U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 2002

Don Pooley

MARTY PARKES: It's a pleasure to welcome Don Pooley to the media room. Don had a record 63 today in the third round of the 2002 U.S. senior Open. Don, I'd ask you, this is one round you wouldn't mind going through.

DON POOLEY: I'm looking forward to it.

Got to have to a real good start. I hit a good 3-wood off 1, and a pitching wedge about a foot from the hole, for a tap in birdie.

Then, I hit a good drive on 2, and had a full sand wedge, and it came up a little short and didn't get it up-and-down, that was my only bogey of the day.

But I came back and hit it --.

Q. How long was the miss?

DON POOLEY: On the putt? About 12, 15 foot par-putt there.

And then, hit the edge of the green on 3, in two, and made a good up-and-down, had a tough second putt about 8 feet and made that.

Hit a 4-iron into four about 12, 15 teeth and made that for birdie.

2-putted 5 for par.

Had a good 2-putt on 6. I just barely hit the front of the green, the pin was back left and had to make about a 8 foot second putt on 6 for par.

7, I hit a good drive and went for the green and hit the front of the edge of the green in 2 and 2-putted for birdie.

8, I hit a 5-iron about ten feet and made that for birdie.

9, I hit a 7-iron, I got a good bounce off the side of the hill, kicked across the pin about ten feet away and made that for birdie.

10, I hit a good 3-wood down the fairway and a gap wedge about five feet and made that for birdie.

I had four birdies in a row, that was a good stretch.

11, I hit a good 3-wood off the tee. The ball ended up in a divot, had a tough shot to that uphill lie, and hit a good iron out there to get it on the green to about 20 feet and 2-putt for par on there.

2-putt for par on 12.

13, I had all kinds of trouble. I drove it in the trees left, tried to pitch back in the fairway and went too far, in the rough on the other side. Hit a 6-iron into the bunker left short of the green, and a bunker shot about four inches from the cup. Had a tap in par. That was a good save.

Drove it in the rough on 14 on the left and hit a terrific shot out of there with a pitching wedge that went right over the hole about three feet past and I missed that putt. There was a lot of grain on that green and the 3-footer broke all the way across the hole. I tried to play it left center, and it broke all the way out.

But I came back and had a good bounce again on 15. I hit a 5-wood in there that bounced to the right on the green and 2-putted there for par.

16, a good 3-wood down the middle of the fairway, gap wedge to about three feet and made that for birdie.

17, I hit a good drive and hit a 5-iron that landed just short of the hole and went about 20, 25 feet past and that one went right in the heart, fortunately, because it was picking up speed, I think, coming down the hill for birdie.

18, I drove it in the bunker, had a downhill lie, kind of a tough shot and didn't catch the ball cleanly and came up way short, about 30 yards shorted, I guess and had a real tough shot. Hit a good drop shot off the fairway to about 15 feet and really an unbelievable putt. That putt broke two or three feet. And that went in the heart.

A lot of good things happened today to shoot 63. I had a lot of good bounces. I hit a lot of good shots when I needed to, and I made a ton of putts. I really putted well.

Q. The shot at 17, did that hit the cup? It looked like it took a screwy bounce?

DON POOLEY: The second shot?

Q. Yes.

DON POOLEY: It hit about a foot short of the pin and scooted on by a little bit.

Q. You said you had some lucky bounces, could you designate which ones you thought were lucky today, because obviously shooting 63 you need those?

DON POOLEY: The 7-iron in on No. 9. I hit a good drive in the fairway, had a 7-iron, you kind of want to play it the left side because the green slopes that way. I pulled it a little bit. It caught the slope left of the green, and kicked all the way right of the pin, about ten feet right of the pin. It was a very good bounce. It was a good shot, but it could have been 30 feet left of the pin, instead of 10 feet right of the pin. I had a good bounce there. That was fortunate.

Another fortunate bounce was on 15, the par 3, 230 yard hole, and I hit a 5-wood left and it caught the side hill there and kicked all the way on the green there, too.

