U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 1997

Kermit Zarley

KERMIT ZARLEY: I'd like to stay on that number, yes.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Yes. Be glad to. Parred the first hole. I missed about a 4-foot birdie putt there. Parred the second. The 3rd hole, I bogeyed. I hit a 7-iron short of the green, just barely short of the green in the little rough there and didn't play a very good shot. Missed about a 5-foot putt coming uphill. Parred the next hole. The 5th hole, I bogeyed again. I went over the top on a 3-wood to the left and had to chip out and made a bogey. Let's see, parred 6 and 7. 6, I had a reasonable birdie putt there, didn't make it from about 12, 15 feet. No. 7, kind of the same, just a little farther putt. No. 8, the hole was playing long today, 235 yard par 3, a little into the wind and I hit a ball almost hit the pin, and just went by and went into the back in the fringe there, and made a par. 9th hole, I hit it in about, oh, must have been about 6 or 7 feet and missed that birdie. Then on the 10th hole, I 2-putted for par. The 11th hole, I came up short, same kind of shot as back on the third hole, same club, 7-iron, I was a little to the left there in front of the green and almost pitched in - both Gil Morgan and I, same place - to give me par. Then I started my birdie run on the next hole, on No. 12, and made about a 30-foot putt there, and I've been struggling with my putting in this tournament and just churned it on right there, four birdies in a row. The next hole was No. 13 -- let's see, what kind of a birdie did I make on the 13th hole? -- still kind of having a hard time remembering some of these holes out here. Oh, that was about a 15-footer, I think. The next hole, same thing, about a 15-foot putt. And then, the 15th hole, right behind the hole about 10, 12 feet and ran it up the hill a firm putt going uphill, hit back to the cup, right in. The next hole, I drove perfect, and had a kind of a severe side-hill lie for a drive right in the middle of the fairway, and my game plan there was to start the ball the middle of the green, the pin was in the left, and right at the last moment I kind of changed my mind and because of that, I lifted the club out of my plane, went over the top and hit a bad shot to the left in the bunker where I had no shot and knocked it out about 25 feet past the hole and almost made the putt. 17th hole, came right back and made about a 25-footer for a birdie. The 18th hole, I thought I hit a good drive, but I didn't notice there was a very slight breeze into our face blowing left-to-right, and that may have made the difference of my ball going in the bunker or just missing and being a super drive. Had kind of a bad lie in the bunker. These bunkers -- I don't know what it is, but the way they're raked, it looks like they're raked right after the course has been watered, and therefore the bunkers of course would get water from the sprinklers, and so the sand is kind of rough. But when you play out there during the day and you hit a shot out of the bunker and then you go and rake the bunker, it's perfectly smooth. So anyway, not a very good lie. I knocked it up, pretty good shot, 15 yards short of the green. Played an excellent pitch shot that was 10 feet short and made a very feeble putt. So bogeyed the hole and shot 69.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Wind conditions at the time we played today, the wind was not blowing very much. It was pretty light. When we played yesterday, which was in the afternoon, it was blowing a little more.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Yeah.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Yes, I did. There's no reason for that. I just made some putts on the back 9. Didn't make any putts on the front 9?

KERMIT ZARLEY: Well, I have been struggling with my putting here, but, you know, golf is a mind game. You make a putt or two and pretty soon you can, you know, start thinking maybe you can hole all of them. So I think that, you know, once you make a putt or two, that helps your confidence. And confidence is such a key thing in all of golf. And I just -- I felt a little more confident putting the ball. My stroke apparently smoothed out a little bit. I did go out and practice yesterday evening after I played, and was working on my putting there for about 40 minutes trying to smooth out my stroke, and try to get the speed. That's what's been killing me. And my friend back there, Jim Hiskey, was helping me on that. And incidentally, I would like to say, my son, Michael, who caddies for me most of the time on the Tour really helped me a lot both days, especially today. He was reading the greens very well. And he was trying to calm me down out there, because I was getting angry inside at myself the way I was going on that front 9, and I think he calmed me down.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Yes. That was the first really bad shot I hit in the tournament yesterday on the 16th hole. I mean, you know, I don't mean that I hit all my shots perfect up until then, but I never hit a real bad shot, and I hit a horrible shot off the tee. Now, it happened because I got up there and right before I walked up to hit the ball, I thought to myself: I'm going to kill this thing. You know, swing real hard and just knock the tar out of it. And I was thinking of a high hook and going over the edge of those trees. Well, that was stupid, and I got real fast, you see, on my back swing, on the transition, and I just hit a big old coat hanger. I mean, it could have been worse off than it was. At least I could chip forward, and I made a bogey. Today, I hit an absolute perfect drive. In fact, I got up to the shot on the tee shot, and I said to my son -- he's been -- last week he -- I got up on a shot and he said, "Now nothing fancy here." And I said to him, "What do you mean? I don't have anything fancy in my catalog." And so, because of that comment last week, I walked up to the tee shot just before I went to hit it, I said to him, "Okay, nothing fancy here." So that was a little inside joke, you see.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Well, it can happen. It was a dumb thing to do. But, hey, even golf pros make mistakes like amateurs.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Well, my son thinks of me that way. I think if you look at -- let's just say this tournament, if you look at my statistics in the U.S. Senior Open Tournament, and what is this, my sixth year to play in this tournament, you'll find that greens in regulation, that I've probably averaged at least in the Top-10 in six years. I don't know how I've finished on the average in the tournament. I did have a chance to win the tournament at Cherry Hills. I lipped two putts out on the 70th and 71st hole, and lost by two strokes to Nicklaus. So, I don't know. The U.S. Open on the regular Tour, now this tournament on the Senior Tour, have always been my favorite golf tournaments I've ever played in, and I look forward to playing in the tournament and feel like I can do well. So that's just the way I felt.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Well, that's what you want to do. I don't know if I'm very good at it or not. I needed my son to calm me down out there today. But patience certainly is an important factor in playing good golf.

KERMIT ZARLEY: He's 26 years old. He's been caddying for me since he's 13. So, we've got a -- some history here to our team.

KERMIT ZARLEY: That's a good question. I don't know if I've learned anything. I just think that I have to think about having a smooth stroke on the greens and think of rolling the ball the right speed, and try to not get carried away with trying to make 30-footers, but just try to lag the ball close to the hole, and if it goes in, fine. Of course, you want to, on some of those severe sloping greens, you want to try to keep the ball below the hole. On my shots, I'm holding the club rather firmly in my hands, and trying to keep my swing so that it doesn't get too fast. Those are my swing thoughts.

KERMIT ZARLEY: I think in my old age here, sometimes I lose my patience. Well, I started out on the first hole, and I hit a great shot in there after hitting a bad drive and actually had to play a good second shot back to the fairway and had 113-yard shot to the pin and just stuck it right in there about 4 feet. An easy putt. My son said it's left lip, and I got up over the ball and changed my mind and wouldn't listen to him. And, you know, I think to myself when I do that, hey, what are you paying him for if you won't listen to him? And, he was right. It was, you know, left lip, and I didn't play enough break and missed it on the right. And I could have kicked myself for doing that. Because he's been reading the greens good. I haven't been reading them as good as him. And I should just listen to him. That's what I'm telling myself. So he's saying, don't get so mad and get down on yourself. Just forget it, and let's play the next hole.

KERMIT ZARLEY: Okay. Thanks.