U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 1998

Arnold Palmer

ARNOLD PALMER: We did win. Yes. Yes. Yes.

ARNOLD PALMER: Oh, my game is -- oh, it is fringing on being a -- fun to play sometimes. I have been working at it a little bit and there is a point where every once in a while I feel like I am starting to hit the ball better. My biggest problem is sustaining a good round or three or four good rounds. I get tired, or something goes wrong, and I can't just keep it going. And I suppose the bottomline on the whole thing is whether it is concentration or whether it is just perseverance - you find the adjectives to say it - but scoring. I can play a round of golf today and shoot 71 or 70 and look back at it and 20 years ago I would have had 65 in that same round. And that is the thing that is missing is the ability to score which I keep hoping will pop up and scare me. But it just hasn't in the last year or so.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I haven't played in a lot of tournaments on this golf course. And that tells you that I haven't won a tournament on this golf course. I have won some -- we have done some matches here where we have won and I have played a lot on this golf course and I have enjoyed it. I think it is a very good golf course and I don't think that I have ever seen it better than it is right now. General condition, I think it is going to be reasonably difficult and hope it is. Only because to -- for me to have the opportunity to do much here, it is going to have to be difficult.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I think you have to look at the people that have been playing very well on the SENIOR TOUR, whether it is Morgan or Irwin or people that have really been posting good scores. There are some people like, oh, geez, Jay Sigel who I think -- this course might suit him. But as I say, there are a lot of guys that, Larry Nelson is a guy that could really play good here and has been playing good and is a threat most of the time on the SENIOR TOUR. You can go down just go right down that list of guys that are at the top of the list and those are the guys you are going to have to contend with if you are a player and you are thinking about winning this Championship. As far as what the score will be, I think the weather could have some effect on the score. But I look for something in the area of 280 would be a pretty good score. I would take it right now and not even go out there. I am sure a lot of other people would.

ARNOLD PALMER: That is right. The heat and the wind, depending on what is the most prevailing, could be a factor in this tournament.

ARNOLD PALMER: Oh, Tom Wargo and Orville Moody.

ARNOLD PALMER: Definitely yes. I think he is sort of - not sort of -- I think he is setting his sights on this tournament and I don't think he probably will tell you that, but maybe he did.

ARNOLD PALMER: But I think he is very grinding in his thoughts about this tournament and kind of at -- he is at that stage of his life where it is a personal thing now with him and not that it hasn't always been, but I think he feels he is good enough; playing good enough right now. If his physical condition - and you saw us horsing around because I kid him a little about his hip, but it is not funny. It is a serious situation and he is very aware of it. And I think he knows he is going to have to overcome that to win this Championship.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I suppose that anything short of a win isn't going to make a hell of a lot of difference in my life. Certainly I would like to play well, let's say it, first of all, I would like to play well. And second, I'd like to win. And even when you haven't been playing well, that is a big consideration.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I suppose that in reality that is why I am here - the fans and the people, the game itself. I suppose that somewhere in my psychological mind that, you know, it is coming to the realization that I have to think about when I am not going to be here and playing. And I do think about that and I hate the thoughts of it. It isn't so much that I can't give it up. It is more the gut feeling that I like the competition. I like to get out there and hammer. But, when that first little doubt comes in your mind, then you are in trouble and I suppose I could say I am in a little bit of trouble as far as that is concerned.

ARNOLD PALMER: Thank you.