U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 11, 1997

Jack Nicklaus

Gary Nicklaus

JACK NICKLAUS: We were on the same team. We didn't lose any money either. We didn't win any. We broke even.

LES UNGER: Would you mind assessing the state of your father's game, Gary?

GARY NICKLAUS: Fair enough. I would say that right now, I'd say his game was probably about the best I've seen it in the last year or so. He's hitting the ball very solid, hitting the ball left-to-right which he hasn't done in a long time, doing it with ease, which has been probably his biggest nemesis over the last couple years, trying to hit left-to-right shots and ending up with double-cross hooks, and his putting has come around, I'd say, in the last couple weeks with a little help from Phil Rodgers because I think that's been a big problem over the last eight years or so, especially when he and I were partners. That's it. He's playing well right now.

LES UNGER: Father, can we ask you to give us a little rundown on your son's game.

JACK NICKLAUS: Gary's game at the moment is, I think, quite good. He's hitting the ball nicely. He's been much improved each year. I think he did a little bit better with his -- better with his putting. That's what is his nemesis. He didn't seem to make enough putts. I think he greased that and I think he finally, instead of using method on his putting, he started putting with feel, and he's putting real well for the last, what, two months.

GARY NICKLAUS: Yeah, about a month and a half or so.

JACK NICKLAUS: He's putted real well and that's a big change in his game. Gary always drives the ball straight. He drives the ball adequately long. Define adequately long, is longer than his old man, but not as long as the longest players on the Tour. But, long enough to be with the longer players on the Tour. When Gary's game is in groove, he can play with anybody out here.

LES UNGER: Gary, this is your first shot at the Congressional.

GARY NICKLAUS: I played up here Thursday and Friday.

LES UNGER: I mean, in an event.

GARY NICKLAUS: Yes, definitely.

LES UNGER: Jack, you've played two or three, I assume.

JACK NICKLAUS: Played -- I don't know, I played Open -- how many PGAs did we play here? Couple? One? One PGA and I played a couple Kempers probably and Senior Open, I've probably played -- my guess is five times.

LES UNGER: So what you've seen out there this week, what's your assessment of the golf course?

JACK NICKLAUS: We played for -- the Senior Open was a different golf course than we played previously. I think a much better golf course. The golf course right now is in much better condition than it was the Senior Open. In fact, it's an excellent course. I think they've set it up beautifully. We were sort of laughing on the practice tee. It's kind of like my German mentality says: You will hit it here and you will hit it here. He says, you have no other place to hit it. That's exactly what you have to do. And, you just can't straighten -- you don't have much options. You've never had many options on this golf course. It's drive the ball straight, put the ball on the green where you can putt from. And, if you don't, you're going to have trouble. That's just about the way the golf course played. I don't think you've heard it any different from anybody else. The whole secret to playing this golf course are going to be fairways and greens, and avoid 3-putting.

LES UNGER: My last question to you deals with the par 3 at the end. Most everybody has come in and had an opinion about whether they like it or whether it's good for the event or whatever. Do both of you have the same opinion or different opinions on par 3 at the end?

GARY NICKLAUS: Well, I kind of agree with what he says as far as coming into the last hole, if you've got a chance to win, would you rather hit the ball off of a tee or hit the ball off of a lie where you don't know where it's going to be or what the ball is going to do. It's a very straightforward hole. You put it on the green or you're in trouble. So, it's a good -- it's a good hole. You've got to hit a good shot, and --

JACK NICKLAUS: That's basically what I think. Everybody is making a big deal out of the par 3 being the last hole. If you're playing the last shot into the green, if you get your hands on the ball and put it on the tee, would you like to do it out in the fairway? Of course you would like to do that if you get an opportunity to. I think from a nervous standpoint, sure, it's a water hole. If it hadn't -- I think there wouldn't be any to do about it at all as a finishing hole if it wasn't a water hole. Because the chance of changing of, you know, having the nervousness and playing a bad shot and getting a double bogey or something like that, two or three strokes could change hands pretty quickly on that hole just the same way.

LES UNGER: Questions, please. Right down here, please.

