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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 25, 2006

Gil Morgan

EDMOND, OKLAHOMA

KELLY ELBIN: Gil Morgan, ladies and gentlemen, in with a 5 under par round of 66 today. The club house leader. Gil, it looks like local knowledge paid off today.

GIL MORGAN: Well, thank you. Well, it was kind of nice to be out here and in here, obviously, it means you're in pretty good shape, for one thing. But all in all I just, getting started this afternoon I felt really I felt a little apprehensive. I wasn't really sure, because I played my practice rounds and of course the wind was blowing a little bit and didn't play as well as I would like to at that point in time. I had been playing at a pretty high level it seemed like the week before, I had been practicing a little bit on the golf course and it was a situation where I felt like I was playing really well.

Then come the first of the week, it was kind of like 180 degrees away. So starting out today I was somewhat apprehensive with my start. But I hit a good drive on 10. Made a birdie first hole. That kind of eased things up a little bit. And from there I was able to play pretty well today. I made I think I only made one real, made one bogey. I made a couple mistakes and recovered from both of those.

Other than that, and I made six birdies, I believe, today. So all in all it was a pretty good round.

KELLY ELBIN: Questions?

Q. Great round. Did it help at all to have Peter playing so well alongside you in the same group?

GIL MORGAN: Well, that's always the case, I think. It's great to be able to play with great players and when they play well, it kind of spurs you or and inspires you to play better. And I think that my start, he was a little, we were kind of in and out there at the first and then I got a little bit ahead as far as score is concerned. And then he made a real good recovery coming down the stretch, really.

So it was kind of back and forth coming down the back nine, which was the front today.

Q. What was worse when you're playing out there, the heat or the wind?

GIL MORGAN: Well, I think the wind for me. I would rather play in heat than I would wind. It was pretty hot today, I don't know how hot it got, but it was pretty, seemed very humid out there too, which in the practice rounds it was a little bit warm, but it wasn't very humid, it didn't seem like. And then we had a flip in the humidity level today. But all in all for me, I would rather play in heat than I would play in a lot of wind. Which maybe detrimental coming up here, from what I'm hearing.

Q. You obviously get to play in not very much wind today, tomorrow it will be in the morning, probably have the same case there, how much of an advantage is that going to be?

GIL MORGAN: Well, I think that's a big advantage. I think that overall today it was pretty level for everybody. I think that maybe tomorrow early might be a little bit of an advantage, at least going into the weekend.

Q. By the way, Gil, it was 99 today, new record high, the old record is 93.

GIL MORGAN: 93? That's a big change.

Q. The other day you said that you typically don't play this course all that often and even when you do, you don't play it sometimes don't play it that well. But you sure did today. Is this one of the better rounds you've played here at Oak Tree?

GIL MORGAN: Well, thank you. Actually, it's the best round I've ever played here. In competition at least. So it was seemed like a good time to have it though at the same time. So thank you.

Q. As you left the course today, one of the gentlemen in the cart in the blue shirt one of the Oak Tree members said to you, he said, I told you so. What do you think he meant by that?

GIL MORGAN: Golly, that's a tough question. I don't know. I think that overall they just are pulling for me in the event and hoping that I would I've been playing halfway decent this year and obviously encouraging me to play at the highest level I possibly can.

So all those comments are always very appreciative, you know, to have the hometown crowd pulling for you is obviously a plus. No matter where you go. Kind of the home court advantage or home state advantage, that type of thing, so it's always great to have the fans and friends and stuff kind of rooting you on.

Q. Until the practice rounds this week, when was the last time you played a full round out here?

GIL MORGAN: Actually the last time I played 18 holes here was at the end of October.

Q. Including the practice rounds?

GIL MORGAN: Yeah. I didn't play, I never did play 18 holes even this week. I played nine holes on, I played about, let's see, I played about 12 holes on Monday. We played a charity event early in the morning and by the time I got through playing, I played 1, 2, let's see, what was it? 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18 on Monday. Then Tuesday I played nine holes and then Wednesday I played nine holes. And that's the extent of my practice this week. Of course I felt like I had played all last week, I played about three or four times I played nine holes, so I just didn't really want to, after Monday I was pretty zonked that play day. I played 18 holes earlier in the morning and that was in a charity outing and then all that stuff. By the time I got in Monday night I was really zonked. And that may have contributed a little bit to my erratic play, because I had been a little bit over doing it the first part of the week. So I thought, well, I'll just play nine holes and then hopefully get off, see if I can get off to a good start and then obviously we did today.

Q. Obviously Peter had a very good round too, but he has had trouble, hip and knee trouble. To your eye, was, did he seem like he was in distress at all or did it seem like normal?

GIL MORGAN: Yes, I think that he's in need of the doctor's been telling him he needs a hip transplant now, hip surgery. And he's got a bad knee on top of that. And he told me that the doctor, they went in and they said, no use doing any more MRI's, because they said it's bone on bone. There is nothing there, no more surgeries will help new that regard. So I think that Peter's done really a very good job for the physical condition that his body is in at this point in time. He plays pretty well. He putted really well today. That really helps. Both he and Flash putted really well today. I think Flash made two or three long ones and he made a couple long ones. So that always helps to keep your round going or gives you, sparks your round a little bit. And then on top that have, coming down the stretch he hit a lot of good shots. So they both played pretty well. Flash made a couple mistakes that he probably shouldn't have, but maybe just not understanding the golf course a little bit.

