ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 1996

Jim Colbert

JIM COLBERT: Well, I made a bogey before I made a birdie, which you don't like to do. I 3-putted the fifth hole. And I guess what really -- I mean, I don't know what happened -- at 6, I hit -- I was right in the middle of the fairway, hit a really long drive outdrove the other guys quite aways, but I caught one of those little up-slope nob and had about 178 to the hole, but I was trying to hit a 4-iron because I was on the up-slope and, God, I hit it sky high and ended up with a 60-foot putt which I putted 20 feet by the hole and barely stayed on the green. And I made that putt coming back for a par. Just your normal little 2-putt. Then I played pretty well after that. I hit a bad drive at 8; pulled it over to the left rough, but it was over by the junction boxes and close to the boundary and I got relief from my swing. Then I chipped it out; knocked it on the green and made a birdie. Then I birdied 11. I made about a 25-footer there at 11, I guess. Hit a 5-iron in there. And then at 12, the 3 par, I hit it in there about four feet with a 5-iron; made that. Parred out. Made a nice par-putt on the last hole from about 12, 14 feet after missing the green to the right. So 70 was a decent score for me the way I played. But I saw a terrific round. I mean, that is an awesome iron-round Hale played. It is one of the best ones I have ever seen, really. Never was in trouble; never needed anything. He did miss the 10th green, but that is after he sucked it off the green; chipped up and made par. He really played very, very well.

JIM COLBERT: Well, I would have taken 70 before I teed off and I played about 70, so I feel good about that. The scoring is much better than I thought it would be, but it is a perfect day. Greens are still fairly soft and not overly fast and they are in great shape. And very moderate breeze, sunny, warm. Ball was going pretty far. And you just -- never ceases to amaze me how well everybody plays, especially this golf course, because it seems harder than that. I am not unhappy with my score, but it is going to be tough to catch Hale the way he has played. He was impressive. John Bland and I, we had to get up-and-down a few times, but Hale didn't, but John played well also.

JIM COLBERT: I am not really defending anything at this stage. You know, defending champ ends when he hits the first ball. I mean, now there is another tournament to be played. I have played pretty well repeatedly, some golf courses, some tournaments over my senior career and, you know, I expect to play pretty well here. I didn't play great, but I hit the ball pretty solidly and wasn't far away. I can putt a little better than I putted, but it wasn't bad. I am not unhappy with my round. There is a lot of golf to be played. I am going to have to play very, very well, but I don't mind having to do that. We will just see if you can.

JIM COLBERT: I mean, it wasn't really two reliefs, but it was -- there was all these burrowing animal holes and the ball was in one of them, and I am standing on them plus the junction box, I couldn't swing, and these officials -- I mean, they made a - I could have told you and everybody in that group could have told you where I was going to drop that ball and, "well, which rule do you want to invoke first;" I said the one that puts me right there. (LAUGHTER) You know, I mean -- there is no room - the boundary is behind me - there is no room to go the other way. I mean, it was real simple. But in the competition you don't do that kind of stuff. You don't ask your fellow competitors on something like that because if they disagree, you don't want to put them in a funny spot. So you just wait for the official, and everybody in the group could have told me where that ball was going to end up, but you go through their routine and --

JIM COLBERT: Yeah, it hit that box to go up there. The thing -- I mean it had green paint all over it. Because it was going right straight down the path and then I guess it wobbled to the left; hit the box and came up there, because I didn't realize that until I had marked and picked it up; it had a big old bunch of green paint on it. I didn't even know there was a boundary there. I would have been concerned.

JIM COLBERT: It really does affect it because -- well, I mean, I hit a good drive today at the first hole and the first hole is a little downwind. We all hit good drives. I was right beside Hale. John was in the bunker but right beside us. All out there pretty far out there, and I hit a 4-iron; I think it came up -- I hit it really good; came up 35 feet short of the hole or 30 feet. I think Hale hit a three or four right beside me and got it back to the hole, but that -- even getting little help, you know, on the first hole. Second hole played kind of short. I hit 8-iron there. I have never hit less than a 5 or 6-iron. No, second hole I hit 6-iron. Third hole I hit 8-iron. But 2-iron, 4th hole and hit 4-iron at 6 and I outdrove those guys by 20 yards. 9 was a 5-iron. The back 9 is much shorter, those holes in the back. I hit a really good drive at 11, 5-iron. Last year I was hitting 7 and 8-irons at that thing, but we are using a different tee, using different tee at 5, different tee back and forth at 9 - 6-iron over there. 17 is downwind. Hit 4-iron at 18. Last year you could hit a 7 or 8-iron but they got us back there. Hale hit a 5-iron right beside me. Again I caught that up-slope and I was trying to hit a 4-iron, because it is going to go that way, and so you can manage what it is like if the wind starts blowing and if it gets a little rain because it is pretty wet out there right now. I was talking to the officials early in the week. I said, when are they going to quick putting the water on these things. They said, we aren't. It is coming at you from underneath. That is why it stays so soft and so moist. That is why they are letting us tee it up on 13, you know, the second shot across the water there on that 5 par. I mean, I hit a drive fairly low for me and sliding and it took a big skip and it was a perfect drive and I had a hunk of mud on that thing that big, right on the back of the ball. If we were playing it downhill, I don't know what the hell I would have hit on that shot-- you know, across the water. I mean, right dead center in the back of the ball where I would have had to hit it was about that long, so it covered the whole back of the ball. It would have been scary. I don't know what the hell I would have done, but that is the one place they are letting us improve our lie because so many guys hit it in the water last year from the mud on the ball, just -- and they haven't put any weight on hit at all. It just keeps coming at you from underneath. So that was a smart decision, I think.

JIM COLBERT: Play a lot longer and -- the good thing about this golf course when the wind blows it affects the golf ball and the distance, but in most cases, it doesn't affect you when you swing. There is enough trees that you protect -- you are protected. As opposed to last week in Pensacola when you are playing in 40 mile an hour wind it is blowing you before you ever hit the ball and putting was so difficult last week in that big wind because it is just sweeping you, you are just a sail when you are bent over there trying to putt. There is a lot more protection here that affects the ball, but guys can usually hit pretty good shots in the wind if they can swing at it, you know, without the wind blowing them. That is why in Britain and everything -- it is so hard to play because the wind is getting you while you are swinging; makes a huge difference.

JIM COLBERT: Well, I played with him in the first round in Hawaii, he and Hale -- he matched Hale in that first round shot for shot. He played really, really well. Bob hits the ball really solid. And I am a little surprised he is playing so well today, he is not a high-ball hitter, so the quicker the ball gets on the ground here, the quicker it stops, but he went -- looked like he went back to his old Bulls Eye putter and putted so well in Hawaii and obviously is playing well here. He should have won another tournament this year. He 3-putted Vegas and I end up winning the tournament. I mean, he would have won the check betting me he was going to 3-putt, he would have won the check. I would have bet that much that I wasn't going to be in any playoff, so he is an amazing guy. He has got world class potential and he really keeps himself in shape. He works hard at it. He will go right here and go right in the trailer and ride the bike and lift a few weights and stretch. No accident. He has really worked at it. Like we were talking about the other day, strength is not for the guys that are working on it, it is not the determining factor that I can see in a Super Seniors. At least not the strength to propel the ball, you know, that daily grind and - I haven't done it yet, so I don't know, but they can put the ball out there. They are not much shorter. They are getting help from the equipment all that, but so is everybody else.

JIM COLBERT: Okay thank you.