home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 11, 2005

Tom Kite

HONOLULU, HAWAII

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Tom Kite for joining us at the 2005 Sony Open in Hawaii. You finished third last year on the Champions Tour and have been playing primarily on the Champions Tour for the last few years, just one PGA TOUR event over the last few years. But you're back here on the PGA TOUR and you're going to try to play a few more events this year, we understand.

TOM KITE: Yeah, I'm going to play, I don't know how many. There's been all sorts of articles written that have said there was 15 tournaments that I was going to play. I really haven't set a number. I basically know what I'm going to do through June or up until the U.S. Open. I'm not in the Open, so I don't know whether I'll qualify -- I will try to qualify for the Open. But up until the Open, I know exactly what my schedule is going to be. It's going to be a combination of PGA TOUR, Champions Tour with a few more on the PGA TOUR, and at that point in time based on how well I play, I'll evaluate the schedule. And either I'll continue to play on the PGA TOUR with the majority on the PGA TOUR, or run like hell back to the Champions Tour. (Laughter.) Depends on how it goes.

Obviously during the summer, there is a stretch of the Champions Tour has five major championships, as you know, with the addition of the Senior British a couple of years ago, and I will play all of those.

So during the summer, a lot of the events will be on the Champions Tour, but through June at least until the U.S. Open most of those will be out here.

TODD BUDNICK: We'll open right up to questions.

Q. Jay Haas has said over the last few years that he was given some advice by you that you can't have it both ways, and to stay out here until you're no longer competitive?

TOM KITE: Well, I didn't really say you can't have it both ways. But his advice -- he asked me, he said, "If you could do it over again, what would you do"?

My first, let me see, I guess my first three, four, five years, I played five or six tournaments on this tour, and the majority of them on the Champions Tour. If I had it to do over again when I was 50 years old, I would have played pretty similar schedule to what Jay did last year; majority of the tournaments on the PGA TOUR and a lesser number, but certainly some tournaments on the Champions Tour, take advantage of the major championships and things like that.

You know, especially if you're as competitive as Jay was. Now, in my particular case, I was competitive through, really through '97. And then, you know, I had a little postmortem after the Ryder Cup, and then the last two years, honest to goodness, it sounds like an excuse, and it is, really. But you get to thinking about the other players so much when you're Ryder Cup Captain that you don't really think about your own game, and as you know, this is a pretty selfish game. It's hard to just turn on the light switch and all of a sudden to go back to thinking about you.

I played very poorly in '98 after the Ryder Cup was over. I didn't play much better in '99. So I was looking forward to going to the Champions Tour to kind of give me a reason to work on my game and get in shape and something to kind of rejuvenate it.

But in Jay's case, the way he's playing, there's really no reason for him to spend the majority of his time on the Champions Tour.

My case now, you know, what's prompted all this, was that I went back and qualified at the U.S. Open, or for the U.S. Open, went through the 36-hole qualifying down in Houston; made it. Went up to Shinnecock and just had a blast. Played practice rounds with Jay and Faxon and Fred Funk and guys that I ran around with out here. Just had an absolute ball. I was on the driving range before the third round or after the third round of the tournament, and I was talking to Bob Rotella and I was telling him what a great time I was having here at the tournament.

He said, "Well, you ought to come and play more out here."

I said, "Well, my exemption at the U.S. Open ran out last year."

And he looked at me and said, "What what about the career 50?" I had not even thought about it. It was totally -- it was a regulation in there that I knew of. As soon as he mentioned it, it was kind of like, yeah, I'm exempt. But I haven't even thought about that thing and acting on it.

So I started looking at it and at the U.S. Open, I was 39th. Of course, I was 1 for almost seven years, and I dropped down because the Champions Tour money doesn't count. I dropped down to 39th. And from the U.S. Open, or the week after the U.S. Open I was at 39th, to the end of the year I dropped down to 44th. So this is a one-time shot. Obviously the regulation makes it a one-time shot. But if I don't act on it for 2005, then it's gone in 2006. So it's not an option for me.

