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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 12, 2012Tom KiteLAKE ORION, MICHIGAN MODERATOR: Championship leader at 5 under par, Tom Kite. TOM KITE: Hello. Q. Tommy, are you surprised, as we are, with a 28 on the front? TOM KITE: Yeah, no question. I thought there would be some good scores, and I still think there will be some good scores. If you play well, there are some opportunities out there. But I certainly didn't see any 28s or anything like that. I thought there would be some 65s, 66s, 67s shot this week. It's going to be difficult to do it four days in a row. This golf course has enough bite in it that it's not going to let the same person get it every day, for sure. I was happy to get it today for sure. That front nine was a pretty incredible nine holes of golf. The holes seemed like, as I said, Golf Channel there seems as big as that swimming pool over there for a while. Q. [Inaudible]. TOM KITE: Well, that's one of those crazy holes. The second shot's a blind shot. Hit a drive up the right‑hand side. It had just snuck into the semi‑rough, the short rough on the right‑hand side. I had 155 yards, and just playing an 8 iron and letting it release onto the green. And the people up there just started getting louder and louder and louder and louder. All of a sudden, arms went up as the ball went in. I never saw it obviously. It's a totally blind second shot. So just relied on their reaction. Q. What was on the back that made it a little bit tougher, it seemed? TOM KITE: The back side is a tougher nine holes of golf, no question about it. You look at all the scores throughout the week, and even look at the pace of play. I teed off at the same time as Watson and Couples, and we were teeing off at 10, and they were still playing the 18th hole. Just took that much longer to play the back side than it does the front nine, because it's that much more difficult. When we finished up, we were playing the 18th hole, they were on the 9th hole. So they ended up catching up. But it's just a more difficult nine holes of golf, and you get a little bit longer and more challenging. You're going to have to hit some really good shots. Q. Steve Jones and Jacobsen were saying you were hitting well at Pebble last week. Have you stumbled upon something? TOM KITE: The last couple weeks have been a little better for sure. Last week, I was leading after the second round, took the lead in the last round. Didn't play well on Sunday. But things are improving. I'm starting to hit the ball better. Hitting the ball in the fairway more often than not now. Hitting my irons closer to the hole and putting it good. Q. Why is that? TOM KITE: Well, I got a little out of sorts with my swing, and I think I'm on the right track right now. I'm not sure it's back where it totally needs to be yet, but it's moving in the right direction. I still hit a couple of crummy shots, hit a couple of bad irons the last two holes on 17 and 18 today. 17 really bit me, ended up making double bogey there. But had a nice two‑putt on 18 to keep from having more hemorrhaging. It's‑‑ for the most part, it's getting better. It's not perfect yet, but moving in the right direction. Q. Can you take us through 17? TOM KITE: Yeah. I was right in between 5 and 6 iron. Tried to hit 5, tried to hit it easy and high. I kind of hung back on my right side and pulled it to the left side of the green. It's a treacherous place over there, very difficult to get it up and down. But I drew deep, thick rough. In that deep, thick rough, I thought I had a pretty decent lie where I might be able to play a flop shot and get it to land soft enough on the green. It was sitting so nicely, I went right underneath it and just moved it from me to Jim. Then I drew a terrible lie, and all I was trying to do was get that on the green. Ended up having about an 18, 20‑footer for bogey and really hit a good putt there. Just came up a hair short. MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. We're going to bring him to the Media Center now. Thanks. TOM KITE: I guess I'm going to the Media Center. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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