championship at the end of May. So it's four very exciting weeks for us. And we're thrilled about our involvement with this. Golf and NBC Sports are very good friends together, as I'm sure you know. We're the only network that has relationships with the USGA, the PGA TOUR and the PGA of America. And the PGA of America with the Senior PGA Championship was the first major that NBC Sports acquired in our recent run of major championships. Last year at key with a, Denis was outstanding. It was a great broadcast. Great performance. We hadn't been back to key with a since the '91 Ryder Cup. We had actually been to Oak Hill since the '95 Ryder Cup when we came back there to witness the great, the great result when's we had the amateur there in 1998. So that part of it was fun. But it's one of those things that is a great, enduring, enduring feature for us. We're proud that we're going to be doing 12 hours of coverage. We're doing three hours a day on cable on Thursday and Friday for our friends at the Golf Channel. Then we'll be on NBC Sports live from 3:00 to 6:00 both Saturday and Sunday. Our team led by Tommy Roy, who is the senior golf producer in the business, I think you could say, will be there with Dan Hicks and Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie, Dottie Pepper, Bob Murphy, the whole group will be there. Obviously, one of the other things that's become a big addition for us is all of our golf is now produced in high definition, which I think makes for a regular broadcast, and will showcase the great facility that is Oak Hill. So we're excited about it. JULIUS MASON: Thank you very much. If you could stay with us just in case we have any questions after the news conferences, we really appreciate it. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce from Palm Beach gardens, Florida, the Chief Executive Officer of the PGA of America, Mr. Joe Steranka. JOE STERANKA: Thank you, Julius. It's always a pleasure to be able to say thank you to a community on behalf of the 28 thousands men and women professionals that make up the PGA of America. You met some of them in the audience earlier. You have certainly one of the most famous and accomplished PGA professionals, Craig Harman here at Oak Hill. And it speaks volumes about the club, not only the tradition of hosting major championships, but the quality of the talented staff that they attract and then retain. They really have an All-Star Trio with Craig and Eric and now Jeff. And Jeff, you have done just a remarkable job. To have this course in this condition at this time of year, I know it's going to be better two or three weeks from now, so, thanks for awful your efforts. It's only appropriate that we would bring, you know, the final major championship that the PGA of America conducts to a venue with the quality of the course, the quality of the overall facility, and then the outstanding community support. Maggie, you know, we don't take it for granted when administrators of your caliber and with almost three-quarter of a million people that you have to look out for in this community, and take time to play and express your support for our game. We're very proud of the values of our game, but we're also proud that it is a huge economic engine for this country. At $76 billion a year, golf is bigger than the motion picture industry, and the newspaper publishing industry. It provides two million jobs, and many of the jobs here in this community because of the great number of golf courses here. But looking back on some of the great historical moments, certainly, 1980 when Jack Nicklaus winning what was his record tying fifth PGA Championship. I'm sure everybody that played today went over and touched that bronze plaque, that Shaun Micheel, one of the most exciting and dramatic shots in PGA Championship history there on 18. 1995 for the PGA of America was bittersweet. This was one of the most outstandingly staged and organized events and if Lanny were here, he would say it went right according to plan up until Sunday, and something happened on Sunday, and the Europeans eeked out a victory. Not to be overlooked, and another event that is an annual staple for the PGA of America the PGA Grand Slam of golf, which is now a season ending celebration for the year's four major champions in primetime on turner. It began here in 1979 at Oak Hill. So, yes, the PGA of America and Oak Hill go back for many years. We're looking forward to many more years to come. Looking at what the PGA of America does, other than championships and we're very proud of the championships and the role they play in promoting the game, but at the heart of it, it is a group of people that with a tremendous passion for the great values of our game and helping us amateurs hit a few better shots. And they also help the pros hit some better shots, too. I know Denis has worked with some golf professionals through the years that have helped him. But during the week of the Senior PGA Championship