SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 26, 2001

Jim Thorpe

JIM THORPE: Okay. My round, it was just basically an okay round. I felt like I played pretty good I just didn't execute no putts today. I had a very, very tough day with the putter. I feel like I was in a position to, you know, make two or three more birdies. But today I just didn't have that same stroke that I had earlier this week. Maybe it's because I missed some nice putts earlier and then you start trying a little bit too hard. But, you know, I realized that earlier in the round, I did pick up a quick birdie on number I think -- I think my first birdie came on number 4 today. And, you know, I kind of held on. I three-putted 8. I hit a very good birdie putt I thought at 8 to par three. And that green was really fast for me. I three-putted there. Then I bogeyed at 9. And after that I just kind of hung around, you know what I mean. Nothing really major happened. Just a nice short birdie put on 11, decent birdie putt on 12 and 13. And managed to birdie the par three 15 I believe. And got a good up and down on 16. And missed a short birdie put on 17. And birdied 18 to close the day out. So I don't -- you know, I played pretty good, but I didn't putt my best. I think I had 31 putts today. And you know, 31 putts -- (inaudible).

JIM THORPE: No, not really. Tony and I talked about it today. Tony felt that I was starting to pressure just a little bit because I needed to make some early birdies. And, you know, I hit a pretty 5-wood off the tee on 1, but I caught a bad lie, so I couldn't attack the flag the way -- it was a perfect flag to attack today. And 2 I laid the ball up in a bad position where, you know, if I hit a sand wedge from that 88 yards, I'm going to spin it back off the green, so I'm trying to hit it without spinning the shot. I just didn't get it close enough to the flags. But I did par 3 today. Hit a good driver there. And I think I hit a 4-iron off of the downslope and just short of the green and chipped it up and made a good birdie on four. But, you know, I hit a couple of very nice birdie putts. I think I hit a beautiful birdie putt on number 6 about eight or nine feet behind the flag. And that putt really should of gone in I thought because the whole green was leaning to the left. And then I three-putt 8 and bogeyed 9, so I had to just kind of start over again. Bob Gilder was making all kinds of putts at this particular time. I mean, he's making these 40-foot par putts and snaking these things across the green. But, you know, golf is funny. I mean, if you make your putts, you definitely score. And I probably got as much out of my round today as I could have gotten because I just didn't putt the ball well.

JIM THORPE: Well, tomorrow we've got to make birdies, you know. Bob makes a lot of birdies and Tom will make a lot of birdies. Then, you know, whoever posts those scores or making less mistakes and makes the putts tomorrow is going to leave here your winner. We've got Allen Doyle who just left here. Allen can turn it on and shoot that 65, 66. And I think the weather conditions will play a major role tomorrow. I think on of the things that Bob Gilder's got going for him and I said it in front of him is Bob don't spin the ball quite as much as a Tom Watson or I or -- between him and Allen Doyle, they have a little bit lower trajectory on these type of greens. I think the pin placement, the golf course setup tomorrow will play a major role in how the score's going to turn out. If you have a lot have pins set in the back of the greens, just back of me, I can't keep the ball back there because I spin the ball a lot, which means you have to hit some type of knockdown shot. And it's very difficult to do. So, I mean, we just have to wait and see. We can sit here and we can talk about it until tomorrow morning. But, you know, whoever plays best tomorrow is going to win the -- you know, win the 62nd PGA Championship. Basically what we have here is, you know, we have Tom Watson, who's won probably eight, ten majors. I don't know if Bob ever won a major. I know Allen Doyle has won one. I've never won one. But I think it's a different -- you know, I don't know what the rest of the players look at this as a -- as a must win. You know, I mean, I think we all would love to win. But if we don't, we feel we have another chance someplace down the road. It's just very, very tough to tell. I'm going to come out tomorrow and try to make birdies and hopefully Bob and tomorrow make some bogeys. And, you know, I can sneak off on them.

JIM THORPE: You know what, I drove the ball very well. I think I missed -- I think I missed one fairway in the short fringe and I missed 16 probably two yards. So I drove the ball very, very well. And I hit some very, very nice iron shots. I hit a beautiful iron shot on 18 over the tree about 12, 15 short of the flag and made the putt. So, you know, that gives me a good positive eyes starting tomorrow. I feel that we've got a great -- Bob went to ten under par and then he bogeyed 17, you know, which 17 is one of the birdie holes. Three shot at par five, but it's actually a birdie hole where they had the flags set today. And so, you know, I feel very, very fortunate to be tied for the lead. The way I started the day out, the way I was putting going to mid round, I never thought -- I think I would end up two or three shots back. But Bob loosened up a little bit and Tom turned it on a little bit and we've got three guys at nine under par.

