FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 13, 1997

Larry Gilbert

LARRY GILBERT: Thank you. It's just -- this is incredible. You think back now, of all those times you're on the practice tee hitting balls out there by yourself. It's just unbelievable. You know, the dreams and the going through the little pretending you're on the 18th hole, needing to make a 15-footer for birdie to beat Jack Nicklaus in the US Open. All those times, they finally paid off. This is a sweet victory. It's just, you know, after the way I hit it yesterday, boy, wouldn't give a plug nickel my chances this morning. But I came out on the practice tee and I told my caddie I was going to come out just a few minutes early and see if we couldn't find something. And my caddie Ned McAfee is his name, is an excellent teacher. He's a former golf professional himself. And, boy, I mean, he just -- he did a job this week that, I mean, this victory is as much his as anybody's. I've always said, you know, that regardless of what people think, you know, you can call golf an individual sport, but it's far from it. It's a team sport. I got a wife and two sons that are -- that are a big part of that team. And when we're out there on the golf course, Ned, I make sure that he gets very involved in club selection, in reading greens, the type shots we want to play. We normally agree on just about everything, and we work extremely well together. And I know a couple other guys have tried to hire him away from me, and he doesn't want to go. And, you know, I know that in the past he would have been able to make more money, but, you know, that's the kind of loyalty the guy has. Today's round, you know, I just hit 3-wood right up the gut on No. 1, and just hit a little 8-iron, just took a little off of it and hit the flag. Hit the flag pole on the first bounce. And it stopped about two feet from the hole. And from there on, you know, I felt like, you know, the swing was really going to be with me today. And I hit a bad tee shot on the 3rd hole, hit it in the left rough, had to lay it up. And laid it up to absolute perfect yardage for me. I had 94 yards to the flag. And I just played the ball a little bit left of the flag just to stay away from the bunker. And I hit it right where I wanted to, knocked it about eight feet left of the hole and made the putt for birdie there. Then I hit 5-iron on the 4th hole, about ten feet, and Graham Marsh holed it out of the bunker for 2. Ned just looked at me and said put it right in on top of him. And, I did. You know, from there on, you know, our confidence just got higher and higher all day. I birdied -- where else? I 2-putted 7 for birdie. And then knocked it close on 8 and 9 both, missed both of them. I hit it about seven feet on 8 and about eight feet on 9. And missed both putts. I thought I hit good putts. And then 10, I hit really the only bad tee shot of the day. Just hit a 3-wood and hooked it over in the left rough, and had a very uphill lie. Just wanted to make sure that I didn't knock the ball over the green. I felt like if I left it short of the green, or to the left, I could get it up-and-down. I pulled it, and that's the only green I missed all day. I knocked it about four inches in the left fringe. And then just hit an unbelievably good putt up there, about 14 inches short of the hole. I 3-putted 13 for par. Then 16, I knocked it about 14 inches from the hole again with a sand wedge from, I think we had 104. You know, I get on the 17th green; I'm thinking I've just got a one-shot lead. And I'm trying to birdie 17, you know, because I've only got about 90 yards to the hole. And, hit, I thought, a real good wedge shot, about 15 feet, and then I look up on the board and I got a three-shot lead. I wish somebody would tell me what happened behind me because I still don't know. It's just, you know, I can't describe it. I mean, it's just an unbelievable feeling.

LARRY GILBERT: Well, when I was a kid, you know, you're always thinking, you know, you're out there playing golf or practicing, you give yourself an 8-, or 10-foot putt. All right, now, you're thinking, "I'm tied with Jack Nicklaus" or "Arnold Palmer", whoever. "Last hole of the US Open, I got to make this to win." You know, afterward, I feel it's a good drill, and still do, you know, to try and put yourself in that situation, even though it's imaginary, it helps you to relate back to that situation when the time comes. And, you know, I probably missed 90 percent of those putts (laughter).

LARRY GILBERT: Standing on the tee in a foreign country representing your country in a golf competition, and I've had the opportunity in foreign countries to do that four times.

LARRY GILBERT: The three times, the PGA Cup matches. I played them overseas. And in the Chrysler Cup in Mexico. To stand there and see that flag raised in your honor, and knowing that you're representing 260 million people, it's pretty moving. If a guy doesn't get choked up there, he must not be an American.

