U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 2006

Loren Roberts

RAND JERRIS: We now welcome Loren Roberts with an 8 under par 62 today in the third round. He stands at 5 under par for the championship. 62 is the lowest round ever in Senior Open history. In fact, it is the lowest round in the history of any USGA Open Championship. The Open, the Women's Open or the Senior Open. 62 also ties the record for the lowest 18 hole score in any of the 13 USGA national championships. Loren.

Q. That pretty much says it all.

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, you can't say anything after that, no. Today was just a great day. I got off to a really good start and I put it in the fairway on the first hole. And for me that kind of got my round going.

And a good birdie putt at the second hole. And almost holed it there.

And from there on I just seemed to get in a good rhythm and the putter was working today. I've been struggling with hitting the ball and today it just kind of seemed to click on something. And I, the putter was feeling good and I hit a couple of poor shots out there, but I seemed to get some good breaks. I drove in the rough a couple times, but had lies that I could do something with.

Like 16, I caught a decent lie.

At 17, was able to get it down there for a wedge. So I did get some breaks today too.

Q. You were able to do something a lot of golfers never did. There have been some low scores today, but you got a lot of red numbers on the back nine. Which a lot of people have not done.

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I hit, I drove the ball really good on the back nine with the exception of 16, 17. They weren't that bad they were just about a foot off, but, yeah, I just got the ball close. I took advantage of the birdie holes that I had to.

13 14, is a good birdie hole if you drive it in the fairway. It's a little, I think I had 69 yards to the hole. Made a good birdie there with a 9 iron in my hand, at 11, so and then obviously a wedge hole at 17, made birdie there. So I did take advantage of the wedge holes.

Q. When did it dawn on you or did it ever dawn on you were doing something maybe historical today?

LOREN ROBERTS: I really didn't think about it. I really didn't. I made the putt on 17, I knew that would get me pretty close. I managed to get a four, a fat 4 iron in the fairway off of 18, but I had a perfect yardage and I was probably a little pumped up with a 9 iron, hit it right over the top of the flag. But I thought if I could get in there close, five or six feet and maybe make a birdie there that would really be something special. But as it turned out 62 was pretty doggone good.

Q. No bogeys in an Open is something to be proud of. The greens that you missed, did you chip them all up close enough or did you have a struggle on a couple?

LOREN ROBERTS: I made about a six footer for par at number four after coming up just short of the green there. But other than that, the other, I didn't even know how many I missed. The other one I hit a shot right over the top of the flag at 13 with an 8 iron, thought it was perfect, and I made a really good up and down there. I was kind of laying in the deep stuff and pitching down the slope and I pitched it down to two feet and made par there.

I think the only other green was a 2 putt from off the edge. I hit a lot of greens and the putter was definitely on.

Q. Since it's a historic round can you go through all the birdies and the put lengths and everything, the clubs.

LOREN ROBERTS: Sure. Golly, started out on well almost made it at 1 from just over the back fringe.

And then 2 I hit it in there right behind the hole and drew it back down to probably about a foot away. Made birdie there.

Probably made it from about 18 feet just right of the hole at number 3 for birdie.

Then probably what really kind of launched me was the fifth hole today, obviously the toughest hole of the front nine. I drove it perfect down there, had a 5 iron in hit it probably about another probably 18, 20 feet behind the hole there and made a little left to right putt down the hole for birdie there. And that's the one putt that kind of really got me going because that's the toughest hole on the front.

Then hit a sand wedge probably two feet at the next hole and.

And I got breaks today. I hit it left of the bunker off the tee on 7 and was in the tall stuff, but had a lie I could hit out of there and hit a wedge down.

And I had 129 yards to the hole and hit a pitching wedge in there probably just about, I don't know, eight feet right of the hole and made it. So anything could have happened. I ended up making birdie after hitting a poor tee shot there and that's kind of the way the whole day went for me.

Got around, oh, made it probably from about five feet for birdie at 11. Then made it.

Q. What did you hit in there?

LOREN ROBERTS: I hit a little 9 iron from, I think I had 151 to carry and about 158 to the hole.

Then I had, drove it absolutely perfect at 14 and hit a little sand wedge from 69 yards. I hit that probably about four feet behind the hole and made that for birdie.

Then obviously the 17th, making it from pin high right from about 25 feet something like that was, that was the capping, capper of the round.

