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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 27, 2007

Denis Watson

KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

KELLY ELBIN: Ladies and gentlemen, the 68th PGA Senior Champion, Denis Watson, winning here at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort with a four round total of 279, 9-under par.
Denis, your first win in 23 years. Considering everything you've been through it must be awfully sweet.
DENIS WATSON: You know, words cannot describe the feeling and the things that I've sort of been feeling the last few weeks. Sort of building up and playing well and trying to win. And starting to believe in my ability again. Starting to come out a little bit in Hawaii I finished second my first tournament. And I thought I can still do this, I can still play. A lot of support from David Leadbetter, obviously my swing coach for along, long time.
My wife, you know, kicking me in the butt saying you can do this. You know, you can, you still have got game. You can play. You just have to believe.
I used to say, well if I could see, I would believe. And then it's turned into that, if you believe, you eventually see.
And I really feel that. I feel really blessed by God today. I got a couple of breaks that were just amazing. And obviously every golfer has had their share of bad breaks, but to get those two good breaks on the back nine today, that was unbelievable.
KELLY ELBIN: You had five birdies today but none more important than at 14 on the swing there. Can you talk about that hole a little bit and how pivotal it was.
DENIS WATSON: I said all along this week I said to other players I said 14 is a suck it up hole, you just have to make your best swing that you have. And believe it or not, I made three 2s on that hole. And I probably hit four of the best golf shots that you can hit. Definitely that I can hit. And today's shot was obviously the turning point of the tournament.
After 2-putting from I don't know, 90 feet, a hundred feet, at 13. To hit that shot that well, and in those conditions, that was very, very pleasing. That was, that's what you work for.
I said to my caddie, I said, I need one of those range swings, because I can really stripe it on the range, just like everybody else can. And slowly but surely I've been getting more of those range shots to come out on the golf course. And that was one of them today.
That was as pure as I can hit 4-iron. I mean right exactly where I was aiming. And I, you know, I got to tell you, I felt really bad for Eduardo. He hit a pretty bad shot, but I question how they had the face of the bunkers this week. I thought that was unfair. When I came here six, seven weeks ago, they were not like that. They were firm and the ball filtered down to the bottom. And that's bad enough. You can make a double from down in there in a heart beat.
It's horrible to see something like that happen to a great player like Eduardo. But you know, that's golf. I've had it happen to me.
It's kind of nice to get on the other side of it. I had my share of duking it out at 15. I didn't care for that hole too much today.
KELLY ELBIN: Thank you. Open it up for questions.

Q. You mentioned two good breaks on the back nine, I assume the one was the drive and 18. What was the other one?
DENIS WATSON: 13 is probably the toughest driving hole on the golf course. And every day I have aimed it at that bunker. And just taking a nice swing and cutting it off the bunker and hit it miles down the fairway. Every day. And I was feeling really comfortable with that shot.
I just came out like a bullet, dead straight. I mean, I haven't hit one that straight in a long time. I mean, it went right where I was aiming. With no cut. And I thought, oh, no. And I think that it hit right into the fairways, just short of the bunker and hopped left. And that was huge.
To make a par on that hole where Eduardo made a bogey, those two holes, 13, 14, big, big change. To get a four shot swing two holes, and it can happen out here. It happened a lot. I mean I made double bogey, double bogey at 17 and 18 during the second round. So this golf course will punish you if you just miss it just a little bit.
18 obviously was a great break. I missed it just right.

