INGERSOLL-RAND SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 4, 1999

Bruce Fleisher

BRUCE FLEISHER: Not bad.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Well, I like the Dunes. I liked it after yesterday. I played very well in the Pro-Am. Actually, I think I played better yesterday but that's par for the course. Golf course is playing very long. The ball doesn't seem to be carrying very far. But my putter was very friendly for me today. I hiccupped twice where I hit two pretty good putts and missed them. But then again I made a couple of no-brainers; so, it evens out. It usually does. If you just kind of hang in there, but it was a pretty good day. I don't think I -- I don't think I hit too many bad shots. I hit a bad shot, but I didn't have to look at a scorecard where I saved par on the back side. I think it was 14, I hit a poor 3-iron there and I got away with par. From about eight feet. I saved the par. So I think that was a big turning point because then I birdied the next two holes. And it was a pretty solid round of golf.

BRUCE FLEISHER: 4th hole, par 5. (Laughs). How long was that putt? I forget. I don't think it was very long putt, though. (Laughter.) I ate late last night and I didn't sleep very well. Anybody follow today?

BRUCE FLEISHER: I drove it pretty good. I hit a pretty good second shot. Isn't that amazing?

BRUCE FLEISHER: You knew that. It was a 5-footer and it was a pretty easy putt. And then I think I hit a pretty good, the next hole I bogeyed it.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Parred the par 3, right. I had a good chance to make birdie there, too. Now I remember that hole. On 7 I hit a 4-iron. I hit a pretty good chip shot about five feet and it kept rolling. It lipped out. Then I birdied 8. Was 8 a par 5, too? What did I do there?

BRUCE FLEISHER: Isn't that horrible? That's a terrible thing. I remember 9. I 3-putted 9. Why can't I remember 8? It was a pretty solid hole,8. I'm sorry. You know what, today was a -- I went out there kind of lethargic. I said this week, as wonderful as it may be to win, and I'm trying as hard as I can, it's sort of anticlimactic. The strain of the last few weeks of trying to, you know, be the leading money winner, it may have just taken it's toll, because hell, I can't remember the 8th hole, you know. And then on the back nine, it seemed -- the putts start the falling started falling. 10 I hit a good drive, 9 air to about eight feet it was a good putt. 11, actually hit a wonderful putt on 11, but I didn't make it. I birdied 12 and 13. 12 was -- that's a par 3, isn't it? I hit a 5-iron to about 12 feet and made that. 13, I hit a pitching wedge to about eight feet and made that. Then I saved par on 14, like I said earlier. 15, I birdied 15 and 16 from -- 15 I hit a weak sand wedge up there to about 18 feet and made that. Irwin kind of didn't like that. He had the same line I had. He wasn't too happy. The next hole, I -- kind of pushed a 7-iron to about 20 feet and made that. It was a pretty -- pretty interesting putting round, I've got to tell you. It surprised me.

BRUCE FLEISHER: You know what, I almost made both. They were pretty long putts, though. 17, 6-iron to about 20 feet and just left it on the right edge. I had a chance on 18. Of course, 18 you're just trying to finish. But I hit a 4-wood up to about 30 feet and almost made that. So I was pretty happy with four on 18.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Well, I never saw the hole before; so I don't have any -- I think -- I think you need a hole like that. If you need par to win, or let's say if a guy is leading and you're one behind, you really want to be able to play that hole, or make him play that hole to make par to win. It's -- hopefully, if it will come down to that, it will be an exciting hole. It will be an exciting finish. You make par there, I think you're playing a pretty good hole.

BRUCE FLEISHER: But you're going to ask me it.

BRUCE FLEISHER: I think you said it right there. I think the level of competition obviously is different. I mean, certainly the way the field that you -- you don't have 156 players, No. 1. I think maybe a lot of the golf courses suit my type of golf course. I'm not -- I'm certainly not long anymore. I can keep the ball in play for all intents and purposes. And you don't have the intimidation factor that mentally that other TOUR seems to bring out. And I can't explain why or how.

BRUCE FLEISHER: You know what, when you're trying to win and you're thrown in those last two or three groups, there's nobody out there wanting you to win. Those other players -- yeah, the atmosphere obviously is a lot -- a lot less volatile, so to speak. You still have your guys that want it bad, you know. I don't think the fellows that have really made it big have the fire like they probably did years ago. I think they would admit it. I probably don't have to name the names. But The SENIOR TOUR, again, and Phil, we're preached to say this and I truly believe this, is not necessarily about winning. You certainly need a winner and you need a leader. That's just the way it is. However, it's a chance for the spectators to come out to see the Palmers and the Trevinos and the players and the Nicklaus's, maybe not this week because they are not here, but it's still a place for the baby boomers to relate to. And now, you have guys like myself and Allen Doyle that, you know, look at it as a big opportunity for, you know, success later on in your career. I don't know if that answers your question.