we'll have couple of things that bring to light the expertise that our members have in teaching the game, with the play golf America day. That will be Monday of the senior PGA week. So if you love the game of golf or you're interested in learning more, from 4:00 to 7:00 at Genesee Valley Golf Club here in town, you'll be able to go out and meet with professionals from the western New York PGA section. We'll also have a clinic for the executive women's golf association. Maggie, you would be pleased to know that women are a bigger part of our sport now than almost any other audience. And the number of business women who are taking time to play and find out just how valuable it is from a social and networking standpoint, that clinic is going to be hosted by our first lady of golf recipient, a World Golf Hall of Famer and member of the LPGA Hall of Fame Carol Mann, and that will be from 12:00 to 3:00 that day. And we're very cognizant that we have to use and take advantage of the values of our game in reaching out to young people. To have a youth clinic, and we'll have our honorary PGA professional Denis Walters who is going to conduct that. Of he is truly an inspiration. He really lights up every audience that he's with. We expect to have 200 kids and 30 PGA professionals. Those children will be part of 26 different Rochester area charities. In a little less than two weeks, we're going to have this event that brings the greatest field of the year in senior men's golf together. In addition to our defending champion, you'll see the likes of Raymond Floyd, Greg Norman, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Sandy Lyle, Nick Price, Craig Stadler, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Lanny Watkins, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, a couple of folks you might know about also from this area, Joey Sindelar, and Jeff Sluman will be making his debut in the Senior PGA Championship. So certainly an outstanding lineup. We have a 156-player field, that field will be set finally this Friday. Here are some of the numbers. I gave you some of the names, here are some of the numbers that that field is going to represent. '99 U.S. players representing 31 states. 35 PGA club professionals who qualified through our Callaway Senior Professional National Championship. 35 international players, Denis being among them, representing 14 countries. 25 major champions have won a total of 57 majors. 11 US Open champions, 11 senior PGA champions. 11 US and European Ryder Cup captains. 9 PGA Championships, 11 Master champions, 7 British Open champions, 12 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. I grant you this, it is especially rewarding to know that the kids are going to be able to get in free, because you really have an opportunity in a couple of weeks to watch the legends of this game conduct themselves and still play outstandingly competitive golf. Jon Miller and I have been working together with the PGA of America's championship events, the Ryder Cup and the senior PGA since 1991. It's very rewarding to have partners with the great passion and understanding. And what Tommy Roy does in the trucks, and what Jon Miller does to get us the right air times befits a championship of this status of the Senior PGA. Because it's an international event with an international field, we have people watching in 55 different countries around the world. And they'll be treated to some outstanding play from this great international field. But today is about recognizing a great gentleman. I can tell you after playing 18 holes with him, I'm even more proud to having gotten to know him a little bit better to call him our champion. It was demanding week, but I guess there was a little fore shadowing, because Denis's wife, you know, had a feeling. Maybe he'll talk about that, a good feeling about Denis, last year. In 1976 Denis turned professional. After a strong start, he suffered some injuries which curtailed his career and put forth a number of obstacles that he had to overcome. So it made that Senior PGA Championship last year feel very special after going 23 years searching and hoping to get back to this game. Others to notice, he was the recipient and what was a terrific ceremony and speech he gave at the annual Golf Writers Association of America where he won a Ben Hogan Award. You know, he's doing pretty well this year. He's picked up where he left off. He's got two wins. You know about his performance yesterday under the gun, and we're happy to call him our champion, but also happy to have such a great friend in the game of golf. Before we hear from Denis, let's take a few minutes, and relive some of the great memories from last year. (Video played). Well, you can see why this man is so popular. Denis, take us through the golf course, and what do you think of it? DENIS WATSON: I actually haven't looked at the video of the tournament. That is the first time I've seen the synopsis of things that