U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 25, 2003

Tom Walker

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to be joined in the interview area by Tom Walker who is golf course superintendent here at Inverness. Tom, maybe you can walk us through the last few weeks of your life, what's it's been like in this final push to the Senior Open.

TOM WALKER: Well, the golf course, we try to maintain the golf course in championship conditions as much as we can and keep a championship golf course a majority of the time. Most of my efforts pre-championship are dealing with the infrastructure issues and trying to get the hospitality and things like that going.

From a course perspective we brought the rough up a little bit and we firmed up the greens a little bit and increased the green speed slightly.

RAND JERRIS: Last major championship, the PGA back in '93, what major changes have been made in the course set-up since that time?

TOM WALKER: Well, the PGA at the time requested putting green speeds of ten feet to 106 which is basically what they requested and as an agent of the club I just try to prepare the course the way the championship is set up.

RAND JERRIS: What are our green speeds running this week?

TOM WALKER: Right now we are in the mid to upper 12s. I'm working with the USGA on a daily basis and -- practically an hourly basis making sure the course meets the specifications that they expect.

RAND JERRIS: Some questions out here?

Q. Can you give us the normal rundown on grass heights, rough, what you are mowing the greens to and that type of thing?

TOM WALKER: Well, right now we are maintaining the rough at three-and-a-half inches so we anticipate mowing this evening. I have had indications that we will mow but I haven't had the final go-ahead to mow rough. The putting greens are being mowed at roughly an eighth of an inch; .1 to .125; not exceptionally low. That's what I maintain them at on a day-to-day basis. We try to keep things on a championship level.

Q. If you do mow the rough at all tonight will that decrease? Are you going to mow it lower?

TOM WALKER: Well, I think what we'll do, we will mow at this same height we have been mowing all along. We will mow obviously some grass off the top and we will stand the rough up and just try to clean it up.

Q. As far as green speeds go a lot of the players I talk to this week have said in so many words that they aren't fair; does that kind of determine whether you can slow them down at all and what can you do to slow them down if you have to?

TOM WALKER: Well, to answer the fairness question I am working with the USGA and Tom Meeks specifically, and he and I are looking at that the greens. When I go out and stimp greens I turn my stimp meter on, and I putt toward different spots. I lag a ball short of my target. I roll it by one or two feet; if can I stop it I think that's pretty darn fair. I will admit I know the greens as well as anyone. I am not having any trouble putting the ball where I want to put it.

RAND JERRIS: We had some of the top players in the history of the game in here: Tom Kite, Arnold Palmer, greatly praising the golf course. As a golf course professional what does it mean to you to have great players speaking so highly of your golf course and here for a championship.

TOM WALKER: The thing that makes Inverness great is the membership and the support of the membership and my staff. I think it is very rewarding to me and my staff to get praise and I would like to recognize how hard they work. At times it's a thankless effort for my staff but I truly appreciate it.

Q. There may be nobody who keeps there eye on the radar more than you do. We have heard conflicting reports the next couple of days; what are you seeing and hearing?

TOM WALKER: Basically what I am doing is I am leaning towards voodoo and other sciences at this point to keep the rain away. The reality is I see the storm coming up from the southwest, and it's moving from a west to east pattern and I joke around and call it the "Inverdome," because storms moving in that pattern split at the lake and I am hoping that even if strong storms come through I'm hoping the strong cells miss us and that typically happens. I'll probably jinx myself by stating that but at any rate I'm pretty confident that you know, most of the heavy stuff is going to miss us.

RAND JERRIS: How does this golf course handle a heavy rain; does it tend to drain well.

TOM WALKER: We have exceptional drainage we put in nearly 25 miles of drain pipe during the last 10 years. Most of the greens drain very well. They are sand tees. The greens are soil in nature. But we work real hard at improving the drainage and percolation on the greens. The unfortunate thing that's going to happen with the rain is that the top part of the greens will hold moisture and the players will be able to throw darts if we do get them moist.

RAND JERRIS: Tom, thanks very much for your time.

TOM WALKER: Thank you.

End of FastScripts....