U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 6, 1996

Raymond Floyd

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I feel very frustrated. I feel like I played and should have scored a hell of a lot lower than 3-under. I left a lot of scoring on the golf course, as I did the first round. And you just can't do that and win. Dave, of course, right now, the way he is playing and putting, it doesn't probably matter what any of us do at this point. It is obvious that he is playing well and putting well. But you just got to make putts to win golf tournaments, and I haven't done that. But it was a nice way to finish, making one there from about 10 or 12 feet. And, obviously, I hadn't made many of those this week or I'd be a little bit better. But it was fun to make one go in there at the end.

RAYMOND FLOYD: No, it was very difficult. The wind is gusty. It is changing. It is not blowing consistent from one direction. It is gusting around. I had a couple of times today down in the bottom there, the -- the 11th and the 13th, specifically 11, I thought I had holed my shot, and I got caught by a big gust of wind, and I am 35, 40 feet short. And at 13, I drive it down there, and I have got an 8-iron to the green there, and I hit a beautiful high cut coming in with the wind and the wind switches on me, and it comes short of the green. So I'm getting -- I am assuming it is like that for everybody else. It is not only gusting when I am hitting, it seems to be playing more difficult today than even the first rounds, because I thought the first round, the velocity seemed to be constant and from the same direction; didn't seem to gust and switch around as much.

RAYMOND FLOYD: You would expect some low rounds early out of the players that are kind of out of it and free wheeling, and it wasn't too windy there.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I think I hit 14 greens, so didn't have too many saves. Let's see, I birdied 6. I hit a driver and 3-iron about that far through the green -

(INDICATING TWO-AND-A-HALF INCHES) - 2-putted for birdie. I thought I made the eagle putt. I missed the 5th and the 6th greens. At 5, I missed the green about 6 or 7 inches, and just got robbed from chipping it in from about 20 feet. And at -- let's see, no, 4, I did that. Excuse me. , 4, I missed the green. Then at 5 I hit it on the green and pulled back off in the fringe and hit a bad chip there, and made a putt from about six or seven feet for a save. 10, I missed the green but, again, I putted. I just was in the short fringe through the hole. 12, I made birdie. I hit a driver and a 9-iron about -- I guess I was 16 or 18 feet there. And then at 13 I hit a 3-wood off the tee and hit an 8-iron second shot that the wind gusted against me instead of being with me, and it came short. It was just a beautiful shot. I left it about three yards short of the green. Then I hit not a good chip there, and left it about, I'd say, eight feet, and made a nice putt there for a birdie. And then I bogeyed 15 after a beautiful 2-iron down there. I had 117 yards, and I just don't know the depth of that hole. I hit a 9-iron and kind of blocked it. I came off of it thinking -- the hole sits so uphill, it is going to play almost a club long, and I was -- I would have been on the green if I hadn't been so far, and didn't hit a bad pitch, but I had a tough lie there and putt it down about ten feet and missed that and made bogey. Then 16, I missed about a seven or eight-footer for birdie. And then at the last I made it. I guess I was ten feet, but didn't make much happen.

RAYMOND FLOYD: No. I had a lot of good opportunities. I missed a nice chance at 9. I missed it from about ten feet. 16, there, I missed it. And, I mean, when -- I am having some 20-foot opportunities, 18 feet, and I didn't make any of those.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, he is known for that when he gets going - we all know that.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I don't know how I can go at it any differently. There are certain ways that certain players play holes and play pin settings and you have to be comfortable. If you go against something that is not you and try to change, you are probably not going to be very successful. So I just hope tomorrow that I can go back and drive the ball like I did today. I drove it long and in the fairway, and that sets up a much easier shot into the green and then I just hope that I can get the shot in the portion of the green that you can be aggressive with the putt. And not too far. You know, we all say we would like to be under the hole, but you get over 12 or 15 feet going up the hills, you have to hit it so hard - you are afraid to hit it so hard - for it to get there. I hope to go and play and try to stay to my game plan and just play good solid golf and if I can get some putts to go in the hole and make a couple, maybe something can happen.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I don't see that that is reality. I mean, looks like he is going to have the three lowest rounds in about three days outside of the first one. Nothing says that he has to come back. He can continue and it is a walk-a-way. That does happen in the game. So if he continues to play, it is already over. A player that plays well, I mean, realistically he can go out there tomorrow and shoot 6 or 7 over and still win the tournament maybe. This is a difficult golf course to score on because the greens are so hard to putt.

RAYMOND FLOYD: If you let me write it in. I haven't shot a score like that in so long, I couldn't go that long, Kaye, I couldn't do that with a pencil. I hadn't made enough birdies in the last three tournaments to get to 62.

RAYMOND FLOYD: That is not a problem. As I said, I was hitting the putts pretty good. It wasn't like I was putting poorly. I just didn't let the -- the ball is not going in the hole. Whether one time it is a little too hard or the next time it is a little too easy, but I have had a lot of putts on line. And it is patience in a tournament like this - well, that is a word we can use in golf, period. And none of us really have it. We talk about it. But we don't have it. (LAUGHTER)

RAYMOND FLOYD: 9-iron.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Yes.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I hit 8-iron second at 13.

RAYMOND FLOYD: A lot downwind on the tee. My second shot, I was 164 to the front and 176 to the hole, downhill, and with the wind, but when I hit it, the wind switched back.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Oh, my goodness, I would hope that I would never have to answer that question because I honestly don't know. From a little boy I always dreamed to be a golf professional, and dreams do come true, so I can't imagine what else I would have done.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I imagine it would have been something in golf. I loved it so much, maybe a club professional or doing something golf in the golf industry.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Thank you.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Thanks.