Q. This is probably a question you have had very often over the past 23 years, but what happened after 1984 it seemed like you really were making a mark on the PGA TOUR.
DENIS WATSON: I won three times in '84 and I finished second twice in '85, U.S. Open I went back to South Africa and I was playing in the Goodyear Classic in Port Elizabeth and leading the tournament into the last round. And on the fourth hole I hit it in the left rough and I tried, was trying to lay up, sort of 50 yards short of the green with a full 9-iron. And there was a small stump underneath the ball that I could not see. And I hit a really good shot the, but the root snagged around the club and my hand were going forward and eventually the club went about five yards backwards. And I knew I was in a lot of pain. I didn't know what was going on. I hit my next shot about 30 yards left. And I got it up-and-down somehow.
And at that stage I wasn't sure if I could play. I thought okay I'll hit a tee shot on the next hole and if it feels okay I'll just keep going. So I was okay hitting it off the tee. Any time I had to hit an iron shot, and I'm a little steep on the ball, I make divots, I ended up just letting the club go a couple of times. One time the club was still in the divot and the ball finished like four feet from the hole only the ninth hole. And I just hung on for dear life.
I was, it was a tough day, windy, when I got to 14, I hit a 1-iron for my second shot and I pushed it into the ice plant. It was a very difficult golf course, into the ice plant, just right of the green. I slashed it out about 15 feet away and I made the putt. And walking over I saw a scoreboard and I saw I was one shot behind David Frost. And that's one of those times you get like one of those little adrenaline rushes and I said, you know what, I got to go for it here.
And I hit probably one of the best shots of my early career on the next hole. I just hung on to it, I never felt a thing in my hand, I hit it a foot from the hole and the wind was blowing 30 miles an hour, I hit a 6-iron from like 125 yards. 130 yards. And like a foot from the hole and made birdie.
Birdied the next hole.
Birdied the 17th.
And parred the 18th to win by one.
And I came out of my trance when somebody shook my hand at the last hole and honestly I never played a decent round of golf for a long long time after that. I finished second once at the B C Open. I finished fourth at I think my second week out after several surgeries in the late '80's, and then I had a couple more surgeries.
And then in '93 I think I finished second at the B C Open. Blaine McCallister hit it three feet at the last hole and made a birdie to beat me by a shot.
Then I had some nerve damage in my hand and I started losing my hand again. And I went to see my neurologist and he said, you know, nerve studies and stuff you have to have it operated on again. And so they did the nerve transposition and it took me a long time to recover from that.
And then you get divorced and you go through all those nasty things in life and you doubt whether you'll ever play golf again.
And now those are tough times. But, you know, I taught at Lake Nona with David Leadbetter, he had a couple instructors quit and he said, can you help me out. And I was teaching nine hours a day. I think I taught like 23 days in a row. Just making up the bump from two teachers quitting.
And I liked it. I had always done golf schools and things and it was great. And because I went to golf schools.
And teaching, I got to meet my wife Susan, Bruce Fleisher said, I got this player who is looking for a teacher, can David fly up. And I said, David, don't do that, but I said, I'm going to be in Chicago, I'll go take a look at her and see if she's got any potential.
And I didn't realize it was going to be potential as my future wife and supporter. It's been a pretty great ride since then.
It was my wife talked me into getting out of the TV business. I was doing a little bit of ESPN, a little bit of Golf Channel, TOUR radio. Dabbling in that stuff thinking maybe I'll go that way, it's a regular job, I get to see my kids.
So, took a long time to get here. After she said, I don't think you should do this, I think you should play.
And great support for a long time. So she deserves this as much as I do.

