ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 6, 1997

Bob Murphy

BOB MURPHY: I think you can hold the US Open on this golf course if you got it fast and firm. The greens are just terrific. The greens are faster than they have been in the past. Will the rain do much to them, I don't know, depends on how much we get tonight. But, for me -- and, cold weather, you know how I play in cold weather and how I feel. I am very happy and especially pleased to get in on a day that the weather was good to go ahead get my share of birdies today. When we came back from Africa, I played seven weeks in a row. I played pretty reasonable good golf. Putted the ball poorly, and went home and went to my eye doctor and, by George, my eyes had changed enough that he said: "You really ought to change your glasses" and so I did, and right away. I mean, very first afternoon put them on, went out to the putting green. It was different. Then my friend Lorie Hammer (ph) who is an old college mate of mine; still lives at the golf courses as a pro there where we live. He came out; worked with me on my putting, and got up here and the greens were fast. Stroke came back right away. I am best on fast greens, and I just love to be able to swing the putter back and swing it through. And, on slower greens, which we had a lot of on the West Coast, just not my best and I got out of sync. So, it was the right thing to do, go home, relax, come up and it has been a slow year. Everybody should have my troubles, but it has been a slow year for me. I have not played my best by any means. But, I have been awfully close to playing well. And, then I get off again, so, pretty much identified most of the mistakes with the swing; got that straightened out and the putter went south. So, I guess we can say this is not an exact science here. Thought the score was low today, lower than what it normally is than when we get rough weather and what not. We had good scoring in our group. Vicente, with the exception of the 7, he played on 13, he played well today and Mike played well. Started out the first hole, drove it in the left rough, actually and didn't get it on the green, chipped it up about two feet, made par. Second hole real good drive, 4-iron, to about ten feet, made it for birdie. Pars all the way around; hit every green, missed the putts. No. 6, I made a big putt there. I made about a 20 -- probably 25-footer, pulled it left of the hole and -- so that was a big one; one that you didn't expect to make because it was up and over a mound, and low and behold, it went in. No. 7, I hit good shot at 7. Hit 8-iron iron up there eight feet of the hole; made it for birdie. No. 8, put it about six feet right behind the hole; made that for birdie.

BOB MURPHY: Wedge, yeah. No. 10, missed it from about eight feet, hit a perfect spot that you want, slightly up the middle, slightly right bunker; missed that. Put it just a little bit too much left. I played it, not enough break, is what I did. 13, missed it from about five feet at 13 for birdie. 14, I hit a terrific shot at 14; missed it from about 12, 14 feet for birdie. 15, I missed it from about four, five feet, for birdie. 16, I hit it about six feet behind the hole; missed it. Each of those putts was on a lot of slope. And, that is a little unlucky, but that is the nature of the greens. Hit those shots in good -- what I thought were good golf shots. When you get up there -- well, No. 16, for instance, I had about a 6-foot putt and I had to play four feet of break, so a lot of luck comes into play then. And, I missed it. 17, I hit a 6-iron, just strapped it right at the hole about a foot and tapped it in. And, then 18 I hit 7-iron about, oh, four feet behind the hole, five feet behind the hole and had a very straight slight right-to-lefter and it went in.

BOB MURPHY: Yeah, sort of babbling to myself because I missed a few of those short putts even though they were very difficult, the position was difficult, but I felt like I was playing well and started out with four birdies on the front and yet, I didn't capitalize on anything until 17 and 18.

BOB MURPHY: Actually, he told me last year that I should consider new glasses. And, I said well, wasn't having any trouble putting, so, the glasses -- I have this prescription which is for golf only. I do not wear them except to play golf. I have another pair of glasses that has a reading element in them as well as distance, but the astigmatism had gotten bad enough that he said you are not helping yourself. And, in fact, I was going through a thing and I could only explain it by I spot putt and I spot hit, so I would pick out the spot on the green from in back of the hole, the spot on which I want the ball to be rolling as it goes up. But, yet when I got up over the board, and looked up, my spot would, in my mind now, it is two or three inches to the right of where I really want to go. So, I was just having a terrible time. I got all line-oriented trying to get myself on line. That is not the way you putt. You putt with good speed. Yes, you have to hit it on-line, but just even in the reasonable vicinity, if the ball has got good speed, you have great chances to make the putt. So, I lost that. He said, "I am not going to putt a lot of correction in there for you, for the distance factor; only for the astigmatism." It was dead right. I saw it when I put them on.

