U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 22, 2005

Mike Rice

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome our 2005 USGA Senior Amateur Tour champion, Mike Rice from Houston, Texas.

How about reacting to that statement, 2005 USGA Senior Amateur Tour Champion?

MIKE RICE: It's a great feeling to win a tournament like this. It's just phenomenal. It's just very difficult to explain your feelings after you tried for six times, never done real well. Always done okay, but not great. All of a sudden you get the one opportunity, and you hurt yourself, but you end up being able to do it anyhow. It's just a great experience.

THE MODERATOR: Is it the pinnacle of your golf experience?

MIKE RICE: Absolutely, without question.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How big was No. 15, to have that hole when you were in serious trouble?

MIKE RICE: I was surprised. I had no shot toward the flag. I'm trying just to get it on the green, 2 putt. Hit it so hard, it goes in the hazard. Didn't go in the water, thank goodness. But then I made a real good putt.

It may not have been the big turning point, but I think that was one of them. He was on the green in 2, looking at making 4. But I putted well on the backside. I didn't putt well on the front side. I don't know why, the greens seemed to be slower in the morning earlier than they were later on. Sun came up, dried them out a little bit.

But I think that was a big thing.

Q. In terms of your shoulder, how much distance did you possibly lose with the way you were able to turn? What percent of your normal swing were you probably putting on the ball?

MIKE RICE: I was probably swinging about 75% of my normal swing. Like No. 1 today, hit a 3 wood. I might have carried it 200 yards when I hit it off of No. 1 today. Normally, a 3 wood, if I hit it halfway solid, I fly about 240. I never could get the club back far enough. I sure couldn't go forward far enough (laughter).

Although, I mean, I hit some shots. I just took more club off almost every shot I hit today. That in itself, when I do that, I have a tendency to hit hooks. I hit a lot of hooks today. It all worked out.

Q. Give us the specifics of what kind of treatment you got last night.

MIKE RICE: Well, after we finished the round yesterday, I put some ice on it. Put a call to Dr. John Norman, who was in surgery.

Q. What was that name?

MIKE RICE: John Norman. I was staying at the Wingate. John came over to the Wingate and said, Andy Bergeron told him I wanted a cortisone shot. He said, "I won't give you a shot; won't do any good. Take three or four days for it to do anything." He said, "I will give you some steroids." He was kind enough to come by the hotel, call the pharmacy, prescribe the steroids for me. Becky and I went down last night, picked them up, went to dinner.

That's above and beyond the call of duty, as far as I'm concerned. It's a great experience to have things like that. I just very much appreciate things that the people here did. I mean, when I walked in the locker room last night, Andy said, "How is your shoulder?" I said, "It's not too good." He said, "Well, let's get a doctor." So that's what happened, so. He said a cortisone shot will do no good, not quick enough.

Q. How does the shoulder feel right now?

MIKE RICE: It's hurting, but it feels great (laughter). I guess it's a good hurt.

Q. The way this golfcourse played all week, seems like the greens were mystifying to almost everybody in the field. Putting is probably what, in effect, won the championship for you today. Do you agree with that?

MIKE RICE: Yeah. The greens were very difficult. It's hard to tell when it's uphill, downhill. You get some putts that look like they're uphill, they're downhill. Look like they're downhill, they're uphill. Like No. 8, for example, the par 3 down the hill, I mean, I knew I was going uphill, but I couldn't hit it hard enough because it looks like it's going downhill.

In fact, Mark on No. 9, he made the same comment. He said, "It's very difficult to tell." I guess it's because the greens are sloped in one direction, but the biggest part of the earth is going a different direction. So a putt that looks like it might break left is going to break right or go straight. They offset each other. Very difficult to read.

I read some of them okay (laughter).

Q. How far was the putt on 15?

MIKE RICE: I'm going to guess it was in the 12 feet I guess, 12 or 14 feet, something like that. Didn't feel like it's near as long as that one on 18, though (laughter).

Q. What was going through your mind when you approached that putt to win it?

MIKE RICE: Put it in the hole, this is all over (laughter). You got, what, a two and a half footer? How many two and a half footers have I played in my life or since I started playing golf? I don't know, a lot. You have one that's two and a half feet to win a USGA Senior Amateur. I told my wife earlier, I said, "My hands were going like this." I made the putt. It went in. That's all that counts.

Q. When you got to two down on the front side, the shoulder's hurting, how do you rally yourself?

MIKE RICE: Well, I think I played the backside better this week than I have the front side. You know, you just keep on plugging. You never know what's going to happen, particularly when it comes to match play. We both hit good tee shots on 12. I made a good putt on 11 to start out with. But he made a hell of an up and down on 10. I mean, that ball, it was unbelievable. It goes up like this.