Q. When today did you really feel confident that this is my tournament to win?
DENIS WATSON: I don't know if you ever feel confident about winning. I mean things can turn in a heart beat. Especially on this golf course.
So I've said all week that no matter where you are, it's still one shot at a time and you have to really focus hard. I lost my focus a little bit after making birdie at 14. And I was not happy with myself.
I couldn't get myself settled. And I did it anyway. I hit the shot anyway. I aimed it and hit it and I hit a bad shot.
So after 14 though I thought it's a really bad break for Eduardo, but I thought, okay, this is the turning point, if I can make this putt for two, this is mine. And I said to Susan, a few days ago, I said, you know what, I would love to be standing on the 18th tee one ahead of Nick Price. Because that would be great.
He's been a long time friend, one of the greatest players in the world. And I was always frustrated that I never got to be there and do those things. Because I felt like I could hit the ball pretty well back in the '84, '85. And but, you can't go back.
And the great things that I've had in between could never ever ask for anything as good as I've had. Nobody can, nobody's done the great things that I have. That's being a golf professional. They just don't get to do that.
And I go play golf in Ireland and on the way Susan will say, let's go play golf in Ireland. And we go to Old Head where I'm a member. And we go play golf. We play 36 holes of golf a day for four days. Eat great food, they got great restaurants. And then we come home.
Then a few months later we go to Paris. One day we decided we weren't going to go to Paris because my golf was important, and I wanted to practice to get ready for the last year's season that I ended up not playing because of shoulder surgery.
And she called me up one day and she said, well, we're going to Paris. I said when, she said next week. I said, what happened? She said, well, my five year old or four year old at the time said, I want to go see the Eiffel Tower again, when are we going to go see the Eiffel Tower again. So that was enough for her. So we had a couple of great dinners a few good bottles of wine and it was fabulous. And the look on my daughter's face when I woke her up right in front of the Eiffel Tower was worth a million dollars.
I tell you what, it was so great. To see a smile on a kid's face like, wow, that is so great.
And you know, there are other things in life besides golf. This is really a wonderful experience for me. This like how, what, this validates my effort. Validates my golfing career.
I want to be a golf professional. You know, I know it's the Seniors TOUR, the Champions Tour, but the standard of play is extremely high. And to win with this field on this golf course, is just extremely gratifying. To know that I have still got it. After all those years. It feels really good.
KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Denis is the first international born Senior PGA Champion since Gary Player in 1990.

