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SENIOR BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 2004

Tom Kite

PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND

DAVE SENKO: Thanks, Tom, for joining us. You've had a couple of days to play on the course, maybe just your initial thoughts on playing at Royal Portrush.

TOM KITE: It's a wonderful golf course. I tell you, this is just a fabulous test. I've heard so much about it and I'm very, very impressed. It is a difficult golf course if you get some conditions. It's not an easy one even if it's benign. There's a lot of the disasters out there waiting to happen, and whoever plays well, whoever plays in contention, whoever wins this week will have played some very, very good golf from tee to green and around the greens. You've going to have to really do some nice things pitching, putting, bunker play and obviously putting is always important.

But, the golf course is just so beautiful. I'm very, very impressed with the golf course.

DAVE SENKO: If you could just talk a little bit about your season so far.

TOM KITE: Well, I got off to a very poor start the first part of the year. I kind of struggled a little bit my game, and then about the last two months I've really been playing quite nicely. The swing changes that I was trying to make, I started I got a little off in my position. I was taking the club too far inside on the backswing and lost all my whip and it took me a little while to get that back. So my swing is now in good position, so I'm hitting some very nice shots.

Changed putting grips. Went to a version of the Claw, I don't know what you call it, but some sort of where I took the right hand and turned it upside down on the club. That really got my putting, I'm putting quite nicely again for the first time in probably five or seven years, and so I'm feeling very, very good about that. Very optimistic about what's ahead the rest of this year and the next couple of years.

Q. When did you switch putting grips?

TOM KITE: The tournament first one I tried, that what was late May. I've not seen Mark, so I guess it's similar in some form, but it's not exactly the same thing we're using but I have not seen Mark. I know my son and I played with Mark and his son at the Father/Son tournament at the end of last year and I think that was the first tournament that Mark had tried it. And to be honest with you, he was experimenting with a number of different grips at that time. So I don't know which one he finally settled on and has gone with. He's done very well. Craig Stadler has done well. Chris DiMarco, as we know, is a marvelous putter. There are a number of players that are using it now with some success.

Q. Inaudible?

TOM KITE: Most of the links courses I've played before have held Open Championships, and consequently they have kept up in terms of the length. So this is not quite as long as those that I've played in Open Championships. Of course, this is a different tournament. To compare the British Senior to the Open Championship is a little tough.

But certainly those have kept pace. They have added tees, they have added bunkers and things like that. So this golf course has you look at it on the card, and you say, this is a golf course you might be able to overpower, except there is so much trouble out there in so many the bushes are so close, the high rough. And I'm not talking about just high rough, I mean, this is, you're losing the ball type stuff.

It is certainly the deepest rough that I've ever seen on a links golf course in certain places. The gorge, the winds, the bushes, whatever they call them, they are all right there, and in a lot of places they are closer to the edge of the green than I am to you right now. So there are some places that you have to be very, very cautious.

There will be some pin placements that we will not be able to shoot at even if you're in perfect position just because they are be so close to the trouble.

Q. Have you given any consideration to using the driver in certain places?

TOM KITE: No question. The golf course is beautifully setup strategically wise, because if you hit a driver and challenge the hole and pull it off, you're awarded on practically every hole where you can get a much less club into the green, a much straighter shot into some of the angles. But you'd better hit that driver perfect, and not just good; you'd better hit it perfect because it is really, really tight. The fairways, they are not wide, short of trouble, but they get progressively narrower as they go on. I think in a lot of cases, we'll be hitting 3 wood, 5 wood, 2 iron, 3 iron, 4 iron off the tee just to put it in position. And obviously, that makes the golf course seem much longer than the yardage on the scorecard.

Q. Did you enjoy turning the corner at Calamity?

TOM KITE: Isn't that beautiful? That is a great par 3. That is one of the most magnificent par 3s I have ever played in my life. When I first saw it, on Monday, I came out Tuesday and I said, I've got to bring my camera, and we took some wonderful photos of this entire golf course in a number of places. But Calamity is just spectacular. It's truly one of the that honestly is one of the, in, my opinion, that ranks up there with 16 at Cypress Point, or 10 at Winged Foot, or 12 at Augusta. I think it is in that league terms of quality when you start talking about par 3 holes.