Q. Just could you bring us up-to-date on your alternative therapy treatments when your last one was, and just give us a more detail of what's been going on with it and how you feel physically?

JACK NICKLAUS: I feel fine. I'm not going to go through all that. I mean, I've been doing some stuff that is not a big deal. When you've got a hip that's degenerating, you're going to figure out if you can turn that around, and the guy treating me bet me $5,000 to a hole in a donut that it was regenerating, so I'm going. I'm very positive about what he's doing, so we'll just leave it at that. It's not a big deal. I've had trouble with it for the last several years, and only in the last year or so has it gotten bad enough to where it's affected my golf game. And, I'm really encouraged by what it's doing. I'm able to swing fairly freely right now. That should not be a factor in my game this week.

Q. Jack, I don't know whether this was asked or not, but you played the Senior Open two years ago here. What sort of experience do you bring in from that tournament?

JACK NICKLAUS: I brought in a lot shorter clubs to the greens, that's for sure. The golf course that we played then, I don't know what it was, 6,800 yards, something like that, is about what we played. Actually, wasn't that much different because we played it -- we played it as a par 72. We played the 6th hole and the 10th hole as par 5, so we played a little further back - not a lot further back at 6. We just played the back side of that tee, and at 10, we played a tee further back, so we played -- those two holes would be different the way they're going to play. But, the golf course -- the greens were not good when we played the Senior Open here. They were very thatchy and they had a lot of trouble with them, getting the greens in wonderful shape. The rough was -- very difficult fairways. I'm sure the same fairways we played there. The only difference is the rough spot is three inches deeper, but I think the golf course is excellent right now. I don't think you could ask for better shape, better prepared for a major championship.

Q. Jack, what's your most vivid memory of 1964 when the Open was here? Was it the heat?

JACK NICKLAUS: I don't really remember much about it. I was trying to figure out a way to get off the golf course and get home. I was way back in the tournament. I don't know where I finished, 20-something or something, and I just remember it was hot and let's get out of here and get home. And, I think I watched Venturi win it on television. I'm not even sure I was here when it was over.

Q. Would you comment please on what it means to be playing in the same U.S. Open, just a personal feeling?

GARY NICKLAUS: For me, it's a great thrill because, first of all, it's my first U.S. Open. Second, there is a chance for me to play in a tournament that he has been so much a part of for so many years before he decides not to play in these any more. And, you know, who knows when that might be. But, it's definitely coming to a close within the next few years. And, I'm glad I'm playing here with him this week.

LES UNGER: Is it all right for him to say that?

JACK NICKLAUS: He's right. No, I feel pretty much -- you know, I was hoping that one of the boys or all the boys -- I would have loved Jackie play. He tried to qualify also. I guess Michael tried too. They were all trying to qualify, but they've all been trying to qualify for a few years. Jackie hasn't been playing much golf. But, Gary has had the opportunity -- come close to having the opportunity to qualify two or three times. And, of course, first time he's gotten in, and I've always wanted to be able to play in the same Open with my son and go through that kind of thing. And, I thank the USGA for me to have the opportunity to have a spot this year. If the USGA wouldn't have given me a spot this year, we wouldn't be, and I would be probably up here caddying. Who knows what I would be doing. But, the -- we've had -- we came up last week. We played Thursday and Friday. I felt like Gary, it would be good for him to play the golf course a couple times and find out Congressional wasn't a big bear that was going to beat him over the head. He found out it's just another golf course that sets up difficult and we got that out of the way. Then we played some practice rounds in front of people the last few days. I think he's ready to play the golf tournament. I'm ready to play the golf tournament too I'm playing decently, so we'll see what happens.

