U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 1997

Tom Wargo

TOM WARGO: No, they're very, very hard. I'm just very fortunate to somehow take advantage of them. I don't know, we've hit some shots in there that we're just trying to play a little bit cautious, and the shots just come out just perfect and it gave us a good putt at it. That's all I can say. We drove the ball -- one of the key things we have, we haven't missed the fairways on those holes yet.

TOM WARGO: And my wife, yeah.

TOM WARGO: Yeah, she walks the ropes, don't forget.

TOM WARGO: Well, the others came early in the round. We bogeyed the 2nd hole. That was another -- it was kind of a indecision there. We hit the ball in, kind of wound up way in the back of the green, and sure enough, we 3-putted it coming back down. It's quite severe from top-to-bottom. Then the next hole, we had an easy little chip, but I had a funny little lie just off the green. We weren't 10, 15 feet from the flag, but I pitched it up about 4 foot, missed that. So we got off to a pretty good start as far as what you don't want to do. Then we wound up bogeying 11 again for some reason, we can't quite get the combination of the yardage and the club selection there, and I hit it in the bunker there and didn't get it up-and-down. But then we made a good par-saving putt on the next hole, No. 12, which is pretty good driving, very tight there, and we made a good par-saver, and then we came back with a birdie on the next hole and that got us going again. We happened to just birdie 16. I hit a 4-iron up there on the front. We were in between clubs there. You can't get above some of these holes. You have to try to play it what you can. We played a 4-iron to the front, and fortunately, it didn't run up there about 4 foot and knocked it in. Next hole, hit a 9-iron just behind the hole 10 foot and made that one. That gave us a good outlook going down to the last hole, which was one of the -- they've got a pin there on the left-hand side, and if you keep it on the left side of the green, you're in good shape. But unfortunate for me, I tried to hit it a little bit too hard and pushed it in the right front. I don't think you could have played the ball anywhere on that green and got a harder putt than we did. And that's like if I took this fellow right here and put you on the greens here, what could you shoot in regulation? If I dropped the ball on the greens right here, if I placed your ball?

TOM WARGO: In regulation. 36, right? If you hit it 36 times on 36 putts, right now, how many times. But what can you shoot? Would you shoot par if I put you on regulation?

TOM WARGO: What would you think you could do? Don't be nervous now.

TOM WARGO: Half of them? You don't think you would have a 4-putt?

TOM WARGO: I guarantee you wouldn't have a 1-putt. So, anyway, you don't want to be on the wrong side of these holes. And on the last hole, we had it on the right-hand side there, and I left it about -- I had to make a big, oh, probably a 15-foot breaker going downhill, and I left it short about 15 foot. Luckily we made that going back down that hill. So that was the combination of the round.

TOM WARGO: Yeah. Well, like I told the guy right at the end here, he said something about that 5-putt, I've had a couple of those in my day. But, that's what I'm saying, you get on the wrong side of these greens, you're just defensive putting all day long, and so your irons have to be good here.

TOM WARGO: Yeah, more or less for us, yes. And then, you know, the USGA has a habit somehow or another of speeding them up on top of that. So it makes them a little severe, which I enjoy that because one of the things I like about the U.S. Open, it makes a premium on pars. And I like that kind of golf. For some reason, I always did. I just don't like it turning into a putting contest, where you can lag-putt your putt up there and get your 2-putts and get out of there. Pars add some value to it.

TOM WARGO: Well, I always have claimed that if you hit your best shot and you cannot stop the ball at the hole, your best chip or your best putt, if you cannot stop it at the hole, then it becomes an unfair pin. For example, they had one I think there that was on 11 yesterday, some of the guys were probably grumbling about and some of the guys actually putted the ball up to the hole and it rolled back down to them. Now, that's unfair, because you've got to be able to stop the ball at the hole with your best effort. And when it becomes more than that, then it's an unfair pin in my opinion.

TOM WARGO: Well, I don't know. We've still got a lot of golf left to play, but we've been struggling for about a year and a half with a swing change I was trying to make, and we had the right -- we had the right track, but we had the wrong train on it. And it took me awhile to figure that one out, and I think we start playing a little bit better about two or three months ago, and then my back went out. So I haven't been able to practice that, but fortunate or maybe unfortunate or one way or the other you want to look at it, due to not practice, maybe it's been a better thing for our game because we've just now been going out there and play a little game of golf instead of working on the golf swing as much. And I've also got a new putter that I've been working with a little bit, and it's -- I think I've changed my putting grip, and it's given me a little more confidence. So the combination of maybe getting that swing worked out and the putter is maybe starting to pay off a little bit.

TOM WARGO: Age? Wait a minute, Jack.

TOM WARGO: Okay. Thank you.

TOM WARGO: Well, it wasn't a major swing change. And I'm a pretty good advocate at this age and time in your golf career or whatever, amateur or professional, I don't think that you have time to make any major changes, but I was just trying to work on a fundamental move that -- which I like to just keep improving on your fundamentals. I'm not a fundamentally sound golfer. I've had some flaws in my swing. So I keep trying to work on my fundamentals, and that's about it. But this thing turned into a major deal is what it did. I thought it was just a major little fundamental move, but it did turn into a major thing, and it kept me from -- in frustration for about a year and a half. I don't know. It's too early to grab the dog by the tail yet.

TOM WARGO: Well, it's kind of self-explanatory, but if you know the game, golf swing I believe you have to have some extension on your back swing. My club came up and preset a little bit too quick on me. And I tried to get some extension, but I took it completely on the outside, and it stayed there. I couldn't get it around, get it back to the target enough. I got the extension good, but I forgot to take the turn with it. That's where I got hung up. I kept pulling it, and one would go left and when I would try to correct it, it would go right. I couldn't keep it in a hundred acre field for a month or two.

TOM WARGO: That happened in Alabama. I came down with a herniated disc about Saturday at Alabama, and that set us back for about three weeks or so, four weeks. And so far it's been hanging in there.

TOM WARGO: No, I had to give it some rest. He told me to take some time. I think we missed three weeks, I think.

TOM WARGO: Yes. Thank you.