happened. It was truly a great week. As you mentioned, my wife, and I finished third the week before at Branningham, and I was a little upset that I didn't quite capitalize on some of the opportunities I had. I was kind of being hard on myself. I think things are going to be looking good for next week. It's very difficult to describe. I mean, it's pretty emotional for me to watch that clip there. But to describe the things that I went through that week. I knew I was playing, you know, pretty decent golf. I had been there previously over Easter and practiced, and figured out that the golf course was playable, but you have to drive it great and you have to drive it in the right place. You know, it was an interesting experience for me, because I felt calm, I felt like I could keep doing it. On Saturday, I felt like I was terminally in command of my game. I got to 17, and hit it just off the green left and made double bogey. Then, 18, I got a bizarre break with just one strand of grass. A heavy strand of grass just off the fairway left. I hit a really good shot. But the ball hit the strand of grass, and it went 30 yards to the right and short of the green. I was shocked. And when I got there, it was such a tight lie and I wanted to putt the ball, and there were two sprinklers on top of the mound, and the flag was on the other side of that. I just was dreading that if I didn't hit the perfect putt it would go in one of the sprinkler heads and not get out of there. Hindsight, it would have been a better thing to do than what I did, because I tried to hit a flop shot into the grain, and the ball didn't go very far, and I ended up making a double bogey there. I was not a happy camper with that long ride from the 18th green to the first tee. So this must have been on Friday. Wasn't happy at all. My wife actually rode in the cart with me, and I didn't really want to talk. And she was saying, you know, it's just a couple of holes. I really didn't need to hear anything at that moment, but, you know, you have a wife you have to listen to her. What happened next, and I'll try not to get emotional. It's one of those moments in your life where you have something happen that impacts you. Let me get my composure here, because every time I think about this, it hits me. They had restrooms and stuff right sort of on the way to the first tee. There was only one person walking out there. I mean, there were a lot of people out there at the tournament. There was one person walking out there, and it was a semi-blind person, he had coke bottle glasses, but also had a white cane to show that he was visually impaired. And he was trying to find his way back to the path. You know, you look at this and you think, you know, I was being pretty hard on my self at that time. And I sort of said, what right do you have to be unhappy with where you are? It's interesting to me now, it still gets me. And I don't know where this guy came from. I don't know what a blind person's doing at a golf tournament. So I think he was one of my Angels that was kind of placed there to kick my ass, and say, hey, you know, you're playing golf. You have it pretty good. It kind of got me back into what I should be doing, and I played extremely well on the back nine. I chipped it in at the 7th hole, the par 5 for eagle. From that time on I felt like I could really contend and do well in that golf tournament. You know, Sunday was a special day playing with nick, who I've known for a long time. He's a great guy. Both obviously great players. To just have things work out. There was one thing that happened. We were sort of duking it out, I was playing very steady golf, and hit a bunker shot at 7 and made birdie. I think I birdied 6 and 7. Then going into the back nine, I made a great par at 10 after a pretty decent second shot that went too far. Then we get to 13, probably the toughest driving hole on the golf course with that gaping bunker. You know, I had driven it absolutely perfectly for three days. The wind was a little different that day. I was thinking, okay, just same shot. Just hit it at that bunker and cut it. Then I hit that thing so damn straight right at the left edge of the bunker. I really thought it was going to go in the bunker. I thought, oh, Geez, you know, this is a pitch out and a bogey. Unless you hit a great next shot. I was shocked when I got up there and the bullet hit on the mound right in front of the bunker and just jumped left. It didn't run anywhere, it jumped left of the bunker. And I had a decent lie and hit a really good shot on that, I wasn't trying to get it to the flag, I hit it on the green, and made a great two-putt. That's when Edoardo started to have problems and he hit a bogey. And then, 14 is one of my favorite shots of all time that I've ever hit that I can remember. I said to my caddie, okay, I need that range swing. Because I was hitting a lot of 4-irons on the range that week. Interestingly I said to my wife when we played there