FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 11, 2003

Andy North

PHIL STANBAUGH: Came in with a very fine 69 find yourself with minus 8, 2 strokes behind your good friend Mr. Watson.

ANDY NORTH: It was a tough day, really a tough day. Warming up today starting, you knew it was going to be a tough day. You couldn't get too upset if you hit a poor shot. I think that was a big part of today keeping some patience and just keep playing. The conditions were really rugged. It was going to be a tough day to get it around. I am very, very pleased to get it under par.

PHIL STANBAUGH: You didn't make a par 'til the 6th hole.

ANDY NORTH: A little interesting early on. Hit a sand wedge to about twelve feet at the first hole, made that one.

Then basically just sort of chopped it around the second hole, drove it left, ball stayed out of the water and just pitched it on the fairway, knocked it on the green, 2-putte.

3, good drive, had a chance to knock it on the green, put it in the left bunker. Got it up and in.

Hit a really good bunker shot, 18 inches or two feet. Hit the bunker at the par 3. There were times today the wind really, really affected the shot once it got in the air. I didn't hit a very good shot there, misjudged the wind a little bit. Went much further left than I thought. Didn't get that one up and in.

Then came right back at 5 and hit it -- hit 7-iron just in the right fringe, 30 feet from the hole, knocked that one in. Getting through those first five holes under par, it was nice to make a par at 6. Just kind of normal, I hit it just past the hole, back fringe and got it up and in, but it was not that big a deal.

7, I hit a good drive, good 3-wood to the fringe, nice pitch to about two feet, made birdie there.

Made two nice par saves at 8 and 9. Hit it through the wind over the green at 8. And got it down to about ten feet, made that one. Then put it in the left fringe at 9. Had it come up over that ridge that separates the back and the front of the green, it came off the ridge the wrong way and had to make 12, 15-footer for 2-putt.

Those were two really nice putts to make considering how hard the wind was blowing. I usually have trouble with balance (sic) in the wind being a little bit bigger than some of these other guys. Today I made a lot of nice putts.

10th hole missed about a 12-footer couple of good shots.

13, drove it in the left hand rough and couldn't shoot -- didn't have a very good lie, couldn't shoot at it though. The pin was way in the back left-hand corner; only place I could go is front right. Hit a nice shot to get it on the green except I was 90 feet from the hole and 3-putted that.

Came back with a decent shot at 12, nice par.

13, that hole played so differently than it normally does. Normally get up on 13 and think you can hit it driver and 4-wood or a 2-iron or something and put it on the green. All of a sudden today, it was just the strongest wind I've seen on that hole. I had probably -- hit probably 20-footer ended up making that one which was really nice to get back to even par on the back nine.

14, I hit maybe my two best shots today. Great tee shot, 4-iron that was terrific about six or seven feet, then missed it.

Hit it fat at 15, trying to hit it really low in there and right on the front of the green, had 105 feet or something, 2-putted that.

16, not a great iron shot in between clubs, put it about 35 feet from the hole; ran that by about 35 feet, made that.

17, killed it off the tee and it was one of those drives -- that hole today became much more dangerous because you could maybe put it in the lake on the left. I absolutely murdered it. Didn't get it started quite far enough. It got into the rough just through the fairway, I was lucky it stayed up. There are a lot of years there's not as much rough there the ball will run down in the water. I chopped it out, hit a nice sand wedge about ten, twelve feet, made that one.

Then parred the 18th hole. The wind switched on my second shot at 18, just hit it just through the green, a couple of feet off the back of the green, had a nice lie and easy chip, got it up and in. You know, overall, I was real pleased. I hit -- you know, when you look at the numbers at the end of the day didn't hit as many fairways as you'd like or many greens as you'd like, but overall, I had the ball in pretty good positions most of the day. The greens I missed were like 18 where it's easy and other than those -- 2nd hole and the 4th hole I really, you know, didn't have myself in position to make too many bogeys other than 8 and 9. So I was pleased. I hit a lot of good solid shots and, you know, it is tough. It was one of those days that I think if you'd ask most of the players would you take 72 and not go out there, they probably would have. So I am pleased the way it went.

I was actually shocked when I looked up and saw some of the good scores early on this morning. I think the key to my round today is that I was able to birdie all the par 5s and all of a sudden that gets you to halfway decent position.

PHIL STANBAUGH: Let's take questions.

Q. You said that anybody would probably take a 72 today. If they had told you at the beginning of the day that you would be 8-under, would you have believed that you would be two shots off the lead as hard as it was blowing?

ANDY NORTH: Having seen Watson already be out there early, when he made the turn at 31, I was -- you know, you are just kind of laughing, there he goes again, these are the kind of days that he's incredible. I would have to think that you'd have trouble finding anybody who is a better bad weather player than Watson has been in his career. And he proved it again today. That's an incredible. Phil said he missed a short putt on the last hole, or it would have been 63. That's a best-ball score today.

Q. Bruce Lietzke went through a bit at the Senior Open facing a gallery that was really obviously for Tom and Bruce. You are good friends with both Tom and Bruce. What do you think the emotions will be like for you tomorrow?

ANDY NORTH: When I got to about 16 and saw the leaderboard one more time and saw that there were a whole bunch of 7 -- I need to make a birdie so I get to play with him. It would be fun to play with him. We played the last round at (inaudible) last year and I didn't play very well. I'd like to go out there and try it again.

Q. Did you feel pressure to go ahead and get a number or did you just think got to survive the weather?

ANDY NORTH: I think the key early -- at least the key for me on days like today on very difficult golf courses is just to keep playing, just -- if the shot calls for maybe a safer shot 30 or 40 feet from the hole you have to do that. I think -- I generally enjoy tougher conditions and not that you want to go out and play in 35 mile an hour winds or whatever it was today, because that was very, very difficult but I have always enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure out how to get it around.

Q. How tough was that for you being the competitor that you are when you are going through all those physical ailments? I guess people don't really realize what you were going through, do they?

ANDY NORTH: That was a long time ago, but, yeah, it was difficult because you know, you felt like you could do better than you did. But I had a wonderful career. I did a lot of things that if you'd asked me starting out, would you take what ended up happening to you, of course you would have. I have had an awful lot of fun playing golf; met a lot of neat people and travelled all over the world and done a lot of exciting things and it was real easy to say geez, if I had been healthy in those ten years could I have been a better player? I sure do hope I would have been. But at the same time, that's the way it was, and deal with it and gone and do some other things. I had a lot of fun doing other things during that time.

End of FastScripts....