FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 11, 1997

Larry Gilbert

LARRY GILBERT: Yeah.

LARRY GILBERT: Had a little bit of a wake-up call on No. 2. I knocked it in there 15 feet or 12 feet on No. 1 and missed it for birdie. Then No. 2 I hit a little 8-iron about 18 feet, rolled it about 14 inches by the hole and missed it coming back. I said, you know, that's enough of that. So I 2-putt the next hole for birdie. And then --

LARRY GILBERT: I had about a 23-, 24-foot putt for eagle. Then I birdied 6 and 7. 6 from about eight feet, 7 from about, I don't know, three feet. And, I missed good birdie putts at 8 and 9. 8 about 12 feet, 9 about eight feet. Pars 10, 11, 12, made eagle on 13. I hit a 4-wood second shot about 20 feet right of the hole, hole-high, and just cruised it right in the heart of the hole. And in the next hole, the first green I missed for the tournament. I hit a 5-iron from 196 yards, and it rolled about a foot over the green. I still putted it. And, then knocked it about eight feet on the next hole and missed it. Then missed my next green on the next hole, put it in the bunker. Just misjudged the wind. I had the ball about four inches or two inches in the right rough, hit 8-iron, and just absolutely eating the stick up, fell short in the bunker, really shocked me. Then I almost holed it from out of the bunker, knocked it about an inch dead behind the hole. Then birdied 17. I made about an 8-footer there. And then 18, boy, the second shot I hit there, I was just loving it until it started turning. The ball wound up landing about eight feet left of where I wanted it. You know, it winds up in the bunker. I thought I hit a pretty good bunker shot. There was evidently some new sand in that bunker and it was very fluffy. The ball just was really dead coming out. I landed the ball maybe six, eight inches short of where I wanted it, and it just stopped dead, rolled up into the fringe, then I missed the putt. I've got no complaints.

LARRY GILBERT: Well, I came into the tournament pretty confident that I could win. I mean, you know, I'm sure that out of the 78 guys, probably 70 of them came in confident enough to win. You know, it's a crazy game. I mean, you know, it just -- I look on the leaderboard and, goodnight, I can't believe the scores that are under par. Because I don't think the golf course is playing that easy.

LARRY GILBERT: Yes.

LARRY GILBERT: I talk to her each time she comes out, I talk to her for maybe 20 minutes, and that's all I need with her. I mean, she has such an influence on me. She can take my attitude when it's down and I just talk to her for a few minutes, and all of a sudden I'm up, you know, feel going about myself, about my golf game, about life. She just, you know, there's something special about her. She's a special lady.

LARRY GILBERT: I already have.

LARRY GILBERT: Yeah.

LARRY GILBERT: Night before last.

LARRY GILBERT: Probably so. She's just -- that lady, you can just see confidence oozing out of her. You know, and it rubs off. I think that's why, you know, when a guy is just playing mediocre and he gets paired with real good players, 98 percent of the time, he's going to play better. You know what I mean? His game is going to step up another level. I think it's because the confidence rubs off.

LARRY GILBERT: I drove the ball very well yesterday and today, and I hit the irons exceptionally well. I hit a lot of good iron shots today that were close. Didn't seem to make very many putts.

LARRY GILBERT: My attitude has been good. I mean, what can be bad being out here making the money that we're making?

LARRY GILBERT: No, doesn't look any different. Tomorrow I'm going to come back out here, I'm going to play the best I can. It may be 64. It may be 74. You know, you don't know. And that, I think, is the great thing about our game, you know, because you can't go out there and predict the score. You can't tee it up on No. 1 and say, "I'm going to shoot 65 today." If a guy tries that, he's nuts. You just got to take it one shot at a time. You know, it's not like a game of chess where you're thinking five or six moves ahead. Here, the most you can think ahead is one shot, you know, because a lot of times you want to put the ball in a certain position in order to give yourself an easier approach shot.

LARRY GILBERT: Thank you, guys.