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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 14, 2006

Jeff Sluman

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

KELLY ELBIN: Jeff Sluman, ladies and gentlemen, the 1988 PGA Champion, making his 21st appearance in the PGA Championship this week and also a resident of nearby Hinsdale, Illinois.

Jeff, some comments, please, on the golf course here at Medinah I'm sure you know very well.

JEFF SLUMAN: I played last week. The golf course is in terrific shape. It's a setup that doesn't really surprise anybody. You really need to drive the ball straight. But if you're going to miss it, maybe miss it by about ten yards, you might have a chance because the rough just off of the first cut is as bad as I've seen, and I don't think you're going to see many shots getting up on the green from that kind of rough.

You know, the golf course is very fair. I don't think it's playing as long as the yardage indicates. But it still has plenty of bite in it.

You know, there's not going to be any mystery who wins it this week. I mean, the best player, most probably this week, will probably win this thing.

Q. Outside of the additional length, in what way is the course playing differently that would be noticeable to the players and the fans than '99, and is it tougher than a normal PGA setup right now?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think if I answer backwards, I'd say it's just a normal PGA-type of setup. It's very, very fair but you know, with a great emphasis on driving the ball in the fairway.

Number two, I think the difference we're probably going to have, if I remember correctly, I thought it was pretty cold and wet, at least a couple of days, in '99. And if the weather holds up the way the forecast says right now, especially missing showers today, I think it's supposed to be pretty clear, at least through Friday if I looked at the Weather Channel correctly.

So I think you're going to see faster conditions. And of course, they moved the green up on 17 against the bulkhead, which I think playing in 1990 in the Open, I like that better than having that green kind of back up on that hill.

But those are probably really the only differences. I think there's some trees that have been cut down, but I don't think many people would really notice that.

Q. You said that it won't play as long as the yardage. The par 5s for the most part seem unreachable, maybe three of them. Does that bring more people into the field at all? Do the players with a wedge game have a better shot?

JEFF SLUMAN: It depends on the dozen guys that can reach them all. It really favours them obviously. You have to have two great shots to reach. You look at 7, that's very difficult, you might be able to get home, really, on 7 if the wind switched. But 10, you can possibly get home. Apparently, I was out here playing last week, a couple of caddies said Tiger came in and on 14 hit driver, 3 wood, 10, 15 feet. But let's face it; there's not that many guys that hit it like Tiger.

So, you know, over the course of four days, I don't think it could be a little different for those guys. But they have got to get up and execute two nearly perfect shots to get it up on the green on those holes.

Overall, the fifth hole is really the real reachable one for the majority of the field, and after that, there's only 10 to 15 guys that can get home on select par 5s.

Q. Is it possible anymore to have a course that's too long? Do you ever play a course you thought was too long?

JEFF SLUMAN: Every week (laughing).

You know, you just I think you guys place more of an emphasis on the length than we do. I don't look at opening a score card and say, oh, my God, it's 7,561. I look at the first hole and it's 434, and what do I have to do to hit it on the green, what's my best chance, is it going to be 3 wood off the tee or driver. So we don't really ever look at that total number. We're just figuring out each and every hole. Whatever it is, it is.

The curious part is that it still seems to me to be statistically pretty much a fact that the highest winning scores for the majority of the courses we play on Tour seem to be the shortest golf courses. So it's not necessarily length that makes the golf course difficult.

Q. I'm sure you've heard that Tiger and Phil are going to be playing together the first two days.

JEFF SLUMAN: Right.

Q. You had some insights into their relationship at the Presidents Cup; I think there was an epic ping pong game. Can you kind of recount that story?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, Tuesday we all went out obviously as a team on the bus, and we had a nice, I don't know, it looked like about a six , eight bedroom villa, and right in the middle where we walked in there was a table tennis table set up, and those two guys just jumped right on the table and started playing, before anybody even hit a golf shot on Tuesday morning. They were both sweating and it was three hard fought games, and I think Tiger was 2 1 on that. The whole team was just kind of watching and egging them on, both of them.

You know, it was very, very fun, and I think it set a great tone for the rest of the week, that these guys were going to be competing and wonderful teammates.

Q. How does the experience of playing in a major when it's this close to home compare to another year?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think if you look at my record, whenever I've gone home, I don't play very well. So for me, it hasn't been, as far as playing wonderful golf, it hasn't been very true for me when I'm close to home.

But still, all of that being said, it's nice to stay in your own home and sleep in your own bed. You know, it's, relatively speaking, a relaxing week. The majors are obviously much different than a regular PGA event with tickets and stuff like that. You know, there isn't 40 or 50 tickets to hand out in the neighborhood for the PGA. So most of my friends went out and got tickets on their own.

