FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 15, 2000

Dana Quigley

DANA QUIGLEY: My overall play has been just really, really strong. I'm still driving it really well. I played a real, real great round of golf today. I came up with 67, but it wasn't probably as high as it might have been. It was really good. I hit a lot of iron shots close that I didn't convert, but all in all, I am just ecstatic about the way I'm playing golf.

DANA QUIGLEY: I think it was a little winder out there, I'm not sure. Again, I don't feel a lot of the wind when I'm playing golf it. Doesn't really affect me that much, but I heard a couple guys say it was windier out there. So all in all, the wind has been the same direction every day; so it hasn't really fooled us at all. And again, I didn't take advantage of the par 5's today, but they are still all downwind. I don't know, I think the wind is enough to really change the outcome of the golf tournament. It's going to be whoever plays real well tomorrow. It's going to be hard to catch Tom Kite, for myself and the rest of the field, who is at least five, it's going to be -- I mean, you're going to need a lot of Tom for someone to catch him. I might be able to catch him, might be able to outplay him or out-putt him tomorrow, but the rest of the field, the way his golf is, he's going to be tough to catch, no doubt about it. Started out, hit driver, 7-iron on No. 2, and hit it to about 10 feet to the right of the hole and made that. Didn't get up-and-down on the fringe on 3 for birdie; so I made par there. 4, I hit 5-iron the pin was way back in the left corner, 212 to the hole. I hit 5-iron maybe 10 feet just short of the hole and made that. Hit it really close on the next hole and missed it. 7, I hit in the right green-side bunker, you know, not a particularly hard up-and-down. I didn't do that. I hit it about eight feet by and hit a great putt that didn't go in. 8, I hit it about six or eight feet behind the hole and didn't make it. And then 9 I hit driver, 6-iron about I think five or six feet right of the hole and made it. So made the turn at 3-under. Birdied 11. I hit driver, 9-iron on 11 about four feet, right under the hole; made it. 13, I didn't birdie. I hit it right in front in two and didn't get up-and-down. 14, didn't birdie. 15, I hit a really nice 6-iron about 10 or 12 felt in front of the hole and did not make it. And 17 is the other birdie. I hit driver nicely down will just short of the water and hit 7-wood. I think we had two -- I think we had 210 maybe over the water. I hit 7-wood on the green and 2-putted it for birdie, and that was basically it. The 2-putt was probably 35 feet. That was just up over the top of the ridge and it was down in front.

DANA QUIGLEY: I didn't get at all involved in playing against Tom. He's one of the finest gentlemen we have in the game of golf, and it's just a pleasure to be out there with him. And I never really ever tried to match shots with him. He was playing well. I knew he was playing well, and I just was kind of pretty much into trying to get on the greens here and give myself a chance for birdie, but never really felt any kind of head-to-head competition at all.

DANA QUIGLEY: I think it does. Hugh got off to kind of a rough start, and he's been a friend of mine for a long time, and it really would have been better if all three of us had were really -- but Hugh was sputtering a bit, but Tom just played so perfectly. Again, I can't reiterate enough that I'm not trying to match Tom Kite. If I thought of it that way, if I went to bed thinking about I had to beat Tom Kite to win this championship, I probably wouldn't sleep a whole lot. I'm just going to treat him as another 50-year-old that's trying to win a golf tournament. He's going to be more worried about me than I am of him, I'm sure. We're not going to get into a one-on-one deal with Tom Kite. I think I'll lose the mental battle there if I thought of it that way.

DANA QUIGLEY: It's going to be hard to avoid?

DANA QUIGLEY: I don't think for me it's going to be. It might be for a lot of players. I'm not really going to go out tomorrow and try to beat Tom Kite. You know, I've said this a million times: There's more than one place in a golf tournament. It's nice to win, and it's nice to finish second, and it's nice to go to bed with a feeling that you've get given it your best try, and I'm going to do that tomorrow. And if Tom beats me, God bless him. And if he doesn't, if I beat him, it will be a major -- it will be definitely a major upset, you know, if you want to look at it that way. But that's why I'm not going to try to beat Tom Kite tomorrow. If I can hit it the same way I hit it today, tomorrow, man, he's going to be in trouble.

DANA QUIGLEY: It's really not -- this isn't words coming out. This is how I truly feel. I'm not blowing smoke, believe me, when I tell you, this is coming from my heart. I think Phil can testify to the fact that I usually speak from my heart and this is truly how I feel right now about this. I have been so blessed and so fortunate to be put in -- to be put in final groups and to play against these great champions out here. I had a great duel with Watson a month and a half ago in Kansas City, and for me to have these opportunities; last week I played in the final round on Sunday. Man, this is more than I could have ever dreamed of, and I'm enjoying it. I'm not going to go in there tomorrow and not have a good time, because I'm playing the game I love. I'm doing what I want, and I'm just going to have fun. I'm really, truly, going to enjoy it whether I play great or not. But my focus will be on playing great, and if I can play tomorrow like I played today that will be good.

DANA QUIGLEY: 25 years ago, I looked at pairings in the morning and I was scared to death. I've come a long way, believe me. It's not -- you know, it's just getting older and maturing and not worrying too much. I've achieved way more than I ever dreamed I could; so I'm really, really happy.

DANA QUIGLEY: It was great. It was something that I never even dreamed I could do. It gave me a little feeling that maybe I'm a little bit better than I think I am. I'd rather be better than I think I am than not as good as I think I am. So, you know, I tend to downplay my skills and stuff, but when it -- when push comes to shove, when I'm out there in competition, I'm as tough as anyone out there.

DANA QUIGLEY: I'm playing -- probably the whole total game I probably am playing -- but I really don't feel like I'm -- I used to think that you had to hit all perfect golf shots to play well, and you don't. You just, you know, you get away with some shots here and there, and I probably learned to score better than I ever did in my life. But, you know, again, every day I wake up and I'm in this company that I'm in, and it's just such a -- just such a perk to what I've ever done in my life. I just consider it just all the whipped cream on the dessert, believe me.