ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 5, 1997

Gil Morgan

GIL MORGAN: Uh-huh -- how do you write that down, uh-huh? I think, you know, that would be obviously very exciting for me to be able to do that. I don't know how realistic it is at times. It is not something that I am going to be upset one way or the other, whether it happens or not. I felt like I have had -- overall I have had a pretty good year. That would be kind of the pinnacle of the situation to be able to do that. But, at the same time, you have got to be somewhat realistic and say, well, obviously depends on how well you play here and what happens this week. But, it is a great opportunity for me. And, I am going to try to take advantage of it if I can.

GIL MORGAN: Well, you know, obviously it was -- for me, it was a good year. It has been a great year. Hale has had a, probably, spectacular year. I don't know whether you can eclipse that aspect -- I don't know whether he will even do that in the future from that standpoint. I think we all -- that is -- right now that is, at least, a landmark that we all would be shooting for at this point in time to be able to play as well as he has played this year. He has just played spectacular.

GIL MORGAN: No, this is a pleasant surprise, tell you the truth. To have the opportunity -- we keep talking about the opportunity to be able to play for this type of dollars and be able to compete at this level at this time in our careers is just -- we never really thought this was possible early on in the '70s and even at the start of the '80s, we didn't know that it would escalate to this situation at this point in time. It has been phenomenal for us. We all appreciate the opportunity to be able to play and have something to do as old as we get.

GIL MORGAN: I think so. There has been several times where I have had a chance to get close to where he was, but what his scheduling was and how much I played and how much he played seemed like every time he came back, he won for a while. I never really -- couldn't get as close as I'd like to to feel like in the running here. Couple of times we got fairly close, but he just kept pulling out there. But, he has had a great year, and I applaud him for the way he has played this year. It has just been spectacular.

GIL MORGAN: I don't know. I think the players say that a lot. We all would like to retire at 35 or 40, some made enough money to do that and get out. Either we are so competitive that keeps driving us, I don't know, I am sure there will be a few players that didn't play -- like Jack hadn't played as much as, you know, I thought maybe he was going to play out here. But, he doesn't have much to prove. But, at the same time, I think a lot of those guys -- like Arnie loves to play. He continues to play no matter what kind of scores he shoots. He is obviously not playing as well as he'd like to play. But, we are all going to go through that transition from that standpoint. But I think there will be enough people coming forward that it won't be a problem.

GIL MORGAN: Sure, especially if the guys from -- a lot of times, a lot of players that haven't played as well after 40 or after 45 as they would have like to have played and then would to be off maybe for two, three, four, five years - I don't know what that timeframe would be - and then to look out here at the Senior TOUR, at that point in time, say, that is five years down the road somewhere, and be able to come back and compete and play against a lot of the players that they played against normally, I think that would be a driving force for the players to come play again and say, we would like to compete again and the dollars are there. You never know what is going to happen -- Don January is trying to retire a couple of times and came back, so you never know exactly what your needs are or how competitive you feel at the time. I am sure a lot of us would like to quit at times. But we just never do for one reason or another.

GIL MORGAN: Here?

GIL MORGAN: I was talking about it the other day. I played here in the qualifying schools; only time I have ever played at this golf course in 1973. And, they have made some changes since that time. I can only remember really one hole out of all the holes that I played that looked totally familiar to me out there. But, it has been 25 years, so, I don't know exactly what -- it is a big golf course, pretty straightforward golf course. So I think that driving is going to be even more critical than it has been in some of the other course that we have played like. Looks like you have to drive it quite a bit here compared to, say, like last week, you can go around there and not drive it as much.

GIL MORGAN: I don't know whether it is out of play, but it will probably be longer than what we have played in the last few weeks - a lot of the holes, a lot of the par 3s. Seemed like I hit 4-iron a lot yesterday at the par 3s, 3- and 4-irons and stuff, so the par 4s, you know, 6-, 7-iron that, type of thing, that is going to make it a little longer for some of the players. What is the total yardage we play, Phil.

GIL MORGAN: That is good. They had different tees, I am sure conditions will make a big difference and how soft the golf course -- if it happens to rain, softens the golf course up, that will make it play a little bit longer.

GIL MORGAN: It was still fairly soft out there yesterday, I thought. So, I anticipate it to stay somewhat, especially if it rains either tomorrow or the next day.

GIL MORGAN: Par 5. That is the only hole I can remember.

GIL MORGAN: Yeah, the best way is to keep it out of the water. (laughter). I hit it in the water there in one the round in qualifying school there; I made a big number there. So, I hit -- yesterday I hit 3-wood off the tee. Then I hit three or four wood to lay-it-up and then, you know, a short iron, looks like obviously a 3-shot hole. Just kind of depends on how aggressive you want to be, how short you want your third shot if you hit the others halfway decent. If you hit a bad drive, then you are trying to survive the hole, maybe in some respects. If you drive it well, then you are trying to put it in position where you have got a shorter iron.

GIL MORGAN: Well, I think both of those factors are evidence there. Obviously, with the purse, with the situation with the purse, it is a big bonus from a dollar standpoint. And then at the same time, it could be very instrumental like it was last year in deciding who is the leading money winner. This year, it is not going to be a factor in that regard. But, I guess from that standpoint, it is more of a bonus this year than anything else. Maybe moving up, obviously there is some things involved with being higher on the money list, so a lot of players will have the opportunity to move forward a little bit.

