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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2009

Tom Kite

BEACHWOOD, OHIO

KELLY ELBIN: Tom Kite, ladies and gentlemen, World Golf Hall of Fame member, 1992 U.S. Open champion, joining us after a round of 69 in the third round of the 70th Senior PGA Championship at Canterbury Golf Club. Tom is in at 2-under par, one stroke out of the lead. Tom, I know you had a tough finish there, all in although you're right in the mix going into the final round.
TOM KITE: Tell you what, it's a hard golf course. And those last couple of holes are really hard. Pretty sadistic finish those last couple of holes. And obviously it leaves a bad taste in my mouth for a little while. But there's some range balls out there on that driving range that I'll beat some frustration out on. And then we'll be ready to go tomorrow.
But all in all, I really feel like I'm playing well. I really like the way I'm striking the ball. I'm hitting a lot of greens in regulation. Those that I'm -- a lot of greens that I'm missing, I'm just right on the edge.
So I really feel good about everything and putting quite nicely. So pleased with the position and wish it was better, wish I hadn't bogeyed the last two holes, but.

Q. What did happen on 17?
TOM KITE: 17, I just tried to hit a high shot and I just kind of hung back a little bit and I almost had a little too much club. I was trying to hit it high to try to soften that out. Jay Don had hit just in front of me and he knocked it not all the way to the back, but up on that slope and certainly didn't want to be up there. Even though I would have rather been where he was than where I was. I just hung back and hung it to the right.

Q. And then on the second shot?
TOM KITE: Oh, the second shot, you know, there was a big clump of grass right behind the ball, but actually where the ball was sitting it didn't look that bad. I took a fairly what I thought was a fairly full swing, obviously not full enough. The ball just didn't come out at all. That was a bit of a surprise. But a good up-and-down out of the bunker. That's the only bunker I've been in all week, so that was a good up-and-down.
KELLY ELBIN: And then on 18, Tom.
TOM KITE: 18, you know, that's a little bit of an awkward drive for me. It sets up better with a 3-wood. But obviously that leaves you a long shot into the green. And I tried to hit driver and tried to cut it a little bit and just over cut it a hair.
And it landed in the rough and then hopped into the bunker and I had a very awkward stance there standing out of the bunker trying to play a 5-iron. I got the ball solid, got it clean, just pulled it just a little bit because of that stance.
KELLY ELBIN: Thank you. More questions?

Q. You haven't been playing the Tom Kite golf we have been accustomed to this year. What's got you back in the groove now?
TOM KITE: Actually, I've been hitting the ball pretty well. But I really haven't putted as well this year as I have the last year and a half. Since going to the long putter I've really putted well. And I struggled a little bit early on with my putting. Good rhythm, good tempo, but just kind of got a little out of position.
And one of the TOUR representatives actually saw something three weeks ago while we were down in Tampa. And he said, you know, this was a little position with my right arm. And he said, this was what I, how I putted when I was putting well last year. So I made that adjustment. And since that time in the last three weeks, Tampa, The Legends, and last week and here I putted much better.

Q. Everybody seems to be struggling coming in, but you still have a great chance tomorrow. Just talk about your chance, your opportunity tomorrow.
TOM KITE: Well, like I said, I feel like I'm playing well. I've driven the ball quite nicely. I've hit some really good iron shots and I feel like I've had reasonably good control of the ball. Which you have to have on this golf course. I don't know if they got stats here. This print's too small for me to see, but I've hit certainly most of the greens this week.
KELLY ELBIN: You've hit at least 11 of the, you hit 11, 13, and 12 over the last three days.
TOM KITE: Which is pretty good on this golf course with the greens bouncing the way they are. I would say that's certainly in the, I would guess in the top-5 as far as greens hit this week, certainly Top-10. So I'm pleased with that and again like I said, I really feel like I'm putting.
KELLY ELBIN: Tom is third in greens in regulation on the Champions Tour coming into this week.

Q. We all know about Tim Simpson's story. Just as a fellow player could you talk a little bit about just what he's able to overcome and he's another guy whose got a chance to win this week as well?
TOM KITE: Well, he had a very serious health scare. The great news is through the miracle of medicine he's still with us. And that's fantastic. When you come that close to losing your life I'm sure that it changes your perspective of a few things.
Knock on wood, I haven't gone through that yet. So it's kind of hard to relate to that, but I am sure it's changed his outlook on a lot of things.

Q. Probably everybody near the lead is up there in greens hit and fairways hit. Can you talk about, I mean you just can't play this golf course out of the rough or miss the greens, can you, the greens are too tough?
TOM KITE: No. It's surprising, you look at the golf course, on first blush, and you think, it's really not that much from tee to green. It's short, I mean very short in places. It's got some length, but it, you know, later on in the round. But it's a relatively short course.
And you look at it from tee to green and you think, well, you know, that's, this isn't that big a deal. But greens are so severe and it's so critical to be able to control your ball that it really places a premium on hitting that drive in the fairway no matter what you hit, whether you're hitting an iron or fairway wood or a driver, you have to hit it in the fairway and then you have to have great control over your ball.
There are so many greens out there that have false fronts, where if you come up short the ball's going to come back off the front of the green. And so you want to get it up there. You want to make sure you get it hole high and yet the greens are bouncing and so it's very difficult to leave the ball short of the hole where you need to, to have a reasonable opportunity to make a putt.
So what you see in a lot of cases and I don't know that it's boring, but it's methodical out there when you see so many players hitting good shots and then take a bounce and they go, you know, 15, 20 feet above the hole or to the side of the hole and you really don't have much chance to make many of those putts.
It's not like having a 15-footer where it's reasonably flat, you can make a run at it. You get a little carried away on a 15 or 20-footer on these greens and you can have you about an eight or 9-footer coming back.
So it's, to me, it's one of the more difficult golf courses to keep the ball below the pin that I've ever seen. We hear that a lot at Major Championships, keep it below the hole where you can putt uphill. But this golf course, again, because of the false front, makes it very, very difficult to do that.
KELLY ELBIN: Tom Kite, in with 1-under par 169, 2-under for the championship. Thanks, Tom.
TOM KITE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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