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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

July 23, 2008

Sandy Lyle

TROON, SCOTLAND

SCOTT CROCKETT: Welcome to the Senior Open Championship at Troon. I know you'll be looking forward to contending this week and hopefully picking up the first senior major. Before we kick off, a brief comment on last week.
SANDY LYLE: I think last week was not a thing I would like to do not on a regular basis, but under circumstances being out there in just nasty weather, a couple of skanky shots and then I know from some of our previous caddies, I've had sore hands and knuckles for a couple of years now and I'm really onto it and had X-rays done early this year.
So, it is a niggling problem and I've been playing most of this year pain-free which is really nice. Then in the cold weather, which you don't really expect in July, around Birkdale and a couple skanky shots didn't help the matter at all.
So I was playing with almost numb knuckles on the left hand and I couldn't really continue. I was suffering too much from the weather and the conditions and so I decided to make an executive decision to make a short hasten towards the clubhouse.
I regret it a little bit in the end, but I've spoke to Peter Dawson and it's all right with him. I wrote a letter to him. As far as his concern and The European Tour here, it's a done deal here and under unusual circumstances, I have an impeccable record for most of my career, not like John Daly and fights in the clubhouse and things like that. So it's been done with and dealt with and that's as far as we go.
SCOTT CROCKETT: As you say, a lot of dialogue between yourself and the R&A has gone on but it is safe to say that, on both sides, the matter is now closed. On that score, George O'Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour is here too and the matter is closed for for The Tour too. Safe to say you want to put that behind you, move on and look to this week.
SANDY LYLE: Especially with the draw I have this week, looking forward to be playing with Greg Norman and Tom Watson.
SCOTT CROCKETT: How many rounds have you played in week in preparation?
SANDY LYLE: I played Monday and I played yesterday in the Pro-Am, so I saw a few different part of the golf course I haven't seen before with the amateurs, and so I know where not to go now. We had a very good time and I'm looking forward to the weather being good, and the course is in good shape which we expect from Troon, and we'll move on.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Looking forward to the challenge obviously.
SANDY LYLE: Well, it's always going to be a challenge. No matter what the weather is out here at Troon, you've got your first nine holes, usually not too bad, and then you've got the different nine coming in, if the breeze is against you. So it's going to be a real battle down the stretch but we know that from previous times we've played here, the inward eight, nine holes at Troon are always going to be a test.

Q. I know you don't really want to talk any more about this but can I ask you, were you surprised by the amount of stick you got in the media? One pro on the radio even called your decision a disgrace?
SANDY LYLE: I think a lot of people will say things in the spur of the moment and they may be a little hot or fed up, and many athletes around the world, not in golf but other sports will have the opportunity to pull out because of an injury or they are just not on on that day and I just really wasn't on that day. I didn't know if I was going to hurt my hand halfway around and it was going to be niggling me all the way through.
I suppose in the first round of The Open, a big name like myself, anything about myself is going to be big news and it will be headlines and will be around the world within minutes. I know if my old man was alive, he wouldn't be too happy about it, but he would obviously say you have your reasons and I did have my reasons at the time.
When you're 11-over after nine, it's a bit of a meltdown and I wasn't happy with myself and I was hurting in the left hand on the knuckles which has been a niggling problem for a couple of years. I think in Germany a few years ago, I had to retire after one round because I jarred my right hand this time, and these sort of things happen in the game as you get older. Things start to fall off or hurt, a bit like an old car, I suppose and I'm prone to injuries like Tiger Woods can be.