And you know, it's one of those things, I don't lose anything. If I play one tournament out here, I don't lose anything, or if I don't play any tournaments I haven't lost anything because the regulation is going to pass me by next year anyway.

Q. Knowing what you've accomplished on TOUR in your career, if you were to finish 122nd on the Money List and you would still be eligible for your card next year, would you come back for another one or is there a part of you that has expectations that you had when you were winning?

TOM KITE: There's part of me that has those expectations, but at the same time, I'm a little bit more realistic about the thing, too.

You know, would it -- I'm expecting to do reasonably well. I don't know what that is, yet. I'm just kind of feeling my way. I mean, so many -- this tour has changed so much in the last five years in terms of the way the golf courses are set up. I mean, all of this explosion with the equipment has basically taken place since I went on the Champions Tour. So the golf courses that I remember, like this one, for example. Geez, it's 300 yards longer than I ever played it. I don't know when the last time I played here was, I would guess maybe '94 or '95, something like that. I know I didn't play it the last couple of years.

Q. And it's a 70 instead of 72.

TOM KITE: It's 70 versus 72, exactly. Of course it's playing really long now because they have not cut the fairways because of all the rain. So even the guys that are familiar with it are talking about how long the golf course is playing.

But for me, this golf course is really -- there are some tees that are now back in the other fairways. You know, where you have a fairway that backs up to the hole and the tee is in the middle of that fairway, it's so far back there. (Laughter.) I'm sure I'll see that at a lot of golf courses.

I'm really taking a wait-and-see attitude to see how everything goes, but I'm pleased with how I'm playing. And certainly I changed to the Claw grip in the middle of last year and that gave me so much confidence. I can putt again. I went through a number of years, really starting from -- I putted okay through '97 but starting in '98 I really started having trouble. I was off and on from '98 on until really May of last year. Then I went to the Claw and significantly better. That gives me rays of hope. If I wasn't putting better, this would be something that I wouldn't even consider.

Q. Can you give us an idea of your schedule up until the U.S. Open, PGA schedule?

TOM KITE: I'm going to play MasterCard next week on the Champions Tour and then I'm going to play the Bob Hope. Then I'm going to take two weeks off, skip Phoenix and AT&T, and we don't have a tournament on the Champions Tour, either one of those two weeks. I'm going to play L.A.. then I'm going to -- I'm not in the Match-Play, so I'm going to go play Tampa on the Champions Tour. Then I'll stay and play Doral, probably Honda and Bay Hill. Those two are a little up in the air. I may play one of those two tournaments and may play on the Champions Tour that other week, but probably Doral, Honda, Bay Hill. I'm not in the PLAYERS Championship. I'll probably play -- a real good chance I'll play Atlanta, BellSouth. I'll play Atlanta, I'm not in the Masters. Hilton Head, I'm in. I played there.

Q. Houston, New Orleans?

TOM KITE: I'll play Houston, Hilton Head. Can't play New Orleans because our tournament is in Austin, the Kinko's tournament so, I'll play that. I'm going to play Wachovia. I'm going to skip the Nelson and then I think it goes Colonial and I'll play Bruno's because my daughter is working for Bruno's Sports Management there in Birmingham.

Q. Bruno's just became the fifth major,

TOM KITE: Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, six that's our sixth major. It's right behind the Senior Open. So I've got to play Bruno's and then what's after Colonial? Memorial I'm not in. I think maybe the Senior PGA is opposite Memphis. I think Senior PGA there, because I'm not playing Memphis. I play the Senior PGA.

And then I'm going to play Kemper, or Booz Allen, Congressional. That will be great. Can't wait to go there. That golf course was so good in the U.S. Open. They really -- of all of the old, classic golf courses that they have made a change to, they really improved that golf course. It was a fantastic course. I'm really looking forward to that.

