FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 1999

Graham Marsh

GRAHAM MARSH: Well, I didn't play all that badly today. Quite happy with the number of shots I hit. Again, I hit some quality golf shots. Just one or two simple mistakes, and you pay the penalty for it. I was slow getting started, and it seemed like I never got started playing with Aoki and Irwin. Hale started with 3, and Aoki holed his second shot at the second and birdied the next. They are making birdies and eagles all over the place, and I'm making pars and just losing ground like it was going out of fashion. But I started to get it together -- birdied the 8th. Hit a good shot at the 8th, about 8 inches from the hole with a 5-iron. Birdied 10, hit a 6-iron about 10 feet there. And then 12, made a nice birdie from behind the pin, probably 15 feet. And then 13, we had a little bit of fun -- at 12, 7-iron. 13, I hit my second shot up on the top, and it looked like it was just on the edge of the ground, but on top. And as I started to address the ball, the ball rolled and came all the way back down the hill. And there was confusion at the time as to whether or not I had actually grounded my club. There's no question that I started to approach it, but I -- the guy was standing right there. One of the ESPN camera guys was standing right there, and he had the camera right on my feet, and he assured me I never put the club on the ground. But, really, I was grateful for that. And my caddie also said that I had not put the club on the ground. And there were a couple people in the gallery that said the same thing. And we had a long discussion about that, which caused us the delay. And you just don't like to think that these days you would have taken an advantage. But they assured me that I hadn't; so I played it from where it was and 2-putted from down the hill, for a birdie. Made a scrambling par --

GRAHAM MARSH: Which one, the first try or the second one? The second one was a lot further than it should have been. Probably 30 feet. And then serious lip-out the next for a 3. Had a good shot and hit quite a good shot into the par 3 and missed that. And then I made an excellent 4 at the next lay up. I had to chip out from beside a pine tree on to the fairway and made had a 9-iron and made it from about 30 feet. Didn't birdie 17. Had a serious lip-out from about seven or eight feet, and bogeyed the last. Hit it into an awkward lie behind the tree. Had it been a nice lie, it would not have, and I tried to cut a two-wood out there to keep it under the tree. And then just didn't get enough height on it, and 2-putted it for 5. But Hale played awfully well. He was like a death out there with the iron playing today and, his putter was just as deathly, too. So it's hard to see how anyone is going to catch him, but, you know, sometimes strange things happen in golf. You just never know. He shot 64 today. He might go out tomorrow and do the same thing and I might do the same thing. That's what you're looking for. That's what you're hoping for. But the way he's playing, one would think that he could play this golf course blindfolded and end at even par. If he were to do that, obviously, the nearest competitor is going to have to shoot 67 to beat him. He's in formidable form right now.

GRAHAM MARSH: Well, all I can say is that members of the press must have very short memories, because I was on record in Atlanta where they were saying: Oh, Hale and Gil have lost it and so forth. And I told the guys down there, I'm on record now and, record it, because it's a long year, and Gil and Hale are nowhere near finished. The year is only just starting. I mean, you don't put players that have quality to sleep overnight just because they have turned 54 or something. That's ridiculous. Hale is going to win many more tournaments on The SENIOR TOUR. There will always be bit of challenge for the senior TOUR, not the least of which will be when Tom Watson arrives. I don't think there would have been a player that I know on this TOUR that would have thought that Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan were finished. Makes nice press, of course, but in their hearts, nobody would have thought that.

GRAHAM MARSH: That's hard for me, but a knee-jerk reaction would be that it's sad that he had to do that. I think it's -- you know, it's like Jack and Jack and Arnold have had such a huge impact on the game. It's a shame if either of those two players cannot play in a golf tournament. They are always tremendous value for us. I hope that it's not because he tried to come back too quickly. And if it is, I hope he takes the necessary rest and gets himself well, physically so that we can still benefit from, you know, the enormous presence that he has out here on The SENIOR TOUR.

GRAHAM MARSH: That was the first reaction, that I grounded it, and it's very, very hard to judge that. When you're in the heat of the moment and sometimes I will go into a putt and not ground -- not ground the putter. Sometimes I take it in my right hand, just as a sighter, and I put it on the ground behind the ball. But I believe in this case, the putter was in both hands, and it wasn't on the ground. But I wasn't sure. You know, it was just one of those things. You know, you're concentrating so hard on the line. It was a big right-to-left hooker off the side of the slope, and really a pace put. You know, Hale is sitting in there about six-feet from the hole with a pretty good chance for an eagle. I just birdied the hole. I just birdied two of the last three holes; so I'm on a bit of a roll thinking maybe coax this one in, and you're still in there. The next minute, this thing starts to roll and you've got all these other things going through your head. The last thing you're thinking about is: Did I have the club on the ground. But that's the first thing you think about when the ball starts to roll. Then, because you haven't thought about it prior to that, it's hard to focus on that. So that's the first thing -- you know, the first thing I asked. I'm happy to accept any penalty. I would hate to think that I didn't. The guy was there that held the camera, was absolutely dead set from me, and he had that camera on me. And I just had a word to me. He said: Look, I had that camera on it. You backed off, and I was waiting for you to get that putter down, because I wanted to get the shot. He says: You didn't put it on the ground. And you know, that's the kind of comment that you want to hear and those other people were there, nobody suggested that I had. So, I'll accept that, but you know, you would like to think that -- as I said, I'd be the first person in the world to accept it if -- if it was. And if somebody came up with evidence that I had for now, I would disqualify myself. I would have no hesitation about it. That's the way the game should be played.

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