Q. Jack, would you tell us what it was about the game - when your dad first gave you a club, your first set of clubs - what attracted you to the game and also what was it about the game that you liked?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I think probably it's difficult for me than it probably was for Gary. When I first started playing golf, I was just, you know, I was caddying for my dad while he was recovering from ankle operations and I really took up golf as sort of -- because of a freak accident. And I think Gary took up the game of golf because his father played golf. And, you know, he was involved in the game. His brothers played and everybody else in the family was playing. Not so when I took it up. And, golf, to me, when I started, was probably just another sport. You know, I was playing baseball in the summer time and football and basketball and ran track and did everything else - as these guys have done, which I've encouraged them to do. I mean, Gary was a good football player. Gary was a good basketball player, played golf. He does all the other things too. We all fish, hunt, dive, ski, do all the things we've done as a family. And, I've tried not to make the game of golf the center focus of your life. I think that if you become reasonably proficient at it, obviously, in our family, it's going to be hard to avoid having it be a little bit of a center piece. But, I tried not to do that and --

Q. What was it, specifically?

JACK NICKLAUS: I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question. But, the game of golf, what really I like about golf, why I probably ended up gravitating to it is because it was a sport that I could do by myself, as good as I wanted to do, with my effort; didn't have somebody throw the ball back to me or guard me or have -- guard somebody else or have to go -- need somebody else to play the game with. I love team sports. But, it was an individual sport. It was just me against me and the golf course and I like that.

Q. What was it, Jack, when you realized he was starting to get close to qualifying for the U.S. Open?

JACK NICKLAUS: I'm sorry?

Q. How nerve-racking was it when you realized he said he's had a couple of close calls, when he qualified for this year's U.S. Open, how nerve-racking was it down the stretch?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I wasn't there. I was at Muirfield. I was actually -- we were -- I caddied for Gary in the first qualifier. And, my first experience -- I'll digress a little bit. The first time I caddied for Gary in a Open qualifier, I didn't turn out to be too good. We had played golf and played a practice round the day before. We got out on the third hole the next day. It was a par 3. And, Gary had parred the first two holes and was a 4-iron, par 3, and I looked in the bag and I said: "Would you like to play your 4-iron or my 4-iron?" So, obviously, 4-shot penalty thanks to his caddie. Since then, I've been a little bit more careful. And I felt very confident Gary would qualify this time, frankly. I don't know why. When I caddied for him, the Bear Lakes he got in on a playoff and he played so much better than that. I knew he was playing well and he was putting better. And we were at Muirfield and I just felt like two years ago we were at Bay Hill, I guess, I caddied for you two years ago; is that right?

GARY NICKLAUS: '94, I believe.

JACK NICKLAUS: That long ago, really?

GARY NICKLAUS: Yeah.

JACK NICKLAUS: It's been that bad, huh?

GARY NICKLAUS: Yeah.

JACK NICKLAUS: Okay. Anyway, I caddied for him there and they were playing the 18th hole at Bay Hill and he got beat in the darkness of a playoff where Mike Weeks hit a shot six inches from the hole and he couldn't find it. We didn't know where it was, 8 feet from the hole, missed it. But, I felt fairly confident. We were -- Barb and I were finished up, last round at Muirfield, and he shot 71 first round and they had a two-hour rain delay. We were flying home. We were flying sort of close to Orlando. And I said, "Do you want to go by or do you not want to go by?" We both sort of debated about it. Instead of landing, we went on home. We said he's probably doing all right on his own. And then we got a call about -- we walked in the house, 15 minutes we got a call, and they said: "Gary shot 4-under, looks like he's going to make it easily." And, then he called about an hour later, he said, "Well, I had to wait, I'm in the last two spots." So Barb and I have always wanted to, you know, see the boys qualify. Obviously, we've always followed the kids and followed with every sport they played. But, when you get one to play in the U.S. Open, that you're playing in, that's a little extra special and knowing that this is going to probably be my last regular U.S. Open, you know, that I'll probably play in sequence, and -- it's a little special, very special.

Q. Jack, how nervous will you be for Gary tomorrow, and will the way it's spaced out, will you be able to get out and see him and if so, will you?

JACK NICKLAUS: I have enough trouble walking this course once. I doubt very seriously whether I'm going to walk it twice. I'd love to walk it twice, but I'll probably see a little bit of his golf round tomorrow; not a lot of it. I play at 7:40. He plays at noon tomorrow 11:50.

GARY NICKLAUS: 11:50.

