Q. Bruce, when you look back at this, regardless of how you in your mind justify major championships, will you be as proud as anything at how you managed to win when you were far from at your best; is that what will give you as much pride as everything?
BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes, that too, and hanging in there and staring down a guy like Tom Watson that you know is capable of putting on a charge and you know having some adversity out there. Fortunately I had that nice 4-shot cushion to help me through the day. I never gave that cushion up but I still continued to strive and my -- the last thing in golf that I really, really, really want to do is win a golf tournament by 6 or 8 or 10 shots and I would love to play the last five holes, as I have said before, I would like to kiss the babies and hug my wife and tell jokes and act likely Lee Trevino playing the last five holes. I'm not very good at doing that. I had a chance today. I believe I had a 6-shot lead, or did I have a 5-shot lead? I think I had a 6-shot lead when I eagled the 8th hole and nothing changed in my thinking. But I really wanted to win by 8 or 10 shots. I didn't want to put myself through that and I didn't do that. So once again I have given up that opportunity but I will take a lot of pride in surviving one of the toughest tests of golf that I have ever been exposed to. With this golf course set up I think it's probably in the top-5 of the toughest tournaments that I have ever played in my life and maybe that's where that appreciation comes from for mayor championship winners, the guys that have gone to Pebble Beach and Shinnecock and Oakmont and Oakland Hills, maybe that is where the pride comes from instead of beating the champions, maybe it's just that you survived the ultimate test in golf.
And golf is still in the same place for me. I don't know where this ranks as far as my PGA TOUR goes. I still want to say my first TOUR wins and my Colonial and special Texas tournaments have special places in my heart and there isn't any good reason that I can't make more room for surviving on one of the toughest tests of golf that I have ever been exposed to.
So I will find a way to make room. This is certainly the biggest win of my champion's TOUR career. I have only been out here a couple of years and I still think of myself sometimes as a PGA TOUR player. And I still think of the majors, the Masters, the PGA, the British Open and the U.S. Open. So I'm new to this tour and I'm certainly new to this idea of winning a major championship. So give me some time to reflect on it, but I'm very happy to be here right now for sure.
Q. Bruce, in some ways it seems like a transition from 24 hours ago when we heard you in the flash area talk about that you may look at trying to find a way to defend -- yesterday, I know when I talked to you, you talked about winning this tournament would have been just like any other champion's tournament, did something happen over the four hours except for the fact that you won that made you feel differently?
BRUCE LIETZKE: No. I will tell you, this is the biggest -- this is the biggest tournament that I have won in the last two years. I can't ignore that. The media feel here, the golf course set up; it's obvious when you come here that this is not a Champion's TOUR event. But I try to win every tournament that I go to and I still, like I said, I still think of myself as a PGA TOUR player. I'm still pretty fresh off of that tour. And those are the majors that I have looked at and lusted after for 27 years.
All of my days as a kid practicing on the putting green and having that four-footer, not one time in all of my life as a kid did that four-footer ever -- was that four-footer ever for the U.S. Senior Championship Open. That was for The Masters, and for the U.S. Open.
So you know, I really feel better leaving it up to you guys to tell me where this tournament falls. I still don't even like the idea that I'm 51 years old. I still got some of that rebelliousness in me. I still think I'm a TOUR player and Jay Hass is probably going to feel the same way when he comes over here and Craig Stadler, too. I'm going to leave it up to you guys. I think you guys -- it's more of your place to tell me where this tournament falls in my list of accomplishments than it is for me to list it. I'm still pretty fresh to this thing. But I came here to win this golf tournament and I will go to Detroit in two weeks and I will try to win that golf tournament, too. They tell me that's a major championship, too. And if you tell me it is, I will believe you.
Q. One follow-up question, you talked about Colonial and you talked about your first win did you ever struggle as much around 72 holes and win a tournament as did you this week?
BRUCE LIETZKE: I have never struggled off the tee that much before. That has always been my bread and butter. A two times the putter has won a golf tournament for me. Most of the time my fairways and greens have won golf tournaments for me a majority of the time.
I have never struggled off the tee like I did really the last two days. I missed a ton of fairways yesterday. Somebody said that I finished 58 this -- of the guys that missed the cut I finished 58 out of fairways hit. That was the real problem for me. This probably could have been the tournament I could have won by 10 or 12 shots as well as I putted if that tee ball had cooperated.
I don't think so. This golf course, you know, PGA TOUR events, the Colonial, the rough is not as penalizing; you can miss some fairways and get away with shots at most of those tournaments. You are really lucky to miss fairways here and have any kind of shot to the green and yet, like I said, my first win, my two Colonials and my two Byron Nelsons have always been my source of pride of my 13 wins on the PGA TOUR. A certain amount of pride to win my third week as a member of the champion's TOUR.