Q. I'm wondering offhand do you know how many different surgeries you had and what year was the most recent one?
DENIS WATSON: I don't know. I think I've had like eight or nine different surgeries. But I had to have a they tell me have it was related to -- well let me go back a little bit and fill you in. When I hit this tree stump I whiplashed my neck sideways. It was such a violent sort of obstruction. That I ended up having, I lost all my right shoulder, I lost 70 percent of my strength and my muscle mass in the right shoulder. I couldn't move my scapula. That caused swing problems. And I did all kind of stuff. And eventually I had surgery. But there was nerve damage, whiplash in the neck that I didn't know about yet, so I had the triple surgery on my arm, and my wrist and did six months of rehab living with Keith Clevin, who is, takes care of Tiger now and is a great physical therapist.
And I was told I would never be able to play golf again if I had to have this wrist surgery. By an orthopedic surgeon.
And I'll never forget that day because it was devastating. And Keith said to me, look, I know the best surgeon in the country, if you commit to what it's going to take I will send you to this surgeon. Because you will be able to play golf again. I didn't know it was going to take this long to be able to play good golf again.
But so I had the surgery, I lived in Las Vegas where Keith is for a good six months. I went home just a couple of times. And I honestly, guys, I did rehab six to eight hours a day. You know when I look back on it, you know, no human being would be that stupid to go through that. You know. I just lived in rehab.
I went three to four hours in the morning, three in the afternoon, I would take a nap in the middle for lunch. And just go. Go rehab.
And then when I came out, my about my second or third week I finished fourth in a tournament and I thought okay, I'm back. This feels good. And it was about only a few weeks later I started having muscle spasms in my back and I -- in the upper back and neck. And I couldn't play and I was hitting it horrible and eventually I ended up with a Doctor April in, where was it? New Orleans. He was a joint specialist, a spinal joint specialist.
And they found out that I had a fissure in a disk. That was leaking fluid on to the nerve root below. Five and six and six and seven were affected. And that's why I was losing my right shoulder all the time. Although I rehabbed it back, I kept having problems with it.
And, you know, it's an awfully long story. You know, so I had neck surgery and I think at the Jobe Clinic out there in L.A., I can't remember the doctor's name right now but he was supposed to be the top guy in the country and he said, look, you'll be in a neck brace for like three weeks and then there will be some rehab and then you'll be able to start getting strong and get back to playing.
And I woke up in a body brace. I said what the heck is this? I had a halo, my head was tied on to a back plate and a thing all down my back with straps. And I said, what's going on here? And he said, well, it was a little more difficult than we thought and you're going to have to wear this thing for six weeks.
You know, and that was, you know that was hard to deal with. But I don't know what it is. You are either stubborn or you just keep doing it and you -- I had a good friend up the street where I live, Bobby Cole. My goal in the morning was to walk to his house, it was less than a mile. It was about just over a half a mile. Up to his house.
And it used to take me about a half an hour to get up there. And I would stay there for a couple hours and have tea and then walk home. And we would tell stories and that. And, you know, part of it was a good time, part of it really sucked.
And you know, it took me a long time to get out of that brace and then I started the rehab and I started trying to play again.
And you have all these failures and then you -- I had this 10 year exemption, when that, you know, I missed like, I don't know, five years of it. And then I started thinking, okay, I will go play a couple Nationwide events after Susan said to me, you can still play.
I was shooting some really low rounds and I started playing some events here and there and I wasn't very successful. I didn't make very many cuts. But somebody gave me a statistic I think somebody looked it up when I was at a Nationwide event recently, I played 30 times in 14 years. That's not a lot of golf.
And then there was a couple of years where I didn't play at all. Then this last I had to have -- the nerve went again where I lost my fingers. These two and then the thumb and this finger didn't work very well. And they transposed the ulnar nerve and it's, you know, it's never all the way back, but it's pretty good.
And last year they said my shoulder locked up. First my right shoulder locked up, frozen shoulder or adhesive capsule. They actually don't know why it happens. I rehabbed my right shoulder out. Took about three months. I was happy, I started playing golf again.
And then my left shoulder locked up November. I started having problems with it. And it just I went to rehab. I worked really hard, you went to see Keith Clevin eventually and I stayed with him for like four days and went home for two days and went back to him for four days and he said, it's not getting better. If you take a day off, you lose everything that you gained. So there's something really wrong. You need to get another opinion.
I went to see a doctor at the Jobe Clinic that Keith asked me to go to and I was in surgery within two days. And they do a lovely surgery called a release, where they put you under and they break your shoulder. And all capsule there. And clean it out.
And when you wake up you go to rehab. And then you spend your life in rehab. You know, and I'm thinking three months, well, you know five months later I was still rehabbing four days a week. And doing stuff at home. And you know, it gets trying. It gets trying. I mean, I'm sure my wife wasn't having a great time because I don't think I was that happy. And, but, you know, we still did some good things in between.
And thank God that I persevered. I got through that. I had some serious doubts for awhile. Especially when I thought I would go back and play a couple of Champions Tour events at the end of that year to see kind of where I was and if I could play. And I played horrendous golf. I mean just horrendous. I mean, I could hit it out of bounds lefts 50 yards as well as right. That's not a good feeling when you're on the golf course. But I knew it was, that I wasn't are ready either. So I didn't beat myself up too much. I beat myself up a little because you don't like to see the ball going that far off line.
As soon as I was done with that I went to see David. And I said, okay, let's figure this out. And what did he say? I think he said, okay, your golf swing is dead. And we went on their computer stuff and put their K-vest on and my graph that shows how the dynamics of your swing was so bad and I saw the people at the Titleist Performance Institute. And the guy there is a great guy, Greg Rose, he said to me, look, you can see you've got shoulder problems, the way you're swinging. And he understands his graphs very well. But they didn't have a solution as to what to do to fix it.
So that's when I went to see David and he gave me some drills. And I worked hard. I remember kids coming up to me and saying, man, you still out hit the young guys. I hit two of those big buckets of balls doing drills. That's like 12 hundred golf balls. And just doing drills and whacking balls, just trying to get some feeling of getting the club face to come off it.
And then I don't know if anybody saw me practicing this week, I had that ball that I practice with I put a ball between my elbows. And I started practicing with than I started getting the idea. I hit drivers with a half swing with that ball between my elbows and whacking it and I said, why can't I get that feeling when I make a full swing.
Well, it's starting to happen. Last few weeks, it's starting to happen. I'm starting to get that feeling and then when I hit one, it, that's right, it feels good. Obviously everybody can hit them on the range. I hit them on the range like I don't ever remember hitting the ball that solid at times. So it's a good feeling.
And what's really great is to have a supporter like David. To have somebody like that that cares about you and wants you to be successful, and I'm sure he's pretty happy right now. I have a lot to say right now because I haven't got to talk for 23 years.
(Laughter.).
KELLY ELBIN: Amazing stuff. Questions?

