U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 1995

Bob Murphy

BOB MURPHY: Well, actually Murphy is a lucky guy because I have for the most part whipped arthritis and most of you know that story, and as a matter of fact, the hospital which was instrumental in my overcoming the arthritis is right here in Alexandria. So I was flying from Florida all the time to come up here at -- to go to the National Hospital and they were the ones that started the antibiotic treatments on my arthritis.

BOB MURPHY: Yes. And I go to Northern Virginia Arthritis Clinic which is part of the hospital and so that started in 1989. We identified the particular arthritis I had and we started the treatment and so I am lucky to be playing again because I started in 1982, I knew that something was wrong and we really didn't find out what the actual affliction, was until 1989 when I came up here. So doing television, there is no question that that was very beneficial for me. I did work for CBS Sports for almost nine years. I did a lot of tournaments while I was playing and then I made the decision in 1985 that I was not going to do full-time television work for CBS Sports. I was going to continue to try to play and I played well in 85 and well in 1986 when I won Canadian Open. But after that, it was pretty much downhill. The arthritis just got worse and worse and I had to quit in 1988. So going to work then full-time for ESPN was good because as I have said in other interviews, I learned a lot sitting in the booth really with more time as the analyst to observe different players; especially better players making a lot of mistakes in the early rounds and yet being right there on Sunday afternoon, so for me that was a lesson and I have carried that through into my Senior Tour career, if you will, and I am a better player because I am far more patient than I have was as a young man. Of course, I think that most youngsters are not nearly as patient as old boys are, so it has been pretty incredible. It has been unbelievable to tell you the truth. I had not played for five years, so starting the Senior Tour I was really not totally sure of my abilities. I knew I could drive it. I knew I could putt it. So if I could learn everything in between, I would be all right. Here we are.

BOB MURPHY: Well, first of all, I am not feeling very well. I have not played one hole of practice since I have been here. And so I know that it is the front that is in here and only thing that we know for sure about arthritics is that you hurt on the front of front when the barometric pressure is falling so that is the way I felt. I would just have to kick start my heart with some Advil or whatever it takes, but I think that the rain works, it really works for us in some ways and that is that you are going to hit a lot of drivers that will not bounce out of the fairway through the fairway into the heavy rough. It will hit in the fairway and stop because it is not going to roll very far. It makes the golf course play longer, yes. And that will put a lot of pressure on our long irons, and on the Senior Tour we don't play a lot of 440 yard par fours, so it will be a longer golf course for us this week. The travesty is that the greens are not in good shape, but you have to play them. You don't have any choice and I think that -- I think that is very bad because we are coming back to Congressional, a place that we have played quite a few times and certainly another Major, and you have a lot of fond memories and those fond memories didn't include greens that are playing like these are, so that part has to be overcome and I think there again, you strike up the band for patience. I looked up patience in an Irish dictionary it is not in there, so that is a real problem. But I just don't like slow greens. I think that is my problem. So I am going to experiment this morning with loading up some lead tape on the back of my putter; make it heavier, so I could try to assume somewhat the same putting force, if you will, and with the extra weight maybe the ball will roll a little better and a little farther anyway and make a few putts.

BOB MURPHY: The actual arthritis when we discovered I have a particular brand of arthritis, if you will, it is psoriatic. It is related to psoriasis that I have on my skin. Psoriatic arthritis strikes about 1 percent of the people who have psoriasis. And it is migratory as a disease, so I have had it in my feet, my knees, my hips, my back, my neck, my shoulders and then to my hands and of course when it hit my hands, I was then really out of business. I tried to play through those other places. For example, I was actually wearing an 11 triple E. Shoe on my left foot when my left foot was afflicted and I wear a size 10D, so there is quite a bit of distance in those two shoes but of course, I couldn't play because I couldn't drive to my left side, the foot hurt, all that sort of stuff. So the treatment that I started on here is now recognized by the National Institute of Arthritis and the National Institute Of Health. They have run five year, three years, two years double blind studies; they found that massive doses of antibiotics is very, very effective in the treatment of arthritis, all kinds of arthritis. That will be a treatment widely used by rheumatologists in the future. This particular group up here that was Dr. Brown who forwarded this study. They have been treating arthritis this way for 65 years. As a matter of fact, Arnold Palmer's mother went to Dr. Brown some years ago. She had rheumatoid arthritis and so to find that treatment was particularly fun for me because I felt better within probably 4 months starting the treatment I felt better and the arthritis affects so many people when you are a golfer and you have it in your hands, you just can't play. That is exactly what I didn't do. I didn't play. So today I feel much better although as I say right now, I am having a tough time this week. So we will see you know, if I can play. Right now I would say I am doubtful. Unfortunately.