over the Easter week, I said, you know, everybody talks about 17 being the pivotal hole in this tournament. I said, I think 14 is probably the toughest par 3 that I've ever played, and it could be the decider for this golf tournament. As prophetic is now it turned out. But I made three 2's on that hole for the week. And you wouldn't have figured to make three 2's on the 14th hole as hard as that golf hole is. There's just nowhere to hit it, nowhere to miss it. It has to be a perfect shot every day. I kind of got really excited after that birdie. I felt bad for Edoardo, that was a pretty bad break. Where he hit it was a pretty bad shot, but it was also unfortunate. I hit probably my worst tee shot of the week at the next hole, but it calmed me down, and I got a big break at 18. It was a great break, it didn't go in the bunker. I thought, Geez, if it had been in the bunker it would have been an easier shot because it wouldn't have had a fly or lie. I would have been able to figure out what it was going to do. But an incredible, incredible week. And it changed my golfing life. So, you know, things have progressed nicely since then. It took me a while to sort of get over that and really take it in and I decided for some unknown reason, I decided I wanted to go play in Europe on the European Tour to see and reconnect with the guys that I played with and I started with. And I went to play in Wales. I had a blast. Got in the pot bunker somewhere there and took about four or five shots to get out. You know, going from like leading the tournament to halfway through the second round to nowhere. I finished like 20th or so. But I had a fantastic time. It's one of those things I said to my wife I feel like this is good for my golfing soul. That I go do this thing, show some support for the tour, go see all those friends of mine and say, hey, look, it can be done. You can come to play in America and you can win, if you work hard at it. That's what I was thinking. Just to reconnect with a lot of those guys, and I did reconnect with a lot of guys I started playing the European Tour with. I felt really good about doing that. I got a little tired and my wife was trying to get me to take a week off in Seattle. And I said to her, I'm just starting to hit it pretty good again, I feel like I'm getting close. Just let me go play in Seattle. You go home and do what you have to do, I'm going to go play. Obviously, Seattle turned out to be probably one of the most spectacular playoff wins. I turned it into something it shouldn't have been by make eight double bogey at 17. But I got a lot of mileage out of that one. You know, when you have great things like that happen, you have to pinch yourself and go, Geez, man, I made a 20-footer for eagle to win the second playoff hole after chipping in for birdie to stay in the playoff on the same hole like ten minutes before. So pretty heavy stuff. And, you know, going into the off-season, you begin to deal with expectations for the next season. Am I going to play a lot of neat things. I had a Rookie of the Year Award, the Ben Hogan Award was announced before the end of the year. So I knew that was coming up. So there was a lot of stuff going on, as well as the five kids and all the things that you do with that. I was a little apprehensive starting the year. I got this lovely flu that was going around at the beginning of the year. I almost didn't feel like playing golf when I got back to Florida after the first two weeks in Hawaii. And, you know, I just kind of played. And finally in Newport I started feeling well. You know, I went to Valencia, and probably I was a little frustrated because I had finished poorly both Friday and Saturday. Bogeyed a couple of holes. Finishing the golf course is extremely difficult. Like these very true lines, very difficult greens. I went out and practiced on Saturday night and had the best practice session I could ever remember having for 45 minutes probably missed one shot. You don't have many practice sessions like that. In fact, I remember one of the guys, Gene Jones standing next to me and he said, what the hell are you practicing for? So, anyway, I got up the next morning, and just like golf, you never know what the hell's going to happen. I probably had the worst 20 minutes of ball hitting I've ever had warming up. And I thought, what the hell is going on here? Then, the last few shots I hit it really, really solid. And I thought, okay, it's there and went out and played probably one of the best rounds of golf I'd played in a long time. Shot 65. Got in the playoffs. Again, one of those things. I hit some of the best golf shots I've ever hit. Hit a 9-iron to bit Lauren Roberts in the third playoff hole. So just settled my anxiety about the year and whether I was still going to be able to do those things that you like to do as a golfer. Then, obviously, last week was incredible. You don't expect anything bad to happen, especially to a great player like nick