Q. Can you just talk about getting the tee shot out of the way on 17. Was that hole on your mind at all after what transpired on 14?
DENIS WATSON: 17's on your mind when you wake up in the morning, when you go to sleep at night, when you get to 1 you're thinking about 17 a little bit. If I can be 4-under when I get to 17 I can make a bogey and it's still not too bad. A lot of weird things go through your mind about 17.
We were fortunate today that the weather was favorable. And I was very happy that they set it up fairly for the first three days. And I didn't hit bad shots. And I was 3-over par on that hole. Just pulled them just a little bit.
And Tim Simpson said to me this morning, we were having early lunch, and he said to me, Waddo, he said, you have to commit. I've soon you backing off just a little bit and this golf course will do that to you, but you just have to commit and just hit your shot.
And that's been my thing this week I've been reading a book by Robert Winters, called the 10 Commandments of Golf. And then another book called Zen Golf. And everything I read in there I know it. I learned these things from Rotella, I don't know, 25 years ago. And they're simple things.
And one of them that comes up often is you better commit to your shot. And I committed to my shot a lot today. I was very decisive about what I was trying to do. And I was thinking about 17 a lot.
14 also was a hole that I thought about a lot. And I know you guys say, well he made three 2s on that hole. And I hit probably, I told you, the four best iron shots that I can hit on that hole.
And 17 today with those favorable conditions, my caddie said to me again, I said, just remind me, he said, okay, commit to your line. Pick a good line and commit to it. It was 200 yards to the pin today. I hit a 5-iron.
And it was, that's as good as I can hit a golf shot. Because it went within a couple of yards of where I was aiming it. So can't be happier than anybody with that golf shot that I hit there today.

Q. Where are the trophies from the tournaments you won in '84 and where is this one going to go?
DENIS WATSON: I lost the one from Vegas. I think my ex-wife sold it. The other ones I have a nice little trophy cabinet with my World Amateur Championship trophy and some of the other tournaments that I won. I won in Belgium, and I won in South Africa a few times. And we have a nice little trophy cabinet.
There is not room for this one in there. And I don't believe I'm going to put it in there. I'm going to stick it somewhere where everybody can see it. If I get to keep that one for awhile, everybody will see it.