LARRY GILBERT: Yeah. I think, you know, it gives them some incentive to continue working on their game because, you know, you never know what's going to happen. To be perfectly honest, though, if I had it to do over again, I would probably do the same thing. I would have probably, you know, took the gamble and came out here. I had an awful lot of confidence in my ability to play the game. And, I think once you get your confidence going, you know, you prove yourself a few times, then, you know, it's a great feeling.

LARRY GILBERT: No, I knew I'd been tied. I knew he birdied 13. And I thought, at that time, we were tied. What, did he make, a double bogey somewhere?

LARRY GILBERT: Oh.

LARRY GILBERT: Oh, yeah. Yeah. When I hit the second shot into 17, I knew -- at least I thought there was still a fight.

LARRY GILBERT: I think all facets. I mean, even the day I hit it bad, yesterday, you know, I just thought real hard and gutted it out, was determined, you know, I was not going to blow up. And, I think a lot of that, you know, I came out today thinking "Well, you know, I got my bad round out yesterday, I don't believe I can play that bad again." You know, and my bad round turns out to be even par. So, you know, I felt very fortunate, you know, to get by with what I did yesterday.

LARRY GILBERT: No, I haven't.

LARRY GILBERT: Right.

LARRY GILBERT: Oh, when I was a kid, it was Arnold Palmer. I mean, you know, name a person my age that he wasn't their idol. You know, the first time I played with him, when I walked off 18th green, I had tears in my eyes. I mean, it was that much of a thrill to get to play with Arnold. And, it's still a thrill for me to play with him. And Jack, I mean, you know, where you going to find a classier guy?

LARRY GILBERT: Yes, I did, very much.

LARRY GILBERT: None whatsoever. Never once thought about it. I knew I had a decision to make, and I made that decision, and I was very happy to stick with it.

LARRY GILBERT: I had two boys in college when I quit my job to come out here. Fortunately, both of them were on partial golf scholarships. Yeah, it was a big gamble for me.

LARRY GILBERT: No. No, I didn't sell the house. We did dig very deep into the savings account (laughter). Like maybe the bottom of it.

LARRY GILBERT: Club in Lexington, Kentucky.

LARRY GILBERT: The Champions.

LARRY GILBERT: Allen.

LARRY GILBERT: He had severe allergies. He was allergic to dust, mold, mildew, and when you stay in third rate motels, what do you sleep in (laughter)? I've got two sons now, I mean, they're both class acts. Allen is a great young man. Made us grandparents last year. Chris is a great young man. He's striving on the mini Tours to try to get his card. I mean, he wants to come out here and do this every week.

LARRY GILBERT: Yes.

LARRY GILBERT: At the time we didn't know about it. When we found out about it, that's when we made the decision to get off The TOUR. At the time he was -- when we went out on The TOUR, he was about six months old.

LARRY GILBERT: Dust, mold, mildew, milk, you name it. You know, what do you feed a baby? Milk. If they are feeling a little bit bad, you give them more milk.

LARRY GILBERT: When we found out exactly what the problem was, yeah. We took him to an allergy specialist, got him on the shots.

LARRY GILBERT: We were at Fort Knox when I was learning how to play, and, yeah, at Doe Valley, too, and a couple weeks ago (laughter).

LARRY GILBERT: When I won the National Club Pro for the third time in 1991, I was 49 years old, I beat a lot of good, young players. And I decided then, you know, that I still had some golf game left in me. And then when Larry Laoretti - I did not know at that time, I'd never met Larry - I knew Jim Albus, and Jim had won this tournament. In fact, this was his first victory. And then Rives McBee had won a couple of times. You know, Reeves and I have been friends for 20 some years. And, you know, I just figured, you know, I've been beaten Reeves pretty regular, you know, before he came out here. I said, well, evidently, you know, he's really honed his game. And he had. But when I got out here and started to -- decided to devote my time to playing, then, you know, I started to hone my game and things got a lot better. And, you know, I just -- I felt like, you know, I could compete.

LARRY GILBERT: All of those times on the practice tee, how proud my mother and father would be.

LARRY GILBERT: Bill and Thelma Gilbert.

LARRY GILBERT: Thank you.