U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 1994

Raymond Floyd

RAYMOND FLOYD: It was fabulous. The golf course is in marvelous condition. It is set up the way I had hoped that it would be set up. It is out there. They didn't trick it up or do anything to it and it is in a pure form and it is going to make for a great championship. I am excited about it.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I didn't find them to be real soft. I think they were a little bit slow, but I played -- we were 9 holes playing in a mist. I would think as the week progresses they should speed up a little bit. I saw David Eger on, I think, the third green. He said they'd like to get them up to up to 10, but that he didn't know if they could accomplish that if it stayed damp and moist, you know, with the rain.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Most definitely, yes, barring any unforeseen circumstance, certainly. I am looking forward to it.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Basically, I am committed to the Senior Tour. Certainly I will play The Masters. I am going to play at Shinnecock. I don't know if on occasion that I may play another event but, basically, I am a Senior Tour player. I have made that commitment. I would have played in the U.S. Open. I withdrew at the 11th hour, right before the pairings were -- I didn't want to affect the draw, but I had been putting very badly for about a month and a half and I knew Oakmont. Can you imagine going to Oakmont putting badly? I didn't want to embarrass myself. And I didn't putt well at Nashville, the tournament I played on the Senior Tour. So I don't think I would have putted well there and I would have had a nightmare and that was my reason for not playing the U.S. Open this year. Fortunately my putting woes have come around. I have been practicing a lot, and I have been working, and I putted poorly the first two rounds at the TPC but the last two rounds I putted very well. So I am very pleased now that my putting is coming around.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I don't think anybody can take it out of their top 5, any of the golf courses in the world. I think that says it all. I mean, you can go from that statement and talk about it. Everything that you say is positive it is just a marvelous, traditional golf course. It is a true master piece. It is in its natural state. The greens allow all kinds of shots from around them. If you miss, it takes the skill level -- it is not one dimension. The same thing can be said of the golf course. You must think, it is not just a hit it and go get it. You must think your way around. You will play every shot that you know before a four round tournament such as this is completed. And to me, that is the game of golf. We play so many golf courses today where it is truly one dimension. There is one shot that you play if you miss a green. There is -- you hit a driver off of a tee. There is a lot of electives here. You can drive off of every hole out here. But you can also hit 3-wood and you can play 1-iron. It allows you to pick and choose what suits you, or what you feel best suits you. And it is just truly a great golf course. And to have a U.S. Senior Open on it is something special and '99 to have a regular U.S. Open on it is going to be real special. I think the quality of the golf course stands when you go back to the scene. I remember the Tour Championship here two years ago, it was played in the fall. We had four absolutely perfect days, very mild winds; very mild; nothing to affect shot making. We had fabulous temperatures, high '70s, low '80s, and you had, if I am not mistaken, had five people broke par.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I am sorry, the Tour Championship two years ago. That is the quality of the golf course. You had the best 32 players of the year. The guys that were playing the best were here. That is golf course quality right there.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I cannot answer that. I am the worst about recalling tournaments and rounds. I can get you one of those little media guides, maybe we can find out, but I really couldn't say what my best round is.

RAYMOND FLOYD: I think I would have gone had my son qualified, just the thing of a father to play with my son in a U.S. Open. But believe me, I would not have gone knowing that I was going to be competitive or had a chance to win the golf tournament because my putting would not allow that.