BRUCE FLEISHER: I'm embarrassed to say I didn't. It was interesting. About three years ago, I got a chance to work with Bob Rotella, you're familiar with Bob Rotella. Great guy. I don't know if you know his routine. But he lives up there somewhere in West Virginia, Charlottesville. He takes you down in the basement and sits you down on the couch. He's got a little cup there on the carpet. You start talking and he says, well, "What's your goals?." I said: Well I want to be the best wedge player I want to be inside 100 yards and get ready for the Senior TOUR, which was about three years away. And he looked at me very disappointed. He said, You know what, I don't like that goal. I said Bob you have to be realistic, I'm 47 going on 48 playing to play against Tiger Woods and the arithmetic -- he couldn't really understand where he was coming from, and I couldn't understand where he was coming from. But I really had no goals. But I will say this, and I've said this before: The qualifying school is big. It's a big lift because I saw what was out there, or at least at that level, qualifying school. I had played in a couple events where there were Senior TOUR players and I was able to -- what I thought, control them at that time. So that was a big lift.

BRUCE FLEISHER: No.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Yeah, that one time. You know what, I think if I was to start over again, if I was, you know in my 20s and out of college, I think you need those guys today. I think the competition is so fierce, you know, where one shot is so important today, you need -- you need to be strong mentally or you're not going to make it. Because you get beat up so fast and so easy out here.

BRUCE FLEISHER: I think it was very big. You know, going back to your question, I said this earlier, Roger Kennedy who had been out here a few years ago, said to me: Bruce, be ready for Key Biscayne because these guys have been on vacation, and they are not -- they are not ready. They are not ready for Key Biscayne because they have been eating. They have been -- whatever they do during the holidays. Get ready because if you play well, you've got a chance to win it. And he was right on. Because most guys go into Key Biscayne kind of, you know, getting their feet wet. It's the start of the year. They are not really so gung ho. It was a big uplift.

BRUCE FLEISHER: It's beautiful. I love it. It's just unexplainable. I wish I could just sit here and part myself on the back every time I tee off with Hale Irwin, to me, to be -- to have the same breath, you know, the same sentence with his name is -- you've just got to smile. He's's a man who has been so successful his whole life, and to be even spoken in the same manner, you know, it's wonderful, wonderful.

BRUCE FLEISHER: I can't get rid of Allen. He's like -- he's like a bad dream, you know. He's just always there. And he's going to be there on Sunday, too, I'm going to tell you. Listen, Allen and I talked today and we were going to sing God bless America on ESPN, you know. We just have to smile and be thankful because I remember at the qualifying school playing that last hole, we couldn't finish fast enough. And it was a wonderful moment of time, and this has certainly put the icing on the cake this year for both of us. You know, always teeing off with Hale, you get up for that, no matter what.

BRUCE FLEISHER: No, I don't think so. I think, again, you know, if you don't talk about the rookies, per se, these guys are seasoned; they have all won, Floyd, the Irwins, I would have to say maybe a little more respect, and attitude and comments. I was reading what Dick wrote yesterday, and I think Floyd was correct, you know. Floyd never measured -- he says everyone is equal and he never measured anybody by their success. How did he put it?

BRUCE FLEISHER: But it was interesting because I've always kind of been intimidated with Raymond. Here's a guy that's won Opens and Masters.

BRUCE FLEISHER: I can imagine. But it was like any particular key player, whether it's Watson or Raymond, these guys move onto a different level. When I was on TOUR, I was a journeyman, I survived and made a living. You don't hear people like that. Where Watson and the Floyd's, these guys get all the corporate stuff. They get all the invites. They get up and talk. They get involved in business. They get involved in corporate work where I, hopefully I get invited to a Pro-Am to make an extra $1,000. So they actually grew where some of us didn't really grow. We still -- still had golf to rely onto make a living where they didn't really have golf to rely on.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Absolutely. But again getting back to Raymond, Raymond has actually talked to me the last few weeks. Not that he snubbed me, but I liked that. I mean, "Bruce, good playing." I like that.

BRUCE FLEISHER: (Laughter.) That I'm not sure about. I've heard about that. I've got to tell you a story. Playing with Raymond at Hilton Head about five years ago and we are both in there to make a good check on Sunday and he just makes double on like 14. She's here, she's there. And we've got about 2- or 3,000 people watching us and he goes over -- this guy has just won door all -- he's just won over a half million dollars in the last two or three weeks. She says -- you're throwing our money away. How could you flow our money away like that? He takes his arm and putts it around her and says: Honey, I didn't mean to make double-bogey and I said, I can't believe I'm listening to this. (Laughter.). That was funny. I didn't mean to make double-bogey.

BRUCE FLEISHER: The 8th would mean a lot. Not really. No. I think every one is an independent. Every one is a fight and a struggle among yourself. They are all beautiful. They are all beautiful.

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