You know, it still boils down to getting out and hitting golf shots, and I've been out here long enough to know that the harder I try and the more you want something, usually that's the worst you play. And you want to play well in front of your home folks, so I just need to probably relax a little bit more and just enjoy the moment, and that will probably do me a world of good.

Q. Tiger has been out on Tour for ten years now. What changes have you seen on the Tour in the past ten years outside of just the monetary, and could you have imagined in 1996 that Tiger would have accomplished what he's accomplished in ten years?

JEFF SLUMAN: We were all hoping he was going to graduate school, really. After watching this guy play, you knew immediately that he had an ability that, frankly, no one had really seen on Tour.

You know, he's played, what, 196 tournaments and won 50 events or something like that, does that sound right? I mean, phenomenal numbers.

I think after probably the year 2000 when he you know, using the media quote, "the Tiger Slam," I don't think there's anything he would do that would surprise any of us out here; he's that good.

You know, I think the changes that he's brought besides the ability of the Commissioner to raise the purses is probably a physical fitness regime and a game plan that other guys are following. You see Phil has a definite plan for majors and stuff like that.

You know, there's been changes like that, and guys having their physical therapists with them every week and their swing coaches. It's really just kind of mushroomed out.

I guess, you know, that's a sincere form of flattery when you're trying to copy what he's doing just trying to get better. I think he's elevated everybody's play on Tour, but he's still the best player out here by far.

Q. Obviously all of the majors have their own peculiarities, their own distinctions. If you were going to talk about the PGA, what sets the PGA apart from the other three, and in what ways is it as good or better than the other three?

JEFF SLUMAN: I think the first thing is it's all professionals. I mean, it probably has the best field of all four majors. Although it is the last major, as we know, I like their advertising, what is it, "the last chance for glory." That really kind of says it all there.

You know, we're playing wonderful, old style golf courses again, which I think the players thoroughly enjoy.

Q. As a resident of the area, this will be the last major here until the Ryder Cup in 2012, and now The Western is going to be in the area only every other year. How do you feel about that as someone who lives in the area?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I can't wait for the Ryder Cup. I think it will be obviously that's probably the biggest event in golf I would say. So, I mean, Chicago will embrace it and it will be wildly successful. And hopefully not hopefully, everybody knows we'll have great golf and outstanding shots during the Ryder Cup.

But, you know, getting back to the Western Open, I think that one of the things that's lost on it is the fact that they, being the Western Open people, are trying to raise the most amount of money for Evans Scholarships, and this is going to enable them to do this. It's a bad thing for Chicago golf that the PGA TOUR is only here every other year, but it's a good thing for the Western Open and Evans Scholars. Probably their mission statement is let's see how much money we can raise, not how can we enrich the golf professionals. So I don't really think it's a bad thing in that regard.

You know, who knows how this is all going to work out. But certainly, you're going to have every other year here an unbelievable field for the Western Open, and, you know, whether anybody likes it or not here in Chicago, that's the reality is that's what's going to happen, and I don't really think it's one of those things that in the long run is going to make a whole lot of difference. You know, Chicago can support majors. There will probably be more majors around here. That's kind of it.

Q. You talked and said you like No. 17. Can you talk about the challenges of playing that hole, and how difficult will it be to play that hole if you have a one shot lead coming down the stretch on Sunday?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think any time in a major with a golf hole that is right there on the edge of a reward or a disaster, there's going to be a lot of tension.

Let me tell you, if you've got a one or a two shot lead coming down the stretch, obviously you've played great golf for 70 holes. I don't think the first thing that crosses your mind at that point is, am I going to duff this thing in the water. I mean, you probably haven't had an unsolid shot hardly all week. So I don't think it's going to be that big a deal.

But, I just think it's a better hole, and there is more certainly more risk reward on it. But you know, I just liked it there bet better in 1990; I thought it brought a little more drama into the fold. In '90, I think we played it even shorter than it is now; is that right? I swear I remember hitting like 8 irons and almost 9 irons in there.

But I didn't play the back nine. It's probably going to be 5 iron, 6 iron, something like that, which is perfect distance for that hole.

I would imagine the pin is going to be cut on that back right on Sunday. You're going to have to hit a very, very solidly struck shot to have a chance for a birdie on that hole. It might not be extremely difficult to par it, but to make birdie, you're going to have to hit a great shot, which is, you know, what major championships are all about.

Q. Would you talk about how you prepare for a major championship in terms of coming in early or doing things specifically for this tournament, and has that changed over the last few years?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think everybody's got their own idea of how they want to prepare. Some guys like to play the week before and just kind of walk in on a roll. Other guys like to go home and practice. More and more guys are now visiting the sites a couple of times when they are nearby at other tournaments.

