U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 2001

Tom Kite

TOM KITE: Gentlemen. How are you? What are we doing?

TOM KITE: I'm doing better than I would have been doing if I flipped it the other way. If I'd have had 30-40 instead of 40-30. I'm doing a lot better. Over the last nine holes yesterday and the first nine holes today combined, I shot 78 in that 18-hole stretch. And those are not the type scores that win major championships, but the 35-30 are the kind of scores that win major championships. So I find myself in a decent position, certainly not where I expected to be coming into this week, but I'm playing well, and there is a lot of room for optimism and enthusiasm over the next couple of days. You know, this is nice. Got a four round tournament as opposed to normal three-round tournament on the SENIOR TOUR, so I've got that extra day to try to catch up a little bit.

TOM KITE: Linn played the first 9. And I played the back 9. I made him sign for the back 9. He shot the 40. No, I wish I could blame it on something like that. You know, I think just pressing a little bit. I came in here with such high expectations, and I still have those high expectations. And I think I got a little bit out of my game plan yesterday afternoon and into this morning. Just trying to make something happen instead of letting something happen. That never seems to work. And I did a very poor job of course management and keeping my patience and my discipline out there on the golf course for that 18-hole stretch in the middle. I finally got to a point where it was so poor, let's just try to -- it wasn't like I was trying to shoot 30. I was trying to stop the bleeding. I was looking for a tourniquet out there. And then some good things happened. I started hitting some nice, quality shots and started making some putts. And actually that was a type of round that I've grown to expect the last few weeks.

TOM KITE: Yeah. Because there's no wind. There will be some good scores. I'm hoping that none of the leaders run off and hide. But still with two days left, it's going to be difficult for anybody to run off. Very tough pins again. These greens have some very, very difficult pin placements. And if you're not hitting quality shots, it's a hard golf course. There will be some good scores, better than yesterday, but even without the wind, it's still a very difficult golf course with the pin placements and the green conditions that they are in. Hard, hard, slow greens are tough. They really are. They're very firm, they're very bouncy, and they're slower than what we're used to. And so you get putts, especially some of those putts where you're coming uphill and into the green, it's like you cannot hit it hard enough. It really is difficult to get the speed on those. And then you get those putts that are straight down a ski slope, and it looks like it ought to be running so fast that you're scared to hit it. And you can go ahead and do it, but it's hard to convince yourself that you can go ahead. Because the moment you get one that goes a little bit faster, you knock it 12 feet past. It's a little difficult. This is interesting. Usually they're trying to make them faster to make it harder. Here they made it slower, and it's giving everybody fits.

TOM KITE: I've been hitting the ball very very well for a long time. I led the tour, the SENIOR TOUR in greens hit and fairways hit. I'm high in all the categories from tee to green. And I've been a little erratic with the putting. But the putter is really starting to come around. And so now it's a question of just doing it more and more often. I hit -- when I give myself that many opportunities, I'm going to be making some if I get my putter working. When I get it going, it can go pretty low right now, which is fun. Great. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.