JACK NICKLAUS: So, I'll be finishing just about the time he's starting. I might go out and see some of it, but if I'm playing decently, I'm not going to go wear myself out. I think that's a prudent thing to do. I've still got a golf tournament to play in. I want to play my very best. And, I think that he'll do just fine without me out there. But, I think if I can see a few of his, I will.

Q. Will you be nervous for him?

JACK NICKLAUS: Isn't a father always nervous for his son? How would I be any different? Of course.

Q. Could both of you address, specifically, today's round? You look like you were having a really good time and don't leave out the birdie on 17.

JACK NICKLAUS: Oh, that wasn't too bad. Some guy up in the audience said to his friend he said, "20 bucks he doesn't make it." I said, "Oh, it's going to cost him 20." That's what got us even, wasn't it.

GARY NICKLAUS: Yeah.

JACK NICKLAUS: But it's -- my round today was -- my last round before a tournament, if I'm playing reasonably well, and I feel like I'm playing reasonably well. I will pattern -- I work on a swing pattern. The pin you can't practice anyway. So, you know, you go out and just try to work on a pattern, work on developing the swing, make sure you have confidence with the different elements of your game and have a little bit of fun. That's what we did today. That's basically all we did.

Q. Is it a surprise to you guys that there haven't been more father son combos to make it to this level? And, also, if you all should make it to Sunday, being Father's Day, how special would that be?

JACK NICKLAUS: I think it would be kind of neat. I would love to have the opportunity to play with him on Sunday. That would be the really neat part. Of course, obviously, I would love to be late.

Q. Real late?

JACK NICKLAUS: Yeah, real late. I don't mean late to the tee. I mean late time. I think this is the only tournament I've ever gone into -- I've always gone in with the attitude that I can win a golf tournament. This is the only tournament that I'm hoping I can finish second. That would be the neat part. Somebody asked us the other day what if you have a 4-footer at the last hole, if Gary could win the tournament? I said, "Oh, I'd miss it on purpose." He said, "Fat chance, you never missed one yet to beat me."

Q. Gary, I know your brothers and yourself and people expect so much of a guy named "Nicklaus." Was it a little easier on you being down the line than it was on Jackie? And, do you ever feel expectations to, you know, be another Jack Nicklaus?

GARY NICKLAUS: Well, to address the part of whether it was easier for me being down the line, I'd say, maybe, initially. But it was rectified when I was pretty young, that I was the one that had the most talent - not to take anything away from my brother. But, at 16 years of age, I was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I was touted as the next Nicklaus, and yeah, it's a tough name to carry. It's a tough, tough -- big footsteps to fill. But, I've had problems with it. But, as the years have gone by, I've matured and learned to deal with it. Now, I'm pretty comfortable with myself and what I'm trying to do with my game, and what I'm trying to do with my own career.

Q. This is to Gary, please. Gary, you're a pretty long knocker too. How about your strategy at Congressional and what do you think of this course for your game?

GARY NICKLAUS: I like this course for my game. I am a pretty good driver of the ball. I drive the ball pretty straight and as my dad was saying earlier, I'm not as long as the longest hitters out here, but there isn't probably a half a dozen guys in the field that will hit it longer than I do. As long as I can keep my driver in play, from that point on, it's just a matter of putting the iron shots at the right point on the green and giving yourself so you're not having 2-feet putts, downhills, or big breaks, or whatever. And, I think if I keep my driver in play that I'll play well.

Q. Will you use a driver that much?

GARY NICKLAUS: Probably half the time. Probably I would say probably half drivers, half 3-woods.

JACK NICKLAUS: I could use it all the time.

Q. Jack, two of the best three players in baseball are sons of former baseball players, Bonds and Griffey Jr. and there has never been a son of a golfer who has come up and done that. Do you have a theory on why that has dominated the game or even played at a very high point....