Q. Is part of it an adrenaline thing? This is the big stage; you just miss it?

TOM KITE: Oh, no question, you miss it. I mean, if you've ever played in the big leagues, that's where you want to play. Hey, you may not be capable of it and I don't know that I'm capable of it, we're going to find out over the next couple of months whether I am, but this is the Tour everybody wants to play on. There is no other tour anywhere else in the world, be it, you know, and I don't mean to speak for all of the other players, but you know given their druthers, if you could be a top player on the U.S. PGA TOUR, this is where you'd be a top player. This is the best. It's the most money, it's the best tournaments, well-run, well-organized. Not to say that some of the other tours aren't great. The European Tour is fantastic, but you don't see a lot of Americans running over to play in Europe, but you see a lot of Europeans coming over here to play on this tour. It's just a fact. Same thing with Japan.

So, yeah, and once you've ever had a taste of it and once you've had some success on this tour, it kind of gets in your blood. You just want to keep doing it. You know being like I said, in my case, this is my last shot at it realistically. To answer Doug's question again, I wasn't trying to avoid it, but if I have a year like Jay Haas had, heck yeah, I'll play the PGA TOUR next year if I go out and do that.

On the other hand, if I finish 122nd or 120th, I'll probably go back. I may play a few. They may not be as full schedule. You know the Champions Tour is always there. That tour is really doing some nice things right now. Hit a low point a number of years ago when we were on CNBC and nobody could find us, didn't know whether we were on CNBC or MSNBC or CNN or XYZ. That was a disaster for us. It really hurt us. But since that time, now that we're back on the Golf Channel and people do know that they are going to show golf on the Golf Channel, and it made it easier to find us.

Q. You didn't like the stock market scrolling under?

TOM KITE: Actually I didn't mind the stock market going by there because at the time the market was climbing, and it was fun to read. It was better than the scores they were running in a lot of cases. (Laughter.) If the market had been going down, Andrew, the whole thing would have been a bust.

Q. You talked about having a blast at Shinnecock, and now how about a blast this week, a whole bunch of Champions Tour guys are here.

TOM KITE: Yeah, it's kind of neat. Certainly I'll be the first to pass around some of the credit as it goes to my making this decision to play more out here, and when I say Craig Stadler and Peter Jacobsen and Jay Haas having the success that they have had out here when they come out here, that's that certainly gives me some encouragement.

Q. You mentioned the equipment boom and that kind of preceded you coming out here, but how far are you hitting compared to when you were out here regularly?

TOM KITE: Oh, yeah, I'm hitting longer than I ever have, but so is everybody else. The equipment issue is one of those things where it's kind of like the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Aunt Agnes and Uncle Harry back home, they are all picking up a little bit of yardage, but they haven't picked up the significant gains that Ernie and Tiger and Vijay have. And the longer you hit it, the more you gain. So the bigger the separation.

So I've always been kind of in the middle of the pack. I've gained significant yardage over what I hit it when I was on the PGA TOUR. Certainly the longest that I ever averaged, but my gains have not been as great as those guys that hit it longer. It's kind of like we used to talk about going to the tournament up in Castle Pines at The INTERNATIONAL, you know they say the ball goes 10 or 12 percent further up there. Well, you know, Davis's 10 or 12 percent is bigger than my 10 or 12 percent. (Laughter.) So he was already longer than I was, but now he's much longer. That's kind of the way it's happened with the equipment. The longer you hit it, the more you gain.

Q. I was asked to ask you about the first 25 years of the Champions Tour, but it seems to me that's a bit of a tired subject. I wonder more if you could look ahead to the next 25 years of the Champions Tour, will we be seeing more of you and Jay Haas type of players, guys who maybe mix and max and their ability to do that?

TOM KITE: I think you will. I really think you'll see a number of guys that have played throughout their career, and they have been lucky enough to be injury-free and pain-free to where they can do it.