RAYMOND FLOYD: No. I just been working on my putting. I got to putting badly and I think there is an apprehension and I started moving. I started lifting my head up before I was contacting the ball and it is just something that you have to practice and work through and now I feel pretty steady. The last two rounds last week I moved on one putt and I'd say if I can move on one putt every 36 holes I will be okay.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, the greens again are-- to me, they are genius from the architectural standpoint because of the subtleness. They are all slightly raised. But not necessarily raised from the contour of the natural contour of the ground. They were raised by slight drag work and bunkering to do slight mounding and natural drainage which created an illusion of being elevated greens, but in fact most of them-- it is pretty level with the overall terrain. But you can imagine when this golf course was built you had hand labor and horse and drag. So the bunkers were carved to use earth to form the green and the slight swells in front were taking also carving of earth to kind of form green subtleties. So they appear to be somewhat elevated but in most cases they aren't. They have movement. But it is all natural. The movement is for drainage. These greens weren't built to drain down. They were built to run off. That affords you so many opportunities to play golf shots. The skills that you develop as a professional are developed as a player throughout your life you can appreciate those on a golf course like this because you can literally use all of them here. It is not a 60 degree sand wedge if you miss a green. It is not a pitch-and-run if you miss a green. It is not a putt from off the green. It is not a bump-it into the wall and let it kick up. It is all of those. You can use any of those shots that you wish, that you elect. Whatever you think is the best shot for you in a certain situation, you can use. It is there. It is not saying, I am in the high rough; I am right off the green, give me my 60 degree wedge every time you miss a green. It is a fabulous golf course from that respect. Greens, you know, that truly in my mind -- I guess when you put it in perspective, that really makes the golf course. But that is tradition. That is-- traditional architecture was that way. You have sand traps too. You can't forget that. There is places you get in some bunkers, also some of the front bunkers that are 30 to 50 yards out in front of some of your greens, they were set there for definition and of course, for more earth. They were carved out, out front to add earth up into some of the green areas, but they were all there for definition. If you get in the rough off the tee and try to get a little greedy and putt it in one of those, you are in for some deep problem. So that goes into the thinking part of the golf course and to the mental strategy of it.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Well, I committed when I was about 48 years old to the Senior Tour. I kept playing because the Senior Tour was out there looming and it was getting bigger and bigger. I think, to be quite honest, going back and looking when I was about 45 years old, or 46, I would have probably gravitated more to my golf course architecture and played less and less golf. I think the Senior Tour kept me going. And then when I was 49 I made a commitment, hey, I think I have gone through here kind of like I am just kind of trying to stay competitive for the Senior Tour. I caught myself in that trap and I said, hey, I don't like that. I am not going out with any goals. I am not trying to be competitive and I have set some goals the year I was 49 to see how competitive I could be again. I went back to work. I started practicing. I decided I wanted to see how good I can play against these guys before I turned 50. Well I went out and had a fabulous year. Had it not been for that, I would have just went and turned 50 and been a Lee Trevino and nobody would have ever said a word to me. The pressure has not been for me about coming to the Senior Tour. The pressure has been from the media - about why am I still playing. I am competitive. I get letters from fans everyplace I go, I don't believe why -- I don't understand why you are playing; you can still win on the other tour. I have been 32 years travelling around the world playing golf full-time. That is enough. You know, I want to smell the roses. The Senior Tour is three days. I am not going to play over 20 tournaments. It doesn't matter where I play. I pick up a day a week on this tour playing. It is a lot of fun being with the guys I came in the game with. It really is a lot of fun to be back with guys that you haven't seen for ten or fifteen years. Believe it or not, there are stories in the lockerroom on this tour. The other tour they aren't old enough to have stories yet. They are still talking about high school football games and things like that. You got a lot of good stories over here. It is fun. It is neat. I enjoy it. And basically, my commitment is to this tour. I don't need to be playing golf, to be quite honest, but I love it. I feel that the guys out front that made this tour what it is and committed-- you know committed their time and effort, we can see how successful it has been. Corporate America is absolutely in love with senior golf. Demographics, the people are older and older and older each and every year, we have a tremendous amount of people in this world that are over 50 years old that are big, big Senior Tour fans. We have a tremendous following. And the only way it is going to stay successful is for good players coming in to come support it. And I felt that I could do something to give back to the game. The game has been great for me. Everything that I have done and I have is through golf. I feel that I am -- that by playing the Senior Tour that I am giving something back. I am helping this game. And we have a great number of good players coming in here three or four year span you have got that group of guys that the Watson and Watkins and Kite and Crenshaw and between -- and a bunch of really good players you got Hale coming in here later this year, but there has been quite been a gap between me -- Tom and-- I am talking Americans now. I am not talking foreigners because Aoki and Graham Marsh -- I talking about American players; those are the people that the American public wants to see play or they relate with more and then after Tom and I, there really -- top players of-- a major championship winner, you got Hale coming in and then there is another little gap. So if I don't support it and Weiskopf doesn't support it and Hale doesn't support it, this tour can be going the other way before it got back to that group of guys that is about 46 now. And you know, that is kind of my feeling about it. I just feel strongly that it is something that I can give back to the game. And still enjoy playing golf. I love to play golf. And it has kept me younger. I really believe that. I work harder and I have two teenage boys -- one is starting college and one will be in his second year, it kept me more competitive with them. It has really been neat to be able to -- and plus I am holding a desire because when I play, I want to win. I am not out here just to be playing. So it has kept me more competitive and I think even when I flip back over on the other tour, that I am still pretty competitive over there because of this tour.

RAYMOND FLOYD: They have both beaten me. I start -- I get now where I find excuses not to play with them when I am home. They can both beat me.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Dave certainly in the last three, four weeks has been on fire. Lee has played beautifully all year. I have kind have gone through a period of bad putting but if my putting comes back, I feel that certainly I should be very competitive this week. Tom Weiskopf had a nice tournament last week; the first time he has played in awhile so I would see-- and I played this morning with him, he is hitting the ball beautifully and you know, the Bear is here. Can't never forget him. He had a good couple of rounds at the Open and then last week he played fairly well. I don't see how you could ever leave him out. He seems to rise to the occasion when you say major or put major next to the title. So I couldn't discount him.

RAYMOND FLOYD: Thank you.