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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 1, 2004

Peter Jacobsen

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

PETER JACOBSEN: I didn't feel any lingering effects today. The doctor obviously told me four months it would be back to normal, but this is three months and a week, so I can officially say that I'm okay.

Q. How did it feel standing on the 18th green with two putts for the championship.

PETER JACOBSEN: It's something you dream about. It's a lot better than having to make that 25-footer downhill to win. It's exhilarating. Knowing I had to two-putt, that was a scary putt. It was a tough pin. I played probably six feet of break, and it was maybe 28 feet, and I just told my caddie, Mike, I just want to lay this thing down there where I can tap it in because if you try to get aggressive, you can knock it six feet by. I knew two putts would win, and that's all I was thinking about.

Q. How good does it feel to look at that trophy and see the other names and know that yours is going to be the next one added?

PETER JACOBSEN: That's the biggest reward of winning the U.S. Senior Open is the players that have won this morning, Hale Irwin, Arnold Palmer, Jack, all the players that I have looked up to and admired my whole career. It's my 1st year on the PGA Tour Champions Tour, and I'm elated that I've been able to stay out here this long. I've had my share of good golf. I've probably been more involved in the game of golf than a lot of the guys. I've done some other things, some other opportunities in the game, but it's always been a part of golf for me.

I enjoy doing things in the game, and now to top it off -- there's nothing like playing and winning, though, I've got to say, whether it's running a tournament or doing something on television, there's nothing like playing and winning.

Q. Would you rate this as a medical miracle or in circumstances when you were there and did the job while others didn't?

PETER JACOBSEN: Stadler told me "I call BS on your bad hip," and I said, "Yeah, Craig, I withdrew from the Ford Seniors and the British Senior Open just because I was ducking you."

I honestly came here -- I almost didn't come -- I hate to tell you this, but I almost didn't come. I told my wife that if I can't play at the British Senior, then I'm going to withdraw from the U.S. Senior Open, too, because I need some time to stretch my hip out.

I came to St. Louis, and boy, am I glad I did.

Q. In all the years on the PGA Tour, what was the closest chance you ever thought you had to winning a major championship?

PETER JACOBSEN: PGA Championship at Riviera. Hal Sutton was 1st, Jack was 2nd. I actually had a great round going. I got on the last hole, and I was tied for the lead. Hal was on 14 or 13 and Jack birdied 17 coming in, so I finished 3rd.

I think that's probably my best finish. I've had a couple of chances at the U.S. Open, too, Winged Foot in 84, I think. I've always been a pretty steady player. I've been a streaky putter, certainly not a spectacular player, certainly not a player in the mold of a lot of these guys that you see in here, but it sure is fun to win a USGA championship after all these years. I played my first USGA championship in Athens, Georgia, in 1970, I believe, the U.S. Junior. I think Gary Koch won.

I've played a lot of USGA championships, I have great respect for what the USGA means for the game, and for me to have won one of their championships and for me to be a part of that family is very special.

Q. This morning on I think it was 14 there was a delay at the tee and you got a ride out towards your ball. Was that a ruse or was that --

PETER JACOBSEN: No. I had tore my pants down here, and I just thought it looked bad, so I asked them to get my rain pants, and I just changed my pants and wore the rain pants the last four or five holes.

Q. You're one of the last people to officially arrive, and I think some of the USGA officials were concerned you may not be able to make it. At what point did you officially decide on St. Louis?

PETER JACOBSEN: Well, I flew in here Monday night. I flew over from the British Senior with Ben Crenshaw. We had a long flight from Balfast. We arrived together, and I told my caddie, Mike O'Connell -- I had Fluff caddie for me last week so to withdraw from the British Senior was a disappointment. Royal Portrush, I love that weather, love that golf, and Fluff caddied for me for almost 18 years. My first 18 years Mike was my caddie, and then he went to work for -- (laughter). He's now with Jim Furyk.

So I came and I said to Mike, let's go play a practice round. I'm going to play all 18. So I came out and I played the back nine with Stadler and Purtzer, and I thought about calling it a day, and I thought, no, I need to see if I can walk 18 holes, and I got them in, and I knew right then that I could play, but the humidity and the heat was helping me a great deal.

Q. Was there a point at any time today where it was becoming a problem? You said the last couple days you'd get to around 14 or 15 and it was stiffening up?

PETER JACOBSEN: I got stiff today on 14, 15, 16 earlier today, but when I got done after the morning round, I went in and I took a cold shower, stripped my clothes off and jumped in the shower and put it on cold, stayed under there for about ten minutes. I had a few cold showers in my college days (laughter), but certainly not when I've turned 50. That would be a nice problem to have (laughter).

I wanted to cool off, and I took the cold shower and got dressed. I wanted to come out and think of this last round as a new day. I didn't want to think of it as a continuation of the third round. You can get into a trap when you do that. If you're playing well, it can be a help, but if you're playing poorly, it can be a problem.