BOB MURPHY: No, left. Yeah, because I was not comfortable with my line and my spot and I kept needling back and missing them all left.

BOB MURPHY: I wore these -- I got them last Friday, so, almost a week.

BOB MURPHY: Yeah, I am always concerned about weather, but I think the good news is for ole Murph, it is not going to be too bitter cold from what I heard last. If it is in the 50s and 60s we can all stand that. But when it gets down in the 40s, you know, I am not very pretty. So, I think we are going to get lucky. I think yes, we are going to get some rain. Will it rain for a long time tomorrow? I don't know. I mean, none of us do, do we really. But I am happy, Jerry, to get the round in that I did ahead of the weather.

BOB MURPHY: I tried soft spikes and I am still having difficulty. I still slip and quite truthfully, I don't like what soft spikes do to the greens. They leave a lot of tracking, especially when we play greens that are soft and we play a lot of those. They leave a lot of tracking. They track worse than -- these are short spikes, you can see. I will tell you two things: That if everybody wore these short spikes instead of the longer ones and people would just tap down some marks when they walk off the green, we wouldn't have a need for discussion about soft spikes. Soft spikes are wonderful on Bermuda greens. I am telling you. They wear them at our golf course at home and we have Tifdwarf greens. At the end of the day, you can't tell that anybody has been out there. It is just amazing. But on soft, especially bentgrass greens that are a little wet or tend to be towards the wet side, they leave soft spikes; they leave a cup effect on every spike. And, I think that -- I think that is far more injurious than a few spike marks on the greens, I really do. But, it is slippage factor mostly for me.

BOB MURPHY: They would be lighter, you know, they definitely are lighter and -- but, yet, I don't know. I view the heavier shoe as sort of a form of exercise, you know. (Audience laughter.) That is my idea of exercise.

BOB MURPHY: Well, I don't know. I think that is pretty much the pattern, with very, very few exceptions, have guys really changed their golf swing that much? I think we can say that Nick Faldo made some big changes with David Leadbetter but, most guys they had a pattern that they pretty much follow. I think my swing, since I started the SENIOR TOUR is better than it was on the regular TOUR. I have a more powerful angle at the ball now than I did. I used to be so much more upright and hit down on it. But, when I go back and look at film, the club, you know, the club is not where I think it is. I think it is back here in a beautiful Ben-Hogan-type, but it is really up here anyhow. But, so you are right, the consistency for most guys, most of the guys who are good players out here were good players on the regular TOUR and most of those guys are excellent chippers and putters and there are your winners, there are your winners. I think a guy that comes to mind right away, David Graham, when he started the SENIOR TOUR he was not putting well at all, and he was not doing well at all. And, Trevino has helped him with his putting and he has won three or four times.

BOB MURPHY: Well, I know for sure that I really was very young in the game of golf when I started the TOUR. I hadn't played long. I was 19 years old when I started playing golf and I was 24 when I went on the TOUR. So, I really didn't know as much about golf as I thought I did. And I know that now for sure. I am much more patient now. I understand more of the things certainly about my game and about golf than I have. And I have said it before, but I got most of that through doing the television for all those years, when the arthritis was so bad I couldn't play. That really helped me, sitting there watching what was going on; seeing guys make a lot of mistakes on Thursdays and Fridays, and show up on Sunday afternoon on the back 9 and there they are. In my mind, a lot of times, with my Irish temper, I make those same mistakes and I was done. So, I am a lot more patient now, but I guess that comes with maturity, too.

BOB MURPHY: No, I think we all thought we were going to have a reasonable day today. We did think we were going to get some rain. It didn't happen. We had some sprinkles, but we didn't get the rains, so I was really prepared for wind and I was thinking a lot about the wind. As a matter of fact, I went through big shenanigans with myself this morning, with -- I wanted to add my third wedge back in the bag and put a 2-iron in the bag, so I ended up -- today I played driver 3-wood, no 4-wood. I took the 4-wood out; put the third wedge back in just because I was afraid the wind was going to blow and needed that third wedge, probably around the greens and whatnot. My third wedge, it is actually the middle wedge, it is 53 degrees and that comes in very handy on some long bunker shots. And, that is what you could have when the wind starts to blow, you miss shots and you miss them a long way off and in bunkers. My regular sand club, which is 57 degrees, is very difficult for me to hit longer bunker shots with it. So, that was my thought.

