BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY COOPER TIRES

March 21, 2003

Arnold Palmer

Q. Well, are you glad to have it over with?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I played a little better except for the 17th hole. I was looking to shoot under par on the back nine and it didn't work out that way. But, hey, it was fun. I'm happy I did it even though I didn't play very well.

Q. 17, did you change your swing on 17?

ARNOLD PALMER: The first one, I was trying to hit a high hook in there and -- well, it would have worked if I would have hit it. But then I went to a little more club and did a high fade.

Q. Greens are more receptive to the ball today?

ARNOLD PALMER: After that rain, anything. All of them were , and the scores are indicating that.

Q. Do you like it when the guys mention how tough this course is?

ARNOLD PALMER: You know, I would rather they were saying it was tough and they enjoyed it, which some of them did. I've heard some good remarks about the fact that the golf course was tough and that pleases me.

You know, the way these young people play, they can play -- if the greens are soft and accepting the shots, that's really not a big challenge to it. They can all hit it. If the ball is -- if they don't have to really give a serious thought as to how to play a shot in there, it takes a lot of the competitiveness out of the golf course.

Q. Do you see yourself playing again next year?

ARNOLD PALMER: Here? God, I hope I'm alive next year. I don't know. That's a long way off. I hope I'm here for the tournament.

Q. People still love to see you and they stand at every green for you, can you remember the last time you walked up the green in silence?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I played by myself the other day and it was pretty quiet.

Q. Do you have any plans to play any senior events coming up?

ARNOLD PALMER: I may play a couple, if I get my game going, I'm going to have a little work done on my shoulder and then I'll see how that comes out. If I feel a little freer swinging I might play a little bit.

Q. Work is what?

ARNOLD PALMER: A shot, cortisone or something.

Q. Has it been acting up lately?

ARNOLD PALMER: They are sore.

Q. How much has it bothered you the last couple of days?

ARNOLD PALMER: It's hard to hit the ball. I get shorter and shorter because of that. I need to get a little more leverage.

Q. Where do you see this tournament ten years down the road? You're going to be around here for another 20, 30 years, as long as you're here, it's going to have panache.

ARNOLD PALMER: I would like to think that the tournament will go on when I'm gone. Certainly the hospital will still be here and a lot of the things that we have built in that tournament I hope will still be here. My children are here. They are working in the club and I would like to see it go on after I'm gone.

Q. I guess there's no reason to think it wouldn't.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I don't see a reason for it but who knows.

Q. Is there a touch of sentimentality?

ARNOLD PALMER: On the long haul, I'm a very sentimental person to start with, but I'm not so sentimental about the fact that someone said, about this, the last round. Doesn't affect me that way. I'm going to play another round, whether it's here or wherever it is, I'll still be playing. I may not play in the tournament anymore here, but that isn't a big thing for me to get sentimental about.

Q. Looking at the leaderboard did you take a glance over ask see the names at the top?

ARNOLD PALMER: I did, and, of course, I could write the script, it's kind of turning into a script that I'd like to see.

End of FastScripts....