U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2000

Tom Watson

TOM WATSON: I am well. First look at the golf course today. First look at Saucon Valley. It is a golf course that you need to understand the greens. And the greens are very tricky. To know where they are going to put the pins on some of the greens is very difficult to understand. So I think there are going to be a few surprises for me in the rounds that I play here, because there are certain greens that I am not sure whether they are going to put the pin in the front edge of the green here or back left 50 yards away. Be that as it may, I am playing pretty well. I played a good last round of golf this last week at Cadillac NFL; had a -- I struck the ball pretty well. I am putting pretty well. Obviously, the key in any USGA Championship is to put the ball in the fairway or beat Tiger Woods, one of the two. Since you can't beat Tiger Woods - even though he won't be here - puts us all in the same boat. Got to hit the ball straight, keep the ball below the hole, and not make too many mistakes.

TOM WATSON: I am enjoying it. I am having a good time. Playing with some of my friends out here and playing brand-new golf courses. I have played -- every Senior event I have played in this year has been a new golf course for me that I have never played before. That is fun. I knew that was going to be the part that I was going to like a lot. The other thing is playing with a lot of players I hadn't seen or played with for a long time. Like Lee Trevino, for instance. Hadn't played with Jack for a while. Arnold Palmer -- these guys I haven't played with for a long time. It is fun to get back and play some golf with some of the old guys.

TOM WATSON: I do. USGA Championship always gets me pumped. I have always wanted to win the USGA Championships simply because they are the toughest Championships to win. The toughest conditions. Good friend, Sandy Tatum said it is trying to identify the best golfers; not embarrass them. They get many golf courses up there. Sometimes they embarrass them; kind of goes over the line. It's gone over there a couple of times, but not too many times. But that is the problem you have when you take a golf course and you get it up to its most difficult plane. And then you have something strange happen like a 40-mile-an-hour wind that comes in that creates an unfairness to it. All and all, I have always felt that the U.S. Open was the most important Championship in the world for me to win. I have won one. I am grateful for that. And I feel the same way about the U.S. Senior Open. It is the No. 1 Championship as a Senior player to win. So as I said, I am pumped.

TOM WATSON: We got some pretty fair players in Wadkins and Kite, and Tom has won a couple of times already. Lanny has won once I have won once, but we are certainly not doing what Trevino did when he first came out. He won a whole bunch of times his first year. Hale Irwin, the same way, Ray Floyd, it is -- these guys can play out here. You see Lee won last week at 14-under. Tied a record. Not bad for a 60-year-old, it is?

TOM WATSON: It is good. It is getting better and better. I am more and more comfortable over the short putts, which is -- has been my nemesis over the last several years. It is getting better and better.

TOM WATSON: I think it helps. There is not a -- because you are playing out of the same type of grass, the grass around the greens is pretty similar. Although last week, at Cadillac NFL we played some pretty heavy rough around that golf course. So that is a good preparation for this tournament. We don't see as heavier a rough as we did last week and this week on the SENIOR TOUR action as I am told. You don't see that type of rough. So the conditioning of the golf course, obviously, it makes this course the toughest.

TOM WATSON: That is nice to know.

TOM WATSON: I feel good about that. The most important thing is for me is to be comfortable with my golf swing. And right now my golf swing is a little bit haywire, but it is not too far off. Bruce, my caddie, said after walking off, he said, "Well, you didn't play that well today but you are not that far off." I agree with him. I am pretty close. But what worries me most about playing here is trying to get to know the golf course. The greens are -- you need to make even more of an effort tomorrow to try to understand the greens and where to put it and where not to put it. It is a little bit like Augusta where you have to quadrant the greens. There are certain areas that greens may be fairly large in size but better only be in one-quarter of the green for a particular pin position. I am not familiar enough with the golf course yet or the greens to know where those positions are going to be.

