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FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 13, 2006

Fuzzy Zoeller

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN

DAVE SENKO: Fuzzy, thanks for joining us. Great start.

FUZZY ZOELLER: I played very well today. Did I see it coming kind of? Last week, I had spurts where I played some days 14 holes, some days 15 holes, but it is golf. I was looking forward to getting here this week. It's a golf course I enjoy playing. I have a good feel for it. I just put it all together.

I had one blemish on my card at 16, where I hit a miserable 9 iron and missed a small putt, but those things happen. But the golf course is in great shape. There are a lot of good scores being shot today and that's because of the soft conditions we're playing under.

DAVE SENKO: Birdies starting at No. 2, 3, and 5.

FUZZY ZOELLER: No. 2, I hit a pitching wedge from I think 134 yards downwind. I hit it about six feet from the hole.

The par 5, I hit a sand wedge into about eight feet, just left of the hole.

5, 52 degree sand wedge from 110 yards to about four feet.

10, 52 degree sand wedge from 118 yards, I think, something like that, to about four feet behind the hole.

DAVE SENKO: 12, ShotLink had you at about 36 plus feet.

FUZZY ZOELLER: It looked like 100 feet, but that's close. When you say 36, that's fine. Hell, I don't know. I've had Lasik surgery. I couldn't see that far.

I missed a 3 footer on 11 for birdie and then turned around and made that bomb on 12. It just shows you how screwy the game is.

The par 5, I hit a 3 iron to the back edge and chipped down to about two and a half, three feet.

DAVE SENKO: What did you hit on 12?

FUZZY ZOELLER: 7 iron. I would say most of the guys are hitting little 6s and 7s because of the wind being downwind today.

17, driver, 4 iron from 57 yards, just a little punched sand wedge to about a foot and a half, two feet.

Then 18, 181 yards, 6 iron to about 12 feet, something like that.

Q. (No microphone.)

FUZZY ZOELLER: One thing you want to do on the Champions Tour is get out of the box. That's one thing this year I haven't been doing. I'v alwasy put myself kind of in a hole the first round. When you only play three rounds of golf, it's difficult once you've dug the hole to climb out and get into the winning circle.

These guys out here like to shoot and shoot fast. Everybody has got a six shooter and they're all very quick on the trigger. It's kind of nice to get out of the box and play under par. That's kind of fun.

Q. Is it easier in the afternoon?

FUZZY ZOELLER: I wouldn't say it's easier. The conditions were there. Like I said, the golf course is soft. When you get our age, 50 and over, standing at 125 yards with a pitching wedge or 9 iron, knowing when it hits it's not going to go 135 yards because of the bounce on the green, that's an advantaged player. The greens are very receptive because they are softer today.

Q. How nice is it to play in these conditions today after the challenging ones last week?

FUZZY ZOELLER: The fairways look like they're 90 mile wide. I can tell you that. That was a very good golf course last week. It's a shame that the 18th hole was such a crappy little hole, because there could have been one hell of a finish if it was 50 yards longer. It could have been a barn burner. It is a great golf course. And just trying to get the ball in the right areas of the greens to have the advantage, it's tough to do because of all the mogels and, mounds. It was a challenge. I was exhausted when I was done and I shot 3 over par.

Q. You seemed to be in a good shape last week at the U.S. Senior Open. You had taken some time off. Was there a little bit of rough there or was the rough all gone.

FUZZY ZOELLER: I can't say the rough is all gone. I WD 40 every night. People take shots, I WD 40, that's all, or gin and tonic. I'm not sure what it is. I had taken a month off. I had done a couple of corporate outings.

You know how I am. I don't play golf when I'm home. Even though I do live on a golf course; it's five minutes from my house. I go down, I built it for everybody else to enjoy and not for me to go practice. That was my original plan. The more candles you get on your cake, the less practice you do for some crazy reason. I don't know why that is.

Q. Your next major championship that you're going to play in is the British Open. Tell us about that trip you've got going over there.

FUZZY ZOELLER: We have got about 120 of my closest friends going on two airplanes. We've chartered two airplanes. We put together a package, Fuzzy Zoeller Productions. It's $12,500 a person. We pay for their hotel room. We pay for all their golf, all their accommodations, their dinners, for a whole week of golf in Scotland.

Hopefully the weather is good for those people and hopefully they'll have a good time, plus tickets to the British Open. I hope they'll have fun. Let's hope so, anyway.

Q. (No microphone.)

FUZZY ZOELLER: I have myself and Dana Quigley in the first airplane. In the second airplane, Tom Kite and Jerry Pate was scheduled. He has a scheduled surgery, so I'm not sure. I haven't talked to Jerry. So we'll just have to see. If not, we'll throw another player in there. Some guy to mix and mingle, have a few beers with. What do you do for seven and a half hours? You can't sleep all that way. I know some of you can, but I can't.

Q. What was the cost of the trip again?

FUZZY ZOELLER: $12,500 per person, flying first class, which everybody does. Most people going on this trip are first class fliers. Airline tickets are like $10,000, so it's one hell of a package, plus you are on a private jet. We're borrowing the Dallas Mavericks' jet, and then we have another 757 that we're taking. We're looking to have a full week of fun over there.

Q. What do you think of Turnberry?

FUZZY ZOELLER: Turnberry is a good golf course. We played it two years ago. That was the last time I was over. It played a little bit short. I'd like to see them lengthen it a little bit, play it the way they played the British Open. They thought because the older guys were there they needed to move it up, but play it back where they played the British Open. It's a good golf course. If you catch the winds, like all the golf courses in Scotland, it makes for very challenging golf.

Q. Did your Lasik affect your game at all?

FUZZY ZOELLER: I'm the only one that affects my game. It's my lifestyle. The Lasik surgery has been great. Sometimes I don't want to see where my ball is going, but when I hit it I don't have to look up because I know where it's going, just the feel. I can tell when I make contact. I don't have to look up.

Q. Did it affect depth perception at all?

FUZZY ZOELLER: It's good. I had a good one done. It's been almost five years now. I can get rid of those glasses now.

Q. When you get in the hunt like this right away, do the same feelings come back right away, go after it?

FUZZY ZOELLER: Yes. I'm aggressive. I've always been an aggressive player. You bet. I just went and walked about five and a half miles and swung around 65 times. I don't need to go hit balls. I have good memories and good thoughts in my mind. I tee off at 7:57 in the morning, so it's not like I have got 24 hours to wait. I can get right back into it tomorrow. I'll hit a few extra balls in the morning, but that's the way to do it.

End of FastScripts.

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