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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 31, 2009

Joey Sindelar

CARMEL, INDIANA

THE MODERATOR: At 10-under par for the Championship, Joey Sindelar.
JOEY SINDELAR: Thank you, potentially low pro.

Q. Are you -- do you know Tim Jackson?
JOEY SINDELAR: I don't know him; I don't think. Our minds aren't what they used to be, but I'm not putting a face to the name, but obviously he can play golf.

Q. (No microphone.)
JOEY SINDELAR: The question was, do I look for it? Of course. I am thrilled to be in this position, and I do this for a living. So for a talented guy who isn't a pro, he has to be flyin' and that's awesome stuff, great story.

Q. Tell us about No. 7. You hit the drive right into that spectator's pathway and then punched it under the trees, on to the green; was a great shot, then what happened from there?
JOEY SINDELAR: Just kind of a misjudged on the first putt.
I don't know how the rest of the guys feel, but I know for me, when we come to these courses that we don't see always -- part of the fun part of what we do is going back to places and we have history and we've hit putts like that in the past, and we learn from them. And several times for each of us in our group today, we hit putts that we thought were fast and they were slow, because we don't have a history to pull from.
It was a guess and a lousy guess, probably 2 feet of bad hit and 3 feet of misjudge.

Q. Tell us about the tree.
JOEY SINDELAR: The tree was a bad -- you know, getting the club clean on the ball is what that's all about. And, if I would have been in juicy rough, I would have had no chance. But with a clean lie, I would have been able to put spin on the ball and the launch angles that were allowed, and the spin on the ball, I got lucky.

Q. (No microphone.)
JOEY SINDELAR: Not entitled, you have to make contact with the obstruction; that was my question.
We get lulled to sleep with our own set of hard card rules, we have our own variations from the USGA rules; there aren't many but there are a few. For instance, at Augusta, our crosswalk drops are in play, and there are things like that change. So I wanted to be sure that there wasn't a club length invasion space or whatever. And we had people with us today, and it's too easy to ask but I had a good enough lie and it worked.

Q. (No microphone.)
JOEY SINDELAR: It's interesting. I'm sure you heard the guys talk about it, the root structure is unusual, they seem like they're new greens. I don't know how new they are, but the ball doesn't hold. I mean, it will hold a 7--iron, or more or less, you start getting to the 4 or 5, they don't work.
I think the logic needs to be any time there is a front pin you better be in the fairway. The back greens are so long you can land it on the green and trolley it back there, but if you've got a front pin or in the shallow or in the rough, you're not going to get close, it's just not going to happen.

Q. (No microphone.)
JOEY SINDELAR: Hard for me to say because I missed a bunch of 6-footers. My iron play was good, so it didn't seem that way. You guys would be better. When you can see 78 scores -- 156 versus yesterday and 78 on each side of the split, you guys can be the mathematicians on that.
We haven't seen the hardest pins or the longest tees, yet. The senior version of the Open, distance is always a tough journey for them; I'm sure it's a tough equation for them to solve because they want it to be tough enough to be a great Championship but it can't be setting it up past the ability of some of the players.
But I'm sure some pins will get closer to the edges and if there is any wind that's what does it.

Q. You shot 68, I guess it was 2 shots harder?
JOEY SINDELAR: Yes, harder or dumber or something.

Q. How much do you feel power is at play here?
JOEY SINDELAR: Power is always an advantage, especially if it's in the fairway. The par 5 seemed to be set up for the long guys; I think there is an advantage there, especially with the way the greens are not holding from that distance.
I think if a longer pitch hitter is hitting some of the fairways, some of the longer fours, for instance 10 or maybe like No. 7, those kinds of holes, if a long driver is driving it well, like we're used to seeing Eduardo do, like for me a couple of years now, when he is slamming his driver and so straight he's on offense on a hole like that. When the pin is 5 from the edge and you're at an 8--iron or less all of the sudden you're on offense, if the it's 7, 6, 5, it's not. Length is always an advantage here.

Q. What part of your game are you most pleased with?
JOEY SINDELAR: Despite the fact that I had a 3-putt today, actually two 3-putts today and some 6-footers, I missed, my putting has been exceptional; my irons have been great; and, oddly enough, the driver hasn't been. The irons have been as good as I could have asked for. I've had lots and lots of 6 or 8-footers, so irons and putting I'm pleased with.

Q. Have you kept that 1-iron in the bag; has it been in there the whole time?
JOEY SINDELAR: One round I tried somewhere and that was on the regular TOUR. It's time, but the demands are different on this tour. This is a week where that club becomes important again because deeper rough, hitting fairways, it's imperative. It's a good club for here, but for the other 20-some weeks of our year, getting into the other Majors where the rough would be deep it would be great but it's not a necessary club on this TOUR. Plus my speed is not increasing as we speak and that's when you need -- what you need to hit a 1-iron well.
So I'm investigating the hybrids, but until I can hit straight off the tee, it will be difficult. I had an Accuform in the 80s, which was a blade, and then I joined Tommy in the late 80s and ever since I've had that.

Q. (No microphone.)
JOEY SINDELAR: Brad Bryant, I saw a 0-iron last week at the British Open, but I don't always let people get away with that statement. The fact is they don't make those anymore; they are bent to 1-irons. They are actually 2, but they don't make 'em anymore because the companies have gone to the hybrids.

Q. What do you think of Tim Jackson's play so far?
JOEY SINDELAR: He's obviously a great player. There are a million ways to shoot 11-under, but he had to hit it great. I don't know if it was all putts, ball striking, I don't know what it was, but I look forward to shaking his hand and telling him "good going."

Q. What's it say about this game when an amateur can come in and play with the pros?
JOEY SINDELAR: Yeah, look at what's going on out here -- Norman last year, Tom Watson this year, and an amateur throttling us this week. It's great stuff. There is great golf being played at all levels, I do know that.
I can go home and go to Itica and play golf with the money match guys and get my hat handed to do me just as easy as anything, so I'm glad it's not an unending pool of people that get to play out here because there are good players all over, as he has proven.

End of FastScripts

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