I know Craig hit a lot of great putts today that did not go in, and he kind of continued with that in the second round. So, I tried to -- Tom was leading after the third round, and I was still in there, and I just wanted to feel like I had a brand new day, so I did what I did, and I'm glad I did it.

I stretched, I flopped on the ground a little bit and -- (indicating).

Q. Can you talk about Tom's struggles down the stretch? He was 4 over the last four holes.

PETER JACOBSEN: I don't know what happened. Maybe you could tell me. I didn't see what he did.

Q. Bogey, bogey, par, double bogey. He had a couple bunker problems.

PETER JACOBSEN: I can certainly feel for him. Coming down the last few holes of a 36-hole round, you start to feel the fatigue. I was feeling it, too. I hit it just in the left rough on 15 and had a bad lie and made a bogey, and I hit a shot on 16 and hit a huge 50, 60-footer, and I left the putt about 12 feet short and made that.

You can feel your -- when you're in contention on the last five or six holes, you can feel your adrenaline ebb and flow. If you have a bad hole and you make a bogey, you can feel the wind go out of your sails, and if you make a putt or a birdie, boom, you're back up again.

I don't know what Tom did. I certainly feel for him. It's no fun to do that when you have a chance to win any championship.

Q. Two quick questions. One, what was the date of your surgery?

PETER JACOBSEN: April 27th, I believe, something like that.

Q. And can you describe -- I mean, you talk about the stiffness, but can you describe what goes on and how that feels?

PETER JACOBSEN: Yeah. My left hip -- we all have what they call a labrum, which is the cartilage between where the ball and socket meet in your hip, and I had torn that off, so the doctor went in and repaired that. He drilled a few holes in my bone and reattached it. So he said that after six weeks, the surgery is going to be fine, but the trauma from the surgery, especially at 50 years old, is the difficult part. Mario Lemieux has had it, Parnevik, Steve Elkington, Jonathan Byrd just won a couple weeks ago, he had it about two months before me, so it takes about -- depending on your age, it takes about four months to get over it. But it's stiff. I just have to continue to -- I need to get in better shape. I thought about losing -- I knew if I dropped 30 pounds from yesterday to today, I'd be better off, but to do that, I'd have to cut off a leg, and I didn't know which one I wanted to cut off.

Q. Can you just go through the birdies and bogeys on your score card from the last round.

PETER JACOBSEN: Last round, let's see. I know I played No. 1 twice. I hit a 3-wood off the tee on No. 1, and I hit an 8-iron right over the top of the flag to about ten feet and made the putt.

2nd hole, I hit a 3-wood off the tee and a pitching wedge about eight feet and made the putt.

I parred 3.

Disappointed on 4, I hit a driver and 5-wood on the green and I three-putted for par.

I parred 5.

I three-putted 6, put it on the left fringe and putted it down from probably 70 feet. That was a tough hole today, No. 6. Man, that's a hard hole. I putted it down about five feet and missed it.

I birdied 7, hit a good 3-wood and a wedge to about ten feet, made that putt.

I parred 8, I parred 9.

No. 10 was a great birdie. I hit a driver and a 4-iron, left of the hole, just on the back left fringe, and I had probably a 40-footer with about ten feet of break, and again, this was one of those putts that you're just trying to lag it close, and it just kept trickling down and fell in. That was a huge boost at that point.

I birdied 11, hit a great 3-wood way down there and only had 110 yards to the hole, and I hit a wedge to about six feet, and I birdied there.

I bogeyed 12, hit a 3-wood off the tee and I put it in the left rough by about that far. Boy, the rough was treacherous. It's almost better to miss it 10 to 12 yards into the rough than right off the fairway because that's where it's thickest. I hacked a 7-iron out short of the green and flopped a ball up there, and it went over the green and chipped it back a couple of feet and made bogey there.

I parred 13.

Birdied 14. 14 was a great birdie. At that time, I think I was 2 or 3 back of Tom Kite. I hit a 3-wood off the tee and a 9-iron, and I wanted to be left of the hole putting uphill because that pin was on the slope, and I hit it left of the hole about 15 feet and I made it.

15, I made a mistake. My caddie wanted me to hit a 3-wood off the tee, but I wanted to be aggressive and hit driver, and I hit it, and the ball trickled down and went into the left rough. It was a 3-wood today. It was a bad play on my part.

I hacked a 7-iron out of the bunker and I didn't get it up-and-down, so I made bogey there.

16 I made a great putt for par.

17, routine par.

Then 18, anything but a routine par on 18.

Q. Did you feel like in a way, even though it was a senior major, you were playing with house money this week just be able to play as well as you were?

PETER JACOBSEN: Absolutely. I think Gary said to me "Are you doing well because you have no expectations," and I thought about that question later, and I think it's exactly right. I didn't have any expectations coming in. My expectation was I might be able to play 72 holes, and I think that worked to my advantage.