11 off of the tee. I hit it down the right side, I'm not sure I hit it up on the rough or not, it was on the edge, and that kicked down into the fairway.

I had a lot of good things happen that way.

Q. Can you talk about 63? No. 1, did you know what the record was playing 18, anybody said anything to you?

DON POOLEY: No, nobody said anything to me. I had no idea what the U.S. senior Open record was. I knew 63 was the U.S. Senior Open record. I remember watching Johnny Miller hit it, and I know Nicklaus and Weiskopf had it at Baltusrol in the same round. I did not know what the Senior Open record was, no. I'd rather not know that stuff when I'm out there, so that's okay.

Q. You mentioned outside you've been playing better lately. Any sense, did you foresee a 63 coming up in the Senior Open, coming up this week?

DON POOLEY: You know, not -- no, not a 63. You don't go out and say, "I'm going to shoot a 63 today," kind of thing. Those rounds just kind of happen. Good things happen, you putt really well, and the score -- you score very well some days. But my game has been coming around. All parts of the game have been working at times. I just haven't been able to put it all together the same day. My putting, although it hasn't been that great early in the year, it's really starting to come around. I putted just terrifically today. The best putting round I've had all year. I putted well the first two days, although I didn't make as many putts as I did today. But I was hitting the line. And that's a good sign, when you start hitting your line with the putts.

Q. How close in your career have you come to a Major championship, and would winning this be as meaningful, more meaningful than winning a Major on the regular Tour?

DON POOLEY: Oh, no, it wouldn't be as meaningful as winning a Major on the regular Tour. But it would be very, very meaningful for me to win this Major championship out here on the Senior Tour. How close have I come to winning a Major? I had a shot at the Masters in 1988. I was one shot back with six holes to go there, ended up finishing 5th. I finished 5th two shots out at the PGA in '87, had a chance -- had birdie putts on the last two holes that didn't go in. I came close there. A couple of times in the British Open I was in pretty good shape, top 10 or so. I think I was 5th or 6th with five holes to go on one of them. But I haven't had opportunities like this. I've never been leading after three rounds of a Major championship. So, this is new territory for me.

Q. Can you talk about the stretch from 7 through 10 with the birdies and alternative that point are you saying -- are you having a conversation with your caddy about how it's going or is he avoiding talking to you to not mess things up?

DON POOLEY: We don't talk about how things are going out there. It's really not what you want to think about. You want to think about the shot at hand and staying in the present, don't start thinking too far in advance. If you think in advance you're going to mess up on the shot that you've got. Obviously, when you're playing well and you see your name up on the leaderboard your tendency is to look ahead a little bit. So, I really have to fight that tendency. But the streak just happened. I didn't start thinking, "Man, I can birdie every hole now." It's play the hole, made another birdie. And all of a sudden there were four in a row. It kind of snuck up on me, there.

Q. Certainly the shorthand notation of your career as a great putter much of the time, today obviously is one of those days. Can you talk about how good a putter you've been over the years and how it felt today?

DON POOLEY: Well, I led the Tour in putting statistically twice, once in '88 and once in '97. I think they kept the decade of the '80s, I think I was 4th or 5th in the statistical category in the '80s. I've been a good putter my whole career. I was a good putter as a kid. I think it's a gift as much as anything. And I'm happy it's back, thanks.

Q. Was there a time when you started to worry about it toward the end of your regular Tour? Everybody talks about the yips and all that stuff. Did you ever get affected by that?

DON POOLEY: No, never the yips. I've had a stretch where I didn't putt as well as I remembered putting, but I'd have good rounds and good tournaments putting. But I didn't feel like I had week after week after week of good putting rounds like I used to. And certainly the beginning of this year on the Senior Tour my putting hasn't been up to the standard I was looking for until recently. And now I'm starting to putt very well again.

Q. You said outside that you shot a 61 at Phoenix. Could you tell us what year that was, and then could you also tell us your approach or what it's like after coming back from a low round to turn around and have to play the next day, especially in this kind of scenario?