JIM THORPE: I don't know. You know, hopefully it will make Tom Watson play more. We need Tom to come out and play a little bit more than he played. That will definitely help. Tom is one of our top players out here and well, well known players, eight, ten majors. I think he's one eight majors, I think. I'm not a hundred percent sure. And Tom is one of those guys that could really give us a big boost up here. Because we're losing a lot of Chi Chis and Trevinos and Arnies and Jacks. And Tom needs to grab the torch and play just a little bit more.

JIM THORPE: Well, being I was -- no, I wasn't disappointed. Actually, you know, if he don't play no more this year it will be fine with me. You know, Tom is a very, very tough player. But we need Tom to play because we need that -- we just need his status, you know, for the Senior Tour. We can all -- when the commissioner can call the sponsor and say we have Tom Watson in the field, Jack Nicklaus and Palmer, Chi Chi, Trevino, Bob Gilder, we're going to sell some tickets. We just need Tom to play. And hopefully he don't play good tomorrow, but...

JIM THORPE: Bob, I'm just saying what you're thinking.

BOB GILDER: You're hoping for a lot, man.

JIM THORPE: I just hope it rains.

JIM THORPE: Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely. You know, leading in the first round and leading the second round doesn't really that much, there's a lot of golf left. And basically what we do, I think we jog for position. Now, you know, tomorrow, you know, tomorrow is crunch day. I think tomorrow we go out in the front nine and try to get into a good solid groove and hope to get it two, three under par. But I think the golf tournament will start on the back nine. I think you'll see, you know, we won't be smiling quite as much. We won't be joking with one another quite as much. You know, like Bob today, I'm telling him he missed a putt, he come over and tap me on the shoulder. You know, tomorrow he can't do that. You know, I'd be ready to bite his hand off tomorrow. But yes, we will definitely change tomorrow. We're going to try to do what it takes to do to win now. I mean, we're in a position to win. But you know, we've got 36 holes left. I think it's too early to talk about because guys do come from nine, ten shots back to win, like Allen Doyle did when he won the PGA. You know, I've seen guys come from way back. But tomorrow the last nine holes, I think you'll see a real battle. Probably half a dozen we'll be battling pretty good.

JIM THORPE: Today? Really?

JIM THORPE: Talking about my tee shot?

JIM THORPE: Oh, man. I didn't know that.

JIM THORPE: Come on, man. I thought I drove it perfect today. That was Bob hit the tree, man. My ball was way down the fairway. Really, did it hit the tree?

JIM THORPE: Shoot. I didn't know that, man. I'd better go back and kiss the tree.

JIM THORPE: Will the winner need breaks? I think the winner needs to make putts. I think the winner will make putts. We're going to hit some fairways, because the fairways are soft enough and we can keep the ball on the fairways. I think the guy that wins this golf event has got to putt the ball very, very solid tomorrow and don't make any stupid makes. Yeah, I felt today I made a couple of mistakes. I made a couple of bad club selections. I think the club selection I made on number nine was wrong. Tony says if I get the ball ten feet further left, he says you've got a ten footer for birdie. I hit a 3-iron kind of straight at the flag versus taking a 5-wood, banking it off the left side and just giving myself a putt. I just don't think you'll birdie the hole unless you get very, very lucky out there. So I think the guy that wins the tournament will probably make less mistakes and some putts.

JIM THORPE: I think between this golf course and Medinah and -- yes, on the Senior Tour, yes. The Senior Tour, yes. This is probably -- the golf courses we played the U.S. Open on last year, Saucon Valley, it's a golf course a lot like this, excellent course. Both there again, we caught both golf courses soft. I think if you hadn't had the rain this week, I think somebody could have posted -- probably the winner's score would have been posted yesterday. But we've got the fairways soft enough where if a ball do hit on the edge, it stays on the fairway. But I think with these type of greens, poa annua greens, if they get firm, man we'd have a 50 this week if the golf course had been firm.

JIM THORPE: I appreciate it guys.