Q. Do you know much of the Todd Hamilton story?

TOM KITE: I've played with him once or twice in a practice round. He's obviously done some beautiful things, and he played so well at the Open, kept everything under control and especially his emotions. And to be able to stand up to those big guns that were right behind him, you have to admire rim. I thought he did some great stuff and kept everything in check. He looked like he kept control of his emotions, and not until he knocked the last putt in on the playoff hole did he really kind of go crazy and let the emotions show. I thought he did a wonderful job of keeping control of himself, which you obviously have to do in that situation.

That was one of the best final round in a major championship I've seen in a long, long time. There was so many great shots, chip ins, long putts, great shot hit from all of the players. That was fun to watch. Wish I'd been there. Wish I'd been one of those guys.

Q. Made any changes to your clubs?

TOM KITE: No. I've got a 3 wood and a 5 wood and then I get into my irons, long irons. Stubborn.

Q. Most of the guys are using inaudible?

TOM KITE: A lot of them are right now. I played with Ron Nielson and John Harris today and both of those guys have 2 or 3 or 4 woods they are hitting on the golf course depending on the conditions.

It's a nice club to hit, especially on the Champions Tour where you are starting to get a little older, you are not quite as strong, not quite as big as you were and don't hit it quite as far; it's a wonderful substitute for a long iron.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TOM KITE: I'm still hitting the traditional set right now, basically the same set I've played with since the late 70s and 80s. Same driver, 3 wood, 5 wood and all the way down.

I'm sure the time will come. It's coming. It's right around the corner. So far, I'm quite pleased with the way I've been able to play with my long irons.

Q. Was putting the main problem?

TOM KITE: The end of last year and the first part of this year, I really didn't strike the ball as well as I had been. The first three or 3 1/2 years on the Champions Tour, from tee to green, I was as good as I had ever been and my putting held me back there. Did not allow me to win nearly as many tournaments as I should have on the Champions Tour, could have on the Champions Tour, but now I'm putting very well and now I'm hitting the ball well. I concentrated so much on the putting that I think I neglected the swing a little bit, and then like I said, I had to address the position there and it's very good now.

Q. Do you think this course will be a major contender inaudible?

TOM KITE: Very few people will have seen this golf course before, not only from our side but from their side. But a lot of the players have played links golf and they understand how you have to play links golf and how you have to adjust to the conditions and play different shots. As Todd Hamilton said last week, play ugly golf. Not always hit the traditional 7 iron from 165 or 170 and just right into the middle of the green.

Contrary to what he said, I think it's beautiful to play golf that way. It's very clever to be able to hit different shots and step up on a particular situation and maybe be able to hit three or four different clubs in there. I think that's beautiful, as opposed to what Todd called it, but I understand exactly what he was talking about because it's not what we normally see as traditional in the States. So everybody has to play that. You would just go down the list of those players that have fared well on links golf courses and have played those courses fairly well.

Obviously the guy that's on the poster, the one who won last year, Tom, I haven't seen him this week and I know he's had some injury problems, but if he's healthy, that doesn't give him too much trouble, he's obviously going to be there. I expect there be there.

Mark James probably knows as much about it as anybody, Sam Torrance knows as much about it. Mark James is playing great, as you know; he just won. Those would be guys that I would be looking at to fair very well without having a list right in front of me.

Q. Todd Hamilton gained points for the Ryder Cup do you think he should be

TOM KITE: I haven't even looked at the list.

Q. He's 15th.

TOM KITE: 15th, he's got himself in good position. Obviously there's a lot of time left. They play all the way through the PGA Championship, so what happens and how he the desire that he shows to making the Ryder Cup, I'm sure prior to the Open Championship he probably was not even thinking about the Ryder Cup. Obviously the double points, that really helped him. He's in good position, and I think if he doesn't make the team on his own, the interest that he shows between now and the PGA Championship is certainly going to have some effect on Hal's viewpoint of that, i.e, if he plays a lot of tournaments. If he says I really want to make the team, I'm going to try my best to make the team; or if he says, well, I just won the Open Championship, I'm going to take some time off, Hal may have a different viewpoint. It will be interesting. Hal's got some interesting decisions, as every captain of the Ryder Cup does. It's not easy, never has been, never will be and as I say, it has not been since '83, certainly hasn't been an easy test for any captain since 1983.

DAVE SENKO: Thank you, Tom.

End of FastScripts.

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