FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 16, 2000

Raymond Floyd

RAYMOND FLOYD: It has been a while. It's great fun. I think you can look back for a few weeks and see how much better I've been playing, and the results are getting much better. It's been coming. I feel good about playing golf. I'm hitting the ball much better. I went through about a four-year cycle where I never knew where the ball was going. Just very frustrating when you can't make the swing that you would like to make, and that happened for about four years, and trying to play a little bit with an injury, and because of that, my swing changed drastically. But now, I feel good. I'm healthy. When I go to the practice tee, I can accomplish something. At this age, you know, it's hard to think about after 38 years to go out and practice and work to do what I've been doing so long. And certainly, I don't work at it like I used to when I was in my prime on the other tour. But no matter, I love being inside the ropes. I love the competition. And if you love the competition, you want to play well. Rick Smith helped me, started helping me in Florida, and I started seeing good results right way. But it's hard to -- I had my swing right up over my head with a lift, and to get my old golf swing back where I rotated it around my body was a difficult thing, and to go out and put it in competition. But here the last month, I think the U.S. Senior Open I had four rounds under par and played a little bit better each and every day. I felt like if I could improve fairways hit and greens in regulation; throughout my career, I've had a fabulous short game. I've always been a good putter, and I tend to putt better -- or I tend to putt well, let's say that, in pressure, or under pressure. I think I focus better. So I felt like if I could get the ball in the fairway, which would allow me to hit more greens, that I could come back and win again, because it was getting fun to come to the golf course, and that's what it's about, when you can go out. And like -- like Tuesday, I came out early. I teed off about 8:15 and played 18 holes of golf, and it was fun. I used to loathe coming into the golf course for practice rounds or for Pro-Ams or anything. But now, I'm very excited about being able to play golf again. And I don't think you forget how to win. It's there, but you've got to have the tools to win with. You can't -- or I can't, anyway, fool myself into thinking that I'm playing well when I'm not. But I guess I've answered a very long question. And not answered it, Phil. But it's great to be back here and break the ice with another major championship; it is very, very special, and believe it or not, it's a lot of fun. I think some of the guys asked me on the green out there about how do you -- what's the pressure or the feeling or the intensity to stand over a 20- or 25-foot putt with the thought of winning the golf tournament. And actually, it's fun. I think all of us who have played the game will tell you that to have that opportunity is what it's all about, to give yourself a chance is what you're trying to do. You're not going to capitalize every time, and you're not going to capitalize probably 50 percent of the time, but the more opportunities you have, you will soon -- sooner later, you will capitalize. And it was fun walking up there to the 18th green and hearing the applause, and knowing that I needed the putt, because first, I thought Larry would make his. Larry just made a heck of an eagle at 17, and he played incredible golf. If he'd have made any putts, he would have lapped the field today. So I really thought Larry would make it. And I didn't know Dana had hit the ball in the hazard. So I'm expecting I'm going to have to do that to even have a chance with Larry, regardless of what Dana did. So those were the thoughts that were going through my mind. But to stand up there and get over that putt and feel like you can make it, and to do it, is something, again, that's very, very special. And as I said, too, earlier, I practiced that putt on Tuesday for about five minutes, and that pin is always pretty much right in that same location. And I putted a lot of balls on that left side over there, and when you read it, you read it straight, and you can see, and I imagine if you ask Dana, he missed his putt well to the right, but when you read that putt from either side of that hole, it looks straight. And I putted there for five minutes down that same line from different lengths, and it kept going right every time. So I got over the putt and I look up through there and it looked straight, and I said, "But you practiced this thing Tuesday and you know it goes right." I played it outside the hole and hit it pretty firm, and it went right in the middle. So I'm thrilled to be back in the winner's circle. I'm thrilled to win another major championship. And as I said earlier, it's fun to go to the golf course again. Other than that, I don't have anything to say. (Laughter.)

