THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 25, 2002

Jack Nicklaus

Q. Is that 18th hole still too easy, you got seniors birdieing it.

JACK NICKLAUS: I guess. It must be. I played it with a 5-iron, two 4-irons.

Q. You looked like you gave yourself a lot of chances out there.

JACK NICKLAUS: I had a lot of chances, yeah. Actually I watched a great round of golf. Briny just played terrific and putted terrific. And every time I turned around he drained something. And I made my putts for pars and nothing for birdie. I made a little putt on the 18th hole. But I missed a lot of good chances. Certainly not unhappy with the way I played but boy, playing with Briny, it looked like I shot 80, shooting 80, the way he was playing. He was knocking in everything.

Q. Again quite a little crowd around you at 18. And another nice walk up.

JACK NICKLAUS: Yeah. I'm just a little drive and a 4-iron up there into the wind. That's the way the game used to be played. Guys don't play 4-irons in there any more. No, I thought I hit the ball pretty decently today. Not quite as good as yesterday. Actually yesterday was the best round I played and shot 74. And the way I was hitting the golf ball -- but today I managed my game well and I only made a bogey at 3, I had to pitch it out and then I missed a very short putt for par. And that's the only birdie I made all day, wasn't it? .

Q. You birdied 6?

JACK NICKLAUS: I birdied 5 and then I made pars all the way around the 18. I had a lot of chances though. I had a nice par putt at 13. I drove it in the bunker. I couldn't do anything. I took, I probably could have played 7-iron out of the bunker and got it 20 or 30 yards closer to the green. So I said, "Well, let's leave it and come back with a full shot." So I played a 9-iron and then played a 75-yard wedge. And then I left that short. And then holed about an oh, about 18 feet probably. Yeah, for a par. That was a pretty nice par. That was a real nice save.

Q. Jack, I think it was about the third round of the Tradition that you said you were a little sore and stiff. How do you feel?

JACK NICKLAUS: I'm sore, stiff and delighted to be that way. No, I'm fine. I think that it's -- I'm doing pretty well this week. Today was wet, cold, kind of a little harder to play. But I did fine.

Q. Do you expect anybody to go backwards today? It seems like guys are going low today?

JACK NICKLAUS: I think you'll see some guys go backwards. You're going to see a lot of guys go low today. You'll see a lot of low scores today. The course is pretty easy today. And length is obviously no factor for these guys. So the course is going to play fairly easy. It has to be if I shot 71.

Q. (Inaudible.)

JACK NICKLAUS: Perfect. Absolutely perfect. I wish I knew what happened to that putt yesterday. That was the weirdest putt I think I ever had at Muirfield.

Q. Did you say anything to Mike?

JACK NICKLAUS: Oh, yeah, you bet I did.

Q. We thought you were kidding.

JACK NICKLAUS: I was kidding. I was kidding him too. But I was obviously going to say something. You know I never pass up something like that.

Q. Does it ever get old when you're walking up 18 and get that kind of ovation from fans in your hometown?

JACK NICKLAUS: I thought it was very nice. Especially if you can do it for four days. I would much prefer it to be about 6 o'clock in the evening on Saturday and Sunday. That's the time to really do it. That's the proper time. Rather than noon.

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