U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 2014

Jeff Sluman

THE MODERATOR: This certainly brings back good memories for you, the 1988 PGA champion here at Oak Tree, a 65 in the final round, started the day trailing Paul Azinger by three, comes back to win the first tournament of your PGA TOUR career, and you were saying it's your first time back here since that victory in 1988.

JEFF SLUMAN: Yeah. I actually came back for one day, but as far as any events or anything like that, this is the first time I've been back. It's a beautiful site, beautiful venue. I played nine holes late last night, and I come onto the property about 6:00 last night and beat a little of the heat and went out, and the golf course is in magnificent shape. It's going to be a fair but stern test again.

THE MODERATOR: Talk a little bit about some of the memories you have coming back here. Playing the nine holes last night, were there certain holes you remember, oh, I hit a great shot there on Sunday of the PGA or anything like that?

JEFF SLUMAN: Yeah, there's a few holes that I certainly remembered. Of course the nines are switched except for 9 and 18 from the routing that I played in '88. I played the back nine yesterday, which was basically my front nine except for the 18th hole, and I do remember I got off to a very good start and then holed a sand wedge on the par-5, which would be my fifth hole but now the 14th. You know, that was 26 years ago, and I still remember most of the shots, so I call myself lucky for that.

THE MODERATOR: It's not just about the past but it's been about the present for you. You've had a really good start to the 2014 year playing on the Champions Tour. You won with Fred Funk at the Legends of Golf, tied for sixth at the Encompass Championship and then runner-up at the Senior Players Championship in a playoff to Bernhard Langer. Talk about the state of your game right now, and certainly it seems like you're playing quite well and coming in a with a lot of confidence.

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, it's always a work in progress. You're always in golf either trying to get better or if you're not trying to get better you're probably getting worse. I feel like honestly I've put a lot of work in on the parts of my game that really needed a lot of work, specifically my putting and my pitching and chipping, and it's been a long -- I shouldn't say long, but it's been two years, a two-year process, and although I still have some fun moments on certain shots, overall it's gotten significantly better, and frankly if I had the knowledge when I was 25 or 30 of how to practice and what to practice, I think I would have been much better off.

Q. They tried to get this course back to its roots because it changed over the years since you won here. From what you've heard how similar is it from '88 to '06 from some of the other guys?
JEFF SLUMAN: Well, of course I wasn't here in '06 so I have no idea honestly of how it played. I know it was in May. All I can tell you is that the golf holes to me really look the same. I didn't see any significant changes. Like I said, going back 26 years, I think there's a few new tees, but the routing is the same, the shapes of the greens are the same, and like I said, the fairways right now are maybe the best fairways I have really ever seen. They're spectacular. But it is the golf course I remember with the same wind direction, and like I said, it's a very challenging golf course out there. You'd best know where you're hitting it. You have to keep the ball in play or it's going to be a long day for you.

Q. This tournament clearly means a lot to everybody here locally, and Oak Tree is pretty famous. How special is this place, especially now that you're back, and what do you think it means for the golf community?
JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think it goes without saying what a great golf community this is. You see the local guys that live here with Dr. Gill and David Edwards and Willie and Bob and Scott, and I saw a poster, a billboard on the way out here, and it really didn't have anything to do with golf, it was something about getting your kid back to -- and the kid has got a golf club in his hand. That kind of tells you that golf means a lot to everybody in this community, and you look at all the hospitality around here and the people that are out here on incredibly hot week already, so you know that everybody is fully supportive of it, and we're excited to be here.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the playoff with Bernhard Langer? You had a chance to win the major there, and a very tough defeat, but you took some good things out of it I assume?
JEFF SLUMAN: Yeah. As far as the playoff goes, I had an obviously makeable putt on the first playoff hole of about 10 feet, extremely fast and slippery putt going straight downhill, and frankly I thought I made it. I believe Bernhard thought I made it. It looked like he was taking a half step over to kind of shake my hand, and it didn't go in. That's golf. That's the way it goes. The very next hole obviously he capitalized and hit it in there about five feet. But I did everything you're supposed to do. I played pretty much a -- well, I did play a bogey-free last round, no mistakes, shoot 5-under par, and when it's all said and done and you look back, there really wasn't much I could say about my performance. I believe I hit 68 greens in regulation. I played well all four days, and really that's all you can expect of yourself. Sometimes the unexpected happens, and I would think the unexpected thing was Bernhard probably making a 50-footer on the 71st hole. I had erred it from the 18th green, and I didn't know who it was but I figured it was probably Bernhard and that. Onwards, and in golf you learn to take defeats probably better than victories because it's rare that you win when you count the number of starts you've had. Overall I'm ready for this week, and like I said, take good things from the last couple of weeks of tournaments and playing well. I like this golf course, so we'll see what happens come Thursday.

THE MODERATOR: Jeff, a little different kind of tournament this week, the U.S. Senior Open Championship. What aspects of your game, are there any different strategies for playing a sterner test like the Senior Open than some of the other tournaments you go week to week?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think this golf course just sets up for a lot of shaping of the ball off the tee, and you'd really better be able to control your distance off the tee. I think that's probably the biggest thing. I got up on the 10th hole yesterday and hit a nice little cut 3-wood down there and it was literally one foot from not the water but going into the rough straight through. The speed of the fairways, they're very firm and they're in such great condition and low cut that it's going to be a little bit of a challenge, especially to gauge the wind, to gauge the height of the tee shot you want. There's going to be a lot of thought. It's just not going to get up, tee it up this high and let it rip and chase it down and hit it again. You're really going to have to maneuver your ball and you're going to have -- Sunday you're going to have a worthy champion, whoever that might be.

Q. 26 years have passed since you won the PGA Championship. Are you able to appreciate more now what you were able to accomplish back then just being back here?
JEFF SLUMAN: That's a very good question. Yeah, I think so. It's interesting, the way your mind works in golf, when you really look back at certain times of your life when you're playing really well, you wonder why you don't win more, and when you're in a little bit of a slump sometimes you wonder how you ever won. It's just the way the mind tends to work in golf. But yeah, I look back on that week and took a lot of positives from it. I had been close before early in my Tour career to winning and didn't quite get it done, but to come here and win on a golf course that you have to hit shot after shot after shot correctly and really manage your game in the highest level of competition, really something you can draw on for the rest of your life.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Kenny Perry? You're going to practice with him today. He's in here right after you for an interview. Talk about how he's dominated this early on the Champions Tour and what he's been able to accomplish in majors.
JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think Bernhard to have something to say about Kenny's domination, but Kenny has been a great player. I would have to say probably the best metal wood driver I've ever seen. Best driver of the golf ball in the old days when we played here with wooden clubs to me was Greg Norman. He drove the ball as good as anybody I'd ever seen with a wooden club, but Kenny is unbelievable off the tee. He hits it as long and as straight as anybody I've ever seen, and you know, that tends to work well on any Tour anywhere in the world. So he's just a great player. It's kind of like you look at Kenny, you look at Bernhard, you look at Jay, if you can play the Champions Tour and beat all those three guys, you're probably going to have a heck of a tournament. You know, the competition out here is extraordinary, and I think people are starting to realize that, and they look at the quality of the play, and there's a lot of great players that are going to tee it up here Thursday with a very good chance to win.

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