price. But the golf course was so difficult, it's hard to describe how difficult this golf course played on Sunday. Especially late in the day. I mean, it was so dry. The wind changed every 5 minutes. It was blowing a different direction. I kept saying to my caddie, I kept telling myself you don't know what's going to happen. You make a double bogey in a heartbeat. I made two double bogies on Friday, and I was hitting the ball fantastic, also made two eagles in a row. I was only one of 15 guys that had done that. Held a 9-iron on Friday, hadn't hit a putt all day, holding great. Then I hit a 9-iron about 20 inches to the next par 5. So that was pretty cool. So I got another one of these weird media things that get attached to you. So I was just shocked when Nicky doubled twice in a row. I heard he made double at 15, which was a very difficult hole that day, even though it was short. And I was trying to tee off at 17, and he hit again the water which was not hard to do at 16. And there were people going everywhere, and carts driving up to the tee and stuff. I was backing up trying to hit my tee shot. I hit a terrible tee shot. I hit an unbelievable shot and great birdie at the last hole. Most of the guys were hitting long irons and hybrids at the last hole. I think I hit a 7-iron. Little pumped up. But it was just an amazing thing. As I said in my speech, it's golf, and you just never know. It's the greatest game in the world. You have to keep digging and keep playing, and you just never know what's going to happen. What else would you like to know? Today was incredible. I had so much fun. JULIUS MASON: You said this golf course is a little different? DENIS WATSON: Well, let me see, I hit a 3-wood that went 365 yards at the 15th hole last week. And today they're going 240, 245. It was so nice to putt on grass again though. It felt like we were putting on baked dirt. They were running 14, 15, it was almost impossible to stop the hole at times if you were putting downhill. So today was a real pleasure. What a beautiful golf course. I'd heard how great it is. I'd heard what a bear it is, but it's awesome. I can see why it holds the place that it does in golf lore, and I think it's just that you have all these great championships being played here. JULIUS MASON: If your memory doesn't serve you properly, I think Joe, Tony or Jim will help you out with your averages. DENIS WATSON: I tell you one thing I do remember is that two guys owe us a dollar (laughing). JULIUS MASON: Hole number 1, 450-yard, par 4, what did you do there? DENIS WATSON: They told me where to hit it, so I hammered it off the tee. I wasn't feeling too bright, but I hit a 7-iron and kind of hooked it a little bit left from about 160 yards. 165 yards. Then chipped it up a couple of inches. Wasn't in the rough, I was just on the fringe. And I forget, it was so nice to chip off grass. It was very pleasant. I thought I'd forgotten how to chip for a while. Second hole, I think I hit a pretty decent tee shot there. I know I made a par. I hit a really good tee shot with a 3-wood on the fairway. I found the fairway slopes from the right to the left. And it looks like you're going to cut it and kind of run it off the hill down into the flat part of the fairway. And I hit it in the bunker, and I hit a bunker shot kind of towards the back and left. You know, you can see the trouble can you get into on these holes pretty fast. Then the 3, I almost whipped the 4-iron, I hit it in the bunker 20 yards short of the green. Then I chipped it a shot short of the green again, so I could see what it was like if I just hit a semi solid shot and got it up towards the front edge. Great, hard hole, not much wind. Got to keep it under the hole, so I made a decent bogey there. I think we were 2 up at this stage. Number 4 was a fabulous looking hole. I hit a beautiful, beautiful tee shot right down the left center of the fairway. What did I do with my second shot? I hit a beautiful tee shot way down the left hand side, but if I had known the hole, I could have hit it further to the right. So I hit a 3-wood, and just short of the bunker. Hit a pretty good pitch. It turned out a little fast. Hit the flag, and I made it for birdie, 3 up. Oh, number 5, the guys were trying to psych me out. They were telling me how bad the water was on the right-hand side, and had you to be really careful. I hit a really terrible tee shot, and, in fact, didn't play the whole orthodoxly at all. I hooked it around the tree around the creek and got it pin-high right. Didn't get it up and down. But what a great golf hole 5 is. It looks like I got a 3-wood off the tee and hook it away from the water. You can see why kite made a double there and went downhill from there. 