FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 14, 2002

Jim Thorpe

DAVE SENKO: Jim, thank you for joining us. Maybe talk a little bit about your 65 today to finish.

JIM THORPE: First of all, let me say congratulations to Stewart. I know how hard it is to win. Coming down the stretch, I know he's going to feel the pressure. You know, I mean, it's magnificent to win, his first win to be a major. My hat is off to Stewart.

Unfortunately, the last green went the other way. Played solid.

My round today was very, very solid. I don't think there's nothing I could have done today. You know, I went the Front 9 in 30, knew I had to make birdies and make them fast. The golf course got a little fast for us. The greens putted beautiful, but the golf course played fast and short. I think that's the reason for some of the low scores on Sunday. Normally on a major tournament, we don't shoot 65, 66 on Sunday. Mike McCullough teed off at 12-under today, is that right? He shot under par. It was close to winning. But very, very seldom do you see guys come from the back and shoot 65.

Anyway, my round started today with a 20-foot on No. 1. I guess a routine 2 -putt. Nice drive. Had to go up over the tree for the second shot.

I finally birdied No. 2. I mean, I've had one, two, three balls in the water on No. 2 this week. Actually, I had six balls in the water the first two rounds. But anyway, I birdied 2. Hit it about three feet.

Hit a beautiful 4-wood shot on No. 3, the par 5, 270, about 10 feet, made the putt for eagle.

Hit a very, very nice birdie putt from 12, 15 feet, on 4. Left it short.

Come back and birdied 5 from probably six, seven feet for birdie.

6, they put the pin up close. We laid it up perfect there. They put the pin up very, very close. Based on the first three or four greens we played, the ball was doing a lot of spinning, backing up. We all played it long, looking for the ball to back up. Of course, it went forward. I 2-putted that from probably 25 feet.

Birdied 7 from probably eight feet.

Birdied 8 from probably six, seven feet.

Made a very, very nice up and down on 9. I missed a couple of fairways. That was one of them that I missed. Got a very bad lie. Made about a 12-, 15-foot putt there for par. That was very nice.

10, I hit a nice drive, sand wedge, from about 90 yards. You know, there again, in the past, the 10th green has been always very, very firm. When they put the pin up front, you couldn't get any closer. The flag today, we tried to drop it on, and everything was backing up.

First I felt the greens was a little bit inconsistent as far as whether they were going to receive the ball or let it go. Anyway, routine 2-putt from 20 feet.

11, it wasn't a bad drive, caught a bad lie in the sand trap. Couldn't get it to the green. Laid it up in the bunker, of course, and blasted it probably 20 feet, made that putt for par. That was a very, very good save there.

I thought when I birdied 12, the par 3, I really thought I had a chance to win the golf tournament then. Hit a beautiful 7-iron shot, turned it back a little bit. Maybe a 12 -, 15-foot putt back down the hill. That was very, very nice there.

13, the par 5, the way the hole is banked, we normally drive it on the right side, let it bank back, run back on the fairway. I just carried the ball much too far. One of those drives, carried it about 300 yards. I carried it over the fairway that makes it bounce left. The lie wasn't too bad, just above my feet. I played a cute little 4-iron shot. 2-putted that from probably 18, 20 feet.

2-putt on 14 from 25 or 30 feet. 14 is a very tough hole today with the pin up front, left. I think everybody was long. If anybody was short, they was in the hazard.

15, the par 3, hit a hell of a shot. This thing landed about two, three feet left of the flag, about 10 feet short of the flag. There again, just released, went about a foot off the green. That was probably one of the best putts we hit this week. I felt that putt was in the hole when it left. It was just breaking back, slowly, slowly breaking back, going dead center, hung on the edge, we missed it.

Probably best wedge shot I hit all week was on 16. Hit a big drive there. We had 110 into the flag, I guess. So I cut a pitching wedge to hold it. For some reason, decided to fly 120 yards. The wind might have shifted. I knew it wasn't tight or anything of that nature. I've been there too many times to not have control of the wedges. I hit an excellent putt there.

17, hit a big drive. Got indecision there. I think we made the right choice. Laid it up. I just couldn't execute the wedge today. A little bit cross the water, had to drop it perfect. Just one of them shots, kind of wish you could hit it over. Anyway, made a nice 2-putt there from the back edge of the green.

18, I hit a decent drive down the right side. It kicked right and stayed up in the short curve of the rough. Thought I played a beautiful second shot on 18. Had to play it under the tree, around the bunker, with a beautiful cut. It was a good-looking shot. You know, put it in the bunker, got it up and down.

Other than that, I won't blame nothing on today's round or yesterday's round, but I think the first two rounds could have been much better, especially the first round. I had six balls in the water. We had six penalty shots. We ended up shooting 74. That was pretty solid. That was a pretty good effort.

