SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2001

Larry Nelson

LARRY NELSON: Just starting off today, I was not really concerned about what I would shoot. I think the golf course is such a good golf course that I was just going to enjoy playing and maybe kind of enjoy the round. I didn't drive the ball today as well as I would have liked, and I started driving a bit better on the back side, starting at about the 10th hole. And I think that's the reason why I had played better the last 11 holes. So I'm kind of excited about the possibilities of driving the ball better this week. I think that's very important on this golf course. But it was just a good day to just enjoy this golf course, enjoy the area, and just couldn't be nicer.

LARRY NELSON: I don't think the weather had anything to do with it. We had kind of a misty day yesterday. It was kind of hard rain. It was fairly enjoyable yesterday. What we don't like, for the most part, is starting and stopping, starting and stopping, that type of rainy day. But I think as long as we can kind of play with a consistent pace, the weather is not really that much of a factor, good or bad.

LARRY NELSON: I think some of it has to do with my right arm, right hand, taking the week off last week, I felt like it helped a little bit. It doesn't bother me quite as much. I'm just kind of going through a stretch of five weeks where I haven't putted very well, or I haven't putted as well as I had maybe the first two weeks.

LARRY NELSON: I think it's one of the best decisions the PGA's made in 15 or 20 years. We've got golf courses like this this year, and I know next year's Firestone. I think the year after that is supposed to be Aronimink and Valhalla. Three out of four is not bad.

LARRY NELSON: Actually, I started driving the ball better. I kept the ball in play. And I think that the greens were fairly soft, a lot of the pins were pretty accessible if you kept the ball in the fairway. And I hit some -- I hit some really good shots today. I hit some that weren't so good, but for the most part, I missed the ball kind of where I was supposed to. Didn't short side myself at all today, except maybe one par 5, but ended up making par instead of birdie. So I think I kind of got into the flow, my swing started getting a little bit better, and I think that's the reason why I played better on the back side. I actually shot 3-under on the back and missed it from about 5 feet on - I think it was 15.

LARRY NELSON: Yeah, I think this type of tournament, you can hurt yourself more than you can help yourself. A good round will help you and a bad round will, you know, kind of shoot you right out of a chance to win. That's kind of basically your attitude, just kind of go out, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens, if you make some putts, that's great. I think this golf course - I think the scores are really going to be spread out. I don't think it's going to be one of those golf courses where you have, going into the last day, you have 20 people that have a chance to win. I think it's the kind of golf course that's going to separate the players pretty readily.

LARRY NELSON: Thank you very much.