Q. I'm wondering whether you felt especially comfortable putting the ball this week and if so, how much Thursday's putting round gave you any kind of confidence. I think the stats said you started with seven 1-putts and finished with five.
DENIS WATSON: Yeah, that's pretty cool, isn't it. Putting stats are sometimes misleading. Paspalum is a very difficult grass to putt. I think you have to be unbelievably patient. And I said to Susan, who I talked to about what's going on, I said, this is going to be a week of careful putting. You just can't go at any putts. So I putted carefully. I worked very, very hard on my rhythm with my putter. I watched Loren Roberts putting a lot. And I sad, you know, I got to go to that really, I got to go with a really smooth kind of pushing stroke. To not have any jump on the ball.
And I only had a couple of putts get away from me this week. And I, you saw the guys putting it was easy to have one get away from you and go four, five feet past. And those were very difficult putts to make.
As far as that first round, you know, I made a good three footer at one.
I lipped it out from off the green with the putter on 2. I mean it was a full spin out.
And at 3 I hit it over the green and I putted it. To within a foot.
At 4 I was a foot off the green. And I almost made it. So it was just a tap in.
The par-3 I was a foot off the green. And I almost made it.
At 6, at the 6th hole, I think I made a putt there too. So I was just always off, just off the green.
7, I left it just short of the green, like three, four yards. Putted it up to a foot. Tapped it in.
8, I missed the green and hit it this far from the hole with a brilliant pitch shot and missed it and I had a longer putt for my second putt. You know, so it could have been a really good looking putting round.
I made a 10 footer at 9. And I -- look, I think putting the ball -- I've been putting the ball well. I haven't been making a lot, but I haven't been screwing up a lot. A lot of tap-ins, a lot of putts having a chance to go in. When you putt like that you get the feeling like eventually some putts are going to go in.
Like the one at 14 and the one at 18. You know. I made a really good putt at 10 today for par after letting my putt get away from me a little bit. Greens were very, very difficult to read today.
Like 17, Nick Price hit from about two feet off my line, his ball moved literally this far to the right. I putted my ball this far left of the hole and it went this far left. (Indicating). So those things are hard to deal with. I mean they make you crazy. I said all week some guys are going to go punchy on these greens. They're going to be talking to themselves.
And you have to just keep rolling the ball at the hole and if you roll it well enough, some of them are going to go in. If you keep hitting the ball solid, it's going to favor you, because if you have shorter putts it's going to be easy to get them close and have a chance for one to fall in.
So Nick Price reputably not one of the greatest putters in the world, but a great ball-striker. I think that's exactly why he's up at the top of the leaderboard. It kind of separated the field where nobody could ever run the tables on the greens.
Some weeks a guy can read the greens and make it from everywhere. That was not going to happen this week. I knew that. And I knew it was all going to depend on ball striking. Getting the ball in the fairway and getting it on the green. That's always good. But there are some weeks where guys slap it around a little bit and they can beat you.

Q. What was the year of the neck body brace surgery and what year did you meet Susan?
DENIS WATSON: I had surgery in 1988. Injury was at the end of '85. And I went through a lot of rehab and trying to make myself strong and went through a lot of doctors that I can I think I was malpracticed, I was doing -- anyway. That's a long story. I had cortisone shots, all kind of stuff.
And so Susan and I have been together -- I better not get this wrong. Yeah, 10 years now. I had help on that one too. She used to get it wrong now I can't remember.

Q. Your comeback story would be amazing enough if you won any event, but you came back and won the biggest Major, the oldest Major on probably the toughest golf course this TOUR has ever played. Has that sunk in yet? What's that feel like?
DENIS WATSON: Feels pretty awesome. You know, you dream about winning -- my wife said to me last week after I didn't win last week and I really I thought I was going to win last week I was hitting the ball so well last week. And it didn't happen. And she said, you know what, it didn't happen for a reason.
And we have been -- I've been getting a lot better at just accepting how things are. And as long as I gave it a hundred percent shot I'm pretty happy with myself.
And I was so elated with what happened last week. I got into the Top-20 on the Money List, I qualified for the U.S. Open, the U. S. Senior Open, that put me in the British Open although this will put me in the Senior British open now.
So I was just happy as a clam after last week. And Susan kept saying to me, you know, I think something good's going to happen this week. And I had a, I was having a hard time not getting ahead of myself, because I was hitting the ball so well in practice and so well on the range. And then I had the frustrations of the first round, I couldn't get the, I just couldn't quite get the club right. The wind messed you around. I mean it was pretty brutal. What the wind could do.
Like even this morning I hit a shot, yesterday I hit a 9-iron the wind wasn't has hard yesterday, it went 132. Today I hit what I thought was a perfect shot at the first hole. It went 123. And so it makes you a little punchy after awhile, you know.
You start worrying about the what's going to happen. And that's where I kept going back, just commit to the shot. The wind is there, just hit the shot.
Where it goes is where it's going to end up. But if you don't give it a good shot, you got no chance. So eventually I hit some shots and ended up the right distance.
I hit a great shot at 6.
Hit a great shot at 8.
So there was times, you know, and then 14 and 17. Two of my shots in the tournament. Makes for a good day.
KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Denis's 68 was the low round today. Final question.

