SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 7, 2002

Larry Nelson

LARRY NELSON: Basically I didn't drive the ball well yesterday and I think I missed seven fairways or something like that. I kind of got it figured out coming in the last three or four holes and drove the ball pretty well. And today started off driving the ball well and that's important. It's always important to drive the ball well and putt well, and on this golf course especially. That's what I did today and I putted well yesterday and started driving the ball today. So if I can get my iron game going the next two days, it would be much easier than you did the first two.

LARRY NELSON: No. 12, I hit a 6-iron to about 15 feet and made the putt for birdie. No. 14, I hit a 7-iron to about eight feet. 16 I bogeyed both days. I hit it in the left rough off the tee again. Laid it up in the bunker, and then actually hit it out of the bunker and laid up short of the lake, hit it on the green and two-putted for six. 18, hit the 9-iron about seven feet and made birdie there. No. 1, I hit a 7-iron about 25 feet, made it for birdie. No. 2, I hit a pitching wedge about four feet, made it for birdie. No. 6, hit it on the front of the green and three-putted probably from about 35, 40 feet. No. 8, I hit an 8-iron over the green, left over the green, didn't get it up and down, made bogey there. So relatively I think I missed three greens today.

LARRY NELSON: Yes, I did, but this golf course doesn't allow you to get much in a groove. There are so many angles off the tees. You don't have to miss a hit very much to miss some of these fairways. I made two bogeys, or the bogey I made on No. 6, because I drove it in the right rough and hit it on the front of the green, instead of hitting the fairway and having a chance to make birdie, and -- so that's what happens. It's going to be difficult for anybody to hit off 14 fairways. It certainly makes it a lot easier if you do. It's going to get you. The golf course is going to get you. If you're fortunate enough to get a good enough lie that you can knock it up around the green get it up and down, then you're fine. I was happy to have made three birdies in a row because I knew it would make up for the others. You can look at the score board, and if two under is leading or you're tied for the lead, people are not making too many more birdies than they are bogeys.

LARRY NELSON: It feels more like the U.S. Open than our U.S. Opens have been. We haven't played a U.S. Open course, Senior U.S. Open course that's been as difficult. I think it's great. There is no reason to make our majors a pitch-and-putt. I think the guy who wins the majors out here should be able to drive the ball; drive, hit your irons and putt. The first couple of majors I played out here, the open majors were almost pitch-and-putt-type things.

LARRY NELSON: I putted worse this year than I have any year. I can't really put my finger on it. I've had bad putting times every year, but I've always finished in the top two or three or four in the putting stats. This year, I don't know where I rank, but I don't think it's in the top 20. So it's been a bad putting year up to this point, but I can make up for it. I can still finish in the top five if I putt well from here to the end of the year. I feel very comfortable right now, which I haven't felt all year.

LARRY NELSON: I haven't made any changes. It comes and goes. Everybody, even the best putters, it comes and goes. Sometimes it lasts longer than you like. This one has. I haven't had three good putting rounds this year together. I've had good putting nine holes, but this is the first 36 holes I've actually putted well. I feel comfortable. I'm not doing anything weird or uncomfortable, so I should be able to do the same thing the next few days. I can't say there would be any difference. The speed of the greens is good. I've got my youngest son caddying for me, and he seems to be reading the greens pretty well. Quite a few putts he and I look at and we see the same thing, which is a good thing. I don't like it when I think it's going to go left and he thinks it's going to go right. It's makes it more difficult. But so far we've done pretty well.

LARRY NELSON: It depends. If I'm not reading it well, I go with his. If I feel I'm reading the green pretty good, I'll go with mine, and that may happen in two or three different holes. You may go for two holes and the ball doesn't do what you think it's going to do and you say, okay, I'll go with yours. He made some good ones today, and if I had listened to him I would have made a few more. He's done a good job reading these things, and I think they've changed them since I played out here. And what I remember them doing, they're not doing the same thing, so it's good to have fresh eyes.

LARRY NELSON: This is the third time this year.

