U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 3, 1994

Jim Albus

JIM ALBUS: No, I don't think so. I think -- not in my case any way. I don't think it did with Swampy (sic), maybe with Simon a little bit. We just didn't play so well. Maybe the old Esso tank came in or something, a little tightness, a little -- you know, just wasn't the same kind of golf. I didn't play anywheres near as well, and I know Simon didn't either. It was like two different people.

JIM ALBUS: Yeah, I screwed up a couple of holes early on. I missed the green twice just in the little valleys that run off the greens, and I made a bogey. I tried to chip it and made a bogey with the -- first time tried to putt it the first time, and made a bogey second time. I made a double bogey, I tried to chip it. After putting it so badly from that little area, I tried to chip it and I ran it passed the hole and cut a little thing on the other side of the green and it went down. I turned it into a double bogey; kind of put me behind the eight ball. That was on three and five, those too holes. After, I had drawn even with Simon, he was having a hard time also. So, I guess the gremlins of Pinehurst came out for us today.

JIM ALBUS: At that point I still had a good chance because I had a 3-iron to the green, had a decent ride on the left rough and pulled it left, got into a bad lie just off the green and didn't convert it into a birdie. At that point, Graham and I were each one behind, and they both birdied. They both hit good shots up on the green and I hit a poor iron, and I had a fairly easy shot; didn't have a bad lie for my second shot. But I turned a birdie hole into a par that separated it two shots. Simon played well enough to win, that is all that counts, you know, it wasn't as good a golf as he had played, but he dug down and did what he had to do at the end; that is the whole trick to winning a tournament like this. Just guts ball.

JIM ALBUS: 15 is the par three-hole. The 14th hole, yeah, that was -- that was bad there because I hit my best driver of the week and it was just an inch in the rough. I caught a flier and hit a 9-iron. I hit 1 -- had 145 yards to the hole had a little 9-iron, didn't try to hit it hard. It just jumped and landed in the middle of the green going right at the hole and ran off down the slope, and then I hit a lucky chip shot up and missed a short putt. That was a bad one. That was where Simon was really having a hard time.

JIM ALBUS: About four feet.

JIM ALBUS: He is always grumbling and mumbling, not exactly conversation, but, you know, a lot of -- not a lot of talk.

JIM ALBUS: Yeah, you know, it leaves you with kind of an empty feeling and it is hard to have -- no one is ever going to feel sorry for me and I am not going to feel sorry for myself because it is an awful nice reward for second, but it really does leave you with a little bit of an empty feeling in your stomach; nothing like winning. And I am just going to have to try a little harder, I guess.

JIM ALBUS: Yeah, you always -- I am not going to root against him. He played well for most of the week and played good enough to win. That is all that counts. He shot a good score, 10 under; a good score, I think, on this golf course even though it did play soft.

JIM ALBUS: Yeah, it is -- no question, it is there and it is a mind game. I believe that is all something that you just build up in your mind because there is a lot of things going on in the world that are a lot more meaningful than winning a golf tournament, and that is the way I try and look at it. Try and look at it in the overall scheme; but it is there. It gets all hyped up. You fellows all help out with that, you know, and it is great. That is what makes it. You know, that is what made professional golf so good because it does get hyped up, and people love it. It is great drama, something I guess everyone can relate to and it is tough. Sunday afternoon, the last 9, there is no question it is tougher.

JIM ALBUS: It was -- I thought it played about the same. They might have tucked the pins in a little bit more today. I think they had the corners of the greens going pretty strong. But the greens were still soft. It had rained enough all week so that the greens were still holding. From the fairway you could hold the ball quite nicely. From the rough you had to play a lot of run, and which is good, that is the way it should be.

JIM ALBUS: Thanks. Appreciate it.