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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 7, 2007

John Ross

KOHLER, WISCONSIN

JOHN ROSS: I'm glad that's over with.

Q. The wind started to pick up a little bit?

JOHN ROSS: Yes, it did. About the time we made the turn I noticed the intensity of the wind picking up. And the greens already seemed a little bit quicker than they had been the first two days. And I'm sure this wind even dried them out more.
So it just took a lot more patience to play that last nine.

Q. 3-under through three rounds, you have to be pretty happy about being the leader in the clubhouse at this point.

JOHN ROSS: Well, yeah, I would have liked to have somehow figured away to 2-putt that last green there. But I'm very pleased.
I made birdie on 17; I feel like that's stealing. So if I gave one back, I guess if you play 17 and 18 in equivalent to par, you've got to be thankful.
I think though this is a very fair test of golf. Fairer than a lot of, I think, U.S. Open venues that we have played. But the course is in great shape, and if you hit the ball solid and you can make some putts out here -- because the greens are just pure.

Q. Do you feel like it's going to be more difficult for the late starters? Was this a good day to go out early, earlier?

JOHN ROSS: You got holes 10 through 13 going down wind. But it was kind of a chore to stop the ball going even downwind. The holes coming back into the wind were playing pretty tough. I think it's just when you're playing in winds like this, you got to really focus on hitting the ball solid. Because a mishit's magnified in crosswinds and these types of winds.

Q. You shot your best round so far of the tournament, you got yourself in contention. You got to feel pretty good about that. Especially with the wind today?

JOHN ROSS: The first nine holes I was a little bit out of rhythm. Playing in twosomes the pace of play was a lot quicker. And I think that got me out of rhythm a little bit. I just tried to force myself to walk a little slower this last nine. And we did have to wait a few holes coming in.
But, yeah, this is a marathon. And I knew when I came here I had a couple of goals, and No. 1 was to make the cut. No. 2 was to put yourself in position where you had a chance to make a run at the title on the final round.
So I just want to thank God, first of all, for the patience that he's given me to play here. Because USGA events demand sometimes more -- I mean it becomes a game of skill, but it also becomes a game of internal fortitude. And they have done a very fair job in setting up the course this week.

Q. You seem very calm right now. Is it going to hit you what position you may be in going into the final round of this tournament?

JOHN ROSS: Well, I don't know. I'm a Christian, and I just ask God to give me his peace and understanding and his wisdom and in trying to -- you know, to be committed to the shot that I've got to hit. If the wind switches angles by the time I pull the trigger, it's out of my control.
But I just tried to stay in a game, in a rhythm and stick to my game plan. Sometimes that's more tough to do than hitting the shot maybe. But playing with Mark McNulty made it very easy. Mark's a true class act. He's battling -- his upper back was bothering him; he thought he might have to quit on the fourth hole, but he gutted it out and he was always encouraging me and so that helped.

Q. Think you'll sleep well tonight?
JOHN ROSS: Oh, yeah. I really do. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. A lot of golfers have talked about how difficult those final holes are, 17 and 18. You birdied 16 and then birdied 17. How do you feel about that stretch of holes there?

JOHN ROSS: Well, 16, I couldn't understand, I mean it was right into the wind and I hit a good drive and I had 244 to the pin and hit 3-wood about 30 feet past the hole. So that was a relatively easy birdie at that point.
17, I mean we had to wait on that tee for about 10 minutes. And that's not a shot you want to stand there and look at very long. And I got over it and I said, I just got to trust what I'm seeing and to feather a 3-wood into a par-3 hole, we don't do that too often. But I was glad it turned out the way it did.

Q. You gave us your first two goals as far as making the cut and being in position. Do you have a third goal?

JOHN ROSS: Well, it may be a little farfetched, but if I'm this close, I might as well shoot for the top prize. Being non-exempt out here on the Champions Tour, I'm having to qualify each week.
I set some goals to try and finish high enough where maybe I could exempt myself into the Senior British Open and the Ford Senior PLAYERS Championship later in the year and some of these events that go off the Money List.
So these are all thoughts tucked away in the back of my mind. If you want to call us rabbits, that we have to deal with this week in and week out.
Even to get here was an accomplishment, because I played in Des Moines, Iowa and finished up a tournament there on the Champions Tour, flew out of Des Moines, landed in Charleston, West Virginia at midnight. Got home at 2 in the morning, asleep at 2:30. Woke up at 6, drove three hours to Hot Springs to the Homestead to qualify. And then 3-putted the last green to shoot 68 to go into a playoff.
And then I just told my caddie, "I'm too tired to walk too many more holes." And I rolled in about a 45 foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to clench the second spot.
So I felt like it was a divine appointment for me to be here, going through all that.
And a lot of people ask me why did I go back to the Homestead, well, I've gone there four times and I'm batting 500. I'm 2-4 getting through there. I like the golf course and there's a lot of history there.

Q. How many players were in that playoff?

JOHN ROSS: There was just two of us. Tony Green from Bristol, Virginia. He's an amateur, I've known Tony for years. And when you go out into a playoff with a friend, it's, you know, somebody's going to make it and somebody is not, and it's tough. But I'm just thankful to be in the position I'm in.

Q. If you were to go on to win would you call it a Cinderella story?

JOHN ROSS: Probably so. But one of my favorite saying is, "Little is much when God is in it." And, I mean, what I observed here in the last few weeks on the PGA TOUR seeing Brian Bateman win and Woody Austin win again, these types of stories face me and challenge me and inspire me.
It was nice to see Lonnie Nielsen win last week on the Champions Tour. I played a practice round with him the other day. And so it's all a matter of, I guess, developing belief in your self and then acting upon it.
I mean, after 20 some years of well, I guess I've been a professional for 30 years now, I feel like I've hit just about every shot that I need to hit, it is just a matter of stepping in there and pulling it off at the right time.

Q. Do you like your chances, when the wind picks up like this?

JOHN ROSS: I feel that I'm a good wind player. I've played a lot of mini-tour golf in Florida, down through the years. I played in the last two Senior British Opens, and here again it's back to hitting the ball solid in the wind. A mishit and you're going to pay the penalty for it.

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