Then he hits a good tee shot well, I made par, 15 footer for par on 11. He hit a good tee shot, I hit a good tee shot. He chips up, didn't hit the green. I was fortunate enough to hit it on the green, six feet right behind the hole. Andy Bergeron looked at me, said, "I notice you didn't hit that putt too far." I said, "It wasn't going very far."

You just got to hang in there. I mean, that's basically what it was. I mean, you never know what's going to happen. I'd never guessed he'd hit it in the water on 14. Probably hadn't hit it in the water all week there. Then all of a sudden, hits a little thin, whatever, you end up getting even with him.

Q. I need to know the irons you hit on the last five holes, starting right there at 14.

MIKE RICE: I hit a pitching wedge to 14.

15, I hit a 6 iron. I tried to hit a 6 iron. Didn't hit it very good. Big old rope a dope on it.

Hit a gap wedge to 16.

I hit a 7 iron to 17 and a 7 iron to 18.

Q. Your wife said you hurt pretty badly last night. Did you even consider not playing today? Was that even a consideration for you?

MIKE RICE: No, no. I started when I was about 65. I tried to qualify I guess 10 times. I made it six. You know, you work so hard to get the opportunity. Yeah, he may have beat my brains out today, but he was going to have to do it. I wasn't just going to say, "I'm not going to play." I was going to go give it a go I had to. I'm supposed to go next week to Charleston to play, but I'm probably not going to go. I'm going to take off about two or three weeks, I think, see if I can get my shoulder well.

Q. Did you get any sleep?

MIKE RICE: Oh, yeah, I slept a little bit. I think I woke up about 2:15 this morning. That's not unusual. When you get old, you wake up early (laughter). But this has been a great experience, it really has. It's thrilling. I don't know if Texas has ever had a Senior Amateur Tour champion. I don't know. I don't know who it was, if there was. We've got a lot of great senior players. I don't know.

Q. Tuck Weller (phonetic).

MIKE RICE: He's Ohio, something up there. Blue said he was the medalist twice, got beat in the finals twice by Gordon Brewer. Like I say, I don't know. They have one now.

Q. I need to know the names of the insurance companies you worked for.

MIKE RICE: I worked for Alexander & Alexander, insurance brokerage firm out of New York, about 20 years, 22 years, something like that. We were bought out I guess it was 1996 by a firm out of Chicago by the name of Aon. This is an insurance brokerage firm. I retired in 1998.

Q. What is your guesstimate on how many golf tournaments you played since you retired?

MIKE RICE: Seven years, 250. About 30 a year probably. Fortunately, my wife lets me go play golf. I left home Labor Day, went to Pennsylvania, played the Totteridge, four ball tournament there. Then I went to Sunny (indiscernible), played an individual tournament there, then came up here. I've been gone, what, two, two and a half weeks now. But it's been well worth it.

Q. Did you ever enter the United States Amateur or the Mid Amateur?

MIKE RICE: No. Unfortunately back then I was working. I didn't take up golf until, let's see, I was probably 24, 25, something like that. Then I played once a month or whatever, middle to late '70s. I never felt that I was a good enough player. I wasn't a good enough player to compete with the guys out there, college players, all that.

Q. You've been gone two and a half weeks. Hurricane Rita is bearing down on your home.

MIKE RICE: That's correct.

Q. Any thoughts on that? Thoughts of getting home?

MIKE RICE: Well, I don't know. We're leaving here today, going to Atlanta. Becky's cousin has been kind of nice, said we could go down and spend a few days with her. When the hurricane goes through, I hope it goes far enough that it doesn't do a whole lot of damage. If it goes through Saturday, we might leave I'm just taking a guess maybe Sunday or Monday to go back home to see what's taken place.

You never know what's going to happen in those things. You get one tree in your backyard, the next thing you know it's on your house, then you got a hell of a mess. We only have one tree big enough now to do any damage. Of course, that's probably the only one that goes.

Our daughter went over, I assume last night, and Becky had a bunch of hanging baskets, plants out on the patio in the back. Put all of them in the garage so there wouldn't be any flying missiles going around there when the wind starts.

Fortunately, we live about 70 miles probably from the gulf. It will slow down a little bit before it gets there, but probably not a whole lot, as big as this one seems to be. Unfortunately, if it goes into the southwest of Houston, we're going to be on the bad side of it. If it get they were talking about tidal surge of 12, 20 feet, something like that, put two feet of water in downtown Houston, that's 50 miles. If it's that bad, there will be a bunch of damage I'm sure. I can always build another house, I guess, if I have to, or fix that one up. That would be sad. Not a thing I can do about it. If I was there, all I could do is sit there.

70 miles, again, you never know what can happen. We went through Alicia in '82 or '83. It rained, the wind blew, it rained, it rained, it rained, but we sustained no damage whatsoever. Not a category five, so...

THE MODERATOR: Mike, terrific play this week. Thank you for your cooperation all week.

MIKE RICE: Thank you. I appreciate it.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on winning the national championship.

MIKE RICE: Thank you.

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