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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAIDMay 26, 2012Roger ChapmanBENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN KELLY ELBIN: Roger Chapman, third round leader joining us at the 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Roger in with a sparkling 7‑under par 64 today. His 199 total after three rounds ties Sam Snead for the lowest 54 hole total in championship history. And his 64 today ties for the lowest third round score in championship history. Roger, congratulations on another terrific round here at Harbor Shores. ROGER CHAPMAN: Thank you. It was just one of those days where I think it's the best iron play I've ever played in my career. I had a few chances early on, 1 and 3 from about 10 feet, didn't convert those. Miss a 4‑footer on 9 for birdie. But then hit some really good iron shots on the back nine and came home in 30. So yeah, it was pretty special. KELLY ELBIN: You had eight birdies, one bogey on 7. If you don't mind just a real quick review of those birdies, starting with the birdie at the 2nd. ROGER CHAPMAN: 2, I hit a 9‑iron to about 10 feet. 4, I hit 6‑iron on to the green about 25 feet left of the hole. Pin high. 5, I got away with one there. I pulled my second shot from the rough up on to the top where the crowds had been walking and then had a reasonable lie. I was just trying to get it on the green and got it to about 25 feet and holed that as well. So that was a bit of a bonus. 7, I thought I hit a good drive there, just went through the fairway into the sort of the wind bushes there and I tried to have a hack at it, didn't, moved it about 10 yards, I thought, well, fine if I get a five, just hacking it outside ways. And which fortunately I did. I had a, I pitched up to about 10 feet. John had the similar putt to me and his broke quite a lot, so I just went to school on that. Holed that. Then I had, I missed a birdie opportunity on 9 from four feet. Hit a good drive down 10, laid up, pitched up to about 12 feet left of the hole. 11 I had a wedge to about three feet. 7, I hit or 12, hit a 7‑iron to about 10 feet. 14, I hit 6‑iron to about a foot. 16, I hit an 8‑iron to three feet. KELLY ELBIN: Great round. Let's open it up for questions, please. Q. Great playing today. I think I read somewhere where you were a TOUR official for some time, TOUR rules official? ROGER CHAPMAN: Yeah, when I quit the main European Tour in about '76, I was asked whether I would be interested. At the time I said no, I wanted to maybe try and do some company days and etcetera. But they were sort of few and far between. So the TOUR asked me again and I did 18 months as a rules official. Which was enjoyable. I really enjoyed the course setup doing the tees and pins every day. The worst bit was significant on the buggy for about 13 hours. (Laughter.) In the cold. Q. Can you just talk about your play this week. Are you surprised at all by how well you've played for how little you've played competitively recently? ROGER CHAPMAN: Yeah, I am. But I've been working hard at home and everything felt good at home, so last, two weeks ago when we played it was almost a case of sort of dusting off the cobwebs and getting some match play, stroke play in and trying to focus on what you were doing. And I played reasonable finished 16th, I think. So sort of dusted off the cobwebs. And coming out here I had no real expectations. But I knew that I was playing okay and everything, the first three rounds have gone really well for me. KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Roger's hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation in each of the three rounds. According to our statistics. Q. I know you had a number of starts on the Champions Tour last year, can you just talk a little bit about what that experience was like and sort of, I know you haven't played here this year but sort of what are your plans for the rest of this season? ROGER CHAPMAN: No, it was good. I especially enjoyed, I got sixth card at the TOUR school in 2010. I thought that I was going to be fully exempt because Keith Clearwater won the school and was in a higher ranking. So we thought that sixth would slot into fifth. But there were three medical exemptions that everybody forgot about. So I went home, booked home all my flights and accommodations and everything and came out a month and a half later. Well, my caddie rang me up a month and a half later and said, it's not going to be as good as we think. So I'd booked my flights, I thought, well, I'll come anyway and have a crack. And by hook or by crook Monday qualifying and some times I got in fairly late on a Wednesday. And even at Boca, my first one, I got in on a Friday morning when two or three guys pulled out. Didn't like the look of the weather, it was cold and windy, you know. So I played 11 events and then got sort of pushed down in the reshuffle. But it was a good experience, playing with great players and people like Nick Price and John Cook and all these guys. So I think it sort of toughened me up a bit. And I went back to Europe, I played 11 events only and finished 11th in the Order of Merit. So, yeah, it was a good learning experience. Q. When