6, a downhill par 3, I hit a very nice 6-iron shot in there about 180. I hit it in there 15 feet left of the hole. Didn't quite get the right line. But really, really good shot. You really want to know all these details about every single shot? JULIUS MASON: Since you're a champion, and you've been here, I'm afraid so, champ. DENIS WATSON: Okay, you're testing my memory. So, 7, this is fabulous. The Sergio hole. They told me about the Sergio shot, and I hit a good tee shot down the right half of the fairway. Little draw, 5-iron. Not a perfect shot, but really decent right in the middle front of the green and two-putted out. After I looked at the hole I said I'd take it on the front four yards of the green every single day if I could get it there. Really difficult, really difficult hole, and great driving hole. Number 8, I hit a beautiful tee shot up the right-hand side. Hit a very poor second shot. I hit the wrong club, I hit a 5-iron, and I pulled it and it went in the back bunker. Hit a downhill bunker shot deep in the left bunker. Definitely don't need to do that. But I holed it about 20 feet for par. And I think we're still 4 up. Then Tony started actually getting in my ear a little bit about my game. So the 9th hole I tried to hit it on the left side of the fairway and cut it. I just pulled it a tiny bit and cut it full so I hit a 6-iron from 175 yards. Hit a 6-iron to oh, 5 feet and made that for birdie. So, I'm hoping that's not the last one I make on that hole. Number 10, I'd never seen the hole, obviously. I'm trying to figure if I should cut it up the bunker or hit it up the left side and hook it. So it looks like after I played the hole, I said it looks like a 3-wood off the tee is the right play and peel it away from the bunker so it can't get away from you too much. But I hit it in the bunker up against the face. And I hit a very good shot out of there on to the front edge with the 7-iron, and two-putted for par. And number 11, the long par 3. I hit a good shot in there about 20 feet from the hole with a 6-iron. It was on the front, so it didn't play its full yardage. I really liked that hole. I hit it in there close, almost made it. About 15 feet left of the hole. Number 12, yeah, this is where they started getting in my ear about what to do on this hole. I ended up trying to hit a driver, which is not the right play. So I had a pitchout bogey. I pitched it out to the side and hit it on the green. But a very, very difficult hole that looks like it's going to be a 3-wood. Just cut it up in the fairway and try to hit an 8-iron on the green and see if you can get out of there with a par. 13, I hit 3-wood off the tee. Because if I happen to pop a tee shot in and it ran out it looked like it could get to the river. So 3-wood, then 111 yards with my gap wedge. I hit it about 4 feet and missed that. I lipped it out. Also see how difficult that hole could be. 14, I haven't figured out 14 yet. But I hit a driver off the tee, and I hit it way up on to the slope. Hit a sand wedge from, I had about 70 yards to the flag with the sand wedge behind the hole about four feet and I missed that as well. Because they were getting in my ear again. They were trying anything to see if they could get a hole back. In fact, I did win that hole. But, 14's bugging me at the moment. I'm trying to figure out how to play that hole. I'm glad I play it a few more times because it looks like there are a lot of options there. I don't think I'll be driving it up on that tiny little fairway there with the bunker again. 15, I hit a beautiful 7-iron in there. Pitched about six inches past the hole and made it from about three and a half, four feet for birdie. So, good hole there. 16, I pulled my tee shot just a tiny bit. Just on the fringe rough and hit a very poor 6-iron into the right fringe and didn't get that up and down. I was kind of on the face of the bunker. If it had rolled down into the bunker it would have been an easier shot. I'm hoping they're going to trim that down a little bit. JULIUS MASON: Superintendent's in the first row. DENIS WATSON: 17, my plan gave me the wrong line, and I hit it through the fairway in the rough. Hit a great shot with a 6-iron. There was a big pine tree over there, and downhill lie in the rough. Hooking 6-iron from 189 yards, and I got it in there about 20 feet. A good putt, but left it a little short. Then the last hole, I hit a very good tee shot. Had only 160 to the hole or 159 to the hole. But kind of went to sleep on an 8-iron, and hit it in the bank. But I did manage to get it up and down. I think I shot even par today. I was pretty happy with that. Could have been a couple under. JULIUS MASON: Even par on three hours sleep, mind you. DENIS WATSON: Yeah, two and a half. JULIUS MASON: And if you were playing with somebody else, maybe, under par. DENIS WATSON: Yeah. No, I had a great day. Really fabulous. I could go play again right now. That's how you feel when you play on that golf course. Of it's really, really awesome. JULIUS MASON: Denis, thank you very much. We have time for some questions and answers. We have two microphones on either side of the room. Please raise your hand, wave down a microphone, state your name and