RAYMOND FLOYD: This is the SENIOR TOUR. You might have to help me through this. 2nd hole, I hit a good drive off the tee and hit a little 8-iron about probably eight feet and made that. The 3rd hole, I hit a real good drive and I hit a 3-iron in the left bunker, pin-high, and exploded that out about, probably, eight feet and made that. I missed the first green in the very short fringe. I was probably 20 feet, no more, from the hole, but I was just -- no, in the clip; and I missed the 10th green. I hit a wedge right across the flag. And other than that, I didn't miss a green. So those were the only -- I don't think I missed another green. 12, I hit an 8-iron in there. I hit it about, oh, again maybe six or eight feet. 13, I put it on the green in 2 with a driver and a 5-wood and 2-putted from about 35 or 40 feet. I guess 15 is the hole that kind of let me down. I hit such a marvelous shot. That's such a hard hole with the wind blowing so hard. I put a 4-iron in there about 10 feet short of the hole, and it looked like a funnel up through there. All I had to do was get it started on left side of the hole and I pulled it. There was a situation you know you can't -- you've got to birdie three of the last four. And then I come back at 16 and hit a 5-wood off the tee, and then I hit a 9-iron in there about probably eight or ten feet and made that. And then 17 is the real bad shot that I hit all day. I blocked a 3-wood. With that wind, if I turn a 3-wood over, I can hit it into the left water. I wanted to hit it down there long, and try to put it maybe up into the back bunker. That's an ideal place. It's hard for me to keep that ball on that green, but I kind of held onto it and blocked it and put it under the lip of the bunker; couldn't get out too far. And I hit a real good third shot, though. I hit a 7-iron, and if it had been a yard left, my ball would have fed down by the hole, but I hit it about three feet to the right. But I can't take a chance with the water in there, and hit a pretty good putt there. Then I hit 3-wood at 18 and hit it through the fairway, down, not into the hazard, but on the downside going toward the hazard. I couldn't believe that -- that's 307 yards to there, by the way. But the ball was sitting up, and I took a wedge and I was 143, but I felt like with the lie below me and the wind blowing, if I through up a wedge on the green, it had to release. I hit a real good shot there, and I guess the putt must have been 20, 22, something in that range.

RAYMOND FLOYD: It's not even in the same ballpark. No, the other tour is what it's all about, winning majors. This is nice, and it's a mug, if you would, or life after, but it's not like winning a major on the other tour.

RAYMOND FLOYD: God willing, I'll be here.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I had no idea what Dana had done at all. As players, actually we know less about what's going on around us than any people on the golf course. We know what the threesome is doing, but outside of that, we never know. Every now and then, a television person will -- a cameraman or helper or sound person you might hear them say something about he just made birdie or somebody just bogeyed, but really, we don't know much about what's going on; and nor do you want to. You've got to kind of try to stay focused on what you're doing. And what if the information is not so and you change the way you play or start thinking about it? Then you can get in a little bit of trouble, too. We really don't know. I had no idea when I got in the scoring tent after I had signed my card, someone, I don't even know who it was, said that Dana was in the hazard off the tee, and that was the first I had heard.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Did he go through or left?