This is a big event and it's the biggest of my seven victories since I have turned 50 and I will just let you guys categorize it for me, please.
RAND JERRIS: Sort of a hometown question I guess but since you're still in a PGA TOUR frame of mind as you put it, when you look at the Tigers and Ernies and Phils and the other young talent that is coming along, is this a U.S. Open golf course for those guys to come play on, because they are interested in hosting an Open down the road.
BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes. They can't -- if they could lengthen the golf course a little bit I would give it an automatic yes. I really believe -- we played close to the tips, I did notice a couple of tees were moved up 10 or 12 yards. I'm just trying to think how Tiger -- and I know when Daly was here last time he never had any woods in his bag; is that correct, that was this golf course? I could see Tiger going around this golf course without a wood in his bag, too, as hard as he hits that 2-iron. But the bunkering is so severe and the rough could be -- the rough could have been thicker this week. Kudos go out to the USGA for remembering that we are 50 years old. Maybe it was that tendonitis band that I was continuing to wear all the time, maybe I was getting some sympathy from them but believe me trying to hit out of the rough with tendonitis is brutal.
I thought they kept the rough at a pretty manageable height. If they grew a little more rough, this is a wonderful strategy golf course, where you have to go to each tee box and you don't just automatically grab a driver out of your hand. I wish that was the golf course it was because it would have played more in my hands but every tee box you had to make a choice of not only what kind of shot you're going to hit but what club you're going to hit, and that makes the players work on their strategy and it leads to mistakes. They will pull the wrong club out.
And I would say, yes, because of the size of the greens, the degree of difficulty of the bunkering and how strategically those fairway bunkers are placed again, you wouldn't see guys hitting many drivers off the tee but it would be a best test of golf. I do believe that. And if they had a way of lengthening the golf course to 20 or 25 yards in many places it would be a great test of golf.
Q. There is about 280 yards out there you didn't see; would that be enough?
BRUCE LIETZKE: Is there really? Was there that much?
Q. It's 7230 from the tips?
BRUCE LIETZKE: That's enough. I didn't see that much. I can't say I was really observing.
Yes, that would be enough, absolutely it would. And again the super-long hitters would be hitting those stinger 2-irons. Tom Watson was hitting his 2-iron all day long and he would see a lot of that from the boys that really hit the ball long. But man, it's makes for a great championship. The golf course gives up rounds but it doesn't seem to wanted to give up consecutive rounds very easily. And look at the quality of the players that have won here, Greg Norman probably should have won here twice. Hale Irwin has won here. It has produced great champions. So if they had that kind of yardage already, yes, I think -- and they do, and they have done a great job of running this event. You can tell they have done it before, the things that pros appreciate when a smoothly run operation is in effect the entire week it makes the pros really happy. So they could do it, they could easily have a U.S. open or a PGA.
Q. One quick question, there was some thought about if you would play Shinnecock next year or not because you will get an exemption there?
BRUCE LIETZKE: I won't play Shinnecock next year. There was actually a question of whether or not I was going to play in the tournament next year. My daughter has a graduation cruise that we were going on the last week of July. This tournament has been moved back to the last week of July next year, I found that out about a month ago. I believe cruise plans can be changed. We are working on that right now. I expect to be at Bellerive to defend my championship. I don't expect to be at Shinnecock. I don't even know when that week is. I don't imagine I would play there.
Q. Is it because of the course itself or --
BRUCE LIETZKE: I'm not in the habit of adding tournaments to my schedule. I'm still in the mode of keeping my tournament schedule at a minium until this daughter of mine is out of high school, in college and my wife and I are free to travel as much as we want and until those days when they are both in college my tournament schedule will be in the low 20's, and I have an obligation to the Champion's Tour to support it for probably the same reason that Bruce Fleisher did not play at Bethpage. I just don't want to take a spot up. It's probably a spot they wouldn't fill up any way. I have played in 12 U.S. Opens and I am pretty happy to be where I am right now. I don't expect to be at Shinnecock.
Q. If, in fact it was two years from now when both of your children are in college would you rethink it?
BRUCE LIETZKE: I possibly would rethink it but I really believe my PGA TOUR days are behind me. I have skipped Colonial the last two years. I skipped my Memorial tournament, which is my ultimate favorite tournament for the last four or five years. I firmly believe my PGA TOUR days are behind me, and I don't expect I will every play another PGA TOUR event or another major.
RAND JERRIS: Bruce, again, thank you very much. Enjoy your year as national champion.
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