U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 2003

Bruce Lietzke

BRUCE LIETZKE: Who would have thought that a hook won me the 2003 Senior Open? That would have been the last thing in the world. But the two shots that I hit today that probably won the golf tournament for me was kind of a slight draw 5-iron on the 8th hole. I was forced into a hook there. I normally never hook the ball but I was forced into a hook by a tree and I hit that 5-iron about 9 feet from the hole, made that for an eagle which really gave me some separation temporarily, and then a big hook on the 14th hole and as I was getting my yardage, I heard Roger Maltbie telling Johnny Miller or somebody say, well, his only shot is a low slice under the trees, and I hadn't even been over to my golf ball yet and I'm assuming all I got is a low slice coming up out of that heavy kind of rough. And I got over there and boy the Ohio slice did not look very tempting at all, and I looked off to my right and there was a big opening as long as I could hook the ball about 25 yards, and it was really just no decision to make at all; the low cut through rough was no option. I just hit a great recovery shot, a 7-iron that hooked all the way to the front of the green and I made a great up-and-down for par and I really believe those are the shots. I made a couple of putts here and there, but two hooks won me the 2003 U.S. Open, and those are the words that I would never think I would ever, ever say, a hook winning me a golf tournament. So you should never say never. But those will be two of the shots among others that I will remember for a long, long time and they both just happen to be hooks.

Q. What does it's mean to win your first major?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Well, you know, I don't know where to put this thing. If you are talking about The Masters and the PGA and the U.S. Open and the British Open, I have won a major on the Senior Tour and I'm telling you it feels pretty good especially on a quality golf course like this and if you want to say that I have won a major or, you know, I don't know where it falls. I'm pretty new to this Senior Tour stuff and I am still very fresh from the regular TOUR. I still had dreams of winning PGA's and Masters not so long ago.

I guess I have a tough time, if you call this an all-encompassing major championship, and if I had won -- I'm just a little bit confused where it is. I will tell you I'm extremely happy and I think the happiness comes from winning on a golf course that is just as grueling and punishing as Inverness club is.

And I guess that's where players that win major championships, that's what they reflect on later on as well: "I have won a PGA or a Masters and, boy, look at where I have done it." I will tell you I got that feeling right now. I won a big tournament on an outstanding golf course that was just set up brutally. I thought it was pretty fair, but it was brutal. The rough, the size of the fairways, the speed of the greens, the size of the greens, everything that Inverness Club is, makes this a great week for me. I'm just going to let you guys, like I said -- golf seems to mean more to you guys than it does to me, too, I'm going to let you guys categorize this. I'm just here to tell you I am thrilled to death that I won this event on this golf course and to beat a player of Tom Watson's caliber. It's a very special day and it's very special to have my wife with me.

It's the first senior event that she has seen me win and it's extra special to have here too.

Q. Bruce what does this do for your confidence heading to Dearborn if you are intending to go there?

BRUCE LIETZKE: I'm very disappointed in the way that I hit the ball. I'm very disappointed in the way I hit the ball most of the day. The one thing -- I'll certainly take away, the putter won the golf tournament for me. I didn't drive the ball well. I hit the irons mostly pretty good. I putted great for four days. I still say having to leave the driver in the bag was a huge obstacle for me to overcome and I really struggled with my 3-wood and I really struggled with my little utility 2-iron that I carry.

I missed a couple of fairways with my driver, too. But my biggest obstacle this week was leaving my very favorite club, the best club -- if you go by the tours's statistics, I'm the best driver on the Champion's Tour. I'm No. 1 in totally driving, and I left that club in the bag an awful lot.

I will say it again, it's a very awkward golf course and it's very hard to get your rhythm going out there and I got rhythm yesterday.

But the rest of the time, because you are choosing clubs that you are just not used to hitting off the tees, you had to really think your way around this golf course and today I made some mental mistakes and I guess that's why this is a championship course, because it doesn't just allow to you grab a driver and blindly get out there and beat the ball 290 yards. You really got to think your way around. I didn't play real well today, but I finished it off okay.

Q. Are you going to Dearborn?

BRUCE LIETZKE: I am playing in the Ford Championship. I am going to Skip the Senior British Open this year. My family and Bill Rogers's family have made family plans, so I'm skipping the Senior British and I will play the rest of the other majors that we have on the Champion's Tour.

Q. Bruce, you said you are going to spend time with your daughter on her cruise next year after her graduation?

BRUCE LIETZKE: We are scheduled to be -- her graduation, she chose a cruise the last week of July, and I found out about a month ago that that's when this tournament has been moved back to next year. I'm going to work as hard as I can. I'm not going to do anything to disappoint my daughter but if I can move the dates around I definitely want to come back and defend this championship. I get that trophy. I get this trophy for one year only and I want to have a chance in trying to win it back. Right now we are scheduled to go on a cruise but I think we can make some changes, and I do have plans, or I am going to try to make plans to defend my championship.

Q. If it comes down to your family or defending, talk about your priorities?

BRUCE LIETZKE: I would choose my family, if that's the only 2 choices that I had. I would choose -- my daughter graduates one time and one time only. She is getting ready to leave the nest. And I will do anything for them. But I will do everything that I can to make sure that I am at Bellerive in July next year.

Q. What can you say about Tom, it is disappointing to finish second two years and in a row and you know how bad he wants it?

BRUCE LIETZKE: He has the respect and admiration of every player. The admiration we all have of him is second to none. I put somebody like Greg Norman in his class, too. Their integrity is impeccable. There is nothing that you could ever say. It sounds funny coming from me, I would tell him that if he played more golf he would win more times but I don't have the nerve to tell him that coming from somebody like me. He is as happy as I have ever seen him and he is spending a lot of quality family time and I would be the last guy in the world to tell him that he needs to come back out and play more golf. I really believe that's all -- I will tell you what he has turned that putting thing around and his putting looks fabulous to me. I think he is third in putting on the Champion's Tour. I think he looks a little rusty, some of tournaments take that I have seen him play and we played together and that would go away with playing more tournament golf. But I would never tell him to do that because he is doing exactly what I was doing 15 years ago. He has a young family, a new family, they are still in middle school and high school, and I think he is doing the right thing for him. He would be winning more tournaments if he was playing more golf. But I'm going to let him make those decisions. Those are decisions that I have had to face. I have never second-guessed mine and I would never second-guess his. That's all I see, more tournament play and he becomes the best player on the Champion's Tour, I believe that would easily happen.

Q. You said yesterday that luck has to play an element?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes. I had a tremendous amount of luck yesterday. I was pretty fortunate today in the many, many, many fairways that I missed. I had swings at the golf ball most of the time. That 16th shot coming from out of a pretty hairy lie, trying to put it to the right of the pin in a safety place to try to make a par and I pulled it slightly, and I'm sure it bounced through the rough and ended up two feet from the hole. That's crazy. That's goofy stuff. I said it yesterday, I really believe that's how you win major championships. There has never been a major championship winner that has ever had luck going bad for him.

I did have a couple of funny breaks today. That tee shot on 17 was headed, I thought towards the middle of the fairway, it took a big kick to the right to lay down that slope, that was a little bit unlucky there.

Overall I was tremendously lucky and yesterday especially.

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