affiliation, and ask away, please. Q. Are you surprised at how emotional you've been or you were just watching that footage and having all those memories come back? DENIS WATSON: No, I'm not surprised, you know. I almost try to fight it off and just enjoy it. It's one of those things in life, if you don't have any emotion, you might not be standing up straight. You know, I don't worry about it anymore. I used to worry about it a little bit, but it's a wonderful thing to feel those things. I got really emotional at the Ben Hogan Award during my speech. I think it's because of what golf means to me, and because it was taken away for so long. You know, it's a great game. When you've had the opportunity and you get the rewards that I've had, it feels good. So, yeah, I don't mind crying a little and showing a little bit of emotion. I hope I get to do it a little more. Q. Did you ever -- I mean, you went such a long time without winning -- did you ever just say the heck with it, I'm going to go sell life insurance or something and just give up the game and go in another direction? DENIS WATSON: Yeah, a couple of times I did go in another direction. And I just said, it didn't come up much. I went to see Keith and he took me to see an orthopedic guy to get an MRI done and we got the results back. And the guy looked at me and said well, this is pretty bad. You'll never probably play golf again. But you have to have this surgery otherwise you'll lose the function of your hand. You know, that's pretty shocking to hear those words. Q. If you had to credit someone for the obvious character that you have and the positive word is, who would that be? Where did you get this? DENIS WATSON: I don't know, actually. My dad, probably. My dad was a quiet man. Loved golf though, man, he loved golf. He'd watch me play in a tournament, but he couldn't get too close. He'd get close enough that if I started getting pissed off he'd just go (snaps fingers), and I'd hear that click from 50 yards and I'd straighten right up. And I think I still hear that today, you know. After I got hurt, I said Keith Cleven, I think you all know, he works with Tiger and several other players. He was such a positive influence at that time, because I was devastated and he said to me, look, it's going to be tough. But if you stay with me, you'll be able to play golf again. I don't know how well, but I guarantee you'll be able to play golf again. So I pretty much lived with Keith for six months. You know, went through the surgeries. The rehab was grueling. It was six hours a day six days a week and then three hours on Sundays. You know, you do that for six months, it gets your attention. At the time you're not really sure why you're doing it, you're just focused on thinking that you can get back to playing. I said before, I look back at all the things I went through and somebody said here's what you're going to have to do to play golf again, and, oh, man, I think maybe that's too much. There's no guarantee that you'll be able to play decent golf again. So, you know, it was fine. You go through some trying family times. I went through a divorce. Obviously, my golfing life wasn't great and, you know, things wear on you. I went teaching. David Leadbetter's a great friend. And I worked for the Golf Channel. I worked for ESPN. I did PGA TOUR radio. You know, I did golf schools. One time, David lost a couple of teachers and I taught 18 days straight from 7:00 o'clock in the morning till 6:00 o'clock at night. And my hat's off to PGA professionals that teach for a living, man, because that is hard work. Especially if you put your heart and soul into it like most of them do. You're exhausted by the time I've been dealing with six or seven, eight different people in a day and you genuinely try to help them. So that was tiring. I thought I could do that, and do well at it. It was pretty fortunate for me, because that's how I met my now wife, Susan. She thought she could have a few lessons and get a really good player. She actually thought she could understand it and figure it out and learn how to be a good player. She did shoot 74 one day, so. Now we have five kids and she has no time for golf. I'm trying to get her back out to practice a little bit, because I'm going to go play in the middle of the year and she's going to come play with me. When I went playing tournament golf, when we used to play together we used to go to ireland a lot and always play. Probably my favorite place in the world to go play golf. We just played 36 holes a day and would have a blast. So golf's been pretty good to me. JULIUS MASON: Thank you very much for joining us today, ladies and gentlemen. On your way out, news kits with all the news you've heard today, media guides also that you can pick up as well as a little special gift for you. Thank you very much for joining us. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. End of FastScripts |
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