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I don't know that there hasn't been -- I think there's been a lot of pretty darn good players that have been sons. I guess you go back to Old Tom Morris, Young Tom Morris. You're getting a little far back to do that. But, I think the game sort of is a little bit more difficult. I think golf is probably as difficult a game as it is to play. And, you add the added pressure of what you're talking about, and I think it does make it more difficult for sons. I think Dave Stockton's son has done very well. I think Wayne Player had the opportunity to be a very, very good player. And, I really don't know what would have happened to Wayne. Wayne got off on tangent, but Wayne had an awful lot of talent. The I guess -- I don't know -- I'm sure there's some other father/sons. There's some coming along now that's pretty good players, too, the Floyd Boys are pretty good players. I think you're going to find more coming along in the future than you have in the past. I think the father could pass -- dad could pass along a few things to them. But, I think it's -- there's so -- golf is such a funny game. There's just -- so few guys get to the top that -- it's not like baseball where you've got -- you could be a home-run hitter or single hitter, double hitter, you could steal bases. You can do so many different things. Golf..... There's only one result; that's to win. And it's -- I think it's a difficult game to excel at.

Q. Jack, where do you stand on the streak? Are you going to be playing the British? Is there an entry in the mail?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I've entered the British. If you don't enter, you can't play. I haven't made up my mind what I'm going to do. More than likely I won't play. Although I always say that and if I'm playing well, then I'll probably go play. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to play in the British if I were playing well and I felt like I could compete. This week won't necessarily be the total thing because I have two more tournaments after this before I go to the British to make up my mind. But, I really -- I started hitting the ball a lot better just in the last three weeks or so, month, and I really started going from "I could care less whether I played at all" to "I'm really having fun playing again." That's what I've always said, I'll play as long as I can be competitive and fun. When you're having fun, you're usually competitive. So, we'll see.

Q. Jack, would you clarify your plans for the U.S. Open? You said this will probably be your last regular U.S. Open and the rest will be the sequence. What does that mean?

JACK NICKLAUS: USGA has been kind enough to get me five special exemptions. I said last year I didn't expect anymore after that. They gave me another one. I certainly won't turn the USGA down if they thought I could play. I would be delighted to play. But, I don't expect that. I think that's asking maybe too much of them, you know, to get an old man and ask him to keep on playing. I certainly would like to play again. I certainly would love to play in the year 2000. I'd like to go back to Pebble Beach. I'd like to go to St. Andrews in 2000. And, I think the PGA Championship is -- I know the PGA Championship is also on a golf course that I like, if I'm not mistaken. I would like to play those four. That would be what I last play. But, as far as sequence of playing, this will be my 150th major championship that I've been able to play, including my Opens and Masters as an amateur. 142, I guess, as a professional. Is that right, 142 as a professional. That's a pretty round number, I suppose, 150 and whether I play beyond that at the British, you know, I think that's -- I think I would rather end my streak of playing continuously by choice rather than by not being eligible to play. And, so if I choose not to play in the British, you know, that will be my choice. You know, I really would like to play, but, you know, I really don't want to clutter up the field if I can't compete. I just don't think that it's -- You've got young guys you pass the bat on. Gary is now qualified for the Open. I would match rather watch him play than play myself. So, it's -- that's sort of the way I feel. But, I -- but, obviously if I can beat and play, I'm going to compete and play.

Q. Gary, having caddied for your father in the past and the experiences of watching him under pressure, is that going to help you compete in this tournament, and after you've qualified, did you set any goals for yourself as far as how you would like to play in this one?

GARY NICKLAUS: As far as caddying goes, I haven't caddied enough for him to really -- I mean, I have caddied for him. I've seen how he plays golf and I've played a lot of golf with him and understand what goes through his mind just in regular playing. But, I've never -- the tournaments that I've caddied, he's never really been in the hunt. I guess I'm not a very good caddie or something. So I've never really seen him in pressure, how he reacts and what he does there. What was the rest?

Q. As far as after you qualified, did you set any goals for yourself?

GARY NICKLAUS: I've got some goals for myself. They're between me and myself and I. So.....

Q. Gary, I just want to know if you could expand a little bit on the difficulties that you've encountered in terms of living up to the Nicklaus name and just -- you talked about it a little bit before, but, specifically, what kind of things that you've gone through, trying to deal with that?