GIL MORGAN: It has been a long year for me from the standpoint of playing golf. I play a lot of, I guess, not a lot of weeks, but seems like all the weeks are pretty intense from the standpoint of time, playing Pro Ams and shootouts and stuff like that. Seemed like I have spent a lot of time at the site when I have done it. With no cut we play Tuesday or Wednesday through Sunday every week, so it is pretty fast and furious when you get here.

GIL MORGAN: The Majors?

GIL MORGAN: I think a little bit with the four-day format, that is a little different, one thing. And, usually the sites are pretty exciting. The Tradition was a very interesting golf course from the standpoint of the trouble that surrounded it and then the PGA, I didn't play very well in the Majors other than in The Tradition, I didn't play as nearly well as I would like. I thought the Open golf course was not as suited to my game as I'd like to see. Next year maybe the situation will be different. PGA Championship I didn't putt very well down there. I didn't know whether that was part of it or not. Seemed like FORD SENIOR PLAYERS Championship seemed a little short driving it off the tee for me. I couldn't -- it was another golf course where I didn't -- seemed like I couldn't drive it as well as I'd like; as often as I'd like. Maybe that is good, keeps me out of trouble.

GIL MORGAN: You know, I don't think those two relate as much - two different entities. But, at the same time, they are major championships and we look at them as accomplishments from that standpoint. To be able to play well in those tournaments or win those tournaments, you know, when you look back at statistics, they haven't been out there very long. So, compared to the other major championships on the regular Tour, some of the players, I think, don't feel like they are as important as the Majors on the other Tour. I heard Gary Player talking the other night about it, tried to differentiate, specifically there are only four major championships that he said on the Golf Channel.

GIL MORGAN: I don't know.

GIL MORGAN: He does? Well, I really don't understand why that didn't happen with the way the major championships were constructed on the regular Tour, that why that really didn't happen. I guess, I don't know, when it got started, of course I wasn't involved in it, but at the same time, it seemed like a logical situation to have that tournament be considered early on, but obviously, the tournaments we have, the sponsors are very excited about being involved with the Majors, the Ford tournament and The Tradition, as opposed to the PGA and the Open. So, of course, this tournament is -- I think this tournament is kind of a significant tournament. It is played on a tough golf course that would determine a pretty good winner.

GIL MORGAN: I think so. I have only seen it one day yesterday. I didn't play very much. I played a few holes. Mostly I was walking greens. I didn't get started 'til late, so I didn't have as much time as I'd like. I will get to play it today; kind of get a feel for it. But, I would think that this would be a good golf course for me. If I could-- it depends on how your game is. If you are not hitting it very well, this golf course looks like it might eat you up a little bit. We played here in qualifying for the Tour, nobody shot very low. So, the scores that they shot here last couple of years seemed lower than what the Qualifying School is. But we employed a little different golf course maybe a little bit longer too.

GIL MORGAN: In my senior career?

GIL MORGAN: There has been a lot of opportunities here. I have had a chance to play and win some golf tournaments which I haven't had much opportunity the last five years on the regular Tour. And I played at a high level. I think that my top 10 finishes have really been the thing that I -- that kind of surprised me more than saying the wins or somewhat the money. The fact that I can finish in the top 10 as many times as I did tells me that, you know, I played a little higher level that I anticipated playing at throughout the entire year. So, that aspect was a little different. But, it has been fun. It is obviously fun to win and the rewards of winning have been very, very nice. So, I have enjoyed that too.

GIL MORGAN: I played --

GIL MORGAN: Well, you know, I think I had one year that I won two tournaments, maybe, had two years I guess, 1978 and '83 for me where I won the World Series of Golf that year and that was kind of neat. That was a big check and 10 year exemption at the time, so, and then I had back-to-back wins in '83 which was kind of exciting. I played at a pretty high level in '83 and 1984. That was probably the best level that I played at, you know, overall tee-to-green and stuff. My thought right now, I have had such a good putting year, you know, need to be able to figure out how I could have played if I could have putted at this level on the regular Tour for those years, for those 20 years. I'd like to think it is all speculation. But, it will be interesting to see what that would be. Also, I think the players like Hale and Raymond, myself, we all kind of like to have a feel for whether we can still play out there or not a little bit. We like to do that. Hale went back a couple times this year and I went back once. Always out here to be competitive; still out there at this point in time. You never know.

GIL MORGAN: I worked on it a little harder.

GIL MORGAN: I always worked on it. For some reason, it started clicking. I have worked on it pretty hard last four, five years. One of the things -- especially last couple of years I have been trying to get ready for the Senior TOUR. While I was playing at the end, I was working a lot on short game aspects, pitching, chipping, blasting, putting - mostly trying to upgrade my game. I don't think any of us hit it as well as we did in our prime. Tee-to-green we make more mistakes; just maybe not as consistent. Hale maybe not this year, he played at such a high level. He played very well, but I bet he can go back and find some things that he would like to change even with this year.

GIL MORGAN: I played in PLAYERS Championship and I played pretty -- I played fairly decent until the last round. I didn't play very well last round. My ball hitting wasn't as good as it was later in the year here. But, my putting was very good for that event. So, I survived. I made the cut and I shot a higher round on Sunday which hurt me. But, I felt like I was as long as I have was out there, as far as length is concerned. And, -- but, I just -- I was in a period where I was making some changes in my swing and I wasn't as consistent as I'd like at that point. And that golf course is pretty severe, when you start getting it off-line a little bit, you make some exciting numbers.