INGERSOLL-RAND SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 5, 1999

George Archer

GEORGE ARCHER: Did that make the cut?

GEORGE ARCHER: Got off to a nice start. I hit a good shot. I birdied on 1 and missed it, and 2 and missed it. On 3, I made it and I birdied 4 --.

GEORGE ARCHER: Three, I hit a good driver and an 8-iron and stopped right on the edge of the green. The pin was in the front, right corner and I had an uphill putt of about 12 feet, 15 feet and I made it. And then the next hole was the par 5. I wedged it in there about five feet and I made that. Next hole, I hit a 4-wood over the green in the tall rough and I made a real good chip out of that deep rough. I was real unfortunate. I had two cuts of rough and I was right against the second cut, and I had to come through it all and anything could have happened and I got a par on that one. The next hole I got a good par and the next hole I think I made a good par there. I hit the middle of the green -- put in some really wicked spots today. And I wedged it four feet behind the hole and had that for birdie on 8. Two-putted 9 and I birdied 10 with about a 16 -, 18-foot putt. I hit a driver and an 8-iron on 10. And I hit a driver and 9-iron on 11 and got a birdie there from about 20 feet. Two nice putts there back-to-back. Next hole, I hit it short of the green; made a great chip about a foot away from the hole and saved par. And the next hole, the par 5, I just missed the wedge. Just hit short about a foot and went all the way spinning back down the hill and made about a 10-footer for a 2-putt there. And the next hole I hit right back, a 5-iron there about 5 feet and made a birdie. And the next hole was the par 5. I wedged it about five feet and made another birdie. And then the lights went out. I had a putt in the shade on 16. I knew it was uphill putt. When those greens have the shade on them, I can't judge the speed well at all, and I left it short about two and a half feet and missed that putt. I thought it was just a right-edge putt, but when things are in the shade, I don't see well, and that's a real disadvantage for me being in the shade. And I made a real good putt on 17. I put in on the front right corner. I had a very hard putt and got it about a foot away for a par. 18, I hit a straight drive not very hard. I figured if I hit it over there by the bleachers, you get a free drop, better than going in the left -- I hit it in the tree -- bum break, and bogeyed. It was a bad break, but you never know. You walk off with a 5 on the last hole -- guys making 6s and 5s out there like mad on that hole. An extremely hard hole. It was a good day. I played very well in the middle of the round. Today, I actually played better right from the start of the round all the way through. Kind of threw me, 3-putting that 16th. I didn't like that. But hey, there have been so many good things happen today that I don't let that get me down. But then hit the tree and went in the water. But you're going to have some bad things happen to you out there. Sometimes you hit great drives and you're in a divot. It's just part of golf you have to accept those things. But it's nice being in the position I'm in.

GEORGE ARCHER: That's not anything to worry about. It's no different than bogeying the first two holes and coming back with a whole mess of birdies. What did I shoot, 67? Am I going to be disappointed with that? I don't think so. Not at 60 years old. Any time you shoot 67, it adds up to be 67. I've played the game long enough where if you have trouble you like to have it early in the round then overcome it and come back with a real strong finish. But also, we walked onto the 18th tee where we had -- we couldn't have gone to the 18th tee where the group ahead of us was teeing off. We had a good 12 to 15 minutes to clear where we could shoot. Then it was starting to get cold. I stood in the sun out there because in the shadows it was cold, and I got on the fairway and I had to wait for the guys to finish. The pace, we were playing at was a nice pace all day and we slowed up and the temperature started dropping. Those two things -- I can play my best golf when I can play quickly and move right along.

GEORGE ARCHER: I wanted to quit cold turkey. That's what I wanted, but my wife kept saying no, I don't think so, you'll miss it too much.

GEORGE ARCHER: You know with this new driver, it has really given me -- I don't know, a kick in the tail, or a little charge, I should say. I think without even knowing it, it was bothering me so much that I was hitting the driver so short, you know, 230, 235, that's all I could carry my driver. In Dallas, this year there was a creek out there at 230. I wouldn't even try to dare hit it. Everybody else was knocking it next to the par 5, but I had to play the hole 5-iron, 3-wood, 9-iron. I don't like that. I can't wait to Dallas and tee up this big driver and knock it over that creek because I know I can knock it over that creek right now. I'm playing with guys -- Colbert has been longer than I have ever since I got my hip, but I can outdrive Jim now. When I nail it and he hits a good one, I'm past him. That gives a little fire, like, Hey, I can still do something. So I think it means a heck of a lot to be able to hit that driver out there. I don't expect if I play with John Jacobs, keeping up with him, but guys that I've played with all my life that I was competitive with. And after getting the hip and losing the stance, now I've just all of the sudden -- boom, overnight, get a new club and I can fly the ball, I know, 10 yards further. Other people are saying, Hey, you're hitting that thing 15 yards further.

