U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 1999

Ed Dougherty

ED DOUGHERTY: No. No. After the 8th hole, I missed the par-putt, I got to the 9th hole. It was par 5. I said to myself if I could birdie there, I'd make the turn at 2-over. I would have a chance at shooting even par on the back 9 if I got lucky. It turns out that I got really hot and extremely lucky. So I ended up with 4-under. So I didn't envision it, and I never envisioned being here in a press tent like this. But I shot 4-under the first round of the U.S. Open. I made two eagles on the back 9. I am absolutely thrilled, but it is only the first round. I hope I am here Sunday afternoon talking to you. Then I will really be thrilled.

ED DOUGHERTY: The first hole, I hit a 5-wood off the tee. I just pushed it a little bit, got it down in between the two trees. I hit a sand wedge, landed on the green, ran over, much like I just saw Arnold Palmer shot. Just ran through the green, just hole high left. I chipped it up about four inches and made a par. Second hole, I hit -- I was in the fairway. I hit a 6-iron. It hit right at the pin, went past the pin, and went way down left in a swell about 20, 25 feet; 2-putted. 3rd hole, miss-hit a 7-iron, landed short and bit into the rough considerably short. I was disappointed in my choice there. I had a chip shot that was running away from me, and I chipped it, and it was about 18 foot by. I hit a solid putt, but didn't hit it hard enough. Left it right in the middle of it. So made my first bogey, which I was a little disappointed on. 4th hole, great par. Hit drive to the right, chip out to the fairway. 4th hole the par 4? No, par 5, excuse me. The par 5 now, I hit the fairway, I hit a 4-iron down there, and I hit a 6-iron that just bit. I was expecting the ball to bounce and feed down that little trough. I have probably about a 25-footer, and I 2-putted that one for a par. Then the next hole I hit the ball to the right, over in the right by the cart path. I had to chip it out. I hit 8-iron on the green. I made a 20-footer. All the people on the green thought it was birdie, saying that is the first birdie of the day. I said it just felt like it was a birdie because it was a par. The next hole, middle of the fairway, 236 yards to the pin. It was against the wind. Hit 3-wood right into the middle of the green. And I thought I was going dead uphill, and I ran the putt past, and I 3-putted, so I made a bogey there. After hitting two pretty good golf shots, the next hole I hit 3-wood in the fairway. Hit sand wedge just on the fringe, chipped it up about four inches; made par. Then I hit a 4-iron over the green on the 8th hole, and I had a chipped -- I had to go up the hill, down the hill, left it right on top of the hill. I missed my par-putt, walking to the 9th hole, is what I was talking to myself. I said, maybe I can grab a birdie here, make the turn 2-over, and have a chance to shoot par. 9th hole hit the fairway. Left rough, 9-iron about eight feet, maybe a little bit longer -- 8 to 12 foot. I read that putt straight, but my caddie came over. He says: This putt is going right. I said: I see it straight. He convinced me it was going right. I put it on the left edge; the ball went right into the center of the cup. So he was a big help there. 10th hole, I hit on the green. It sucked off. I chipped it up about eight inches. I made par. 11th hole, I was in the fairway, I hit the shot left of the green, hit a little sand wedge up on the plateau about 5 foot. I birdied that one. Then on 12, the wind blowing right-to-left, and I pushed the driver in the right rough, hit 8-iron. Just landed soft and rolled into the cup like an eagle, which was a major break. I mean, let's -- that was -- that was really something. So standing on the 13th hole, all I am saying to myself, you know, the most important shot right now is to get that ball on the fairway, because that is a hard hole. I split the fairway. Hit the 4-iron on the green. It hits on the green and rolls down the big gully just off the fringe, and I putted it up there. 2-putted that one. Next hole, the par 3, I had, I think it was like 153 yards to that pin. I am pretty sure that is the yardage. And the wind is blowing sort of into us and across, and I hit a 6-iron. It hit hole high, but it was left of the pin and went down that gathering area. I chipped it up there about a foot, made par. Then the par 5, I hit a 5-wood. I had 256 yards from the fairway, hit a 5-wood about 6 to 8 foot, and it was a right edge putt. I made a birdie there. 16, I hit I had 140 yards to the pin, I hit a high 6-iron, just let the wind blow it down. Hit it hole high, big right-to-left putt. Again, I was on, but my caddie was also on, because he read it. He said: You have got to putt it out there about 5 foot. The ball came in the side door. That was a thrill. That was the best putt I have made in a long time. 17, 2-putted. 18, hit a good golf shot that went up. I tried to hit it low. Skipped it up to the top of that bank, went right by the pin; I had an 18-footer and the ball just broke left on me. It fooled my because I thought it was in about two foot from the hole. So....