Q. How different was the first round to this round?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I you just drove the ball in play. I just struggled with the driver the first couple of days. Today I just drove the ball in play and had a chance to play. And there's a little more moisture, not only was there a little moisture on the golf course, but there was a little moisture in the air too. And I think that that probably helped a little bit. Obviously you've seen the wind is down a little bit, so I think that's why you're probably seeing the lower scores.

Q. Did the rains and the lack of green speed, did that present very puttable conditions?

LOREN ROBERTS: I think they did. Yeah. The greens were holding well. We got that rain this morning and it just was a little more moisture all together in the air. When it's a little stickier out it just slows the golf course down a little bit.

Q. A personal best for you in a career or when is the last time

LOREN ROBERTS: Without question. Well, this would be right there with the 64 I shot at Oakmont in '94. So.

Q. You've had five straight rounds under par before this, were those in the back of your mind and have you known that you were close to finding it again?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I have played poorly out at Kansas City, I took a couple weeks off and hopefully we're getting back into form. Obviously today everything went my way. But I'm looking forward to hopefully being in the chase tomorrow afternoon out here, so and hopefully I'll be able to get a chance to play with Mr. Watson, because I absolutely love to play golf with him.

Q. How often do you think about Oakmont?

LOREN ROBERTS: Not very often. I've gotten over that.

Q. How long did it take?

LOREN ROBERTS: Let's see, my wife and I, we flew home Monday night, we turned the phones off for three day, we did our grieving and got over it.

Q. Anything the way you felt before the round today hitting the ball on the range or anything made you think this was in the cards?

LOREN ROBERTS: No, I just wanted to start out hitting the first fairway and I finally hit the first fairway today and I guess that give me a little shot of confidence. Like I said, probably hitting the first fairway and getting off to a good start on the first two holes and I think birdieing five that really got me going on the way.

Q. You hit a 3 wood off one?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I hit a 3 wood off one.

Q. Would you talk about the atmosphere tomorrow, it will be tougher to play with Tom in his home state and the galleries?

LOREN ROBERTS: It's going to be great. There isn't a finer gentleman to play golf with than Tom. And I love his decisiveness on the golf course and I love to hit balls next to him on the range, because nobody hits it more solid than he does. I love to listen to him hit it. And I just enjoy being out with him.

Q. Not to disregard your 62 today, but a lot of players came in and said that the hole locations today were relatively generous from what they thought they would see. I'm assuming tomorrow they probably won't be.

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I would think with the amount of red that the scoreboard is bleeding today that I think they're probably going to put them pretty tough, with more moisture in the forecast for tomorrow. I thought that the pins were probably quite a bit tougher yesterday.

Q. Are you comfortable with the way you're striking the ball and playing right now that wherever they put those that it's going to be okay?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, I'm still, you know, obviously it was a great round, a great scoring round. I got a couple of things I still need to go work on. I lost a couple of shots to the right coming to the house, so I need to get out and work on that a little bit.

Q. Were you aware that 63 was the any Open record in this country?

LOREN ROBERTS: No, I wasn't aware of that. Obviously I knew I was close to something, you know, when I got it to 8 under, but I was, I wasn't aware of that.

Q. This is uncharted numbers, how do you duplicate your, what's your mindset going into tomorrow? Do you have to kind of put this behind you?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, you got to put it behind you. You got to just forget all about it and start all over tomorrow and just try to make some birdies. Obviously we don't know what we'll get when we get out here, weather wise or golf course set up. So just kind of start on trying to get it in the fairway on the first hole again and go from there.

Q. Is there anything from today that you can take with you tomorrow?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah, I think that, I probably, you get off to a really good start, I mean I was 5 under after seven holes. In a regular tournament, let alone a Major championship, there's always a tendency to, you know, can you keep it going on the back nine. And I was thrilled that I played 3 under on the back side. I guess the back side is considered a little tougher here, so I was just thrilled to death to kind of keep the round going. A lot of times you get there, then you kind of fall back. And I was thrilled that I kept the round going.

Q. 16 playing any differently today? You bogeyed that the first two days. Were the conditions there any different?

LOREN ROBERTS: No, in fact today I drove it in the rough there and actually had a look at birdie there. Almost made a birdie there from probably about 25 feet. So I just like I said, things were going my way today.

Q. What clubs did you hit into two and three, please?

LOREN ROBERTS: 2, I hit a 9 iron and then I hit a sand wedge into the third hole.

Q. And on 17 you ended up 20 feet away?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah.

Q. For birdie?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yeah. And I hit a pitching wedge from down there. I think I had 102 to the hole, up the hill and in the air and I hit a pitching wedge.

End of FastScripts.