GEORGE ARCHER: I think I'll do what I did this year. I took seven weeks off this summer. I played very hard up until summer, and I took seven weeks off and went home for different things, to see the kids and do some fishing and things like that. So, that's a nice schedule. At the end of the year, this will be 31 tournaments for me, and, you know, if I continue to play well, I'll play a schedule where I've played maybe three, four in a row and take a week off, something like that. So this is about what I -- I used to play 35 tournaments. I don't really want to play that much. The summer is hard on me. The real heat, you know, the Eastern heat, like Baltimore last week, I felt like I was in an oven trying to play golf. That was just impossible for me. I like to play when the weather is nice. I enjoy the Florida swing then the Southern Swing in May and April. Those months are very nice to play. We have nice weather and the fall is real nice. So those are the times that I like. I've always won all my tournaments on the regular TOUR, on the winter TOUR or the fall TOUR. I never won from, I think after the Masters or between -- almost like the end of April to September, I never won a tournament. I won all my tournaments before January to April, and in the fall I won tournaments; so I was never very good in the summer. I just don't like real hot weather. It really makes me feel exhausted. I feel very weak; I can't hit the ball very good. I hope to play, like I said, the early part of the year, skip quite a bit in the summer, especially in the warmer places.

GEORGE ARCHER: No. I started out bad yesterday with the driver. I didn't make a good drive for the first six holes, but then I made a wonderful drive on 7 and real good drive on 8, good drive on 10, good drive on 11. I hit a great drive on 13, but I actually didn't have -- I was trying to go to close to the bunkers. You don't have to do that. I got in the rough there. But I drove all right yesterday in the middle of the round, and I didn't make a good drive on the last hole but I haven't made a good drive in two days on the last hole. I tried teeing the ball lower and hitting more of this type of shot (indicating lower loft) but when I hit it, I feel like I topped it. I've been teeing the ball pretty high, (indicating three inches) but when I wanted to go low, I can tee it lower. I can do it on the driving range, but I haven't quite found the way I can do it on the golf courses yet. It's something I'm having a lot of fun getting to know.

GEORGE ARCHER: Look at this thing, it comes up to him about this high, (indicating chest level). I finally have a club that's made for a guy my side size. It's the right overall swing weight and it's just been such an easy thing for me to do. When I first -- when Bobby Kasper (phonetic) handed it to me, that's Billy's son and said, try this, I thought: Oh, I can't use that big thing; and I looked at it and I said: Oh, I can use it. Even before I hit the ball, I knew in my brain, I can use it and then when I started seeing the ball go further. I said. "Why not?" When I played in Sacramento with it, I hit a lot of good drives, had a great tournament, finished tied for third up there. You know, could have been second. Had about a 10-foot putt on the last hole and missed it. But I was very pleased my driving. And I drove pretty good in Hawaii and drove real well in L.A, and I've had some great drives here.

GEORGE ARCHER: No. I've been sick for two weeks. I don't feel well in the evenings. You know, I haven't -- but I take my little, what is it, Advil Cold Medicine, makes you (to sleep), and it's just one of those things. Golf is a funny game. When you start to strike the ball well and hitting good irons and chipping good -- I've done everything good this week. I've only made one knee-knocker, which is saver for a par and when I've had to chip. I've chipped it like for gimmees. That could have been a double-bogey, but I threw a wedge up there a foot from the hole. It's been a combination so far of hitting a real good shot at just the right time. To shoot 9-under par here is -- that's pretty darned good.

GEORGE ARCHER: It could happen. It could happen. It's not something that I'd say I feel like I'm going to win. If I keep hitting the ball well and I keep putting well, it can happen. I'm not going to try to force it. I just have to go out there and play. I didn't even know what was going on today. At 9, I saw the scoreboard and I saw a lot of guys were close, and I knew I made some birdies so I said: That's fine, just play your game. You don't really think about winning until you come down to the final nine holes of a tournament. Then you know if you're in position or if you've got a shot at it or how things are going. But it's way too early. I could go out there tomorrow and shoot a 78, hit the ball nice, and just, you know, not do it. Gary McCord hit a lot of great shots but he never sank a putt. He had a lousy score. But if you see him playing, he's looks like he's playing just as well as Archer, but I'm hitting the ball close to the hole and he isn't. That's golf.