GARY NICKLAUS: It's nothing huge, just you go to a lot of places, you're in the spotlight. When I would play in high school, you know, state high school tournament or play in junior tournaments, amateur tournaments, if I would shoot 85 and I just wanted to go home, the press would want to see how I shot 85. Whether, you know, if I shot -- when I shot 65 or 85, I was always wanting to know why did you shoot this or why did you shoot that. And, I was never just -- I could never just do my own thing and do things the way I wanted to do. I always had to do things the right way and if I didn't, then people would say why aren't you doing them that way? It's not that big of a deal, but it was just something as a youngster -- it's something that you have to mature out of, I think.

Q. Jack --

JACK NICKLAUS: One of Gary's lines one time when he was playing and he says -- Barb and I went out and watched. He said, "I wonder how many guys are going to come out and watch my dad watch me today." That was kind of the flow that he had. Gary always had situations, as did Jackie, of being in that position of walking out there and people wanting to see what Nicklaus was going to do, what offspring was going to shoot. That had its advantages because it allowed Gary to get in some golf tournaments that he might not have gotten into, but it puts undue pressure on him as far as having to perform better. Or, you know, if he wanted to go kick a locker like a lot of kids would, he couldn't go kick a locker because he had to come back to his dad or mom. I understand that very much. When Gary was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he said, you know, Sports Illustrated did that story, they told me that was not a cover story, and was not intended to be a cover story. And, so that's why we did it. And when it turned out to be on the cover, we were all upset because Gary felt like he hadn't done anything to deserve to be on the cover of a major magazine. And, we didn't feel that that pressure was necessary. It put him away from golf for about two years. He didn't want to be around it. He said, you know, that's not fair, it wasn't fair to other people. So those are things that have happened and they continue to happen. But, you know, I suppose that goes with the territory. As he said earlier, he said I'm sure -- I hope he feels that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

GARY NICKLAUS: I was getting ready to follow that up. They -- you know, as much as there's advantages to both, and disadvantages to everything, and the advantages do far outweigh the disadvantages of being his son (indicating).

JACK NICKLAUS: Plus he's got a good mom. That's the best advantage he's got.

LES UNGER: Where is mom going to be tomorrow?

JACK NICKLAUS: Mom watched me and then she'll watch Gary. She's the only one that's going to go 36 tomorrow.

Q. Was there any consideration to having Nicklaus caddies for both?

JACK NICKLAUS: Yeah, actually Michael -- Gary was thinking about having Michael, but Michael is graduating Saturday from Georgia Tech, so he couldn't make it. He thinks he's graduating.

GARY NICKLAUS: We won't be sure until he gets that diploma.

Q. Jack, how important is the experience of being in contention in a major to win in one?

JACK NICKLAUS: How important is the experience? Well, I think you have to have that experience before you win one. You may have it in the same tournament. But it's a great experience. It's a really a learning experience to be there and be part of the whole thing coming down the stretch, and that's the fun of it. You know, people ask me how do you handle what you do? As a matter of fact, we talked about it out here the other day on the golf course. We said -- Jackie and Gary and I were talking, you know, what do you do when you come down the stretch. Well, to me it's what I've worked for. It's a position I try to get myself in. And, I turn around a lot of times, I'll take a deep breath and look around me, man, this is what I'm here for. This is what I'm trying to do. This is fun now, have fun and enjoy it. You know, that's generally how I try to handle it myself is to enjoy being in the pressure because that's the fun of it. And, that experience is what you're trying to do. If you don't want that experience, then you better go do something else because you can avoid that experience pretty easy. All you have to do is screw up 14 and 15, and you won't be in that experience. But to be able to sit there and be there and fight for it and scramble out of places and do things that -- and pull from inside you, that's the things that really are neat. I mean, I go back and look at some of the major championships that I won or maybe even I lost, and coming down the stretch, the things that I did to keep myself having the chance to win that golf tournament, sometimes I got beat. Sometimes somebody else beat themselves. There's something I did. Sometimes, something very unusual and beat somebody else and won it myself. But, more often, it was the excitement and fun of controlling yourself and being through that experience and saying, man, now this is neat. This is fun. This is what I'm here for.

