U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 30, 1994

Tom Wargo

TOM WARGO: Hello fellows, anyway. How are you doing? Nice to be in here. That means you are doing something well, right? We didn't do too much as far as an exciting round. It was just kind of down the middle on the greens, about 20 foot, and then we took advantage of a couple little putts. We really didn't have a strong round where we could knock in a lot of putts. We just kind of defensed the play, but when the opportunity came along, we just made a couple of nice little birdies and no bogeys, which is a satisfying round. Anytime you can play a round of golf with no bogeys; it is a nice round. But we didn't have an exceptional ball strike. The irons were just a little bit weak today. I could have hit it in a little closer, I thought. It is an opening round. It is a nice round. We got it posted on the board and there are three more days.

TOM WARGO: Well, I didn't really think that the greens were that much quicker today than they had been in the past. I thought that they were more consistent with the last couple of days that we had practice rounds. Now, it might have been my position on the greens, that is hard to say, but I didn't think that they had that much over the last two days. That was, kind of, nice. I was comfortable with the speed of them.

TOM WARGO: Well, it is a trade off again, the fairways were soft. The ball was staying on you in the fairways, which if you could keep it in line with the fairways, you know, you were going to stay in the fairway, it wouldn't run through it or vice versa. As a trade off, it is playing a little longer, but also, the greens were holding a little stronger. So, one pushes the other a little bit, versus if you had the longer tee ball off the fairway, then the greens might be a little harder, so it is actually a trade off there, I believe, anyway. I don't mind the long golf course.

TOM WARGO: No, not really. It all came about probably when we was about 45 or 46, more or less, in the same token I'd played a lot of competitive rounds with Lohren and Albus and some of the other club professionals in Florida. Being able to match cards with them over the years, it gave us, I thought, maybe that we might have a chance to be competitive out here and then the only other way was going to find out if I was to make it out here. But that came about four, five years ago.

TOM WARGO: I think so, at this point in time we were a little more consistent and I have improved some parts of my game. Our scoring average has been a lot better at this point in time, which is probably one of the things you look forward to, as far as, the stats are concerned. The rest of them I don't pay much attention to. But, being able to practice under the fine facilities that they give us out here, and playing everyday, and observing the best players in the world, as far as, 50 and over is concerned, if you don't learn anything out here, then you might as well be picking black berries.

TOM WARGO: As far as our success or -- very nice. You know being able to play in Florida in the last 10, 15 years, during the club professional series and the winter program, I made a lot of friends around the country and whereever we go it is a very nice response. I get a chance to go in the shops, see some of them personally and say hello to them, or they stay in touch with me through a phone call or a little note in the locker, occasionally. It is very nice to. They are all pulling for me. And our family, as we go around, it is very nice. Like I said, we have made a lot of friends down there over the years and it is very nice to just go back and see them, and see their operation and they are very nice, yes. I don't know, words can hardly express the thanks and the gratitude that they give us.

TOM WARGO: Well, I don't know if it is intense or not on my part of it until Sunday's round. If you can get in the hunt Sunday, then the intensity will probably begin. At this point in time, I am just trying to approach it like any other tournament or any other major, as far as a tournament is concerned and then we will see what happens later on in the week. But, I just -- I am sure -- maybe, some of the other fellows approach it the same. I was kind of optimistic coming in here for the simple reason I played here once before back in '88 or '89. The club professionals had their championship here in October and I didn't play very well. It just seemed like I really had a hard time on the golf course, so I was, kind of like, I say optimistic about it. You might say pessimistic, or looking at this golf course and coming back here, I really didn't know what to expect, and I still don't. I have a hard time, it seems like, with this golf course with depth perception and so, I don't know where it will take us at THE end of the week. Maybe the more we play it, the better off it will be. So I didn't know what to expect coming in here for the Open.

TOM WARGO: I don't know. The greens might get a little drier. That could be they are spiking up a little bit. Any time you can get in the afternoon round, you know the greens are going to get a little rougher. They are soft enough, where they are leaving heal prints, spike marks of such. The putting might get a little rougher, but I do not think the fairways will dry up that much. I don't even think they had a chance to mow them this morning.

TOM WARGO: All right.