Q. The winds were kind of light, letting down today, it looks like they're really going to blow though as we get to Saturday and Sunday, were you looking at this as a day to really try and post a low score with the winds coming up Saturday and Sunday?

GIL MORGAN: Well, you know, obviously I looked to the weather forecast and understand that we have got a chance to have it windy on the weekend for sure and maybe even tomorrow a little bit. So, I thought this was the best day we're going to have for the week as far as wind is concerned. So if you could get off to a good start, that's always a plus. And so I was trying pretty hard to shoot a good round early and not only from wind standpoint but just to try to get in good position at the same time.

Q. Talk a little bit about the state of your game, how you're playing now versus the last two years and was there anything that any changes or anything that got you kind of playing Gil Morgan golf again this year?

GIL MORGAN: I don't know. Last year I kind of was in and out. I didn't have a win. I made a few changes. I had a few physical problems that keep plaguing me from time to time, so hopefully this year I'm in a little better shape. I still haven't played up to what I would like to play to date. But at the same time I think that the aging process has probably taken its toll somewhat. I'm getting, I'll be 60 in September, so from that standpoint I think my game's over the top of the hump anyway, and I just hope it doesn't go down the hill too fast.

Q. In terms of miles or minutes, how far is the commute from your home?

GIL MORGAN: Well, in miles it's probably less than a mile. And minutes, it would probably be maybe five minutes maximum. So I usually can make that in, without too much difficulty.

Q. How is the traffic?

GIL MORGAN: The traffic has been pretty good. They won't let you park on the street so, you don't have to worry about anybody running into anybody I don't think. Unless you get that carried away.

Q. I missed the first couple of questions, did you already go over your birdies?

GIL MORGAN: I didn't. Do you want me to? Do you want me to start at 1 or 10?

Q. 10.

GIL MORGAN: 10. Okay. I started out, I hit a pretty good drive and hit a wedge to about five feet and made that.

Then I bogeyed the 12th hole. I hit a bad drive. I hit a 3 wood out in the right rough and then tried to force something around kind of through the edge of the trees and I mishit a little thin and left it short and chipped it up there about 10 feet and then missed it.

I got to 15, I hit driver down the right center, pretty good shot. Hit an 8 iron about oh maybe 15 feet and made that one.

Then at the par 5 I hit it left off the tee a little bit in the rough, but I had a fairly decent lie, so I hit a 5 wood kind of through the green a little bit on the right side to about three feet off the green and was able to chip it down there to about three feet and make that.

Then I came to the last hole, I hit a really good drive, I hit a wedge to within about four feet and made that one.

On the front side I birdied the third hole. I hit a driver and then I laid up with an 8 iron over the trees and kind of out of the rough and then hit a wedge in there about two feet and was able to make that one.

I salvaged a par kind of at the sixth hole. I hit a good drive and then hit my approach shot through the green and then chipped it about 10 feet by and was able to make that one coming back.

Then at 7 I hit a good drive and hit a gap wedge in there about oh probably 10 or 12 feet left of the hole and was able to make that one. And that was the end of my birdie stretch.

Q. Two questions for that. How big was your par save on 6?

GIL MORGAN: I thought that was very significant at the time. I hit it down there so close I only had about I think about 88 yards to the hole. And I was, I didn't want to be short and the pin was kind of up front and so I was trying to play behind the hole a little bit and I just hit it a little bit too hard and carried it over the green I think and back there and it was not in a real good lie. It had a lot of grass around it. So I didn't think, I thought it was going to come out kind of soft and I overhit it a little bit and it went and came running and it ran by about 10 feet. But I made that one.

Then at the last hole, actually, I kind of did the same thing. I was a little bit afraid of that front false front there on the front right and they all go back down to that hole. And I didn't like that one. So I tried to hit, I had a gap wedge there and tried to hit it behind the hole and I carried it a little bit too far and that shot usually plays a little bit more uphill and it was into the wind and I thought it would play a little bit longer than it did. Both Peter and I both hit it way back in there in the back part of the green. Then I just got too apprehensive with the putt, I kept thinking it was fast, really quick, and I left it about five or six feet short. And then but I was able to make that one.

Q. On 7 after Peter birdied to go 4 under, did that kind of nudge you a long?

GIL MORGAN: Well, you know it was kind funny, because we were kind of Peter was not real close, I think he was under par one or two under par and then all of a sudden he was 3 under par at 6 and then he made that one at 7 and got right in there. And I thought, well, golly, we're in the same situation here, so I think I tried a little bit harder on that putt and was able to make that one.

Q. Were you surprised at the number of low scores and also do you think that that was mainly a product of the lack of wind today?

GIL MORGAN: Yeah, I think that the golf course is in great shape. And the putting surfaces are tremendously good. So you probably have a lot of guys making a lot of putts. When the wind doesn't blow you can, we obviously had a greater chance of controlling our golf ball. And probably had a lot more opportunities than you would have in windy situations. So I wasn't too surprised with that. I thought there might be some low scores today.

KELLY ELBIN: Gil Morgan, the first round leader in the 2006 Senior PGA Championship.

GIL MORGAN: All right. Thank you, gentlemen.

End of FastScripts.

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