LES UNGER: One or two more.

Q. Jack, when you won your Opens, won The Masters first couple of times and Arnold was winning, did you get a sense at the Open that there was more excitement because people were talking about the Grand Slam? Did you get any different sense or same feeling about this one with Tiger?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I think that I always felt when I came to the Open that if I hadn't won The Masters, I was, you know, I'm not -- I shouldn't say -- that's not correct -- many times I came and I had trouble with myself if I didn't win The Masters during the years when I expected myself to be in contention to try to have an opportunity to win The Masters, I had a hard time getting up for the U.S. Open. But the years that I did win The Masters and did come in here, then the excitement in me was even greater, because here I am having an opportunity - of course I only did it once in '72, won them both, I guess. I guess that's the only year I won them both. And the -- but you have that expectation of getting there. I'm sure that Tiger is going through that expectation at a very young age. Here's a very young, confident young man on a golf course that is really excellent for him. It's a great golf course for him. And I think that -- I think -- as a matter of fact, I think he'll do quite well here because of that. He's got that confidence, he's coming in here, expects to do well. He's no different than what I was. I expected to do well. And, I mean, he'll come off a 12-shot win at The Masters and winning beyond that tournament. He's got to be filled with confidence.

Q. When you didn't win, let's say Arnold won, and there was talk of it, did it fire you up the same way?

JACK NICKLAUS: When Arnold won what?

Q. Well, to be the guy to stop the Grand Slam.

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, Arnold only won --

Q. Twice.

JACK NICKLAUS: Let's see, the last major Arnold won was 1964, The Masters, and Venturi won the Open here that year. So I wasn't the guy that would have stopped that situation. Arnold won the first two in '60, did he not? Yeah, 1960. And went to St. Andrews and finished second, lost by a shot. I'm sure Arnold was filled with the same type of excitement and felt like he should win. But, the British Open at that time not many of the fellows went to the British Open. He made the trip to the British Open the same way that Hogan made the trip to the British Open or Steve made the trip to the British Open as an odd trip, just to be able to play in it. After 1962, everybody makes the trip to the British Open that feels like they have a chance to win the golf tournament. Did I answer your tournament question or not?

Q. I want to know about the guys that try to stop him, do they get up to --

JACK NICKLAUS: I don't think anybody pays attention to that. They're playing their own golf tournament. Nobody tries to stop anything. Good gracious, a guy might win one U.S. Open in his life, and he says, "Oh, boy, I stopped Tiger Woods." I don't -- he could give a rats if he stopped Tiger Woods or not. He wanted to win the U.S. Open and he won it, I mean, that was not his objective. You know, I'm sure Ken Venturi didn't think that he stopped Arnold Palmer, you know --

Q. Gary, what are two or three of the most important things that you learned from your dad?

GARY NICKLAUS: Well, I can't really point out any one or two things. It's just he's been my dad. He's tried to bring me up the right way from, you know, very young, and I just think that just learning and watching what he does and just learning from -- learning from his example is really the biggest thing that I've learned from him.

LES UNGER: We'll take this question and don't forget, ladies and gentlemen, the press party 6:30 next door.

Q. Gary, two parts. What would you consider today your greatest achievement in golf and No. 2, what are your memories of your dad playing in Opens, including the Baltusrol?

GARY NICKLAUS: Biggest achievement in golf would probably be this week right here. You know, I played in the Tour events and I've made a couple cuts, and I've played fairly decent in some European events. But, as far as qualifying for probably one of the best fields in the game of golf, and being a part of that field, has got to be the best thing.

Q. Your memories of your dad playing in the Open including Baltusrol?

GARY NICKLAUS: That is probably my biggest memory of my dad in Opens. I can remember I was in the pro shop at Frenchman's Creek which is at the golf course North Palm Beach sitting there watching him come down the last two holes make the putt at 17, make the putt at 18, then keeping the crowd off so that Isao could make his putt on the last hole. That would be the biggest memory that I have of watching him in Opens, and probably the biggest thrill, too.

LES UNGER: Thanks very much. Thank you.

End of FastScripts.....