I didn't putt the ball well the second round to shoot 69. Yesterday I putted a little better, but I left some on the golf course. Today I putted extremely well.

I'm very pleased. Of course, you want to win. But sometimes you just can't get there.

DAVE SENKO: Questions.

Q. Were you watching the score board at all? Were you aware of exactly where you were at?

JIM THORPE: Oh, yeah. I knew McCullough made a bogey. McCullough went to 14, you knew he made a bogey. You can tell when they go, "Oooh." You know something is happening back there.

I didn't realize Stewart was up there. I just never seen his name on the board till probably the 13th or 14th hole. That's the first time I noticed his name on the board. It was either McCullough, Green, myself. All at once I looked at the score board, "Damn, he's making a ton of birdies." He birdied 11, 12 and 13, I believe.

So standing on the 15th tee, I knew then, you know, that Stewart was a very, very sturdy player, kind of lay it up nicely, draws the ball a little bit. I knew that at that point.

I wasn't worried too much about McCullough or Green, they're both excellent players, but Stewart just kind of stood out from them for some reason. I don't know why when I looked at the score board that happened. I knew he would be tough to beat because he works the ball right to left. He's got enough room on the right side where he can maneuver the ball.

Like 14, we drop the ball 30 yards up on the right in the rough, we knew it was going to come back on the fairway. It's a beautiful hole. Tough golf hole. It just give us a little bit too much leeway. Make you stand on the tee and drop it into the fairway.

After all, this is a major. So it's okay to narrow the fairs down to 25 yards or 28 yards. You know, make us play. I don't think no major championship should be one in double tickets. I mean, I won't say nothing negative about the golf tournament or the golf course because they want Ford to continue doing what they're doing. I just wish they would have tightened it up a little bit and made the rough a little bit tougher than what it is.

They come in and do a magnificent job of setting the golf course up. They can only work with what they have. But we had a couple holes where (inaudible). We knew we hit it down the right side or the left side, it's definitely going to take off.

Even Tony said No. 7 was laying up with a 4-iron shot, trying to lay up a hundred yards. The ball land on the fairway, and the ball roll a hundred yards. Hell, I could have hit 2-iron and knocked it on the green from there.

I played with Tom Kite, two or three more players out here. These guys are warriors, you know. I think they know when a golf course is set up a fraction too easy, which I think today the pin placements would have been very, very nice today if the greens wasn't so soft. Maybe it's because of the heat, they had to keep them like that. I don't know the reason.

We kind of look for the major championship to play pretty hard, you know, the greens are bouncy, have to use a lot of creativity versus from Point A to Point B.

I played with Tom Kite yesterday. Some of the tee shots we hit yesterday was just ridiculous. I just don't believe the ball should land and go 50 yards. I'm not complaining because it's the same for everybody. This golf course playing seven thousand yards long. By the time you add in the roll, we can cut 500 yards off the golf course based on the roll.

Q. 17, do I understand correctly you laid up there with your second shot?

JIM THORPE: I laid up. I got chicken. I got chicken.

Actually, what happened, being honest, it took me probably a little more time to hit that shot. I could have hit the shot when we first got there. Nothing could have stopped me from going. I knew I had a chance to miss it right and have a decent chip shot.

I think Tony know the way I play. I'm definitely going to put the (inaudible). I'm going to try to turn it back there in. I really felt like I made the right choice.

I think what happened there on the second shot, I should have hit -- the second shot drew just a little bit. I should have hit it much further right to take the water out of play. I only had a few feet to land the ball in there. No use in getting stupid. Plus the wind shifted. A couple minutes after I hit the ball, no doubt I would have went for the green. I knew I could have got it there.

Q. Major season is over now. What's your reaction to your performance in the majors?

JIM THORPE: I played the majors very, very well. I think I had Top 10s in all the majors. Top 10 at the PGA, maybe Top 10 or 11 at the US Open, fourth for the PGA, 11th US Open, tied for second here, and I won one. That's not all bad. As a matter of fact, it's probably a bit more than I expected.

Probably this week, this golf tournament, as far as my game goes, probably grew up more this week than any week before because actually after the first four or five holes on Thursday, I could have just absolutely quit, packed it up, went home, wouldn't have cared one way or the other.

Same with Tom Kite, Bruce Lietzke. Actually trying to stay up there, actually they want to be an asshole on the golf course. I kind of kept my mouth shut, moved to the side. Next thing I knew I started making decent golf swings, started making birdies.

Actually I said to Tom's caddie yesterday evening or after the second round, If someone had told you Tom and I would be tied up the first two days the way I hit the ball, you wouldn't have believed it, compared to the two ball strikers.

She said no.

That's the way the game goes. I'm very, very pleased, you know, because I could have -- like I said, I could have went home very easily. If they hadn't beat me so bad at the casino, I would have. I'm just teasing you. I actually haven't been down this week at all.

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