ED DOUGHERTY: I didn't realize that until I signed my score card; then I was disappointed I missed the putt on 18. But I had a good day.

ED DOUGHERTY: Well, thank you. I am feeling pretty good. I had a nerve damage in my shoulder a couple years ago. They operated on it. My shoulder will never be as strong as it used to be. The first tournament in Miami I blew out a ligament in my wrist. I went home to Philadelphia and saw the Philadelphia Phillies doctor and he put my hand in a cast. Just been like the last three weeks that I have been playing without a brace on my wrist. So I am doing all right, thanks. I like the heat. I really do. I am from the Philadelphia area; Philadelphia gets this heat like this, so, you won't hear me complaining about the heat. I enjoy it.

ED DOUGHERTY: I was phenomenally hot, yeah. It was -- they were teasing me about that last week and this week on the range because it is really hot and I just say -- just let all the other guys well -- you know, I play golf because, I tell them I didn't have to run after I hit the ball. I just keep on going.

ED DOUGHERTY: I was 47 years old. I knew the SENIOR TOUR was out there. I just wanted to keep on playing. I think as long as you keep playing up until you are 50, you got a better chance out here. I don't think you can stop playing competitively and take a break of 5 to 7 years. I think you lose a little something like that. Then when I turned 50, my birthday was November 4, the week before my birthday I herniated two disks in my back - a box of Kleenex fell out of my van; I squatted down to get it and couldn't get up. That is the injuries that you are talking about. They are just idiot stuff.

ED DOUGHERTY: No. Well, I had a tree out there, you know. We had 256 yards, had like 235 or something to the front, and I hit a 5-wood and I drilled it a little bit and you know, I hit it good, but I did not see it land on the green and my caddie says, where is it. I said, well, I am asking you where it is. You are over there. He says, I didn't see it. And Jim Dent said you hit a good shot. I said, well, thanks, nobody is clapping and then when we got up there, it was about six or eight foot and he says, boy, your name is not Jim Ahern. Jim used to work here. He hit a lot of good shots all day and they were clapping. That is what Jimmy said.

ED DOUGHERTY: 16 was probably a 20-footer. Big right to left. That was a great putt. Went in the side door, about 3 o'clock came down the hill.

ED DOUGHERTY: I wasn't aware that I had my four 3s in a row. I was just playing shot-by-shot. When I went into the scoreboard and signed the score card, you know, I looked at the score card. I had four 3s in a row - 14, 15, 16, 17 and you know, I would have liked to have gotten 5, but I wouldn't have hit the putt any different than what I did whether I knew it or I didn't know it. I was just involved with what I was doing.

ED DOUGHERTY: And my back.

ED DOUGHERTY: No. No, just -- I was just turning 50 years old, that is all. When I may I try to enjoy it. That is I don't have any complaints about -- I am not cursing my faith or, you know -- just going down life's highways and byways.

ED DOUGHERTY: I have made two eagles in a round before. I know a couple of years ago in the L.A. Open I eagled the first hole; then I had a hole-in-one on No. 16, so I know I made two eagles that round, but I don't think I have made two eagles in one nine like this in a tournament, maybe playing for, you know, with your buddies back home somewhere. But this is great in the sense that one of these days I am going to sit at a bar say, hey, I made two eagles in the U.S. Open, whether you think I did or I didn't. I mean, you know -- not everybody is going to be able to say that.

ED DOUGHERTY: Well ...

