U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 1994

Chi Chi Rodriguez

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: I played a little bit better than all of them today. I played 36 holes here and I haven't missed one fairway. I am playing the best golf of my life. J.C. Snead gave me a golf lesson last Saturday and my game is back. So it is all a matter of putting. I love this kind of golf course because this is a traditional golf course and there is a lot of tradition behind Pinehurst. It is a very fair course and it is really set up very nicely for the seniors. In about a year and a half I am going to be a super senior, so I am almost 59 and I love it. I love this golf course.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: The rough is really not like the U.S. Open rough. I saw Arnold went in the rough in one hole at the U.S. Open there and I heard his caddy lost his bag looking for the ball. That was high rough, but they have it very fair for us.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: It doesn't make any difference where we play anymore. The best players win. Our two premier players on the senior tour right now are David Stockton and Lee Trevino, so they are going to be the guys to beat. Of course Raymond Floyd is the other one, and you can't count the Bear out. So those four guys will be the four guys to beat. Of course Jim Dent is playing good too, so he is very strong so you got to watch him.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: I am playing good enough to win. Last two weeks, no, but this week I am ready.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: If I tell it, you are going to write it; then the other pros are going to know it. He told me that my hips were too open, so he had me square my hips up and that made my backswing a little bit longer. And I am driving the ball with Jack and Larry Gilbert today.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: In my dreams, yeah. The little mouse can never pass the big Bear.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: I think rain normally makes golf courses play easier and, you know, it is a shame that we don't have records for dry greens and wet greens like they do in horse tracks because -- well, you can see what happened at the U.S. Open, the regular U.S. Open. When it rained, the guys burned up the golf course. When it was dry, they couldn't do it. So I think it will make it easier.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: I think it is a wonderful idea because a lot of guys, they play slow because that is their pace, but there are other guys, when the wind is gusty and there is a gust that lasts 30, 40 seconds, they will stop, take their glove up, tie up their shoe; your clothes go out of style waiting for them to hit. You have got to have good breaks and bad breaks in golf. You can't have all good breaks. I think it was a good idea. I was watching The Masters. I can't believe some of the time that some of those guys took to hit a golf shot; took them 60 minutes to -- I mean, two hours to watch 60 minutes.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: Oh, I thought the greens used to be smaller here. I don't -- I don't remember them being this big. But I don't think I have played well here, no. If I didn't play well, I don't remember because I only remember the times that I play well.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: Oh, that is what it is? Yeah.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: It all depends, if you don't have anything on front, you better off -- because most of the slopes, what happens here is the Bermuda grass grows to where the water goes, so if you are going into the grain and you use a wedge, chances are you can chip at the ball. You are better off putting most of those. If there is not a trap in front of you, you are better off putting it.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I think it is good because in the other tour nobody dominates. I don't even remember the name of the kid that won the U.S. Open, so I remember Greg Norman's name and Fuzzy Zoeller, John Daly, I guess it is Els.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: Else. But on this tour everybody is an established player, so it is good when somebody dominates. And I will be there soon, don't worry about it.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: Well, no, think I you can get lucky for 36 holes. It is like -- to me, a great player is somebody that wins three times or more because you can get lucky and win once and get lucky and wins twice, but you can't get lucky and win three times. Now, as far as regular tournament, a long shot can win a regular tournament but this is the U.S. Open. This has got high rough. You have to hit the ball straight. You have to think well. You have to be patient. You have to hit a lot of greens. So there is no fluke going to win this one.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: No. I think that Jack is such a great man and great father and a great husband, you know, and a great friend and a man of golf, I think when he won, I don't think that I lost. I think that golf won. So I would have loved to win but I was just as happy for him winning as I would have been for myself, so. . . And only fools live in the past.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: It is a practice round, so I never played with Jack in a practice round when he really played well. So I think he will be ready tomorrow.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: This year I will probably do about 80 corporate outings. See, when a man goes home, his wife gets twice as much husband and half as much money; it doesn't work. A man belongs working, so golf is what I do for my livelihood, but it is fun and Sam Snead told me one time when I was a young man he says if you never want to burn out just play all the time; play, play, play because as you get older, to be a golfer is like a horse. If you have a young horse, you race him and you rest him. When he gets old you got to race him all the time because if you put him to his hay, he don't want to run no more. And if you have a horse, you shouldn't -- have to make sure you cut his tail off because if he has no tail, when the flies bite him, he has got to come up and shake, then he can't eat. But if he got a tail, he knocks those flies off and keep eating, so he breaks you.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: You know the problem with the horses is that they eat like horses and when I was a kid I was a farmer and I used to watch the horses and the grass grow, you know, vegetables and everything else, a golf course if you put your money in a golf course, you spend money in chemicals, water, fertilizer to make the grass grow good so you can cut it. It don't make sense. And a horse is the same way. A horse, when he has a tail, he is always eating. When he has a tail, the flies bite him; he knock the flies off with his tail; he keep eating. But if he don't have a tail, he has got to come up and shake. So he can't eat then. So you save some money.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: That is right.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: No. This is perfect. And I think I am very proud to be a part of this tournament, guys, because I think the United States Golf Association like our PGA Tour and you people with the communication system are the people that have made the game of golf what it is, which is the greatest sport in the world. It's an honorable sport where we don't have any scandals and the kids can look up to any golf pro and make him his role model and knowing that he has never betrayed him. I have never heard of any golf pro being part of a scandal. So I am very proud to be a part of the PGA Tour, proud that the United States Golf Association has invited me to play here, and proud that all of you people when my game has gone down, you have never left me. My game has left me, but you people have never left me and I really appreciate that and may God bless you and I hope that Sunday I can give you a very good story. God bless you.