ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 1996

Bob Charles

BOB CHARLES: Which do you want me to do first?

BOB CHARLES: Okay. Well, first hole I hit 4-iron into, well, let us say six feet. 1-putted for birdie. I can't remember the holes.

BOB CHARLES: Oh, yes, okay. Third hole, I hit 8-iron about 20 -- yeah, 24 feet.

BOB CHARLES: Yes. Had a poor -- hit 3-iron out of the toe which came up on the front edge of the green, chipped it weekly about ten feet short and 2-putted.

BOB CHARLES: Yes, I hit an 8-iron to 15 feet.

BOB CHARLES: 10, I hit a 9-iron seven feet.

BOB CHARLES: I am sorry.

BOB CHARLES: You had got that wrong. I birdied 13, which is the par 5. Okay. I hit a wedge into 15 feet and holed that for birdie. And then on 16, I hit an 8-iron about 24 feet, made that for birdie. 18, little disappointed there. I hit a good tee shot right down the middle of the fairway. It rolled exactly one foot from there. I had 187 yards. I had a very good 4-iron into the middle of the green. The 4-iron rolled 30 feet just off the back edge. I was three or four feet off the fringe and left. I approached by about four feet short and missed the 4-footer.

BOB CHARLES: Yeah, well, I hit the ball pretty well. Drove it well. Drove it down the middle of every fairway. Short. Not very long, but straight. A lot of good irons and putted well. It was a good putting round except for the 4-footer, I suppose, on 18. That was certainly the shortest putt I missed. So all and all, a good day, but certainly disappointing on the last hole. And when you hit a good tee shot and good second shot and wind up with a bogey.....

BOB CHARLES: Well, if -- statistically, I think I am in the bottom 10% of distance on the SENIOR TOUR. I don't know, I don't have the thing with me, but I checked it, I think my average is - I don't know - about 248, say, which puts - places me certainly in the bottom 10 or bottom 5%, for that matter, for distance on the Tour. Of course it makes it very difficult on a golf course like this where they saturate the fairways and I can't get any run. I mean, it was - that was probably the great thing about -- well, not the great thing, but the thing that sustained me at Kaanapali where the fairways are firm and the ball rolls and I was able to reach the par 5s in two. This is the sort of golf course, as I say, I hit one of my best tee shots on 18 and it -- almost plugged it with mud on the ball. It rolled exactly one foot. So you know, I am very critical of the amount of moisture which they put in the fairways here. I'd like to see them firmed up so that I can get a little bit of roll.

BOB CHARLES: Well, no. I am not necessarily, but all I am saying is keep the damn water off the fairways. I gathered -- well, that the hole where we placed 13, I hit -- I didn't gather mud on that hole, but I did gather mud on other holes and I know my playing partners also were gathering mud on the ball too. It is just way too much moisture on the fairways. I can't emphasize that enough.

BOB CHARLES: As a matter of fact I have switched clubs. I have got a new driver, this week, I have got new irons this week. Of course, the new driver, it is a little longer in the shaft and it's got 9 degree instead of 10 degree, but that is still not going to shake the mud off the ball.

BOB CHARLES: Not a significant -- well, the guys I am playing with are still knocking it 30, 40 yards past me. Sometimes more.

BOB CHARLES: Hitting another good golf shot, hitting good irons into the greens and capitalizing with good putting.

BOB CHARLES: I have, yes, I have been discouraged a lot this year since I came out here ten years ago, the pin placements have become more difficult. They had lengthened the golf courses and in many instances they firmed up the greens. Now, I don't mind where they put the hole locations. I don't care where they tuck them, behind bunkers or the edge of the greens as long as I can hole the ball. The long hitter is hitting 8 or 9-iron in there. What chance do I have?. That has been discouraging on many of the golf courses -- not many, but some of the golf courses that I have played this year and case in point I suppose is Napa where the greens got rock hard and the fairways were softish, I suppose, but as I say, it doesn't bother me -- well, when they are able to reach the par fives in two, I have got to hit a good sand wedge to make the birdies. That makes a big difference in scoring.

BOB CHARLES: No. I am not -- all I am saying is to make it fair, make it fair. You can have -- I don't care how tough the pin placement is as long as I can hole my 5-iron or 6-iron just like the guys can hole their wedges and 9-irons.

BOB CHARLES: Well, I don't know, somebody told me that sometime next year that 50% of the guys on the SENIOR TOUR will be over 60? It is worth looking up. I don't know. Somebody said something to that effect, which means there is going to be out of 78 players, there is 39 over, well eligible to play. So, well there is more good players out there and in that 60 age bracket and probably than there has ever been.

BOB CHARLES: Well, all I can do is speak for myself. I don't feel 60. I am in as better shape at 60 than I have ever been in my life. I feel just as strong; just as much energy. I have never felt better in my life at 60 years of age. So I think it probably a lot has to do with one's conditioning; how one has looked after oneself, and I don't feel like -- other than a lack of distance off the tee, I feel like I am still very competitive with my body being in the kind of shape that it is.

BOB CHARLES: That helps a lot. I am not looking forward to the weekend. I can't handle conditions below 65 degrees and I know it is going to be 55. I will be wrapped up there with about six layers of clothing. I will have -- well, I have got 1, 2, 3, 4, -- 5, sorry, 5 I will have five layers of clothing on to play the last two days, which is not much fun at all. It restricts my swing; makes me even shorter, so I will be hitting an awful lot of long irons into the greens, and particularly if they continue to water the fairways.

BOB CHARLES: Well, I am playing two competitions this week, yeah, but it is the same every -- well, not every week, what have we got, 20, 25 events it is no different to any of those. We have played first two rounds, so then we can free wheel; put a little check in the hip pocket on Saturday and we can free wheel on Sunday. (Laughter.)

BOB CHARLES: Thank you.