SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 28, 2001

Bob Gilder

BOB GILDER: Definitely the biggest. (Laughs).

BOB GILDER: I was trying to not think about winning until it was over so it has been kind of a whirlwind obviously since we finished and it was so hard not to, I was talking to Doug last night and his son-in-law Pat Bates who once told him, he says, you know, if you are leading the tournament and you are birdieing the first three holes of the day going into the last round, are you thinking about your speech? (Laughs) And Doug told him, he says, what are you thinking about that for? So that's all I can think about was not thinking about winning and taking every shot one at a time. I mean, it was so difficult out there that you really had to concentrate on every shot. Just really had to focus. I mean you lose one of them and who knows where it might go with this wind. So it was a very difficult day and quite honestly I didn't know what was going to happen 'til Bruce missed that putt, that eagle putt. I mean, he could have made the eagle putt and I missed mine and we're back out there again in that nice wind. So I just thought about it afterwards and it's a real honor to win THE TOUR Championship. That's all I can say. With all these guys that played so well all year long, it's a real treat to be among them. And a great finish to a pretty good rookie year.

BOB GILDER: We didn't have wind like this in Oregon. That new golf course down there, it blows there on the coast like this. (Inaudible) I try to avoid that stuff.

BOB GILDER: I hit an 8-iron. I had like 144 yards and I punched a little 8-iron.

BOB GILDER: Well that's the one thing you say to yourself, just hang in there, make pars, don't do anything stupid, there's one birdie hole coming up, make sure you make a birdie on that hole because you know he's going to be making birdie, if not maybe less. What you want to do is keep that margin as long as you can. You don't want to give any of those back if you don't have to. Certainly that was a turning point, but in my mind I didn't think about it only because I know what can happen out here in this wind. You can have a couple of errant shots and just like what happened to Bruce a 2-shot swing two holes in a row, could happen to me on two holes. I mean I could turn around and do the same thing. It happened all day. We were kind of doing that a little bit until that point. I don't want to say that those two birdies took the wind out of anybody's sails, but it probably would have, me. It was tough. And he hung right in there and came back and made a run at it on the last hole. That was a fantastic shot to hit in there.

BOB GILDER: Doug kept sneaking right up there. I didn't know he was that close until we got in the last hole. I didn't know he was 10-under. That's a heck of a score today. I really didn't, no, I -- I just wasn't thinking about it that much. I was just trying to work hard on each shot. That's all I can -- I mean, I was trying to stay away from thinking about winning and thinking about anything but one shot at a time. It was so -- it could be so devastating if you didn't. So that's what I was thinking about most of the time.

BOB GILDER: Well, I think -- you know, you want to say that you earned it because it was such a difficult day. I think it made it more possible for someone like me to win who can keep it in play and make pars where the chance to shoot a low number is very difficult. That's what a day like today does. It makes it more difficult for everybody else to come back and shoot a low number and catch us. That's what difficult conditions do. So I was hoping it was going to blow today so I could hang in there and make -- I won with a 1-over par round today and that's just a tribute to how difficult the golf course played and what the conditions were. Anybody that shot under par today had a heck of a round.

BOB GILDER: That was big. That was a big putt. Still 17 to come was dead into the wind and you know, I had likes 150 yards, I was -- no, 153 yards second shot and I was trying to knockdown a 5-iron and drill a 5-iron in there and it kind of got away from me a little bit. That's a difficult hole. I still had that one to play. But the putt on 16 was really big. Even though Bruce missed the putt after me, if I had missed, he might have made it. Who knows. Now we are down to two again.

BOB GILDER: It was probably, the putt, probably good 12 to 13 feet down the hill. I mean, I hit a good drive off the tee and I -- I didn't hit the 3-wood exactly the way I wanted to but I kept it on line. I wanted to keep it a little lower but it got up into the wind a little bit. Shoot, I was 40 feet short of the green, driver and 3-wood. It was just -- I couldn't believe it was blowing so hard. (Laughter).

BOB GILDER: Windy conditions are going to hurt Bruce because he's so big. He's tall. He's sitting way up there. I am sure that that was very difficult for him to putt in that -- in the wind like that. It's difficult for anybody to putt in the wind. I mean, it was hard for me to putt. I had this goofy hat flopping around like this and the gust would come up and it would blow this up and I was trying to catch these putts in between gusts, and it was real difficult. I honestly don't know what Bruce was feeling because I have never putted that way. I don't know how -- I don't know how to putt that way and if it's more difficult that way, or you know, the conventional way. But being so tall, he's more susceptible to the wind, that's for sure.

