KEMPER INSURANCE OPEN

May 28, 2001

Frank Lickliter

FRANK LICKLITER: Thank you.

FRANK LICKLITER: Just delighted. I had a hard one to finish. Wasn't pretty. Didn't feel pretty. The putt felt extremely good though on the last hole. Just feels great. It's been awhile. It took me longer than I thought it would take me to win. It's awesome. It's just incredible. It's a very special feeling. It's something I'll never forget the rest of my life. And it looks like I'll be playing here for the next 20 years.

FRANK LICKLITER: I think you appreciate all of them, all of your experiences. Because you have to learn from your experiences. And, unfortunately, Torrey Pines was a good experience for me. I took a lot out of there. And a little gut check on the last hole too. They're all learning experiences. Some of them aren't very fun. But this one was.

FRANK LICKLITER: Well, I probably kind of made a mistake on 16. Because after I hooked it left I asked Tony how we were doing. And I got, "Oh, we're three up mate", you know. I said, "Okay, let's get this one up-and-down then." And I had felt like I hit a good chip there, it just didn't release over that hill. And I hit a beautiful putt there, just didn't happen to go in. And I got kind of out of whack watching Bradley's putt on 17. His ball coming up four feet short like that. It really, that's not where I wanted to leave mine. And obviously I didn't want to knock it six feet past like I did either. But I thought it was going to be a little slower than that going down the hill. And it was just a culmination of little minor mistakes and really made me focus on the last hole.

FRANK LICKLITER: Well, I just trusted myself. I saw Lee's ball come down and really slide hard at the end that way. And the first half of my putt actually broke left. And I knew it was going to break left. Because I've actually had that putt before a couple years ago. And I missed it right. That's where the pin always is there. So I knew that was going to break left in the beginning and I just trusted that.

FRANK LICKLITER: You know, it's amazing what you remember from years past. The ball doing this or it looks like it's going to move and it doesn't. Year after year. And eventually it gets into my head, through my thick skull.

FRANK LICKLITER: You didn't see it going left?

FRANK LICKLITER: Yeah, well, standing right there, yeah, you can feel it with your feet.

FRANK LICKLITER: The wind was going a little bit left-to-right there and the ball was a little below my feet. So I'm thinking it's got to fade. And I didn't look at any other place except the pin. I wasn't looking two feet right. I was looking right at the pin. And that's all I had in my head was hit it right at the pin. I was trying to make it easy on myself by hitting it in there. Didn't quite work out that way, but it still worked.

FRANK LICKLITER: A little 7. A normal 7. Not hard, not soft. And it was the perfect club.

FRANK LICKLITER: Well "pissed" is a good word.

FRANK LICKLITER: Just get back totally into the moment. And for some reason I did it extremely well right there. Even after everything that had happened the last half an hour. And I had no thoughts except reading that putt and making it.

FRANK LICKLITER: Yeah, there's a small difference. There's a difference. There's a bigger difference in guys that have won once and guys that have won a bunch of times.

FRANK LICKLITER: Two years today.

FRANK LICKLITER: He brings black and tans. (Laughter.) He brings a tremendous sense of humor. The guy is, he is so laid back and so funny. And he likes to have a good time. And from what I understand, all Aussies are like that. And Tony's been very good for me. Because if I get mad on the golf course, he doesn't. He's always got an encouraging word. "Shake it off." Whatever the word happens to be. But he's very good about speaking his mind.

FRANK LICKLITER: You mean when he misread the putt on 17? (Laughter.) Well, he said right center and I told him, "Well I was thinking left center." And that probably wasn't the best time for that to happen. But he wasn't worried about it, so I wasn't.

FRANK LICKLITER: No, no. That was soft compared to some of the shots I've thrown at Tony.

FRANK LICKLITER: Well, it's where everybody's been walking off the green. And that's exactly where you never want to miss it, because the grass is growing away from the hole. And that's exactly what I had. And actually that chip shot wasn't very far from being great. It flies another foot I think it ends up really close. It's just one of those lies that you got to hit it a hundred percent for it to come out good. You hit 95 percent and it comes out like it did.

FRANK LICKLITER: The grass was right into me there. Yeah.

FRANK LICKLITER: It's been a long time coming. And it's finally here. It's sweet.

FRANK LICKLITER: That was all what I saw in Lee's putt. His ball turned a lot harder than I thought it was going to and went in. And it was just one of those things where you make a decision and you stick to it.