BOB MURPHY: Yeah, I did. As a matter of fact, I hit it close on a number of occasions. It paid off. I made a birdie with it early in the round, made a birdie with it on No. 8, as a matter of fact. So,, it paid off today. I didn't have it in the sand, no.

BOB MURPHY: Well, I think he has got an extra 5 million and an airplane since then. He certainly is no nicer to anyone. He just beats the devil out of us, I don't know -- No, I think if we all really thought about it, we could go back to right here, the last putt that Colbert made last year, the last day, and I think Hale went home and said, you know, I don't want to get beat like that. I should be winning. I should be the leading money winner and I should be playing better. So, he had to commit to playing more and that made all the difference in the world. And, so I think he has had just a phenomenal year. I will say, I expected it. I never, ever -- didn't expect Hale to beat us all, but took him a little longer time than he thought. So, I think it is terrific. I am hoping for the, oh, for the good of the SENIOR TOUR, I am hoping that the superstars in the future come out here with a commitment as Trevino. When Trevino started this Tour and Arnold started this Tour, they both said I am playing 30 events and the sponsors loved it. I think we have got to put some pressure on Johnny Millers and Jack Nicklaus; say, "Jack, come out and play a little bit, you know, we want to have some fun with you and come play, come play golf." If Johnny Miller ever wants to play out here and play well, then he has got to come play some golf. He can't do it making a ceremonial five or six appearances. Raymond found that out and Hale found that outright away.

BOB MURPHY: This TOUR is only what it is because the superstars play. If Sam Snead didn't help him out right in the very beginning, it would have been a barbecue and 18 holes and have a few beers and laughs. Then Arnold Palmer followed in back of that and Trevino followed in back of that and Raymond. So, that is what makes it, Jerry, and that is the only way it will ever survive. All the superstars need to play and play and enjoy. Play and enjoy.

BOB MURPHY: I think TV ratings are pretty much a product of the number of events that are on television now and Golf Channel with stuff on all the time, I don't think that people watch as much tournament golf as they do. Yes, the regular TOUR is up. I think the Tiger factor is very important. But, our sponsors are happy. Our charities are really happy, and so we need to then continue to give the public a good show.

BOB MURPHY: Well, I think it has only happened one time where a guy has won nine times, so, I don't see Gil Morgan winning nine times, no. But, it can certainly happen. He has won five already this year. But, the odds on someone copying Hale's performance or beating it, pretty slim. It is pretty slim because you really have to make a huge commitment. How many tournaments did Hale play today?

BOB MURPHY: 22 events, so, I would say playing 22 times and he has won 10 and he is in contention right here right now, so, that is phenomenal. That is good golf.

BOB MURPHY: That is going to happen, too. The normal cast of characters didn't win our events; did we? Floyd, Stockton, Colbert, myself, to name four. I am surprised that Hubert hasn't won. I am surprised. But, yes, that is a part of it. But, Hale played awfully well. I have played with him any number of times and goodness he was on. I mean, just drove it down the middle, put it on the green. I think he putted better. Never seen Hale putt as well as he did this year.

BOB MURPHY: Absolutely. It is a tremendous challenge. I walked out there today thinking, okay, you have been home. You have addressed the glasses situation and you have gotten some help with your putting and now you have got to take it to the dance and see if it works. So, the challenge is always there, believe me. It is always there. And, it is fun. I mean, this is a very, very hard game to play. And, boy, when you get off to just a little bit, sometimes you wonder how in the world did I ever shoot 65. And, then -- and yet it can come back quickly, too. So, it is a constant challenge.

BOB MURPHY: No, you don't. Where I put the ball, I probably could go out there with ten balls and still be lucky to make one from the positions I was in. And, I made a couple that I shouldn't have made probably, so, it just -- I never go back and look. I might Sunday afternoon, if I lose by a shot, you know, I might go back on my way home and try and figure out where I could have saved one, but you don't even do that. It is all part of the game. Thank you, guys.