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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 29, 2004

Peter Jacobsen

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Q. We're now joined by Peter Jacobsen with a 65 today, 6 under par for the championship. Could you start us off by walking through the birdies and bogeys on your card, please?

PETER JACOBSEN: Sure. I'm so old I can't remember. I'll go by my memory. Maybe I can't go by memory.

No. 4, I birdied No. 4, hit a driver and 3-wood and two-putted.

I birdied No. 6, hit a 7-iron to about 20 feet and made the putt.

I birdied No. 8. I hit a 3-wood off the tee, a 3-iron lay-up and a sand wedge to about five feet and made that putt.

I bogeyed No. 9. I putted it from the front of the green to about five feet and missed that. It's my only bogey of the day.

I birdied No. 12. I hit a 3-wood off the tee and an 8-iron to about ten feet, made the putt.

Hit a great iron on the next hole, the par 3, and birdied there.

Birdied No. 15, hit a driver and a 9-iron to about 20 feet. Made that putt.

And then 17, hit a driver. I could have probably hit 3-wood on the green, but it's a pretty narrow little net. I had a good round going. I laid up and it spun back to the fringe and I made about a 20 footer there.

And 18 I made a par. That was a very tough pin. Overall I played very, very well.

Q. Did you have any indication you would be able to do this coming in?

PETER JACOBSEN: No, I just hoped I could play. I had to withdraw the last two tournaments. The Ford Seniors I played the Pro Am, and the same with the British Senior last week.

I had hip surgery a couple of months ago. Hitting the ball is no problem, but actually walking 18 holes has been quite difficult, the difficult part for me on the rehab. I have been doing all my stretches and everything, but I can't tell you how much improved I am this week over last week. The fact that it was about 4 degrees at Portrush, and 104 with 100 percent humidity helps me a great deal. I'm sweating like a tribal dancer, but other than that I'm fine.

Q. Will this problem, your recovery be a factor in the next three rounds?

PETER JACOBSEN: I'm sure it will. I don't know how much of a factor. I told my wife and my caddie starting off, I'm going to go as many holes as I can. I took it slow. I walked, I did a lot of stretching. I'm simply in the middle of my rehab, and coming back from being on crutches for five or six weeks I have to learn how to walk again. All the muscles in my leg atrophied. It's been very frustrating for me having played the Pro Am and then have to withdraw on Wednesday because I'm shot. This is a huge boost for me health-wise.

Q. How much golf did you play earlier this week?

PETER JACOBSEN: I played 18 holes on Tuesday. I got through about 13 holes and I forced myself to finish and then I only played 9 yesterday. I wanted to conserve my energy.

Q. After making bogey on 9 you had a nice save on 10. Was that a key to the round?

PETER JACOBSEN: I hit a good drive on 10. I hit it straight to the fairway, was in the rough about that far and I had to lay it to the top of the hill. I hit a wedge and almost went into the hole. Every time you do that they're momentum savers and they help keep your confidence going. It's almost better to make a par like that than make a birdie. Emotionally it's as crazy as it sounds.

Q. I'm wondering how comfortable -- (Inaudible).

PETER JACOBSEN: I'm very comfortable. When I came to Kansas City that was the -- I had not hit the driver. That was the most difficult club. I'm doing much better than the last time I saw you.

Q. Part of your rehab program is this part of it. The doctor said go ahead and try?

PETER JACOBSEN: He said there is nothing I can do to hurt myself. The surgery healed -- was healed after six weeks, but the trauma of the surgery, which really was being on crutches and being non-weight-bearing for that long a time, it was simply getting my wheels back, my legs back. And hey, why not, the US Senior Open, playing a great golf course, if I had only played nine holes today and had to withdraw, I would have been happy at least I started.

Q. Which hip?

PETER JACOBSEN: Left hip.

Q. Is it playing like a USGA Championship course right now?

PETER JACOBSEN: This is one of the best golf courses in America. I don't know why we don't play more events here. St. Louis is a great golf town as evidenced by the turnout here. I think this is a USGA golf course. Is it playing like that right now, no, I think probably -- these greens are as tricky as they come anywhere in the United States, and if they get fast and hard like they probably are on the weekend, you're going to see a lot of three putts, and I think the USGA they want to build to a great finish.

Q. (Inaudible).

PETER JACOBSEN: No, I stayed over there. Our whole family was over. We spent a week in Northern Ireland having a great vacation. My wife and I have three children, 24, 22 and 20, and, you know, as you know, when your kids get that age, it's very rare you'll get them all together. One's starting medical school on Monday and the other one is getting married next year, and my son is a sophomore in college. I paid for their way over, I got them all here, they're going to talk to me.

Q. What do you think about your friend Mr. Stadler being right there? How long has it been since the two of you have been up at the top of the leaderboard?

PETER JACOBSEN: Probably since our college days. He played at USC and I played at Oregon, so we were in the PAC-8 back then. Make note of that, and since then Craig hasn't done anything in the game and neither have I. It's a great surprise to see both our names on the leaderboard. I was joking, I was joking on that. I don't want you to write that. People will say that guy is an idiot with what he said.

You know, when you look at a guy like Craig Stadler, he knows how to get the ball in the hole. He's won at all levels. He's going to be one of the guys on Sunday that is right there. So will Jay, so will Mark McNulty, so will all of the guys that you've heard of in the game.

Q. Does weather affect your hip at all?

PETER JACOBSEN: I didn't think so until last week. It probably does. The heat is good.

Q. What about the rain tomorrow?

PETER JACOBSEN: No, as long as it's warm. When I played in Mercy Hospital I played a good nine holes and I was limping on the back nine. That was about three weeks ago. It was my first go-around.

Q. Did they replace it?

PETER JACOBSEN: No, it's antroscopic, the same one Mario LeMieux had both hips done. It's not a golf injury, it's a plant and torque, hockey players, tennis players, baseball players, quarterbacks.

Q. Do you think having low expectations is helping you, and if so, how are you going to be able to keep low expectations?

PETER JACOBSEN: Put it this way: My goal is to wake up tomorrow morning and go at 8:05 after playing late today. I don't know to answer your question. I don't know. I really don't know, Gary. It's too early to tell. I'm happy I played 18 holes, and the fact I played great and scored well is a huge bonus.

Q. When you normally play don't you come in with pretty high expectations?

PETER JACOBSEN: Being a USGA Championship you know it's going to be difficult. You've got to drive the ball straight and putt well. I putted well today, so yeah, probably what you said, the low expectations has been a bonus.

Q. Have you been able to practice normally since the walking is what bothers you?

PETER JACOBSEN: I played the Pro-Am Tuesday at the British Senior. I didn't play for a week, rested my hip. I was busy with the Guinness, the dark beer. It's tough to practice when you're drinking Guinness beer.

Q. Have you talked with Craig about the incident earlier this year?

PETER JACOBSEN: His incident?

Q. With drinking.

PETER JACOBSEN: No, no.

Q. Did you ever discuss that?

PETER JACOBSEN: I'm very good friends with him. When one of your friends has a problem like that or has a setback, you don't run and hide. You support them, and Craig's a great friend of mine and I'll always support him, thick and thin.

Q. When was he thin?

PETER JACOBSEN: You're a bad man.

Q. You've known him so long we thought maybe you would know.

PETER JACOBSEN: I can tell you some great stories, college days, University of Oregon versus USC. Those were some great times.

End of FastScripts.

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