Q. Have you been, in some ways, a victim of your own honesty in not making more about your sore hand at the time?
SANDY LYLE: If I have a sore left hand, I don't make any qualms about it or make my excuse.
Even Tiger Woods right after the Masters didn't say anything about it. I even sat talking to him an hour after the weekend, and there he is having a major operation on his knee. So I didn't make my big splash about my hand being sore. I know when I did my interview with Hazel, I did mention that I had a sore couple of knuckles or fingers which had been irritating me most of last few years and I'm onto it now.
The problem is sorted out. Unfortunately a couple of the ones I did hit out of there were the wrong shots and they just left the left hand feeling very sore and difficult to make the backswing. When I miss the ground and there's a lot of flick going through, it's irritating and probably one of those things I have to live with the rest of my golfing career, but it's better than it has been sort of four or five months ago.
There's nothing you can do about it, and it's the way I've been swinging the golf club. I obviously take pills now and then but you can't see anything physically. There's no cracked bones or any disfigured fingers or anything. It's a little bit like being hit by a rubber hammer and it's throbbing and very, very tender.

Q. Do you feel any sense of regret perhaps that your reputation has been somewhat tarnished?
SANDY LYLE: Well, things blow over pretty rapidly nowadays. It's old news in some ways in my mind now and you move on. But you know, I didn't just take it on the spur of the moment. It had gradually -- by the time I got to the ninth hole and the way conditions were, I had to make a decision. And there will be people that will be unhappy, and I have new sponsors, as well, at the time with investment companies and stuff, you'd like to show some forth for them, as well, but I'm the one out there that's suffering. I just made a decision what's best for me and also my playing partners I'm playing with don't want to be dragging somebody around that's about 12-, 13-over par.
So it was best for me to get out. I don't like being in The Open Championship and only spending about an hour and a half; I'd rather be out there for four rounds. I just move on.

Q. What have you done since then?
SANDY LYLE: Well, I hit some balls maybe a couple days later, that was all and I came down here on Monday. It was nice to hit some golf balls and get some rhythm again after being buffered around in the rains for four or five days last week, it was nice to get some quieter weather.

Q. Is this a new beginning for the Lyle career do you think?
SANDY LYLE: Well, I played in the PGA at Oak Hill this year, which to me was my kind of my first major I played in, and I wasn't very impressed with my golf there, but the conditions, even though 12-over par was the cut, gives you some idea how hard the golf course was and I didn't produce some good scores there.
I played well in the Masters this year, and looking forward to playing here this week. Yeah, it's a new chapter in Lyle's career, and I'm enjoying it so far as we go. I haven't put the numbers on the board like I would like to, but I haven't really been trying to get the swing in the right position so I can save the old hands.

Q. Were you thinking about this week when you walked off last week?
SANDY LYLE: Well, that's why I left early. I think if I had continued, I would have probably made things even worse. If I get in the rough and one or two heavy shots, which is always going to happen, I could make my left hand a lot worse than it really was. And that was also in the back of my mind because I've obviously got two majors to go now, this week and I've got the U.S. Open as well, seniors.
So I'm out here for four or five weeks now hitting balls and I thought, well, if I carry on the way I'm going, the way things are looking, I'm going to be in the rough a few times, guarantee that, with all the crosswinds, like the 11th hole or 10th hole, it was almost unreachable. It was a par 4 hole and you're hitting 2-iron into the next hole the par 3, and you start looking to all that and you say, this is not looking very good.
The way my hand felt at the time, which was what was causing most of the decision-making because it was hurting, not extreme but hurting enough to not have the feeling that I would like to have.
So I made a decision on my own, and my caddie was not very happy about me walking in, which was my son; he wants a good payday at the moment. I think he made more than I did last week, actually.

Q. Thoughts on the pairing with Watson and Norman?
SANDY LYLE: Well, I look the draw and I'll be taking pictures of it, this is my first Senior Open and look who I was playing with; they are legends in their own right, especially Tom, and Tom is one of my favourites for many, many years. I'm no youngster myself, I may be a rookie but it will be a great pleasure to play with the two of them.

Q. When did you last play with them?
SANDY LYLE: Now you're talking. When was the last time -- I don't think I've ever played with the pair of them together. I've played with Tom just recently in the PGA at Oak Hill in the first round.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Thank you very much. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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