Q. Did you struggle at all today to make sure you had good thoughts and keep thoughts of all the bad golf you played for 20 years from creeping in?
DENIS WATSON: No, no, I didn't. Because I kept thinking about good things. In the 10 Commandments of Golf the first commandment is, "Thy shall have a good attitude".
The first week on TOUR I went to a bible study class where we have Church on the Move. Tom Randall is our preacher. And he preached a sermon on attitude and having a good attitude. And you know I think I had a pretty good attitude this week. I have had a pretty good attitude since Hawaii. And you get frustrated as a golfer.
I'll tell you a story. I'll tell you a story. I told it on TV the other day. But I double bogeyed 17 and 18 during the second round. And I was playing great. I mean really playing great. I was hitting the ball so solid I was thinking I could shoot 65 or 66 in a heart beat. Then I made two doubles. And I was pretty down.
I tried to hit a flop shot against the grain at 18 and it made me look stupid. I mean, the ball went five yards. The club caught right in the grain, barely got to the ball. I was going like, you know, that is dumb. You know.
My wife was trying to cheer me up on the way to 1 tee, and I was, I don't think I was very nice I said, look, I need to just be quiet and not think about it. I said, I think I've got it under control. I think I can get myself back together. And I looked -- excuse me for a second. Let me compose myself. I get very emotional about this.
I looked up to the left of the cart and there was a guy that was vision impaired, he had a bad leg, and he had a seeing cane to indicate that he was half blind. And he was trying to tap his way back to the path. And he was kind of looking around. I don't know what the heck he was doing at the golf course.
But that got me. You know, and for whatever reason I thought, geez, you know what, you have no right to be unhappy with yourself. You get to play golf. And that guy will never play golf. And, you know, you hear all those stories I used to read positive things on Thoughts to Ponder, they will tell you a long list of things and all these things, I used to read some of them didn't mean anything to you. And then you read one that says, "I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes and then I saw a man who has no feet."
And it doesn't mean anything at all to you because you don't relate to it. But -- and then one day it does. You go, wow. And this thing got me.
So you know that was a sign from God to say, hey, look, you know, whatever happens is in your control, you just go do it. And have a good attitude. Because you're pretty lucky. And I feel lucky. I've had a lot of great things happen to me.
Of all those adverse things, you know what you have to do you say, well, that's supposed to happen to get me to where I am here. You know, you change that path of things the continuum, it's not the same, it doesn't work out that way. So you know it is what it is.
And I'm here today, I'm the PGA Champion. I can barely believe it. It's, you see all the names on that trophy you know, Gary Player, Hale Irwin, all these incredible players to be on that trophy with those guys, very gratifying.
But you know, I'll tell you, I was skiing, I was skiing, I learned how to ski and I have a skiing instructor who is, he was an alcoholic and he does he went through AA and he's now an AA supporter and just a truly great individual.
We skied down a slope one day, I was still learning and we skied down a blue slope that was absolutely beautiful. Velvet Falls in Snow Mass. We got to the bottom and I was pretty pleased with myself, because I got down a blue run and did it nicely with good technique and everything, and he looked back and it was gorgeous sunny day and I mean it was spectacular.
And he said to me, look back there, what do you see? I said, man, that is beautiful. And he said, you know, you have to give the credit to somebody else. You know, and then we can start getting into that stuff, but, you know, when you give things over to something else, you know, you put your faith in Christ and you read the Bible, there's so much wisdom in the Bible and you do Bible study and you learn things about life, and you learn how you're supposed to be a good human being.
You know, things like that change you. And you realize that it's not as much about you, you're just doing things you're just doing things here. And you better have a good attitude while you're doing them.
So I feel like I'm a work in progress on that. I'm trying to have a good attitude every day. Wining sure helps a lot. But I felt like I had a good attitude going into this week. And praise God that he helped me out. I think he helped me out with that man and those two bounces today.
KELLY ELBIN: Denis Watson, thank you for sharing your phenomenal story. Congratulations.

End of FastScripts

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