U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 1997

Hubert Green

HUBERT GREEN: I didn't play all that great. I started out very boring, made a bunch of pars, mostly 1-putts on the first holes. And I made my second shot on No. 7 with an 8-iron which was very helpful. Those eagles help out all the time.

HUBERT GREEN: Hit an 8-iron about 147 yards. And I parred 8 and 9. Didn't make a good birdie putt on 13. Made about an 8-foot birdie putt uphill. Then, of course, I bogeyed 17. I hit a terrible second shot and terrible drive, and made bogey -- it wasn't a very good, exciting round. I didn't hit the ball as well as the score indicates, to tell you the truth, but a score is a score.

HUBERT GREEN: Well, I've not played good golf at all. This whole year has been pretty disappointing as far as my play. I've been a pretender, not a contender in the game. With my past record, I should be playing better golf than I have, but I haven't, and it's my own fault. And just have to carry on from there.

HUBERT GREEN: Well, the greens have an awful lot of slope to them, and you can't get too aggressive. You start feeling like you're on your game, you knock the ball over the green or in the wrong part of the green, all of a sudden you quit being so cocky because you can make bogey in a heartbeat. It's just -- the greens make this golf course -- make you think a little bit, and I get too aggressive. But you've got two guys right now that are doing a good job of trying to separate themselves from the field. If they don't, it will be fun. If they do, it will be a very boring telecast tomorrow, as far as I'm concerned.

HUBERT GREEN: There's some bad-hitting golfers out here, then, I'll tell you what. You ought to pass out hard hats at the gates.

HUBERT GREEN: My putting was not very good the first couple days. You know, I hit uphill putts for birdies, and I can't get the ball to the hole. And I've done it a lot. And, of course, downhill putts are so defensive, you're just trying to lag it down there. You sort of lose your break. So, I can't believe I'm leading greens in regulation. I've never heard that before in my life in any tournament. That means the guys are hitting the ball really bad out there.

HUBERT GREEN: If it was two weeks later, I would feel really good about my golf game. I'm doing some things a lot better, but I'm going to the driving range as soon as I get a bite to eat. My drives on 17 and 18 were pathetic. For a guy trying to win a golf tournament, I looked like Sally May out there trying to play golf. Not against the female side of the game there. I hit terrible shots, and I'm not real sure why.

HUBERT GREEN: I think we'll find tomorrow afternoon, the guy with the lowest score wins. Deserve it or not, they'll give him the trophy. I don't care who he is. If he's the lowest scorer, he'll say, "Thank you very much, and see you later alligator." Tiger Woods has won with his C-plus game before, for crying out loud. So why can't I win with a D or an F or whatever.

HUBERT GREEN: No, I couldn't.

HUBERT GREEN: I would rather not if I could help it.

HUBERT GREEN: Not like I'd like to. Having a good time is winning golf tournaments and contending, and I will not be happy until I play better golf. It's not been as much fun because I've not been able to enjoy myself. I've spent so much time hitting golf balls, trying to find my golf game out there. I would like to have more fun, by the way.

HUBERT GREEN: I hit driver whenever they let me hit driver. If they give me a chance to tee it up with a driver, I'll hit it. I don't believe in laying up. I'm not a real long hitter. I have to attack the holes that other guys are hitting irons off the tee on. Because on the longer holes, they're hitting a shorter putt than I am. The only way I can play is to hit a 9-iron when they're hitting a 7-iron. When they're hitting a 7-iron, I'm probably hitting a 5- or 4-iron on the longer holes. So I have to attack the shorter holes to keep in position.

HUBERT GREEN: The weather was fine. I can't figure out the wind, which direction it's coming from. You know, sometimes it's downwind on No. 1, then it's right-to-left downwind. No. 2 -- as a matter of fact, No. 3 was into our face off the tee. I just couldn't believe that. It's supposed to be helping on 3 where the wind was starting out at No. 1. It was confusing. 15, I drove it in the bunker off the tee because I thought I was left-to-right downwind. It was right-to-left. It wasn't a perfect tee shot, but I thought it would slide around there. It didn't do that. My third shot on 18, I thought I hit it perfect right at the flag. There's a big American flag on top of the clubhouse you can't see all the time. When my ball got to its apex in flight, it went right. Looked over at the flag, and the flag was blowing left-to-right. It was supposed to be blowing into me. It was one of those things, the Man upstairs was teasing me a little bit.

HUBERT GREEN: They're not -- the speed is not because of the Stimpmeter speed. It's because of the slope. That's why -- it's like Southern Hills or Augusta, there's a lot of slope. They're uphill slow; downhill is light and fast; and sidehill is a lot of break. You know, I've heard some players complain about how it's not a very good golf course, and I laugh at them and say, My gosh, Augusta is the same way. Augusta you have to play 8- and 10-foot breaks on some putts sometimes, and Augusta is supposed to be a very great golf course. This is a very fair test. It's an excellent test. I wish I was playing a little better golf where I could have more fun playing it.

HUBERT GREEN: The slope and the greens make the golf course the difficulty factor that it has. The fairways are very fair. The rough is not totally unplayable. It's a very, very good golf course. But the greens make you think. Some guys just don't have enough control of their club head, they want the ball to get on the green 20 feet from the hole, and they think they've hit a good shot. On this golf course, 20 feet past the pin is not a good shot on a lot of holes; it's questionable. So, that means you have to think a little bit. Excuse me. That's why Jack's the greatest player of all time. He's got a brain and uses it.

HUBERT GREEN: Thank you.