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, that's not an easy hole. As you know, that line down through there is very tight. If you pull it at all, you can go in the left side, and he's long, as well. Like I did, if you go a little bit right of the tree, you're behind it. So it's a difficult driving hole. But it was downwind, which makes it much easier.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I felt for him in one respect, but I wasn't kidding him when we walked down the 12th path over there. I said, "Well, it's probably the best thing you've ever done. Now you can't use it; you'll probably make a few." Because he had played some incredible golf. He had missed a bunch of putts. The 1st hole, he started right out he missed it from about six feet. He tapped it in at the 2nd. He missed an eagle from about eight feet at the 3r4d. He made a 15-footer at the 4th. But he missed -- he missed a bunch of putts. And he made a couple; he made that nice eagle. But I think the thing that killed him was from right off the fringe at 15. He would have used the putter, and I don't think he'd have fired it through quite as hard as he did with that 3-iron, and he missed it there and he made bogey.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Yeah, I thought it would be 65. I thought 16-under might have a chance. And the reason I felt that -- there's a reason that I felt that. It is so difficult to play with a lead. The hardest thing you can do is to have a three- or four-shot lead anywhere, because the first thing you realize is, "Well, I just don't want to make any dumb mistakes." So you get out there, and you start putting the ball in the fairway and you put it on the green. You're playing a little safe and you kind of get in that flow, and then, boom, you look up on the board and somebody is 8-under through 10 or 12 holes, and now you've got a flow or a feel for the day going, and it's very difficult to change gears. You've almost got a psyche that "if I shoot par, they have got to shoot whatever." And I've been there, and it's very difficult to play from the lead. And that's why I felt like if I could shoot 65, I may have a chance. To be honest with you, I thought Dana would shoot under par. I knew Larry Nelson was going to shoot under par. I knew Hale Irwin was going to shoot under par. They do it week-in, week-out, why would you not think they would do it today? I thought Gil Morgan would have a low round. So I knew that I could not go out there and shoot any 68 or 69 or 67 and have any kind of chance. And to be honest, I didn't think I would have a chance with 66. But as it happened, I'm thrilled. It was windy. It was windy all day. So that kept the scoring up, I think, as a whole.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I've had a little back problem since 1980, and it goes on and off. But, I don't know, around '96, here -- not here, but I guess it was the year 1996, maybe even late 1995, I started having trouble again, and you don't know. It's in my SI joint; that's what they call it. Actually, I think it was from too much exercise. I had a trainer that was hired, and he would work with me daily, and I think what happened, I was doing stuff that was -- that my body couldn't take. And I caddied for my son in the U.S. Amateur and pinched a nerve in my neck and had to abstain from any physical work out or cardiovascular or anything for about a month. And it was incredible how at the end of that month, my back didn't bother me. And, of course, I went right back to exercising in the same program. Of course, my back started hurting again, but then I was -- I figured this thing out and said, "Well, I can't go at it quite as hard." So I still have times when it bothers me. I get treated. I have to ice it, but I really feel good, basically. I don't think there's anybody about to be 58 that's totally pain-free. But that's why I take all this Advil.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I've had success on the other tour, fortunately. And traveling and doing this for 38 years is a very difficult thing. And I think I said earlier, I love being inside the ropes, but I am not going to do the things that makes it necessary for me to be at this level, because I'm not going to get up and practice, and I'm not going to go to bed practicing. I've got a lot of other things in my life that are important to me. I've got a pretty large group that's all golf-related, but I have a lot of businesses involved with golf, golf course design, merchandising, there's a ton of things. I've got a lot of employees, and I really I love my golf course design. That's my passion today. If I could come out between the ropes and compete, that would be great, but you all know and I know that it's not realistic to do that and to be a good player. So I'm trying to balance, if you would, and knowing that I like to compete, I know that I have to practice some. But it's a very difficult thing to juggle. I think anybody that's had success on the other tour before they came here will tell you that it's the hardest thing in the world to do. And my hat is off to Hale for the way he's played, because he's continued at the highest of levels, and it's just something that I could not make myself do, nor could I, either with my back.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Yeah, because when I started not hurting, I realized that hey, I can get my swing back down to where I would like to get it, and if I can get my swing back, I should be able to hit the ball better, which will give me an opportunity again.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I haven't had a lot of time to reflect on it, obviously, with so much happening immediately thereafter winning. But I think when I have time to sit here and think about it, I mean it's been four years; so it becomes very, very special. It's a major. To crack the ice back with a major makes it really special. So I think tonight when I sit back, or on the airplane going home, when I think about this win, I think it's going to be tremendously rewarding for me to sit there and think, "Wow." I'm sure there were people that doubted that I could win. I never doubted myself, especially when I started realizing that I could play golf again. When I'm hitting all over the lot, believe me, I knew I couldn't win. I could tell you coming into a golf tournament I have no chance, if you were to ask me. But right now, in the last month or two, I felt like going into golf tournaments, I could win. So the mental thing gets better when the physical thing is working.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Thank goodness, I've been a pretty good putter throughout my career. I go through cycles where I have absolute pits. But probably my cycle, my downside, is probably still a lot better than a lot of others. I have always prided myself on my short game. That's what carries you through difficult times. And the key to putting is to be able to putt when you need to. I mean, there are a lot of guys, and I've played with a lot of people throughout my career that can really putt on Thursday and Friday and get themselves in contention and they don't seem to putt very well. But that's what it's all about, to be able to make those things. And you've all -- every one of you know right here who is the best in the world when they needed it, and that was Jack Nicklaus. I mean, he was the most marvelous putter any of us ever saw when it meant something, and that's what putting is all about.