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FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 10, 2004

Gary McCord

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN

DAVE SENKO: Gary, 71 today, maybe just talk about your day.

GARY McCORD: Yeah, the day was interesting. I had not been there in a while, in the last group and I had never been there when CBS was doing it, so you can understand there's a little bit of trepidation.

So today was a day of wandering aimlessly, walking on marbles trying to figure out if my golf swing can hold up under the gun, if I can manage myself, if I can get the putter straight and if I can get the ball in the right positions and everything else.

So it was a day of a bunch of conundrums, and I got through it okay. I did all right. Actually, it was okay. I didn't want to lose any ground. I wanted to see if I can handle where I was and still, you know, stay patient and do all of the things I was trying to do. So there was a lot of stuff going on there for me today.

DAVE SENKO: Let's just go through your card real quick, starting at No. 9, birdie.

GARY McCORD: Finally made a putt there, a 10 footer. That was driver, little bitty pitching wedge.

12, I was in the hole over there to the left. I just pulled it in the hole and pulled the putter out. The only place you can go there is with the putter. I missed a 4 footer there for a bogey.

Then I made a bad decision on 14, I hit a 3 wood off the tee. I didn't get the ball down that far, I put myself in a bad position, bogeyed that hole. Then birdied 17, I birdied the two par 5s, about a 6 footer on 13 and about a 5 footer, 6 footer on 17.

It wasn't real pretty, but I didn't lose any ground and kind of hanging around. I like to hang around. I can be dangerous when I hang around.

Q. Guilt might be too strong a word, but do you have any unease about being not able to work?

GARY McCORD: No. Because on the last hole, Davy Finch, the camera guy, comes up to me and goes, "Why don't you do the play by play so you can get your hotel paid for?" I said: Tell Lance. David gave me the sign, set us over here, flame one to the right, in the long rough, he's got no shot, that big oak tree hanging there and didn't look like he was going to get it. Chance of getting it on the green are in ten are splashed it over there, so that covered my hotel room. The boys are all out there pulling for me, which is really nice.

Q. Now do you have the experience of being in the last group, you'll be there tomorrow. Anything different?

GARY McCORD: I'll free it up a little bit. Today, I mean, I'm in the last group. I'm tied, you don't want to lose your position. But I had a lot of things I had to answer today, a lot of questions on my test. So I answered most of them and now hopefully tomorrow with that buoyancy that I got today, I can get back to how I played on Friday and give them a go.

Q. I don't know how much you watch the scoreboard when you're out there

GARY McCORD: Didn't even look at it. Not once.

Q. How much easier is it when you're three shots behind one guy, instead of three shots behind two guys after what happened with Dana?

GARY McCORD: You know, I watched Dana off the tee on 17 and I saw him hit one, stayed there, hit another one, stayed there. And I immediately went to a 3 wood off the tee and told my caddie: I'm playing this for a wedge shot. Because if he hit it if he hit it on the green, it's going to be in the back bunker and you have no shot and you're going to splash to the right your second shot. I made my decision watching him pump balls into the water at that point.

I had no clue what was going on. The only thing I kind of they put Kostis in for Feherty. Feherty is always with the last group in the leader, so Lance flipped them so I wouldn't have favorite with me because I have a tendency to stalk Feherty and won't let him go. The last time he did that, I was chasing him in the trees half the time. So Lance flipped it on me and put Peter with me.

So I didn't know if he did that or there was another guy leading; I just never looked. I was just trying to shoot anywhere between 68 and 70 and not give up position. I figured about what it is right now, 14 , 15 under would be leading. So I wanted to kind of hang around there and just get the day done, get the figure out what I'm doing and if I can play under the gun right now not playing much and everything.

So, today was take three steps, ask a question, answer the question and keep going. It was fun. It was very entertaining for me because I had my brain was exploding out there.

Q. I know you have a lot of commitments, but how tough is that, you want to play but you can't?

GARY McCORD: You know, I did it for four years. I did it, I played I stayed exempt, made my $700,000, finished in the Top 30, playing in 18, 15, 16 between 16 and 21 the whole time. So you give up a lot of these guys are playing 35, so you give up a lot. I did it, but man, I'm doing 20 things for CBS, you figure I'm doing 20 there and 50 plus corporate outings, running a tournament, running golf school, you get a little twisted. I got really tired two years ago when I did that. I was fully exempt going into last year. But CBS changed its schedule, Champions Tour changed its schedule I'm talking to Laney, have you seen the schedule, here I was fully exempt and all I could play was ten.

So at that point I kind of lost that dream of staying out and playing it semi full time. So now it's just play my ten, I've got ten shots to try to win, to try to stay exempt for the year, so you don't go begging, and that's kind of what it is.

It's nice to have two jobs, believe me, two or three, whatever I've got. I don't know what I've got.

Q. I don't think you would have trouble getting sponsor's exemptions?

GARY McCORD: It's been very nice, very nice. It's been great. Every time I've asked, they give me one. It's wonderful.

Q. Is that an injury?

GARY McCORD: I did it yesterday, right in the knee, you know, your thumb right here, I got a big 'ol blister and it split yesterday and popped up like it's got like a lid on it and it's right on the crack there. It just hurts like hell. So they pumped it all up today and put stuff on it. But I am going and get it thing redone or it's not going to work.

That's a golf injury. Football players get broken legs, "Put me on that couch, I'm in there!"

End of FastScripts.

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