GEORGE ARCHER: I was very serious. After spending two weeks in Germany, I said to myself: Why am I still doing this? The fun in golf is having the chance to win. That's the fun. I've never put the pressure on myself where I said I had to win. I always wanted to be in position to win and see what happens. That's always been my philosophy about that, and it's no fun to finish week after week, 29th, 45th, 68th. That's not fun and that's what I was doing all summer. My wife and I went to Germany, just strictly vacation, and just fun over there. I said, "this is nice. What am I missing here?" So I told her, I said, "Donna, I want to think about it for one month." She had baby-sitting things to do at home with the grandchildren; so I knew I was going to play four tournaments in a row, and "I'm going to think about it every night and at the end of the month I'm going to make a decision." And if that decision was it's time to retire I think I would have retired.

GEORGE ARCHER: Just go see the kids. Fish. Play golf with my friends. You know, like she says, "well, you do that anyway, George, why retire?" But it's the idea that you don't have to do exercises or you don't have to do that stuff, which I know is good for you. But I don't know, I was just -- see I stopped playing the Masters -- I really stopped in '91, but the guy that caddied for me -- he got sick or something. And he only got to caddie one round and I said we'll go back in '92, so he can have a little more experience of seeing the course. I made the cut; I played four rounds. He got to caddie five rounds in the tournament. So I said that is it. I'm done. (Inaudible.) Even when I'm driving the ball longer, a lot of my friends are saying: Are you going to play Augusta, you can knock it up on the hill on the 1st hole. Yeah, but Tiger Woods would still be about 100 yards ahead of me. Once I make up my mind to quit, I quit. Now I'm on The SENIOR TOUR and I'm very competitive. I like the fun of being out there and looking forward to the, you know, still, it's fun to get in there and have a chance to do well, and if you hit good shots, you do well. It's no fun, like I said, to finish 48th, you know, hitting lousy shots and all that kind of stuff. So as long as I'm enjoying it I guess, I'm going to keep doing it.

GEORGE ARCHER: It's true. See, my eyes are going bad. My right eye is really bad. I used to have 20/15 vision. I go to the doctor: Should I have laser, should I have this? Everything is blurry I don't see good anymore. People wave at me and I wave back and I say who waved? I don't know who it is. They are out there 40 yards away and they are blurry. Things are going. There's no gout about of it. But right now I'm driving the ball longer than I ever have in my life. The longest I could ever hit it was 240; now I've got a driver, I can fly 250 when it's real calm and it's warm. And it's a nice. And all of the sudden golf, now, I've just got a different -- why didn't this happen 35 years ago. I'm getting a real kick out of all this. Enjoying the good drives, and I think that gets you in a good spirit. So I've always enjoyed golf, but I think I really enjoy being competitive, and it's not fun to be out here just to be out here. And just be going from week to week to week, you know, breaking even and whatever. So I think I'm a person that I hope I can still come back and play when I get older, maybe a few times a year to see the guys and things because I've played with Coolie and so many of these guys all my life, Dale Douglass. We've been friends. We've known each other a long time now. These have been my friends of my life. When you ask what my life has been, it's been playing the TOUR. That's what I've done my whole life. At home, where I live in Incline, I know a few people, but I wouldn't say they are my friends. I would say my friends are out here on TOUR, and I think a lot of guys feel that way. It's kind of a hard thing to make up your mind when it's time for you to quit. But when your golf says it's time to quit, you've got to listen to it. Right now with the numbers I'm shooting and the way I'm hitting the ball, it's not time for me to quit yet.

GEORGE ARCHER: I don't really look -- I hope I'm not thinking I'm a front runner. I just want to try to go out there and hit the ball as good as I can. I'll be aggressive. I've been shooting a lot of pins. When I think I can do it, I've done it. If it's a ridiculous shot, I play conservative. I know what I can do. I don't spin the ball real good like some of these guys do; so I have to be a little more cautious on longer irons. But I'm going to try to play the same way. Go out and play and see what I can do. If I don't execute and don't hit the ball well, it won't be the end of the world; just, I had a bad round of golf. But it's a nice having two good rounds.

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