FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 13, 2000

John Jacobs

JOHN JACOBS: That's good. After last week, it drove me to the driving range for three days, hitting some balls. So I guess it worked. I felt like I could have shot lower. I missed a few putts out there. But I played with a fellow, Jim Thorpe, which he could have shot so low, it was frightening, frightening; he played so good.

JOHN JACOBS: No. Never made a putt. Actually, we really played good the front nine. We didn't read our putts very well. It was like the left edge and the putt broke left; right edge and the putt broke right. But I made -- I think I only made one bogey, on No. 10, and that was a happy bogey.

JOHN JACOBS: Okay. The 1st hole, I hit a good drive. My second shot, I hit it about eight feet left of the hole and made it for birdie; hit wedge. No. 2, I hit it -- I'd say 15 feet left of the hole and made it in for birdie, or pin-high, wedge. 3, I should have made birdie. I had a 4-iron to the green and didn't make birdie. Then I went on to the par 5. I didn't hit a very good drive. I put it on the upslope by the bunker. Had to lay up and I had a 6-iron and I wedged it up about two feet from the hole. 7, made birdie there. 8, I really hit a good shot on 8. I hit it about three feet behind the hole, and I missed it. Then 9, I hit it almost for a gimmee. Hit another wedge, two feet and made it for birdie. I like those 2-feeters (laughs). Then 10, I hit a terrible drive in the right in the jungle, and chopped it back down in the rough in front of the green. And I hit it over the bunker and I got it 25 feet from the hole, which I was happy, and 2-putted for par -- I mean, for bogey. Parred 11, parred 12. 13, I hit it on in two. 2-putted from about 18 feet, 20 feet. 14, I hit the wrong club off the tee. I hit a 3-iron, but that hole, when I got around the corner and you walk up the hill, I didn't know I was into the wind back down there, but I had to hit another 3-iron as hard as I could hit it. I had 235 to the hole, and I hit it in there about five feet behind the hole and made that for birdie. And then the next hole, hit it about left feet eight of the hole, par 3, and made that for birdie. Hit a 7-iron. And then I parred 16. 17, the par 5 I drove it to the right. I just laid up. Hit a 5-iron. Just laid it up around to the right over there. And I hit a wedge up about, I'd say, 12 feet right of the hole and made it for birdie. And 18, just 2-iron, 5-iron and 2-putted.

JOHN JACOBS: I don't know. You know, who knows. I know that everybody under estimates the seniors. You look at the Open; they let us get away with a course that they thought we were some kind of old gerbils out there. 15-under par wins the tournament, you know they made a mistake, huh? I don't know what they are thinking. This tour out here, they let four guys finish what, in the Top-30 at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach? So I don't know what -- these guys out here can play, believe me. I don't know, 7-under par I shot today. I mean, I'm getting in better shape, I know that. I pay attention to what I do. And if I do it, I guarantee these other guys are doing it, because it took me 50 years to figure it out. But hey, when you have this course is in very good shape and the greens were holding, when you have those two combinations, I don't care, they are going to shoot low. I don't care where they stick the pins. They are going to shoot low. And the course is in magnificent shape.

JOHN JACOBS: I don't perpetuate that. Everybody else talks about it. You don't see me blowing my own horn. I never did anything to hurt anybody else. I just hurt myself. But I had fun. I'm not a John Daly type person, believe me. I have my drinks with my friends. I get a little drunk, I go home. I don't tear the room apart. I don't do anything; I just go home go to bed. I go to bed happy and I wake up happy. This guy, I almost felt like strangling this guy a couple weeks ago. He said: The John Daly of the SENIOR TOUR. That's, I mean , please, give me a break. I mean, you know, my drinking and my having a good time are with the good guys in each town that I went to, the upstanding citizens of each town. I wasn't like a -- you know, fall-down-type of deal. The thing that got me behind when I was a kid is I wouldn't practice. I would go to the range and I just -- you can't get away in this game playing these great players if you don't go out and practice. It's not that you can't hit the shots good on the course, but if you don't have in the back of your mind that you've been working a little bit to hit that shot, you're not going to pull it off.

JOHN JACOBS: Well, I never practiced before; so whatever I did is more. But I get in moods. Like yesterday, I hit balls for four hours. I was out there, chipping, putting, hitting balls. I mean, I know if I'm going to keep going out here, I've got to do it. That's just the way it is. You know, when you make the money that we're making out here, and you only have to go hit balls, and that's something that you like anyway, you've got to be pretty stupid to not keep going and hitting those balls and practicing.

JOHN JACOBS: Well, at the U.S. Senior Open, I knew that they were going to put the pins on the right side of the greens; and I went out there and I was trying to hit some high fades. I thought I was playing good enough that I would have a chance to win. In, in fact, on Sunday, I got to 7-under after 13 holes, for my round on Sunday, but I changed and to hit some high cuts, which -- that's not a very -- that's not my typical shot. And then I didn't hit any balls. I teed off last week, gee, I couldn't hit the ground. I thought, well, I'd better go to my hook, I don't care where they put these pins. And that's where I had to go to get out of what I was trying to do at the Open. Last week, I could have phoned in my scores and they would have said: "Yeah, okay, we'll give you that. 75, that's fine, take it. Put Jacobs down, 75." But, you know, this SENIOR TOUR, these guys can play. You go watch some of these guys, you watch Hale; and you play with these guys, 20 of the most successful guys on the kids tour live where I do in Scottsdale, and they don't play any better than Hale Irwin. They can play more days in a row and they don't get as tired, but I'm telling you, there's 10 guys out here that can play their ass off.

JOHN JACOBS: Yeah, I mean, I don't mind putting my wallet up when we play. I don't really play that much when I go home. I play with Gary McCord. McCord usually gets the game and it's usually two guys -- Gary couldn't you get two other guys of this calibre? Get somebody a little -- I tell you, McCord, they play a nice game. He goes right after Mickelson. Gary is a helluva player. Gary's hindrance is he tries to do too many damn things. He's writing books; he goes back to his hotel room, he's on the computer talking about this deal, that deal. He does the outings on Mondays and Tuesdays; tries to come to tournaments. I think he's nuts. I think he's got plenty of money. I think he ought to can the it out and start playing golf. Sign up for CNBC.

JOHN JACOBS: I think I've played here four times. Two of them I played good. Last year, I really thought I had a chance to win. I was got over there and I birdied, I don't know, 10, and when I got around the flag stick, I was like 6-under after 11. I got over on the 12th tee and I'm standing out there and Hale Irwin holes his second shot on 11 and I said: "Damn, this is -- this is too tough." Kind of deflates you when you're playing as good as you can play and you can't pick up a stroke. I see Bruce, he was 7-under on the last hole. Bruce is a good guy. Bruce has turned into a wonderful player. He plays good. I don't think -- if he and Hale get in the hunt on Sunday, he's going to let Hale beat him by two on the 1st hole again, because he really -- he didn't use his head well that 1st hole of the Open. You know, Hale is one of those guys, if you give him a little crack, he'll break the door down. Anyway, I hope I see you Friday -- no, actually, Sunday.