This is the first week I can honestly remember in my career that I didn't play either the week before, and I was actually in that city. I took last week off. I'm home. I came here two days and spent all day over here, you know, got a pretty good feel for the golf course. Now I'm just kind of trying to fine tune that a little. So this is the first time I've kind of changed my routine. And mostly for me, I've always played kind of right up the week before and play into the majors.

You know, we'll see if it hopefully it works out a little better for me.

Q. One more on setup, if you please. Could you compare how Kerry Haigh sets up courses to what Mike Davis and Tom Meeks have done with the USGA, and is there a danger of the PGA going over the top and setting things up out of control?

JEFF SLUMAN: That's hard to say. I will say that this year, the U.S. Open, I can't remember anybody, any players complaining about the setup, and 5 over wins the golf tournament.

Now, you could have probably taken a poll at the beginning of the year and said, could a Tour event win at 5 over and nobody would complain about the setup, and you guys would all laugh and say these guys would have been screaming and yelling.

You know, Mike Davis did an unbelievable job with the setup at Winged Foot. It was as good and as fair as I'd ever seen a U.S. Open. Tom Meeks I think had a little different criteria for setting golf courses up at times. Not that he ever did a bad job, certainly, but he had just a little different criteria in his mind than Mike.

Now, Kerry Haigh I think has been fantastic on his setups, and if you go out on the golf course today, I was just playing with Davis and Chris DiMarco, and it's their first time on the course and they said it looks just perfect out there, the way it should be. You know you're doing something right when everybody says the golf course is very fair and very difficult.

It's a tough balancing act. Sometimes when you get that, maybe the weather doesn't cooperate and maybe things get a little out of hand. I don't see that happening here.

Q. Can you talk about your year and maybe what led up to this change in routine, like you said, these last couple weeks for you?

JEFF SLUMAN: The change in routine was just basically scheduling for me. I don't play The International, and you know, I was, like I said, lucky enough to have the tournament here. But I've been playing well lately, just driving the ball better.

My whole game will live or die with my driver. If I drive it in the fairway, especially in tournaments where it's very penal off the fairway, I'm going to have a pretty good tournament usually and probably a chance, more chances to win under those conditions than, you know, no rough and 28 under winning.

So that's really kind of where it's been for me. I played good at Doral and the rough was up; you had to drive it straight there. And at Westchester, then at U.S. Open and Milwaukee usually has rough like this; you've got to drive it real straight. That's a club that really means more to my chance of winning than anything is my driver. So if I drive it good, my irons are pretty solid, I'm not going to get in too much trouble.

Q. I wanted to harken back to Winged Foot for a second. You liked the tiered rough concept; that worked to your benefit?

JEFF SLUMAN: I didn't hit it in the rough very often. I don't think I ever actually got it one time into the primary rough at Winged Foot. I might have hit it in a couple of times into that first wave off of the very short tri plex cut, the initial it was like three waves. But I just drove it so good all week, I didn't have too much of an issue with too many errant shots going into that extremely brutal rough, really. I don't remember seeing many shots get on the green from there.

I thought that second cut was very fair. It slowed the ball down. So if you drove it into the primary, I mean, you had to really, really drive it off line pretty badly.

You know, you could catch a lie and knock it on the green, or you could be dead. It was a little bit of, you know, luck involved, but that's all right because you've hit a poor tee shot anyways at that point.

Q. For the guy who misses the fairway by four yards here, is there more rough or less rough than at the U.S. Open?

JEFF SLUMAN: Four yards?

Q. Three or four yards.

JEFF SLUMAN: For the guy that misses it by six inches, there's more rough here than the U.S. Open, the very first. There isn't that intermediate cut. So it goes one tri plex cut like this, and then it goes right into the thick stuff. So it's much more penal just off the first tri plex cut than the U.S. Open, much more. The first six to ten yards off of that is brutal.

I mean, if you blow it into the trees, you've got tree problems, but you're in pretty thin rough over there because they just can't grow it underneath all those trees. That's probably what Winged Foot did. They took down a lot of trees so you had wider areas for the crowd to walk and they were able to grow the rough because the trees were gone.

Q. Is this more like a U.S. Open than a U.S. Open?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, they have had a lot of Opens here. It's just a great golf course. I mean, you'd better not mess around a couple yards off the fairway here. I guess if you're going to hit one wild, just hit it way wild.

KELLY ELBIN: Jeff Sluman, thanks for coming in and joining us.

End of FastScripts.

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