you look back on your long regular European Tour career, the one victory, did you have many legitimate chances to win or were you close that often? ROGER CHAPMAN: Yeah, I had, I think I had six seconds on the European Tour. I lost a couple of playoffs and I had tournaments that were taken away from me. I was in the clubhouse and then the guy behind I think in Morocco finished birdie, eagle, par to beat me by one. So I should have won more than I did, I think I've ‑‑ it's something like 16, 15 or 16 times I finished second around the world. So yeah, three times in on the Senior Tour, the European Senior Tour. So always a bridesmaid at the moment. Q. Could you take us back a bit to the win in Brazil. Was it the Rio De Janeiro 500? Sounds more like an auto race. Did you have a big lead in that, did you come from behind, similar circumstances to what's going on? ROGER CHAPMAN: No, it was five behind going into the last round. I shot 65. I tied with Padraig Harrington. And I beat him on the second hole of the playoff. I knocked it, my drive in the water on ‑‑ it's so vivid ‑‑ water on the first playoff hole. Managed to scrape a five. He 3‑putted from about 50 feet. And then he did the same on the second extra hole. And I hit a really good drive, a good iron shot in, and 2‑putted to win. So it was a special moment. It took me 472 events to do it. (Laughter.) Q. Did you wonder then, will it ever happen and have you wondered since, will it ever happen again? ROGER CHAPMAN: I guess you do. The times that you finish second and things are taken away, you have maybe lost a lead, you do wonder. But it was one of those days I think I shot 71 on the third round and I think I was five behind, so nothing happened on the Saturday. I thought, I'm still in this. I think I shot 65, 7‑under the last day. So, yeah. It was sort of backed into it, but it was a good feeling. Q. Can you have imagined this low on this course after first seeing the course earlier this week, just everyone? ROGER CHAPMAN: No. In a word. I got here on Tuesday, had a practice round, played nine holes in the afternoon. And we played the back nine. So would he started on 10. And I thought, wow, what an opener that is. (Laughter.) But then I heard about Jack's putt from 105 feet or something, so I thought it couldn't be that bad. But it was an eye opener, yeah. Q. To have a day like today where you say your ball striking iron play best maybe ever in your life, you're in your 50s, only golf could that kind of thing happen to an athlete where you can, after all these years, have a day like you had today at this age. Could you just talk about that a little bit. ROGER CHAPMAN:  Funny enough I was having a bit of lunch with David Frost this morning and we were talking exactly about those same things. We said, aren't we so lucky, 50 years old and more to be still doing the sport that we have done for so long. I started when I was 10. I turned pro when I was 21. And to be, to still go at 53, absolutely delighted. We're very lucky. I follow Rugby Union at home and my team that I follow, they won the playoff championship today, so the Harlequins. So West Ham, the football team, they won the week before, the playoff final, so I hope it comes in 3s. Q. What's been your approach to handling the greens this week and is there a certain range, shall we say, distance from the cup where you feel comfortable that you have to be to maybe have a legitimate shot at rolling in a putt and making a birdie? ROGER CHAPMAN: Yeah, I feel that when I got the second shot or third shot coming in, you know where the slopes and the backstops are, and you actually play to those a bit and spin off the slopes. Classic example is 16 today. I knew that if I hit a little fade in there with my 8‑iron that it would come off the slope. And it came off perfect to about three feet. So you know the general layout of the greens and you try and adapt to where the pin is and everything. But I must say that, touch wood, my touch around the greens has been or on the greens has been very good from a distance putting. Q. Can you look at big picture on what a victory here would mean for the European Senior Tour in general? ROGER CHAPMAN: I think it would be huge. I think Mark James won a Major, did he win a Major? Q. A Players. ROGER CHAPMAN: Yeah, is that ‑‑ Q. Senior Players. ROGER CHAPMAN: Yeah. So I mean it sort of got the European Tour Senior Tour on the map. So hopefully if all goes well tomorrow, maybe we can attract a few more sponsors and hopefully get our purses up. KELLY ELBIN: Same location for your meal tonight at Grand Mere Inn? ROGER CHAPMAN: You got it. I'm going to have to go to Bobby Clampett and David Frost, because they have invited me out for dinner. I'm going to decline. (Laughter.) Q. How many nights ‑‑ do you want to tell them about Grande Mere at all? ROGER CHAPMAN: No, I'm going to eat on my own. With my book. Q. How many nights will this be? ROGER CHAPMAN: This will be fourth. So I know the menu off my heart. (Laughter.) KELLY ELBIN: Roger Chapman, the leader after three rounds of the Senior PGA Championship. Thank you, Roger. ROGER CHAPMAN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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