ED DOUGHERTY: I was doing all right. I went out there with the attitude today that I wasn't going to get every hop. I wasn't going to get every bounce go my way. I watched the U.S. Open, the regular U.S. Open down at Pinehurst and Payne Stewart won it but all those guys that were playing so well, they were all level, even keeled about everything. I said to myself if I don't get the hops, just, you know, work on the next shot and try to make the best of it. I hit a poor shot on 3. Like I said, I bogeyed that. That was my fault. That wasn't -- that wasn't due to a bad hop or anything. The 6th hole where I 3-putted, I was really disappointed there because I did what I needed to. I got it to the center of that green. I had a straight uphill putt. I just rammed it by about 6 foot; and 8 I wanted to hit to the middle of the green you know, downwind, I wanted to hit 5-iron and I sort of hit got talked into a 4-iron, but I hit it and I hit it too hard and it went over the green. I had a horrible chip. We have a little bit of a walk from the 8th green to the 9th tee and I am just saying, come on, just hang in there, you know, maybe we can get it back to even. I think even par in a US Open is a great round. Last year when I played in the Open L.A. - that was absolutely the hardest golf course I have ever played in my life. I was thrilled last year to shoot one of the rounds I shot under par. I think there was only like 5- or 7-under par rounds last year out there. Just sort of gathered on that and just tried to stay calm and hit fairways and greens and I don't think I missed many fairways on the back nine, but I hit 10, I hit 11. I missed 12 and I holed an eagle so how do you figure this game?

ED DOUGHERTY: I had my left shoulder. In 1986 I pulled a muscle in my neck lifting a TV for a Christmas present. The muscle formed scar tissue around the veins and ten years later my arm -- left arm started to atrophy after I won the tournament. I won on the Tour in 1995. That winter I showed up at the tournament players -- Tournament of Champions out in La Costa, I couldn't move my arm. It felt like a toothache all the time. Dr. Job sent me to a nerve specialist and he wanted to operate right away. Went back to Dr. Job; he said, well, let's get you to play through The Masters. You want to play through The Masters. I had the operation the Monday after The Masters. It took about two years to heal. They operated on my arm, went through my neck on down 15 centimeters through my elbow separating muscle and nerves from the vein because it got frayed. It grew ten years randomly. Dr. Job said what they did -- the operation was like they created a stroke for you because I had to learn how to pattern my arm again. He said, you did not have a stroke but he says they displaced so many nerves now they are hoping it will regenerate and the nerves regenerate very slowly. So I had to do all the drills and everything. My left arm still isn't as strong as it used to be.

ED DOUGHERTY: Yes. April 22nd I think is the day I got operated on.

ED DOUGHERTY: I tried to play -- I think I came back that fall in Milwaukee, tried to play and my arm was just dead. Then the following year I was exempt on the Tour. I was 49 years old, but I'd show up; my arm wouldn't show up some days. It was just dead and when I herniated the disc in my back, I was ready to go to the Tour school, well, you know, I called Dr. Job again; he says, you just went through a major operation. I don't think you want to go through another one; why don't you just try to heal it with exercise and everything. I was laying on my back, I stayed off of golf. My arm got stronger. I came back and my arm is as good as it will ever be, but I could see the marked improvement in my arm from laying off five months.

ED DOUGHERTY: Dr. Job was the guy who set it up. He said why don't I send you to the guy who writes the books on this operation. He had a friend of his do it. He had an expert do it.

ED DOUGHERTY: You know, I don't know. I just enjoy it. I don't mind the heat. When I get cold, I mean, I can start bitching about anything when I start to get cold. I don't mind the heat honestly.

ED DOUGHERTY: I got back from Vietnam. I didn't start playing golf until I got back from Vietnam. I was in Vietnam with a guy in the Army and in 1973 I went down to the Savannah mini-tour. He was from Savannah, so I called him up, an old Army buddy. We went out to eat dinner. First time anybody ever grabbed my arms. I was eating, he reached over he said, my Lord what did you do? Why are your arms so large? I said, I didn't do anything to them. He says, well, they were never that big before. I used to have to pick the range at Edgemont with a ball-picker in a basket. I would do left arm, right arm, everything, that is how.

ED DOUGHERTY: With a shaft with a basket on the end of it. I mean, you get about seven or eight of them in there, but that is what I say I did. I never did any arm exercising or anything until the operation and then they put me on six months of therapy and I started with a one pound weight. Couldn't even lift that after the operation, but when we did it, we ended it in November so December I took that off. I saw Dr. Job at the Bob Hope in January in 1998 I guess this was. I am complaining to him about what I couldn't do and he is thrilled with what I could do. I mean, that is just two sides of the story here. He looked at my arms; he says, I want to measure your arms. Because he was familiar with Garvey and we are -- with the Dodgers, Steve Garvey, and it was like 14 and 3-quarter inches. That is the size of some peoples' necks. That is what he said.