FRANK LICKLITER: No, not particularly. I have got a couple of coaches. I got a swing coach, David Green down in Tampa. And that's not what he does for a living, but he knows my swing. And I got a guy named Adrian Davies where we talk about things. He gives me tips on what I might need to work on. But it's always something that I'll ask. I'll say, Adrian, what can I do to do this better or something like that. And it's, we have more of a friendship as opposed to a doctor/patient relationship.

FRANK LICKLITER: No, I don't think so. I can't answer that. I'm not sure.

FRANK LICKLITER: He works in the golf field as a swing coach. And I know he works with some guys on the mental side of it. I'm not sure exactly what his title is. And I apologize to Adrian for not knowing.

FRANK LICKLITER: Well, I got a friend that came up with a big plane. And I think it's a jet. A single engine? Is it? Can we get the golf clubs in there? And we were headed over to Dublin. That's where we're going to be headed over there when you guys get finished with me. But I just want to relax. And Rocco and I are going to play a practice round tomorrow morning at 7:15.

FRANK LICKLITER: An educated guess would be that that putt was 12 and a half feet. How far was it? Eight or nine? Was it? There we go. (Laughter.)

FRANK LICKLITER: Win the next one.

FRANK LICKLITER: No, that's too far in the future for me. Obviously this was one of my goals. I got a lot of goals. It's, I want to go to next week. That's kind of where I grew up. I grew up 90 miles from there. And I got a lot of friends and family going to be there next week. So it would be very nice to go out and focus on every shot this coming week and see what happens.

FRANK LICKLITER: No, nothing in particular.

FRANK LICKLITER: Yes, I did. Well that was last year. '99. So it's been well two years ago.

FRANK LICKLITER: I think those guys liked it. I think the green kids liked it. Yeah. The fans like it more, I think.

FRANK LICKLITER: Oh, yeah. Two and a half years old, 36,000 miles.

FRANK LICKLITER: Not sure.

FRANK LICKLITER: Well Fuzzy and I went to Alaska last May. We took the Byron Nelson off, unfortunately. I would have liked to have played. I've always played in that one, not missed a tournament there. Basically it was a nine foot bear squared. Nose to tail, toe to toe. 27 and three quarter inch skull. Which is how they measure bears.

FRANK LICKLITER: Alaskan Coastal Brown.

FRANK LICKLITER: Actually it should be in the mail. His skin anyway. I had him turned into a rug.

FRANK LICKLITER: Yeah. Once the skull is cleaned, they use a caliper to measure length and width and add them together.

FRANK LICKLITER: Yeah. Honestly, it was never about money. I was thinking of winning golf tournaments, winning PGA Tour events, when I was 14 years old. It wasn't about the money. It was about having that trophy. Having the crystal. Having the respect of your peers. It's a good feeling. I had a lot of guys come up yesterday and today and say "Good playing. Knock this one off. Do it." When a guy like Ben Crenshaw says that to you, that's pretty special.

FRANK LICKLITER: Yeah. Absolutely. I like this golf course because you have to place your golf ball. The pins get pretty severe. Like on number 10, you need to drive it down the right edge of that fairway in order to have a shot at that pin. You drive it in the middle there, you got tree trouble. The pin on Sunday is right behind that tree. So I like that. I like where you actually have to place your driver off the tee. There's certain spots that are key to play from or the best place to play from. I think that does suit my game.

FRANK LICKLITER: Phil said, "Good luck."

FRANK LICKLITER: Yeah. But Phil is one of the first guys that I wasn't playing with to say congratulations. Which means something to you. That was very nice of him. A very classy gentleman.

FRANK LICKLITER: Thank you.

FRANK LICKLITER: Let's go back to 11. That was my first swing of the day. And I absolutely hit a perfect 8-iron in there. I mean, I hit it right at the left edge of the tree I was aiming at, which was basically six feet right of the hole. So I get up there I got a six footer. And I'm looking at this putt and Tony is going okay, outside right edge. And then I get up and it breaks four inches right. So how are we doing? So on the next hole on the next hole I hit a gorgeous 6-iron in there to probably 12 feet. Just left of the hole. And I didn't have him read it that time. And I made that one. And he was getting on me, he said, "Good read." He didn't say, "Good putt". So then I make birdie on 14. I hit 5-iron off that tee and hit sand wedge to about six feet. And just made a very nice putt.

FRANK LICKLITER: 17 I had 6-iron.

FRANK LICKLITER: The first one? 40 feet.

FRANK LICKLITER: It's probably something I'll always remember. Because I'm 0 and 1 right now.

FRANK LICKLITER: Thanks guys.