BOB MURPHY: I am doubtful that I will play. Doubtful that I will play. I just -- I tried to hit balls yesterday and it is working on mainly my right hip and up into my middle back, so you don't make your good turn; you don't make your good swing and I have been -- I have been praying that the weather would change and that you know, that I'd feel better so I will try again today and see. Can't make that decision until tomorrow. Luckily I have a 12:20 time tomorrow. I will spend a couple of hours in the physical therapy van today and see if I can't get some help again. I was in there for about three hours yesterday.

BOB MURPHY: The walking actually helps because it keeps me going. I walk all the time anyway. With the exception of last week which was impossible to walk between greens and tees. I walk because it keeps you in better stead. As a matter of fact, that is one of the great objections I have on the Senior Tour is that we do have situations where we are forced to ride a cart. I don't like that. I think that we should be able to able to walk. We have forced situations like last week and then what happens is you have got score keepers and you got sign carriers and those guys need a ride and they jump on the cart. There was one guy sitting with me last week when we are riding from green to tee he says, "I think you swing slower now than you used to. When did you change your swing." Well, it is an innocent remark, but you are trying to win a tournament, you know, an Irishman probably rides another ten feet and says, gee, I wonder if my swing is a little slower, maybe I should speed up on the next hole, you know. So all of those reasons I just object to the carts, really do. But you know, it has to be -- it is a factor that must be present if a lot of people are going to play and of course, I agree with that, but I disagree with what happens when we have those kinds of courses where you have to ride.

BOB MURPHY: There are, yes, liver and kidney implications, however, you -- I think the best statement is that the drug that I take which is called Metotrexate, you really -- you either have the propensity for, you know, not being able to take this drug or you don't. There are people who have been on this drug for 20 years, actually it was invented to treat cancer and it did not work and they discovered that the people who were taking it who had arthritis felt better and those who had psoriasis on their skin, their skin was clearing up and today it is used by rheumatologists in the treatment of arthritis and dermatologists in the treatment of psoriasis. I am taking a very, very low dosage of Metotrexate to control the flareups in my arthritis, and so the main thing you have to watch out for is alcohol with the liver, so I can't have my vodka martini anymore and a lot of people ask me how long I have been on Metotrexate, I can't remember that, but I can tell you the day I had my last vodka martini, September 9, 1992, and I do miss them. I am not nearly as smart as I used to be, but it is probably better for me all the way around, yes.

BOB MURPHY: Well, number one, the stretching and the you know, really aerobic exercise, just seems like the more oxygen you can put in your body the better you feel, and so it is mainly you know, treadmill and that kind of thing. I do have a real problem with running and jogging and that type of thing. Because that seems to hurt, so I do mostly treadmill work. But in the trailer itself, I do mostly the stretching and alinement, we are doing a lot of work now. I know you remember Nicklaus a couple of years ago got onto alinement work in the body and that really has helped a lot of us out with specific exercises for alinement. The beauty of the physical therapy trailer guys is that if you hurt some particular area, be it a knee, or a hip, or middle of the back or one muscle in the back or one muscle in the shoulder, these guys have the ability to address it number one right away, but number 2 then they follow that up with stretching and specific exercises to strengthen that area and it is an incredible help. They do a wonderful job for us they really do. And old boys break down quicker than young guys do, you know that.

BOB MURPHY: Of course, I haven't seen him in many years and I did not know that he had been had been ill, so I am very happy to see him and he has a Mulligan already going for him, so maybe the Senior Tour can be another one as well. That is a good story, a terrific story, and the Senior Tour will be full of those kinds of stories because it really is a terrific Mulligan. I read that Hale was saying that he was afraid that some of the guys are too comfortable with what is going on and seem much more relaxed than the regular Tour guys, well, Hale, did you ever think that you know, those regular Tour guys they are still trying to prove that they can play; they are trying to prove they can win, they are trying to prove that they can make money; they are trying to prove that they have a guru for their golf that knows what they are doing; guru for their head to tell them how to think; guru for their belly who tells them how to eat. At some point you have to have a serious person here. This person doesn't have to think for himself. He has to have somebody to tell him how to do it. Those boys are a lot more serious. Give us a golf course and a Budweiser, we are all right. But, yes, it is a bit more laid back. It is not as cut throat. However, I will offer to Hale and to anyone that doubts it, that we are not trying, that Sunday afternoon on the back 9 is all the golf you want; there is plenty of competition, so that is for sure.

BOB MURPHY: You bet.

BOB MURPHY: I hope so too, I really do. Don't want to miss the U.S. Open - no.