DON POOLEY: I shot 61 in-- I think it was 1986 in Phoenix. And I love coming back after a low round, because you're in a birdie frame of mind, and birdies seem easier to make. I shot a 66 the next day. And then follow it with a 69 after that. So, good scores, I think, come in bunches, and I'm hoping for another good one tomorrow. I know I'll need one with Kite and Watson and Walter Hall right behind me.

Q. Can you talk about handling the situation tomorrow and will it be different than being in contention back in the days when you were on the regular Tour?

DON POOLEY: I don't think it is any different. I'm going to be nervous, like you always are when you're in the lead or fighting for the championship. I don't expect that to be any different tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having the nerves to deal with it. That's the whole point of getting in contention. And that's the fun part of it, really.

Q. Your qualifying date to get in this tournament, where was that and it sounded like it went down to the wire?

DON POOLEY: It was in Nashville, it did go down to the wire, on the Tuesday of the BellSouth Tournament down there. There were 116 players for five spots. And I birdied the last hole in regulation to make the playoff and I birdied the first playoff hole to get in the tournament. I just barely qualified.

Q. How long were those putts?

DON POOLEY: The one on 18 in regulation was about a two and a half, three footer. And then the one in the playoff was about a 15-footer.

Q. How many in the playoff?

DON POOLEY: There were three for two spots.

Q. Can you talk about the last time you were in this position?

DON POOLEY: Let's see, leading a tournament on Tour -- anybody know? Refresh my memory. It's been a while.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DON POOLEY: I won that one, but I wasn't in the lead on that one. The two tournaments I won, the B.C. Open I was tied for the lead. And Memorial I was four shots back of one player. I was in second with four shots back of Scott Hoch at that time. I have led tournaments after three rounds and not won, and I don't remember the last time that happened, sorry. It's been a while though.

Q. Looking back in retrospect was there anything that you think maybe kept you from winning more, and how satisfied were you with your PGA TOUR career?

DON POOLEY: Well, frankly I was very satisfied with my career because I had no amateur career, I had nothing to think that I could even make it on the Tour, let alone have a successful career and win -- I never won a college tournament. I never won a junior tournament, I never even won an amateur tournament. My game kind of slowly kept getting better. All the successes out here have been very appreciated and wonderful for me. I'm very pleased with it.

Q. How serious was the neck injury that you had, and was there ever a point where you were told you couldn't play or anything like that?

DON POOLEY: Well, I had two back surgeries, it was pretty serious. I had one in my neck, the first time in '92 had a C6-7 fusion, blown disk. And then, in '93 I had lumbar, lower back, L4-5, I had that disk taken out. And my back wasn't getting any better after that surgery, and it looked like I was going to go into surgery three and they said then I wouldn't play golf again. So, I started looking around for more conservative ways to go about this problem and I found a guy in Columbus, Georgia, a guy named Tom Boers, he's a back specialist, physical therapist there. And I went to him and he saved me from going into surgery once again and really turned my back around to where it's, what, almost ten years later, I'm doing very well. And Tom, this Tom Boers is now one of the favorite people out on the Tour. I got Freddie Couples started on this, and that just snowballed from there. Now he's got 20 people he works with on backs out there.

Q. How do you spell his name?

DON POOLEY: B-o-e-r-s.

Q. Because you said you never won any junior or college tournaments or even any amateur tournaments, what was it that allowed you to tell yourself, I can play on Tour, I can play with the best players out here?

DON POOLEY: It took a long time. I played mini Tours. I won some mini Tour events, finally beating these college All-Americans that I couldn't beat earlier. And I just started seeing my game getting better and better. And when I got out on Tour, it took a long time before I was successful. I lost my card the first year, kind of barely kept it the next two years, almost loss it the fourth year, and then the fifth year I finally had a break out year. And then I had a lot of good years after that one. But it didn't happen overnight. The success came over a long period of time.

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