LARRY NELSON: He is. My oldest son caddies for me more, but he was playing this week. So my youngest son is here.

LARRY NELSON: Yes.

LARRY NELSON: He's probably got the most talent in the family. Josh. He's got a much better swing than I do. He just doesn't -- up until this year he really hasn't cared whether he played or not.

LARRY NELSON: 23. He's been working for a living.

LARRY NELSON: It won't be easy. If anything, it might make it a touch more difficult, because I had forgotten how difficult it was to get the ball close to the hole here on this green, and if the greens are firm, it won't be difficult, it will be almost impossible. The only saving grace of that is if it gets firmer, you might be able to get it closer to the green. I hit the ball about as long as anybody out here. Like the 4th hole today, I hit the best drive I hit all day and still had 194 yards. The other two guys I was playing with hit woods. It wouldn't hurt to get dried out a little bit.

LARRY NELSON: No. When I'm playing well, then I really don't even need any help. I've been putting bad, so I'm not real sure about what I'm doing, and I don't feel like my putter is lined up, so it helps to have someone look at it. A lot of putters or a lot of players, will aim to the right and then hit it left. They compensate for a bad aim. So I just wanted to make sure I was aimed at the right spot and feel how my stroke is. Once I get confidence back into it, I'm fine. I won the Open in '83. I drove the ball so bad the first 27 holes, and then I got to where I wouldn't look down the fairway anymore, because every time I looked down the fairway I just saw the rough. I didn't see the fairway. I just saw the rough. I got tighter and tighter. I found if I just picked out a spot in front of the ball and aim into that spot and then make a swing, then I could tell if I was making a good swing or not. For the next 27 holes, I never looked down the fairway. Then the last day I got a little confidence, so I didn't have any problem. That's the same way with putting.

LARRY NELSON: Isn't that the way that always is? I'm serious. The guys that hit it long and straight and putt good, aren't they the ones that are going to win? I'm sorry, but that's kind of the way -- are you going to make the PGA shorter so everybody can knock it onto the greens. That's fine if the PGA wants to do that, but to me you've got to test all areas of the game. And this golf course, I think up to this point, does it better than any of them. I mean, this is no -- if the rough was not bad, then I would agree, but this rough being bad, if you hit it long and crooked, it doesn't matter. You're not going to be able to -- I don't know of anybody -- maybe somebody has knocked it in on No. 2 this week, but the way that hole has been playing, it's very difficult. And nobody is knocking it onto 16. So the long hitter certainly doesn't have an advantage on those holes.

LARRY NELSON: I had to hit a 4-wood on my third shot yesterday because I missed the fairway. I think you need to test all areas of the game, and if a guy can hit it long and straight, more power, if there are only seven guys who can do that, then Chi Chi is right. I think you've got to give -- well, like I said, if you had no rough, you would have no advantage.

LARRY NELSON: Definitely, yes. I see no reason why this course couldn't do that. I mean, all they would have to do is take the fairways in just a touch and then it would be -- this rough, I mean I have a played in a bunch of World Series, maybe 12. This is the worst I've seen the rough. It's the thickest I've seen the rough. I've seen it this high, but I haven't seen it quite this thick.

LARRY NELSON: Well, just what I've seen in the Senior U.S. Opens since I've been out here, but I've played in a couple of the U.S. Opens that I thought the golf courses were not quite as difficult as maybe they would have liked for it to be, to test all areas of the game. I always felt like driving it was just like hitting a putt. It should mean just as much as hitting the putt. If you mishit your driver, you should have to work to make up for it. Just like if you miss a putt on the green, you have to count a stroke and hit it again. This golf course is very penal. If you miss the fairway, you have to hope for a good lie, No. 1. And if you get a good lie, you have to get a good second shot to get it close enough to make a par. Then you have to get a good chip because the greens are kind of hard to read. There are a lot of subtle breaks. For me, it's just a good test. I've always enjoyed playing here. I think this is probably the best test of golf we've had in a long time, that tests every part of your game.