U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 30, 1995

Graham Marsh

GRAHAM MARSH: Well, basically I played well today, early on and I guess the finish was just a little bit of a hang on. I sort of got 6 under and came up with two downhill lies just in the rough at 15 and 18 and both of those shots just didn't come out the way that I expected them to come out, and I had to struggle to make par. Well, I made a bogey at 15 and struggled with the par at -- well, 17 and 18 although 17 was out of the fairway; overall not a bad day. You have to make a few of those passover putts; particularly on a golf course like this.

GRAHAM MARSH: Birdies were the third, I hit a 5-iron in there about 30 feet from the hole, made that. Bogeyed the next hole with a 5-iron; hit it in the front bunker, came out about eight feet and missed. At the par 5, the 6, I hit a sand wedge about eight feet, I guess, and made it. 12, 7-iron in there, maybe 20 feet from the hole, made that. And 14, I hit it a super-three iron about six inches from the hole. And 15, hit a 9-iron came up short. Chipped it about six feet by and missed.

GRAHAM MARSH: Yeah, I think. Well, certainly you're always motivated if you are out there in a good pairing; there is no doubt about that. But when you get to play with a guy like Stockton who is renowned with his putter, I mean, you get a little bit of a roll on that you -- watching a guy making putts, you are thinking these greens aren't all that bad after all. You start to get a little bit of a roll on from that; gather a little momentum; of course, Jack is such a methodical player, in any case, that you never have any trouble concentrating when you are playing with Jack. So it is one of those things. You certainly do play better, I think, if the other players are playing well. No doubt about that.

GRAHAM MARSH: Yeah, I mean, as I said yesterday, last year was an exciting week for me playing in my first U.S. Senior Open can obviously and having a chance to tie if I could make four at the last was an important occasion particularly when you are out here and coming back to the United States after not having played competitively for something like 17 or 18 years, it was a great thrill to be back. This year, I think, certainly I have the climatized much better to what I have to do and consequently I feel much more comfortable. Obviously you'd like to avenge something when you feel like you had a chance but as I pointed out yesterday even if I make 4 at the last, there was no guarantee that I was going to win. We were still only in the playoff, so I had to make 3 to win. And that would have been a tall order on that 18th hole at Pinehurst. So it is exciting to be back to be playing well again in The Open, Senior Open, and the next two days are there. The interesting thing I think about the leaderboard is -- the named players that won so many Majors are there, so for me, that is a big challenge obviously.

GRAHAM MARSH: Well, it is always nice to be around in a major. It is always nice to be around in any golf tournament. I came pretty close to winning a couple of British Opens, one where I shot a very good last round I had to wait in the clubhouse for 3 and a half hours. That was a different situation, but when there are so many guys grouped like this on a golf course like this, anything can happen, so really, for me, it is -- obviously, it is exciting. I think it is exciting for every player. Doesn't matter what it is. Everybody feels the same way about Majors, but it is a question of really getting in your own sort of cocoon and concentrating on what you are doing because there are so many things that are going on out there. The first couple of days, being there, after playing with Jack, you know, the crowd always pulling for Jack very hard, I mean and so they should be - that is a good Open for me for the weekend.

GRAHAM MARSH: I think the course probably played this morning probably played a little longer than what it did yesterday. I seemed -- a few holes I was hitting a couple of longer clubs; particularly on the front 9. As it started to dry out it played pretty much, the back nine, the same as yesterday. Front 9, just a touch longer which you would expect at 9 o'clock in the morning little dampness around there and greens being watered and all that. As the course started to dry out and the sun got out on that back the ball flew a little further. It almost was equivalent to what we were doing yesterday.

GRAHAM MARSH: If you are out there trying to make a living based on peoples' appreciation you wouldn't probably get all that far. Perhaps, the best way I can answer that is that obviously I think it is every golfers ambition to win a major championship and in hindsight I wish I stayed in the United States and played more golf when I was probably playing my best golf which was you know, late '70s; early '80s, I really do wish I spent more time over here now and the reason for that was because I couldn't get a start in The Majors based on any world record at that stage. And I would have liked to have played more major championships - simple as that. Because that is how the end of the day you are finally rated. So it is only natural that I wouldn't be appreciated here because I haven't played here. I mean, if you are not playing in the country that can it happen. It is very noticeable nowadays that even when I was here in the '70s, the amount of golf publications that were out, I mean, I am sure that there were many of the scores when I was winning overseas would never have been reported in the United States, but nowadays you can pick up any publication that carries the international scores around the world every week. And covers them quite extensively which I think is great for the game being such an international game. That certainly wasn't prevalent when I was playing and winning in the '70s and '80s.

GRAHAM MARSH: No, it doesn't. It really doesn't. As I said, I can't go back and I made that decision and I myself, financially, it was never a poor decision because, you know, because of-- of my record of playing in Japan and I can't ever say that I feel like I have been robbed or feel like I have been unjustly treated. That decision was mine and that is what I have to live with. But I dearly love playing in the United States. Every time I have come here I have enjoyed it. There is no question that you have the best selection of golf courses in the world in this country and it is just a marvelous place to play golf. You have got everything here. The golfing mecca of the world.

GRAHAM MARSH: I still live in the United States. The reason for that is I am playing about 20 to 25 senior tournaments a year. That is what I figure on doing. Rest of the time I will concentrate on my golf course architectural business - seems like everybody else does these days. For me if I play 20 or 25, it is more of a hassle to have a home and I have two children 13, 14 years of age in college in Australia. It is not as if you are starting a career over here. The Senior Tour, it is a quick hit, it is in there for five or six years and that is where all the joy is. I mean, it is obviously going to be a lot harder when you get towards 60 years of age.

GRAHAM MARSH: I don't have a home. Long way around that question, I could have said no from the start.

GRAHAM MARSH: Travel, yeah. I am a bit smarter now that I have got to 50 I used to travel all the way home. Now I get my wife and kids to travel over here that way I don't have to worry about the time change. They come over every school holidays. I sort of base my schedule on when their school holidays are. My wife comes over in between for couple of weeks. It is a good arrangement for me; means that I can stay and play in the summer here.

GRAHAM MARSH: Dave Stockton just played 12 in a row. I mean, I think as you get older, really comes very -- if I take a couple of weeks off it is harder to get back into it. I really think that as you get older, you need to play more regularly to keep your game in shape. Dave said he played 17 weeks in a row last year towards the end of the spell of 70 weeks he said he was playing better than what he was when he started out. That is what happens. We tend to give it away for two, three weeks, it is great, but it just takes too long to get geared up. One week off is nice and I do that occasionally; not very often, but one week is great, but I don't think -- if you want to get yourself geared up and playing well you better go out there and play.