Q. I guess maybe in the same line as that, you had some putts that were disappointing, you know, a couple birdie putts that you didn't make. Does your personality help there in that it seems you get over things quickly?

PETER JACOBSEN: I think so. The thing I've always tried to do on putting, I look at it like a flow chart. Step one, hit the putt. Step two, pull it out of the hole and repeat step one (laughter).

I know that may be difficult to follow. This is a hard game. It's a hard game. The putt I missed on 4, I three-putted No. 4, I hit a good 4-wood in there, 5-wood in there, putted up like that and the putt did a horseshoe all the way around. I just said, "Wow, that didn't want to go until the hole," or something like that to my caddie, and he said, well, let's just go on. We've got more holes to play.

Johnny Miller and I, I was on the telecast yesterday on NBC, and he said, "Happy-go-lucky guys, this isn't fun and games, you've got to bear down." I said, "No, Johnny, this is fun and games." I'm 50, I'm a sweaty fat guy and people are watching me. Golf is a game, it's fun to play. It's no fun when you make bogeys, but it's exhilarating for me to be competing at a high level, no matter which Tour you're on. I wanted to prove him wrong. I wanted to go out there and have some fun and win the tournament.

Q. Two questions: When you're standing on the tee on 18, where was Kite, and how much were you aware of where he stood on the hole?

PETER JACOBSEN: I didn't know a thing. I knew walking off 17 I was tied. I said to my caddie, we need to make a birdie, because Tom Kite is the kind of player that more than likely is going to birdie 18. I wanted to put a 3-wood in play. It narrows up there with a driver, so I said, let's be smart and hit a good 3-wood, which I did, killed a 3-wood off the tee. Then I heard that he had made double bogey. Somebody yelled Kite made 6, it's your tournament. I'm thinking, "okay, relax." I hit a 7-iron, 170 yards, perfect yardage. I knew I needed to make a 4 and I would win.

Q. In a different world, what would Payne say to you at this moment?

PETER JACOBSEN: Payne would say, "It's about time you won one of these tournaments." Payne is greatly missed in my life. He's greatly missed in the world of golf because he was one of those special characters that lived life beyond the ropes and the stakes and the tee boxes. He's inspirational. He was a great friend of mine, and I guess I look at those guys that live beyond the ropes and the stakes, guys like Arnold and Jack and Greg Norman, and Payne was one of those guys.

I'll probably call Tracy Stewart in the next couple of days and say, did you see me out there? How about that.

Q. Did you feel like you were starting to get too far behind Tom at any point during the day?

PETER JACOBSEN: No, I didn't. Well, let me put it this way: I got off to a great start in the afternoon when I birdied 1 and 2. I knew after the third round I was two back, and that's a concern that you have when your leader, who is such a great player as Tom Kite is, when he starts really putting birdie upon birdie, and he played great. I was watching him in front of me and he kept making putt after putt after putt. He made a long putt at 4, which I didn't know what it was for, and it was for eagle. He birdied 5 and he saved par at 6. Tom Kite is a Hall of Famer for a reason, because he knows how to recover from bad shots and capitalize on great shots. Guys like Hale Irwin, Nicklaus, Ballesteros, Trevino, they know how to play the game, and I'm surprised Tom made 6 on 18. I don't know what happened, but I feel badly for him.

Q. Are you at the point where you're going to make the transition now to senior golf totally?

PETER JACOBSEN: Well, it's hard to say. I'm exempt on the PGA Tour next year, and it's really hard to turn your -- to let go of a career that you fought to have for so many years. I feel like I've got the best of both worlds. I can play both tours. I think my win got me exempt for the -- it gets me in here next year.

Q. U.S. Open for next year.

PETER JACOBSEN: Oh, sweet. I didn't though that. It gets me back in the U.S. Senior Open.

Q. Earlier in the week, you were limping. Today you weren't. Again, are we making more out of this than it should be? How did you come from where you were a week ago to where you are today?

PETER JACOBSEN: I don't know. I honestly don't know. A positive attitude, not getting down on myself, not making too much of this surgery and the rehab. The doctor said it's going to get better every day. I was very disappointed when I had to withdraw from the Ford Senior Players and then the Senior British. I was very excited about having Mike Cowan caddie for me. My whole family was there. I can't tell you how disappointed I was last week, very disappointed. I was down, had about 19 Guinnesses one night so that made me feel better. That's a difficult beer to enjoy (laughter).

But I came here with -- I guess I'm just -- I don't carry these things with me. I guess I'm different. I let things go. I honestly almost withdrew. Jerry, I don't know if I'm making more of this or you're making more, the press, I don't know, I don't care. I just know that I got in today 36 holes. I surprised myself, and I can officially say now I'm ready to go.

Q. What's your expectations for your body tomorrow?

PETER JACOBSEN: I've been thinking about that since we finished. I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow. I may go lay in a hot tub somewhere.

Q. Congratulations on your victory.

PETER JACOBSEN: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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