U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2003

Bruce Edwards

Q. I think the galleries feel lucky, too.

BRUCE EDWARDS: They were wonderful, they really were. All week long they were yelling my name, made me feel really good. It showed that people are really deep down nice and genuine and caring, and you can't ask for more than that in my opinion.

Q. Bruce, there's been a lot of talk about how Tom has supported you. How about your fellow caddies, especially this week? How much more have you heard from them this week?

BRUCE EDWARDS: Well, for 30 years this has been a neighborhood, a big traveling neighborhood, and I've had some really good friends over 30 years. Some have left to pursue a "normal job," but overall it's a great group of people out here. When I was first diagnosed, my phone rang off the hook for weeks on end with people saying if there's anything you need, and I don't mean to downplay that. That was sensational, that they cared that much. Now that I'm dealing with or over the fact that I've got what I've got, now it's time to move on, and we're going to focus our attention on research, on dollars for research, to try and find a cure. Like I said, there are a lot of people that have it a lot more worse than I did, and they're the ones that should be thought about, not just me. If I'm going to be a spokesperson for this, then fine, but I've seen with my own eyes what this disease does, and if I could wave a magic wand over my head and sound like this and still be able to talk and walk and move, I would be truly, truly blessed.

Q. Do you think that this week was meant to be with everything that's happened?

BRUCE EDWARDS: You know, I do, I really do. I think what he did the first round, there was a reason for that. Like I said, the bottom line is you get the word out about ALS, a wonderful group out in Boston that is trying to find a cure for this. Unfortunately, like Tom said, the numbers aren't overwhelming, and that's why the research -- the golf doesn't pour millions and millions of dollars like they do AIDS or cancer, but you ask any family member whose daughter or son or brother or cousin has this, they want to find a cure because eventually it kills you. There's no ifs, and or buts. Unless you are really, really lucky, it kills you.

Q. Having been on the bag for Tom at Pebble when he won his Open, and for Norman, what do you look back on as maybe your best moment as a caddie?

BRUCE EDWARDS: The day I walked up to Tom and said, hi, I'm going to be out here, can I caddie for you? And he said, well, I'll let you caddie for me this week, and we'll take it from there, and here we are 30 years later. Meeting him, working for him, that's been the best thing in my life, without a doubt, without a doubt. He is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I told somebody on Thursday that if someone said to me we can do this all over again, you're going to get ALS down the road, would you do it? I'd say you bet, every time. I've been really lucky.

Q. Bruce, what did it mean to you to have your wife here today? She said you called her and wanted her --

BRUCE EDWARDS: She is not only the love of my life, she is also my interpreter. She is my voice. She is my strength. I mean, she has said a lot of things to me in private to keep me going, not feel sorry for myself, and convinced me that if I use this podium properly that a lot of people might be saved, even if I'm not. I mean, down the road, who knows how long, down the road somebody is going to be spared from this cruel disease, and then I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to have it and I'm happy to get the word out, and she has been my pillar, believe me.

End of FastScripts....