TOM WATSON: I think the predictions are probably pretty accurate. I think the golf course is playing softly and looks as if we are going to have the same type of weather conditions, keeping it soft for quite a few days. Soft conditions are easy scoring conditions. If it's raining, don't worry about it. We don't mind the rain. We love it when that ball goes in there and just stops dead. What really causes you the problems is when the greens are like concrete and you have to just get the ball in the front of the edge of the green; takes it through a 30-foot hop, and then stops. But they have the pin 15 feet from the front edge of the green; that is the tough condition. But when the greens are -- greens are soft, the old euphemism, like, it is shooting darts. (making phttt sound) like that. These greens right now are playing like that. But they had a good rain last night. And if they keep on having these rains in the afternoons here, the scores ought to be pretty low. What did Larry Laoretti shoot?

TOM WATSON: I would think that that is probably -- I would think that probably the scores might be even a little bit lower than 9. The record might be set there. How many events have been played at Saucon Valley? U.S. Senior Open in'92. U.S. Amateur.

TOM WATSON: Match Play or Medal Play?

TOM WATSON: Well, I have taken the first walk around. It is like I have been introduced to her. Now I've got to find out her personality. I kind of know what she looks like on the outside, but I got to find out what she has on the inside.

TOM WATSON: You have to look at probably the golf courses that we play out here. There are horses for courses, or courses for horses. And certain players like I have always -- I have always felt that I could play any course when I am on my game. I never objected or refused to go to a golf tournament because I didn't think I could play the golf course. I may not have liked the golf course, but never was the point where I couldn't play it. I didn't feel like -- I was going to fail at playing. The Senior courses are set up a little bit easier. They are a little bit shorter, and you have got, I think, that kind of round -- it narrows -- not narrows, but expands the possibilities for people to win. For the most part, three rounds makes it pretty hard for you to make up for a bad round. Four rounds, you can get away with a 73, 74 maybe in a tournament with four rounds, but three rounds is hard to. As witnessed last week, I shot 72 the opening round and I was pretty far behind. I was five, six shots behind, and I had to shoot real, real low the last two rounds. I'd have to shoot 7-under par each round to win as it turned out. So I was too far behind, but if I had one more round possibly I might have been able to put a pair of 66s in there and who knows what would have happened. So that is the difference. SENIOR TOUR is -- with these players, they -- obviously putting is a big -- if you are a great putter you are going to win anywhere, but in conditions like we have on the SENIOR TOUR, it is a little bit easier to win when you are a great putter than it is when you are playing the regular Tour when you have -- you have to combine some pretty good 3-irons and 2-irons and good driving out there to win even though you are a good putter.

TOM WATSON: Where?

TOM WATSON: Where was that (laughter)?

TOM WATSON: Well, Jack -- I played right behind Jack Friday and I was -- I got kind of emotional because I saw Jack up there getting a wonderful ovation standing on the green, saw him hug his son Jack who was caddying for him and the crowd was giving him a standing "O", and I had to give him a standing "O" too. I have great respect for Jack what he has done for the game and in a real sense I think you see that that tournament was a mixed tournament in the sense that you had the greatest champion who has ever played, retire from playing Open Championship golf and maybe the greatest champion who is -- maybe a champ who is going to surpass the greatest champion who has ever played win his first Open there. I think that has been a very monumental Open when history looks back at it.

TOM WATSON: Normally?

TOM WATSON: When things are important I get emotional, sure. Like going out here and trying to win this tournament I will get emotional if I win this tournament.

TOM WATSON: No, I don't think that that is the case. You just have to go out and prove yourself, just like they have to go out and prove themselves. There is -- I don't have -- I don't have a sense that there is any jealousy out there. I don't think there is a golfer who is worth his salt doesn't understand the fact you tee it up with somebody you might be able to beat that person. I can beat Tiger Woods -- have to be under the right circumstances, but I can beat Tiger Woods. And that is the attitude you have to have to play out here.

TOM WATSON: Sure there was.

TOM WATSON: Sure. As I said the first week, there was more pressure there when I played in the fall the first week at Brickyard Classic, then I didn't play very well. But the following week, I got it together, had a good run the last day; won the tournament. Even though I hadn't won this year, I have come pretty close several times to win this year. Finished second four times. Feel like David Duval did three years ago.

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