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FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 9, 2005

Gil Morgan

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN

THE MODERATOR: Gil, 11 under going into tomorrow. Get us started. You got off to a little bit of a slow start. You had a par 72 on Thursday, then came back the last two days with 11 under. Just maybe talk about that.

GIL MORGAN: Okay. And that's the way it was. Well, the first day, I didn't play very well. On Thursday, I got in with even par. I think I made four birdies and four bogeys. Was kind of just a mediocre round. I wasn't too pleased with it.

Yesterday I had a pretty decent round. I made actually, I made nine birdies yesterday and was able to throw in three bogeys with that for a 66. Today, obviously I think I only had one bogey. I was able to makes six birdies.

I think the golf course, you know, looks like after the first round I was thinking everybody is shooting pretty low. Seemed like there were a lot of players. I think I was like tied for 48th after the first day, which was kind of well back in the pack.

Obviously, yesterday moved me up a little bit, today even a bit more. Both yesterday and today a little hot and humid out there in the afternoon, but the golf course played pretty well.

Seemed like the wind was a factor as far as being somewhat variable out there. I don't know whether you've heard that today or not, but it seemed like it swirled a lot. Get ready to hit a shot, it wasn't a tremendous amount of wind, but it was enough that it would affect your play from the standpoint of downwind, crosswind or into the wind. Seemed like one hole we played, it was downwind. Turned right back around, it would be downwind again on the next hole or vice versa. It was a situation where the wind was a little tricky at times, but nothing serious I would say.

For me, I was a little bit erratic today, but I was able to make a few putts, hit a few good shots. When I got it fairly close to the hole, I was able to make those. I started kind of erratic the 1st hole. I made a birdie out of the fairway bunker the 1st hole. I made a par out of the fairway bunker the 2nd hole. I was able to sneak around there, I guess. My bogey came at the 4th hole. I hit I miss hit a 5 iron off the tee, put it in the bunker. Blasted out. Wasn't able to convert the putt.

On the backside, I kind of got hot. I birdied 10 and 11 and 13. Had some opportunities. I left it at 14 on 13, I left it dead end for an eagle, even though it was about half inch away. That was really close.

Then the next hole, I left it right in the center and ended up about an inch away. I had a couple of putts there, if they could have gone, would have been close. 18 I had a pretty good putt that kind of slipped by the right edge and stopped about hole high.

You know, nothing I didn't hit too many foul balls that I couldn't play. It was a situation of just kept pecking at it and made enough birdies to kind of keep moving up.

THE MODERATOR: Do you remember shot sequence on No. 10? Birdie on 10.

GIL MORGAN: On 10 I hit driver and then I hit a sand wedge from about 75 yards to about four feet and made that.

11, I hit 3 wood, 8 iron, about four feet again, five feet maybe, and made that. Maybe a little longer. Might have been six feet there. Made that.

On 13, I hit driver, 4 iron, on the green about a little over 20 feet away, 22 feet away or so. Left it. That's the one I left right in the middle.

At 16, I hit 3 wood, gap wedge, to within about four and a half feet and made that.

17, I hit it in the fairway bunker. Wasn't able to hit it close enough to the hole for my third shot. At the last hole, I hit 3 wood, 8 iron, probably 20 feet away, just missed it on the right.

At 8, I hit a 7 iron right on the front fringe. Was able to putt that one in.

THE MODERATOR: How far?

GIL MORGAN: It was probably 20 feet.

THE MODERATOR: Your putt on No. 1?

GIL MORGAN: I hit a driver, 8 iron out of the bunker about six feet and made that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Gil, this course has been nice to you, or you've been playing well here. Is there something about this course you like? Seems like every year you come here, and even if you don't finish first or second, you're right there knocking on the door. You just like Jack Nicklaus?

GIL MORGAN: I do like Nicklaus' golf courses because usually it gives you a little bit of room to drive the ball. The iron play into the greens are more severe at least because of the angles and stuff. You have to have both distance and direction a lot of times either because of the way the green is or the little plateaus, the humps and bumps that he puts in there.

But I seem to like Jack's courses for some reason. I don't know exactly why. But I think it puts a lot of emphasis on shot value, especially into the greens. That kind of fits into my game sometimes. Then when sometimes the conditions get kind of tough around here with the wind blowing or the greens get hard. Makes it really difficult to get the ball really close to the hole sometimes. You have to be able to control your golf ball. That kind of fits into my scenario at times. Not all the time, mind you, but sometimes.

Q. How would you characterize your year? You've had a couple good shots at winning, then a number of weeks of un Gil Morgan like play.

GIL MORGAN: I think it's been a pretty poor year for me overall. I've had a couple of seconds. I had a chance at Kansas City a while back, then at the MasterCard early in the year. Other than that, I haven't played very well.

I think my putting has been a big problem. I've putted tremendously better this week than I have all year. That kind of shows me that it may not be all my ball hitting. But I made a few changes in my equipment a little bit at the start of the year. I think it's kind of thrown a wrench into my plans. I think I changed too many variables. It was just kind of hard to stay on top of it from that standpoint.

But hopefully here at the end of the year, maybe I can kind of get it wrapped up together a little bit and play it a little more consistently and have some more opportunities.

Q. The fact that the leaderboard is so crowded right now, how does that change your approach going into Sunday?

GIL MORGAN: Well, obviously it means that with more players around the lead, someone can come out of the pack a lot easier, or more than one person can. It's not like you're down to one, two or three players, a handful of players. You got a whole bunch of players that close.

Just means that you're going to have to play better. It's probably going to take a lower number to stay around the lead. You just have to gear up to shoot a good round unless something happens with the elements or the golf course between tonight and tomorrow.

Obviously, there will be a little bit more pressure tomorrow on everybody. May not be as critical as maybe it was today or something. But at the same time you're going to have to put a good number out there to have an opportunity.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

GIL MORGAN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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