BOB GILDER: I don't think so. I can handle him. (Laughs).

BOB GILDER: Well, after I won the third tournament I started thinking well you know, I might get to be Rookie-of-the-Year and then Lietzke came along and played about 8 tournaments and won two of them and he was -- he made $900,000 in nine events. I am thinking, well, you know, he's played awful good, you know it could be either way, to really have a good chance at winning, I'd have to win this week; especially with him right there next to me. I think Rookie-of-the-Year is a great honor. I was trying not think about it. I really was. I was in denial, a lot of stuff, trying not think about any of those things and really concentrate on-the-job at hand. So I don't know what is going to happen there. The players are going to vote on that, whatever they decide is up to them, I'd be honored if I got it and I'd be real happy.

BOB GILDER: It was blowing harder than this. It was -- yeah we were going to play, but it was a Monday and we just finished in Napa and we flew all the way out here and woke up in the morning, it was just howling. I mean, really howling, and we looked at each other and said you na-ah (no), this is our day off, we're not going to play in this stuff. He drove us out here and showed us around and I was impressed. I mean, the golf course looked really neat. I was looking forward to it. I wasn't looking forward to the wind.

BOB GILDER: Well, I think my game has matured during the year. My iron game has gotten better the fact that Verizon was a very difficult tournament also obviously makes me feel good, all the best players were there. I don't know what to say. Other than the fact that I am -- you work hard and hopefully you are getting better and hopefully things turn out where you can win a few. I thought I had some chances at other times this year, my putting just kind of -- kind of wasn't there. Ball-striking at times wasn't there so things didn't happen. Most of the time you can't do anything about the other guy, so you have got to get your own game in position to win. Fortunately it happened twice on two pretty darn good golf courses and some pretty good conditions. So I am just very happy that I can do that; plus, you know, it gives you confidence that you can win on tough golf courses in tough conditions. It makes you feel good that you can hit some of the shots that you hit under the gun. Of course I have been doing this for about 27 years now. So hopefully I am not I am not running scared too often.

BOB GILDER: Let's see. Doesn't look like they want to hear it. No. 3, drive, and 2-iron lay-up, punched a little 9-iron in there about two and a half feet. Bogeyed 7 and 8. 7 I hit a good drive, had to hit 3-wood in there, the wind was right in our face. I put it in the bunker, just to the right of the pin, hit a pretty good bunker shot out of there to about 8 neat. And just missed the putt. Then No. 8 I hit a good shot out of the-- hit a drive and, let's see, sand wedge, hit a good shot. I think it was about 25 feet from the hole and it was just a little quicker than I thought. I ran it by the hole and missed it probably two and a half-footer coming back. Then on 9 I hit a 5-iron that flew probably six inches in front of the hole and stopped about eight inches from the hole. The wind was blowing from left-to-right really hard, little into us. 10 I drove it in the left rough, had kind of a marginal lie and it didn't come out of there very well. Put it in the bunker with a 4-iron, left front bunker and I got to the top it rolled back down in the bunker. I thought I hit a pretty good shot. It was kind of a long bunker shot that you had to carry quite aways up over the lip. Caught the top and stopped it. Then it rolled back down into the bunker. Hit another bunker shot that was about two and a half feet made that for bogey. That was a good bogey. 11, birdie, hit a drive in the bunker, had a perfect lie, had 73 yards to the pin, hit a sand wedge about twelve feet, made that for birdie. That was a good birdie. Crucial one. 12 I hit driver and 8-iron, drive in the right rough and had a perfect lie. Hit 8-iron about maybe four feet behind the hole. 13 hit an 8-iron kind of hit it on the wrong side of the hump. I 3-putted the hole. Probably about 40 feet from the hole. Had to come up over a hump, misjudged the speed left it short. 14 I hit a drive and just in the right rough, had pretty good lie, hit 4-iron on the green, 2-putted. 15 I hit 7-iron -- that's a hard hole to keep it on the green, it rolled left down the hill and kind of on a downhill slope and I had to pitch it, pitched it on the green about maybe 15 feet and missed the putt. 16 I hit drive and 3-wood short of the green, pitched it about twelve feet by, 12, -- 12, 13 feet by made the putt coming down the hill for par. That was a big putt. 17 I hit drive and 5-iron in the right rough, right of the green, chipped it to about ten feet, eight, nine feet, missed the putt. That's it.