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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2009

Jeff Sluman

BEACHWOOD, OHIO

KELLY ELBIN: Jeff Sluman, ladies and gentlemen, 1988 PGA Champion. 2-under par for the 70th Senior PGA Championship at Canterbury Golf Club. One stroke back of third round leader Michael Allen. Jeff, you had 70 today, thoughts on your round, certainly not the finish that you wanted to have.
JEFF SLUMAN: No, I just have to drive it better. I kind of said earlier the last two days I just really, honestly, don't know where it's going off the tee. I've been driving it very good. I drove it perfect on Thursday, which was without question the best day I played.
But if I don't find something between now and 10:15 tomorrow, it's going to be a tough day for me.
The golf course is in wonderful condition, the type of golf course that if you're driving it well, you love to play. It requires a lot of shot making off the tee and into the greens. Kind of right up my alley. But it's not up anybody's alley when you're kind of wild off the tee.
KELLY ELBIN: Thanks. Go through your birdies and bogeys. Three of each.
JEFF SLUMAN: Birdied No. 2. Par-3. I hit a -- what did I hit in there? 6-iron a perfect spot, eight, 10 feet right of the hole.
I think my next birdie would have been or next bogey was number 4. I had a left-to-right wind off the tee, you got to try and kind of smash it down the left side, which I wasn't really willing to do. And I hit it in the right rough and kind of hit it up close to the green, didn't get it up-and-down.
And then actually I started swinging okay after that. Hit a beautiful 7-iron into number nine to about it looked like about eight, 10 feet again right of the hole. Just where you want to have it.
Started the back nine relatively solid. I hit a lot of shots actually pretty close. I hit a putt on 13 that I'm kind of mystified that it didn't go in for birdie.
But hit a nice iron underneath the hole on 14. Same type of putt, right-to-left. This one was about 12 feet. Make that.
Then from there, you know, that, those mystery lefts off the tee kind of got me and when I don't swing well, that's where the ball goes. And you would think by now I would have it figured out, but I certainly don't.
I made a heck of a par, 2-putt on 15.
And on 16 actually I caught an unbelievable break. I had to hit my third shot from the first cut from 190 yards and walked up and it was on a sprinkler head, right on the edge of the green. Kind of just long and I thought it was going to be crazy fast, because it was straight down the hill. And it wasn't. And I left it about five, six feet short and thought I hit a nice putt and missed that.
And then 18, not a lot of confidence in my -- I hit 3-wood off the tee, which is the play I've been having on that hole, but once again, didn't have a lot of confidence on that tee shot and pulled it left and just made a 12 handicap bogey, you know. Slashed it out short of the green, hit it 12 feet and missed the putt and that was it.
KELLY ELBIN: Thank you. Open it up for questions.

Q. Sounds just like Tiger Woods, you're not swinging your best, but you still got a chance to win. What's the deal?
JEFF SLUMAN: Well, that's the real positive of the whole last couple of days is I haven't shot myself out of the tournament. So with a good little quick practice session after I'm done here, hopefully I can kind of remedy what ails my game off the tee. And then, like I said, I, if I can drive the ball like have I been, I really really like my chances. But you just can't hit it all over the place out here. Nobody can. Well maybe one guy. But he's a little young for our TOUR.

Q. So how do you think things setup for tomorrow with you and Tom Kite and Michael Allen?
JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I would like to get Tom back for the '92 U.S. Open, so, you know, but I've been playing golf with Tom for 25, 30 years, so that will be great.
And Michael's a wonderful player. I played golf with him quite a bit when he's been on the TOUR and then off the TOUR the last 10, 15 years. And when I look at his golf game and how solidly he strikes it, you know, you kind of always wondered why he didn't win a bunch of tournaments. I mean he's, it shouldn't be really any surprise, because he's such a good ball-striker, that this golf course would suit him very well.

Q. So driving in the fairway, do you think that's going to be at a premium?
JEFF SLUMAN: Absolutely. Well, it's the key for me. You just really can't get any balls close to the pins from the rough. I mean, it's, the greens are rock hard, which they should be, they're tiny, they have got a lot of undulation so, you got to be able to control your flight and your spin coming in to have any chance of getting the ball close.

Q. It sounds as though, hearing you talk earlier, you've had a case of the lefts as you call them before, how difficult is it to get back to a spot where you feel comfortable knowing where you're going to hit the ball?
JEFF SLUMAN: It's very difficult for me. Some guys seem to be able to turn it on and turn it off if they get a little key on the range. But you know, this is, historically with me it's, it takes a little time to work through it. But I don't have a lot of time to do it right now.
So I got to, you know, I talked to my coach last night, Craig Harmon, and I kind of know what I have to do, but then it's up to me to just go out and execute. So, you know, hopefully I'm talking to everybody tomorrow and I'll tell you that I found something between now and then and it will be great.

Q. Does Craig have a drill or something that he tells you to do or the two of you go, yeah, you got to do this and you both know what you're talking about?
JEFF SLUMAN: It's just my swing. I get a little short and then I get short and I get quick and I kind of I'm always trying to swing left. And when I do that, if I'm short and a little quick, the ball's going to go left. So I probably need to have probably a little longer type of swing, which is tough for me, because I've always been that kind of three quarter swing guy.
KELLY ELBIN: Jeff, this is the second straight year you'll be in the final pairing on Sunday at the PGA Seniors. What would it mean to you to win this championship?
JEFF SLUMAN: It would mean I found something between now and then.
(Laughter.)
It would be great to have my name on that fantastic trophy and on the PGA Championship trophy, so this will be a dream come true. I certainly had a chance last year but at the end of the day last year Jay Haas certainly deserved to win. He played a very difficult golf course under tough conditions better than anybody and really that's all you can ask. So hopefully tomorrow will be my day.
KELLY ELBIN: Thank you, Jeff Sluman, one stroke back going into the final round. Thanks.

End of FastScripts

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