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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 29, 2005

Loren Roberts

KETTERING, OHIO

RAND JERRIS: We're now joined by Loren Roberts, the co leader for the championship, a 4 under 67 for today, 133 for the championship, which ties the Senior Open record for low 36 hole score.

Could you start us off with some general comments about the playing conditions out there today as compared to yesterday.

LOREN ROBERTS: The playing conditions today were almost identical to what they were yesterday. The greens are still really holding. The condition of the golf course is absolutely magnificent. There's a lot of room to hit it off the tee, and with the greens holding like that, you can really put a low score up.

Obviously Tom played really well today. Everybody in our group played well today. At 4 under I think I was high score in the group, and I think every one of us left some shots out there.

I think 10 under will be in the lead today. I think that will be the number.

RAND JERRIS: Could you walk us through the birdies and bogeys on your card.

LOREN ROBERTS: I started out, birdied the 10th hole my first hole, got up and down out of the front bunker for birdie there.

Then I plugged it in the face of the bunker on 13 and I didn't get it up and down and made bogey.

18, I hit a good tee shot, hit a 5 iron in there probably 15 feet from the hole, made that for birdie, made the turn at 1 under.

Then birdied No. 3 probably from about six feet and birdie

Q. What did you hit into 3?

LOREN ROBERTS: 3, I hit a 3 wood off the tee and I hit 7 iron.

Then I hit a 4 wood off the 3rd tee and hit an 8 iron to about three feet for birdie there.

Then 6, laid up on the second shot to 105 yards, hit a wedge to about three feet there for birdie.

Q. How long was the putt on 10?

LOREN ROBERTS: The putt on 10, it was probably about an eight footer, something like that.

Q. The length of some of these putts was next to nothing. Did you learn anything about the greens the last couple of days that enabled you to get closer to the pins today?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I didn't make a whole lot of longer putts today. Most of my putts were in the short range when I hit a good shot. The greens are holding so well that you can hit a 3 or 4 iron in there, on a couple of longer holes I might have to, but even par 5s, you can reach the par 5s.

Really those are the holes you're hitting any kind of a long iron to will probably be the par 5s. With the greens holding the way they are, you can attack the flags, go after them.

Q. You said you laid up on 6, was it?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah.

Q. And was that because you didn't hit the kind of drive you wanted, or is that a new strategy?

LOREN ROBERTS: No, I didn't quite catch one off that tee today. The wind was in a little bit out of the left. I think I had 235 to the front edge and I figured that was probably the best I could do into the greens would be to get it up on the bank. I didn't want to go in the bunker because it was a tight pin. So I laid it back a little bit to get it close, and it paid off.

Q. Generally you think unless conditions change greatly, people are going to be going after those in two, all of the 5s?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, all of the 5s are reachable.

Q. Your first Senior Open you've tied the all time 36 hole scoring record. How does that feel?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, so has Tom Watson. What can I say? It feels great. I played really solid the last two days. But the key is that I've driven the ball well. Anybody who's put a low score up has driven the ball in the fairway.

The golf course is just really a fair golf course. You hit good shots, you're going to have a birdie putt because you can go at the flag.

Q. On Wednesday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it didn't sound like this course would start yielding the numbers that it's yielding. What's the defense of this course? What do they have to do to make this course play harder?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I think on the weekend, they had some pretty severe greens if you get near the edges here, and I think I would guess that they would slide these pins in closer to the edges, especially some of the back areas of the greens where they have huge slopes, where if you short side yourself you've got no chance. But really, if it continues to stay as soft as it is, I don't really think they can hide the pins unless they really put them on some kind of humps or severe side slopes, and I don't think they would do that.

Q. On another thought, could you assess, through I guess six rounds now, your Senior career?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I'll tell you, I'm enjoying myself. I'm having a great time. You know, there's a little difference in the stress level of playing golf on the Champions Tour versus the regular Tour. Just everybody that's on the Champions Tour has basically had a good career or made it, and they're enjoying playing golf, and I think for me, that's what I want to do is come out and enjoy playing golf. I think obviously when you have that kind of attitude, you end up playing better.

Q. I'm not sure if you've had a chance to play the course before it rained Tuesday, but can you hazard a guess on what the scores would be like now if it had not rained?

LOREN ROBERTS: I played nine holes I didn't get here until Tuesday afternoon. I played nine holes, and they were firmer. They were basically a one hop, but they were stopping. They were one hopping and stopping. You know, I just possibly think that the scores may have been about the same because the fairways were running a lot faster, too, so you were getting the ball closer to the green. Really, the two par 5s on the front side, golly, I hit 2 irons to both of them and really didn't hit that good of drives because the fairways were running so fast. So it's added a little extra length from the rain, but it's also made the golf course soft.

I would have thought that there wouldn't have been that much difference to be honest with you.

Q. You had stretches on the regular Tour where you'd light it up and shoot low numbers. Is there a key for you when that happens? Obviously it seems like you always putt well. Is it something in your long game, whether it's driving the ball that happens on a week like this, and is there anything specific in your game that came together swing wise that led to this stretch of good play?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I've been struggling a little bit this year after the West Coast, having the ball go two different directions. You can't play when you have the ball going both directions. You have to be able to block out one side of the golf course. Right now my deal is that I can block out the left side of the golf course when I play good. That's what I'm kind of doing right now. I've got the left side of the golf course blocked out, and when you can do that, it doesn't matter if you're slicing or fading, it's going the right direction. That's what you've got to do to play good golf.

RAND JERRIS: Loren, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

LOREN ROBERTS: Sure. Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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