FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 1998

Gil Morgan

GIL MORGAN: Yes. Probably heard me squeaking as I was coming in I had so much rust this afternoon. I played -- let's see, I played Atlanta, I played Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Nashville. Then took the three weeks off. Prior to that I was off three weeks, so I am not in the best of shape as far as my play is concerned at this point in time. I feel like I am a little rusty. But, coming back into the tournament here at FORD SENIOR PLAYERS, obviously a nice golf course. I played a little bit yesterday. Had a chance to play nine holes yesterday evening. Looks like it is in pretty good shape. Looks like it is ready for the tournament. Obviously, this is a big tournament for us. Our third major championship, the golf course is a very challenging golf course. There is a lot of trouble out there in places. It looks pretty docile at times, but there is a lot of places where you can get into some traps. But, I am obviously excited about being back. Hopefully, I am rested little bit. I was telling my wife, I said: I am going to have to get out on Tour to get back so I can get some sleep here lately, but it has been kind of exciting. Looks like obviously all the players are going to show up for this. So there is going to be a lot of competition. Everybody is probably geared up to play, and to do well. Looks like the weather is going to be good. I think the rain has slowed the golf course down from last year. Last year, I remember it being -- playing very fast and a lot of times you couldn't play as -- I couldn't at least play as long a club off the tee as I'd like. So this year it ought to be more receptive to having to play longer. It we will play longer off the tee. At the same time, it will make the shots into the green a lot more treacherous, obviously, because of longer irons and stuff. I think it ought to be a good test.

GIL MORGAN: I can't really recall. I know I had at least two top-tens in that timeframe. I wasn't quite at the top of my game for those events. But at the same time, I was in contention in Atlanta. Had a chance to be in contention early on at Nashville. Aoki kind of ran away with it, shooting all the low numbers that he did. And I had a bad second day which put me out of contention there. But I think my game was all right at that point in time, not nearly as hot as I was early on at the start of the year. I hope I can get a little bit of that back coming down here in the last half of the year.

GIL MORGAN: They weren't going to do anything different?

GIL MORGAN: I think it probably would affect the SENIOR TOUR players a little bit more than the regular Tour players because there is probably a variety of equipment, there is this variable, I think we play with more. I think we are into more technology stuff. Guys trying to maintain their games, trying to hang on to distance and stuff. They are probably experimenting with different types of things more so than the regular Tour player at this point in time, I would think. At least when I was on the regular Tour I didn't change very much and I am sure some of the players do out there from time to time. But, equipment is, I think it is a significant factor. I don't know how much it affects the game overall. We have got guys who are losing distance. And, like I said, trying to maintain that, so they are going to the end of the spectrum to try to regain some of that. I think the ball technology and the club technology has allowed to us hit the ball a little straighter and little bit further, maybe. But, I don't know how significant it is in the broader sense of the word. I know just for me just coming -- just changing balls was significant for me when I first came to the SENIOR TOUR. I was averaging on the regular Tour - and I don't know whether the course types might have an effect on this too - I don't know if we play courses that are a little faster than the regular Tour or not. But, I mean it is really hard to make that determination for me. But I went from averaging 265 to averaging about 280, just mostly with the ball change. I didn't make -- the first half of the year I played with exact same driver that I came from the regular Tour with, then I made a swap to a little longer club and bigger head. And, that may have enhanced that a little bit more. But I am definitely driving it further than I have ever driven it probably and -- but I really think, for me, that was ball technology more than club technology at that point in time but, I don't know whether I answered your question.

GIL MORGAN: If not, I will try again another 20 minutes here.

GIL MORGAN: No, not really. Summertime I have got three kids that are still in school, so they are out for the summer and they are doing summer activities and stuff and I just wanted to be around and be a part of that a little bit. It will be gone -- I have got one that is going to be a Senior in high school and one that will be a junior and one that will be in 8th grade. So they are still young for an old guy out on the SENIOR TOUR here. So I just try to get away. I have done that -- I have been of six weeks of the last nine, really at the start of the summer and then this last little stretch of three weeks. They have played tennis. We have gone to some tennis tournaments. They are in dance performances. I just wanted to be around to see some of that. That is the basic reason.

GIL MORGAN: I mean, my gut feeling is they want to go and play some of those old golf courses. And those old golf courses are not -- they are shorter than what most of the courses are today. I think that there that is their biggest push today to be able to play maybe a Merion or something like that, some of those old golf courses. And I don't know how you can control technology like that at this point in time. I guess they can do that. Obviously they have got the ability to do that. But, once they have qualified these clubs and stuff, very difficult I bet to go back without -- you know, when you start talking about the whole marketplace like they were this time to me, it is not like the Ping litigation where, you know, against one company you have got class-action-type situations available to them and all the money available to them from the manufacturers. I don't think they would tolerate that first of all, without some litigation and then I think it has really helped the average player. I think the average player is having more fun playing today where he can drive it a little bit further and hit it a little bit further. I think that -- we all strive for distance on the Tour. Even at our level we are always trying to find something to hit another five yards further, where we have a shorter shot to the green. I think the technology, hitting it further and straighter. Enjoying the game more. Having more people available. I guess they can do something with the ball for everybody, but I don't think too much. On the Tour they can throttle back the ball a little bit and that would control obviously the distance the ball went. But, I don't know -- they may regulate length a little bit. But they are going to let you go up to probably 46 inches or so with the driver, 47, I don't know. Long putter, I'd like -- I don't like the regulation really with people being able to show you the line and like caddies telling you where you are lined up. I think that is more of a problem for us than equipment at this point in time. I think it ought to be you that has to do the work; not can I hit and you tell me where to line it up and then I can hit it. I don't like that concept as much as I do -- I mean, I am against that more than I am equipment at this point in time.

GIL MORGAN: They do that with golf more than anything else. They are always -- I was at a course with Pete Dye, my own course there at Oak Tree with Pete Dye. He was going to move every tee back 20, 30 yards. And at some point, we don't raise the basketball goal, or raise the net in tennis, you know, they don't do all those things with other sports. I don't know why they continually doing that with golf. I think there is plenty of hazards out there. I think the golf courses are so much better than they used to be, the condition of the golf course has made a big impact as far as the quality of grass. We have got -- our surfaces are so much truer today. You go back, look at the old tapes of the Masters they would have to hit that ball, BAM, even at Augusta where they talk about the greens being so quick, you see the tapes from the early 60's, the grass was so long even go back even further than that, the strokes were more wristy because the grass was so high they had to hit the ball to get it to roll. Today the courses are so good and the grasses are so good. Surfaces are so good and the players we have more good players than we have ever have. All those factors contribute to the lower scores. I think that is going to be a progression.