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FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 7, 2005

Graham Marsh

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN

THE MODERATOR: Graham, congratulations. 64, great start. Maybe just get us started, talk about your 10 birdies and two bogeys.

GRAHAM MARSH: Yeah, well, it's always nice. 1st was a two foot, two and a half feet 8 iron.

3rd, hit a pitching wedge in, only about two feet. A 4 iron in the next about two foot.

6, a pitching wedge in there about eight feet.

7, 3 putted from the fringe in the front.

8, probably 30 feet, 5 iron.

11, an 8 iron in about six foot.

13, 6 iron up on the back plateau. That was a bomb. That was about 55 feet, I guess.

13 (sic), hit the pin with my second shot, with the 3 wood, about 30 feet past the hole. Hit the pin on the fly, went up 30 feet past the hole, 2 putted.

15, 5 iron into about 15 feet.

17, hit it with eight feet to the right.

18, I hit my second shot back, chipped it up, 2 putted from about 18 feet.

THE MODERATOR: 15, what did you hit?

GRAHAM MARSH: Par 3, 5 iron.

All in all, I made a great start. 10 birdies, a lot of birdies on any golf course for that matter, this one in particular. The golf course is in absolutely superb condition. It was there for the offering this morning. As you all know, you've been here often enough, it's the kind of golf course that is very much orientated towards target golf. When they get the pins where they get them, if you're going in with those shorter clubs, you're forced to fire at the pin. You can't aim away from the pin too often.

If you're on with your short game, which I happened to be earlier on this morning with the wedges and so forth, I was able to get them in close. A lot of those were kick ins. All of a sudden you make a couple of long putts, you're up and sailing.

But it was there. I mean, there would be days where you could shoot a 64 around here and you'd walk off the golf course and say it's the best round of golf you've ever played. Today I wouldn't say that about this round of golf. Nevertheless, it's still a very good round of golf.

Even with the fairways, too, with the extra grass on them this year, we've had them here in the past where they've been really hard and bouncy, where if you drive it on the wrong side of the fairway, you're going to finish in the rough. Today the fairways were softer. If you missed your tee shot a little bit, it looked like it was going to go into the rough, sometimes it would prop up, give you an opportunity to play from the fairway. That hasn't always been the case.

Everything was in the golfer's favor this morning. No wind. Perfect weather. Greens, superb condition. What more can you ask for?

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Had a great day. On 18, you two putted from?

GRAHAM MARSH: About 18 feet.

Q. Course record. Did you have any idea?

GRAHAM MARSH: I had no idea that that was the course record. I wasn't thinking about course records or anything. I mean, my focus was I had a very, very easy shot from the fairway. I drove it in the perfect position. If there was one downside on the day, it was probably that second shot that I hit at 18. I really chunked it, hit behind it. I mean, it was the worst shot I played all day by a long stretch.

Tried to force a 7 iron. I had a choice of hitting a 7 iron hard or hitting a three quarter 6 iron. I elected to hit the 7 iron. Just went at it, got out of my rhythm a little bit, came over the top of it. Put a little dampener on it. Nevertheless, that's okay.

Q. How far out were you?

GRAHAM MARSH: I had about 160 yards to the hole.

Q. You said this wasn't the kind of 64 on this golf course that you call one of your better rounds. When was the last time you recall you had 10 birdies in a round or played this well?

GRAHAM MARSH: There was some time, some stage last year, I don't really keep a track record of those things, but you just know sometimes you evaluate it. I mean, the golf course is so well prepared that if you just play I mean, Fuzzy had a good round going today, double bogeyed the last, missed a couple of putts. He was my partner. We were coasting along. He could have shot a low round today. It was there. But I don't think back on my rounds. I can't remember when I last shot 64. I'm not a statistics man.

THE MODERATOR: July 31st, 1999, at Utah.

GRAHAM MARSH: 64. I mean, you know, you think back you might think back on your great rounds. I have one 64 that I shot in the British Open one year, the last one that Tom Watson won. I was the leader in the clubhouse for three and a half hours. I shot 64 in a 35 , 40 mile an hour gale at the British Open. You remember that. That's the best round of golf I ever played or will ever be likely to play.

But that's the difference. I mean, they're two entirely different 64s, as was the one in Utah. Utah, I again, I think there's five par 5s in Utah, as I recall. Big difference.

Q. Have you been hitting any of your short irons this well all along or did something happen today?

GRAHAM MARSH: I'm usually a pretty good wedge player. To be truthful, I haven't really found my rhythm at any stage this year, largely because I haven't putted well. In the last month, I've fiddled around with my putting, been down talking to Mike Shannon at Sea Island. We came to realize a few things in my putting I wasn't doing. Changed grips. I went to the claw grip just to kind of get a different feel to it. Different grip, different putter, different approach. All of a sudden I started to make a couple of putts.

I mean, you know, there's such a fine line. I don't know whether some people really understand the fine line between shooting 64 and shooting 74. I mean, a couple of good shots, a couple of long putts go in, instead of the long putts being three putts. You haven't played all that much different, but things happen, things work in your favor. I've had a lot of lip outs this year, wrong things happening at the wrong time. Today they went in the right direction. It's nice to see it.

If you stick around long enough, and I've certainly been around long enough, those kinds of things happen.

Q. You said you switched putters?

GRAHAM MARSH: Yes.

Q. What did you switch to?

GRAHAM MARSH: I switched to the (inaudible) putter with the lines on the face. That's been a positive for me.

Q. When did you switch?

GRAHAM MARSH: Well, I fiddled with it earlier on. The putter wasn't right for me. The last two weeks I've had it.

