FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 11, 1997

Raymond Floyd

RAYMOND FLOYD: It's nice to do that. I haven't played golf like this in quite some time. My game is getting better and better. I still hit the errant shot from time to time, but I'm so pleased. I've hit a lot of golf balls close to the hole. It's been a while since I've done that, so it's given me opportunities to make birdies. 15 birdies in two rounds, if you start out here and talk about birdies for the week, 15 or 16 birdies is a very nice total. If I can just keep making birdies, when I do make my bad shot, if it's not like it has been where it's really the maximum penalty, I would hope that I could be close around there on the weekend.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Can't pull one out. But, I've made a lot of birdies. It's something that's a part of it. You wouldn't think with a good drive on that hole twice that I could possibly make triple and double, and the pin today was as easy as it could possibly be. I could have stood there and threw it on the green with this old bad arm I got. But, I came off of it. It hit short and went in the water.

RAYMOND FLOYD: No. Yesterday I hit it over the green. The wind switched on me yesterday. My ball had rolled in where someone else had landed, where their ball had pitched. So I had the ball sitting low. Because of that, I had to kind of go down and get it. I was playing a left-to-right wind, just as I hit the ball, the wind switched in right behind me. It hit on the backside of the green - the worst possible scenario, I would hit down on the downslope, went in the bunker and because it hit on down on the downslope, it went through the bunker and out on into the water. If it carries in the bunker, it is in the bunker. If it hits on the green and goes in the trap, it stays in the trap. It just didn't happen. The next shot, I didn't get on the green. I had a pretty difficult place where I had to drop it. Then I had to play the next one, it was against the hazard, against the wall. I took and flicked it back up on the green and 2-putted for 7.

RAYMOND FLOYD: You might have to help me. I haven't made this many birdies since wooden clubs, boys. I birdied --

RAYMOND FLOYD: I missed two very good birdie opportunities at 2 and 3. I missed it from about eight feet at 2. And, I missed it from about the same distance at 3. Then at 4 I made it from about 10 or 12 feet.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Tee was up. I hit 6-iron. 5, I made it from about 20 feet. I hit a driver and a 7-iron. 7, I hit a driver and a 3-wood about, oh, 18 feet behind the hole and 2-putted for birdie. Then 9, I hit a 3-wood and a 7-iron about six feet and made birdie. 10, I missed another close one. I had it at 10 from about eight feet and missed it there. Then 11 I bogeyed. I put my tee shot with a 5-wood into the hazard, dropped out, hit a wedge up and 2-putted for bogey. Then 12, I made it from about six feet for birdie. 13, I made it from about five or six feet for birdie. 15, I made it from about eight or ten feet. 17, I made it from about seven feet.

RAYMOND FLOYD: 17, no. I hit a 3-wood, then I laid up with a 6-iron. Then I hit a sand wedge about seven feet, I guess.

RAYMOND FLOYD: 16, I had a very bad tee shot to the right up on the mound. Had to lay up front left of the green. And then I was in a perfect shot. I hit a terrible little pitch. I pitched it 20 feet short. I was just right down the gun site. It was a very easy shot. I just didn't pull it off.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Hard work. Hard work. There hasn't been too many secrets in my career other than I'm not classic, as you know, being around this game. I'm not one of those guys that has everything that looks good and runs smooth. I've always had to work. Of course, being physically fit allows me to work and get back and swing the way that I'd like to. I played for a while -- trying to play with a bad hip, which eliminated the lower part of my body. You just can't have any consistency trying to play with your arms and shoulders. Now, that I'm healthy, and hard work, I'm there. I still miss that occasional shot. But, to think that I've been maybe a year and a half playing that way is some very positive signs for me.

RAYMOND FLOYD: A?

RAYMOND FLOYD: A club switch. I messed with some different clubs early in the year, but I went back to my old ones. I didn't stay with the other clubs very long. I think with the technology today, when you know what you're doing and what your specifications are, it's just a matter of look because shafts and frequency, matching, you can basically take a set of golf clubs that you like and you can absolutely duplicate them to the N-th. It shouldn't be a problem really changing golf equipment, unless you go to something radical.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I hadn't been playing well. I was hurt a little bit.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I'm never one not to try technology. If I were still using wooden driver, the-old-not-cavity-backs, I don't think I'd be as competitive as I am. When something comes along, I'm not afraid to try it. I tried it. To be honest with you, because it was upper body and I was not swinging it is way I would, the clubs that I tried were easier to hit. I hit them further. So, it was a little bit of a security with the way I was playing. It did not mask my problem. That's what I found. So I needed to get back and go back with my old stuff.

RAYMOND FLOYD: No. I'm great. Physically, I'm very, very good.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Thank you. Appreciate it.