Obviously if you're hurting and you wake up in the morning and you've got some injuries that you are dealing with, it's going to make it difficult. You know, Greg, for example, his shoulder and his back and all that stuff has messed him up. He's not playing much of a schedule on the PGA TOUR. So I really don't see him playing a whole lot on the Champions Tour for that reason.

But if you remain healthy and if you remain enthusiastic about it and you really enjoy the competition and enjoy this lifestyle, I think there will be a number of guys that continue.

Q. In 25 years, Tiger will be 54, your age now. Will he and guys at his age really want to play the Champions Tour?

TOM KITE: Don't know. Certainly if you're -- well it depends on what you play for. If you play because you love competing, sure. I mean, it doesn't matter whether you're -- I played with a kid today, Matt Davidson, you know, 23 years old. He's the same age as my daughter. He just made it through the Q-School and nice, nice kid. I'm sitting here thinking about him, but he's love to go compete, but he doesn't like competing anymore than I do.

Now, what Tiger is going to be doing with the success he's having, whether he will still love competing when he's 50? I don't know.

Vijay, to me, what is he, 41 now, 42? That's a little bit easier to project out. I don't see him really tapering off. I really don't. The guy loves to play golf. And if you love to play golf and you love to compete, you know, why not keep doing it. And that's kind of what it gets down to.

You know, I'm very lucky. I'll be the first to admit. I found something, like you guys, you guys are lucky, too. You found something that you're good at that you enjoy doing and you make a living at it.

Q. Some of us are good at it.

TOM KITE: You're good at it. I may not agree with your opinions all the time, but you're good at it. (Laughter.)

I've done it now professionally for over 30 years. Man, that's a long time to play. I've played golf for over 50 years. That's hard to think about, and yet I still -- I mean this, off-season for me was so much fun, you know, trying to get ready for this thing. I had a short, we were talking about the short off-season, I had a short off-season, too. I started really cranking it up in November and I had a couple of tournaments in between there, that interrupted it some, but it was a fun off-season just to push myself.

TODD BUDNICK: A long those lines, do you find the physical aspect like the younger guys do?

TOM KITE: You look at these guys, when I was coming up here, when I was growing up, they said the perfect build for playing the PGA TOUR was 5'9, 5'10, 170, 180 pounds. That's a small guy out here now. You know I'm 5'9 and weigh 170, and I'm a midget compared to all of these guys they are all 6'5 and 6'3 and arms from me to around the room. The leverage they create is incredible. And they are all in good shape.

Yeah, the fact that this sport has been so successful, brings some of the best athletes into it. They don't want to go into other sports where they get beat up. They would rather come out here and be successful.

Q. Talk about the changes in the course since the last time you played out here, and what about this week being out here seeing a 15-year-old girl?

TOM KITE: I haven't seen her play yet. I'm really looking forward to watching her. I heard some great things about how well she played.

It's pretty amazing what she did. I mean, to be 15 years old -- well, she was 14 last year? To be 14 years old, forget that she's a girl. Just take any 14-year-old person, I don't care who they are or how talented they are, to come out and do what she did last year, would be news in itself. And then the fact that she is female certainly makes it very newsworthy.

I haven't had a chance to meet her yet, but I understand she's really nice, has a nice personality and going to bring a lot of attention to the sport. It's fantastic.

Q. She's really tall, too.

TOM KITE: Oh, yeah. Well, you don't hit it that distance without leverage. It's amazing how the sport has changed and again a lot of that goes back to the equipment because back when, well, like a George Bayer was that size, but if he got clubs to fit him or an Andy North, if he got clubs to hit, the clubs weighed tons, you only had that old heavy shaft. And if you added three or four inches of length to it and bend it up right and everything, all of a sudden the club was so out of balance that you could not do anything.

Now with all of these lightweight shafts you can have a reasonably well-weighted club, well-balanced club that's made for a guy that's 6'10 or taller probably. So, you know, that equipment, and the materials that are being used in the equipment has aided that an awful lot. Yeah, that leverage, there's no substitute for that.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297