Q. (No microphone.)

GRAHAM MARSH: Well, I've been messing with that now for over a month. Probably since Kansas City is when I last did you fiddle with things. You don't always take them out on the golf course with you. I certainly fiddled with it a little bit. Thought, well, okay, we'll give it a try, see what happens. The actual test is what happens when the bell rings, isn't it?

Q. How much design work now do you have?

GRAHAM MARSH: We're busy. You know, we have work in China, we have work in Australia, work in Europe, looking at other places, too, in the Middle East. We've always got five or six projects going at any one given time, which is about where we want it. That takes up a percentage a reasonable percentage of my time. Fortunately this year, most of the projects have been at the stage where I haven't been forced to fly out of the country and get back to them.

I have no excuses with my golf other than the fact that this has probably been, in the 11 years I've been out here, been my worst start to the year. But, hey, you have to be realistic with your game. 61 years of age, you're not going to be playing, one would expect you're more in the twilight of your career rather than starting your career as a senior player.

But the age has been going up with some of the guys out here that has been winning. We've had them winning at 57, 58, even into their 60's. Bruce Summerhays has been one. You feel particularly in golf there is always that window of opportunity too keep well and keep playing well. Obviously, when a day like today occurs, it's a bonus. It gives you that little extra boost, that little extra kick you want to keep you going.

I've had good experiences around here. I finished second to Hale one year when he had a runaway victory. Shot 14 , 15 under par, finished second by about seven shots. I have good experiences on this golf course. Hopefully we can carry that over for the next three days.

But it's a long way to go. Tremendous talent out there playing on the Champions Tour now. As I said, I'm a realist. We'll just take it from there one step at a time.

Q. Would you hazard a guess after the first round what it might take to win this?

GRAHAM MARSH: No, because this golf course, we saw what happened here a couple years ago. I think there was only one score under 70 there the last day when it blew a little around here. Conditions got hard. We do know on this golf course, conditions can change dramatically, I mean, really dramatically. If this thing gets a little hard, fast, the greens start to dry out, it goes from being a golf course that can be had to a golf course that you're just hanging on for dear life to save par. I wouldn't even like to think what you could shoot around here. But we've seen it bare its teeth in the past. Today was a good one, but we've seen plenty of the other stuff, as well.

I wouldn't be prepared to commit to anything until you get out there on the day. Once the wind gets up around here, a lot of the shots in here, a lot of the holes are what we call in the industry penal holes. You have four water carriers on a lot of holes here. You just miss them, it's not bogey, you can make, you've seen, doubles, triples. Anything is possible out there on any one of about 12 or 14 holes. Once that wind starts getting strong, starts to swirl, you better have your wits about you.

I don't know what's a winning score.

Q. Are you still working with Shane?

GRAHAM MARSH: Yes, still working. The guy that's on my bag. Still coaching, been there, been my coach for the last couple years, young guy from Australia. We've been doing very well with that. If I look back on my record, the last couple of years, you know, finishing in the top 30 at 59, 60, in the top 30 money winners is not a bad performance at that age group. Obviously, that's why I'm a little disappointed at the start of the this year because I thought I'd come out and do very well. That hasn't been the case.

But, hey, I don't even think we're halfway through the year yet, are we?

Q. Just about. 16 events.

GRAHAM MARSH: I better make a move then (laughter).

Q. Good place to start, right?

GRAHAM MARSH: Absolutely. You know, all these majors coming up. I led the first round of the PGA Championship, where did we play, at Laurel Valley. I shot 68 there, finished about 15th or 17th or something like that. You've probably got the record.

THE MODERATOR: 14.

GRAHAM MARSH: Again, that's not a bad performance. Hopefully we can just move it along a little better there. Who knows. Strange game.

Q. Taking next week off?

GRAHAM MARSH: We're all off next week. I don't play any other tournaments. Yes, I'll go over. It's a tough schedule, too, to be fair. We're playing four rounds here this week. We have next week off. You've got to get over there a little early to acclimatize, which I intend to do. Then I'll play the British Seniors, come back, play the US Seniors, and then Minneapolis. Then we have another week break.

That's a tough schedule once you've started to get as long in the tooth as I have. I still love it. It's a great thing to do.

Q. What do you think Greg Norman can do for the Champions Tour? In Australia, how eager are people to see Norman play regularly again?

GRAHAM MARSH: Tough question. Probably what we've seen in the past is some players, when they've turned 50, have embraced the Champions Tour and said, "Boy, this is really what I want to do." Jumped out here when they're 50 years of age, said, "Boy, I want to have some fun out here and really see if I can play for the next five years." We've had some of the great champions do that, like Trevino , Player, Palmer did it. Then we've had Kite and Stadler in recent times. But others have not seen it that way. Johnny Miller, for example, didn't see it that way.

I don't know what Greg is going to do. I have no idea. I'm not in communication with him, so I really don't know what he's going to do. Only he knows that. I think it's always good to have major champion winners come out and play the Champions Tour. That's always special for it. But the guys that have come out and have had majors under their belt, as I said, embraced the Champions Tour, they've been a real positive. Others have come out and said, "I'm only going to play three, four tournaments." If that's the case, it's hard to say that's going to be a huge plus for the tour if he elects to do that.

I think our tour revolves around the fact that we have the most important thing, The Charles Schwab Cup at the end of the year, and players are vying for that. To do that you really have to make a commitment to this tour. It's up to Norman what he does. It's up to him. He may or may not have the fight and desire to want to do it. I don't know. Just don't know.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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