U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 25, 1997

Gil Morgan

GIL MORGAN: It's no problem.

GIL MORGAN: Well, I don't know, to tell you the truth. It was nice to be able to play well here, especially the last month or so.....

GIL MORGAN: Well, I think there's, you know, basic differences that everybody are aware of, you know, the difference in the format as far as number of rounds, ability to ride carts here, and those basic things. You know, the limitation in the number of players like 70-, 80-man field as opposed to maybe 156 field is one of the most significant differences because it can control a little bit, you know, how many players are kind of in contention as opposed to, you know, the regular Tour, where you have so many players that have the chance every week pretty much. The no-cut situation is kind of a unique thing. It's a nice thing for the players knowing that you can come and play and you don't have the anxiety of cuts with the regular Tour, and you're guaranteed to make a check. So all those things are pretty much different than that.

GIL MORGAN: Well, I think it's a good golf course. It looks pretty fair overall. There's some tight holes and some long holes and some short holes and tricky holes, and the greens are a little bit demanding at times with back-to-front slope, so all in all, I think it's going to be a good test.

GIL MORGAN: Well, I think, you know, I think definitely they've got an advantage, guys that do more walking, especially if it's going to be hot. Doesn't look like it's going to be as hot as it was at the first of the week. So it may not be as big a factor from the heat standpoint. But, just from durability, I guess those guys that are more geared to riding all the time will probably have a little bit of a difficulty out there.

GIL MORGAN: Well, thank you, sir. Well, I, you know, last year I came out at the end of last year, I played five events, and I was a little uptight from that standpoint trying to do well, having a lot of pressure from myself and possibly from the peer group that I'd been playing with on the regular Tour, that that transition should be very successful. And I did win a tournament at the end of the year, which helped, but I didn't play very well the rest of the events. I didn't feel like I played up to my expectations, at least. This year, I've come out and tried to not really press myself, tried to just take my time and go play, and hopefully my game would be, you know, good enough condition and throughout the whole year that I would have some good events. So far, I've had three wins, which is, won at The Tradition earlier in the year which was a nice win for me. I played really at a pretty high level. Didn't make very many mistakes. Won at Ameritech a few weeks ago and didn't play as well as I'd like closing, but the conditions were pretty tough, and I was trying to close the tournament pretty much, and after I got to where I was in that situation. And then at Nashville, I played pretty well all in all for the whole week. Didn't make very many mistakes, and at the same time made some putts and played a little bit better, I thought. So kind of in the scheme of things, I feel like on I'm on a good track right now. If I could continue to play at this level the rest of the year, I would feel very good about that. From my standpoint, I would be pleased with that play.

GIL MORGAN: Yeah, I've had a couple of seconds. I had a second early in the year when Hale won at the MasterCard Tournament of Champions, and then I had a second down in Birmingham at the tournament there, and played pretty good there. I made a couple of mistakes that I shouldn't have. May have cost me the tournament, although Jay played awful well, but at the same time, I felt like I had an opportunity. There were a couple other weeks that I got myself sort of in position and didn't play as well as I liked coming down the stretch. Maybe it's a transition. Each week I'm becoming more and more comfortable, feel better about my position, more confidence and playing better at the same time. So they kind of run hand in hand.

GIL MORGAN: Well, you know, I think there's -- I think the setups are comparable. You know, I think this is not-- obviously not quite as severe as the U.S. Open just recently in Congressional by just watching it on TV. I think -- I don't know. You know, I'm not -- I don't have much experience in this event, obviously. And so I don't really know exactly what to think. I think this is a good golf course, and I think you'll see that the better players come to the top at this golf course, so I think it's a real good test. You know, I don't know what the quality of the field is really. I don't know a whole lot of, you know, a lot of the players. I'm not real familiar with them. So I just have to kind of sit back and watch.

GIL MORGAN: Well, you know, right at the first of the year, I wasn't really thinking about it too much. Now that I've kind of got myself in a position to have a chance to run at it for the rest of the year, it's a little bit more significant. Obviously, it means that you've played very well. Played for the year, you played pretty consistently. Sometimes, you know, it could be a little bit misleading, I guess, you know, from that standpoint. If you do do well in just a few events or whether you play well over the whole year, you know, there could be some variation there, I guess, in as far as, you know, how you played and how much money you've won, to some degree. But, I guess they're somewhat comparable. It's something that I've kind of -- would be a nice honor if you could do that. So it's kind of one of my goals out there at this point in time, you know, in the scheme of things with the way the year is going, I think it's something I'm looking at right now.

GIL MORGAN: Well, I don't know whether I'd be a favorite here or not. I feel like I've got a pretty good chance. I think my game, you know, if -- usually with the USGA events, you've got to keep the ball in play pretty much, so it's going to depend. Those players that I think have the advantage would be someone that can drive it. The further you can drive it here, looks like it's a bigger advantage, for one thing. Then, if you can keep it in play. You know, you're going to look at a player like Hale or a Raymond or maybe Trevino. I'm sure there's some Jay Sigal is a strong player. Graham Marsh just came off of a win. You have to think that he's playing pretty well at the time. I don't know who all is going to have a great opportunity, really, but may come out of the dark, you know. We've got a lot of pretty good players, and it just depends on how the week goes.

GIL MORGAN: Well, I -- you know, I'm not familiar with any other tournaments. I did watch a little bit of the tournament last year at Canterbury. I think I saw some of that. And this golf course looks more difficult to me. The rough looks more difficult to me than it did last year. So, from that comparison, I don't know exactly what the score's going to be. You know, that's a hard one for me. It looks like there's a lot of long holes, you know, especially closing the last few holes are pretty good 16, 17 and 18 are all pretty good holes. Depends on the wind situation for one thing. It depends on the weather, you know. If it gets real -- if it happened to get wet and stay wet or something, it could be very long if you get the ball in the rough. So, I don't know what it's going to take to -- I think the greens are pretty critical on top of that, so I'm not really looking for a real low score here myself. I don't -- specifically to what that would be, I couldn't tell you.

GIL MORGAN: Well, sure. You know, there's a big difference between the U.S. Open and the U.S. Senior Open from that standpoint, but at the same time, you know, it's a very difficult test, so it would mean a lot to me to be able to win here. And, you know, I feel like I'm going to be trying to put my best foot forward to do that if I can. What's going to happen, I don't know, but it would be a big plus for me to win here.

GIL MORGAN: Well, no, I'm not 100 percent, but I don't know. I just -- I hurt it from time to time. Seems like each year, there's a time when I can't play a little bit. It seems to be doing a little bit better. I've got a couple other little problems that are nagging, you know, but I don't feel like I'm 100 percent at this point in time. I don't think it's going to get any better by playing hard the rest of the week. I didn't play, you know, full out today. I played 18 holes. I played 9 Monday and 9 Tuesday and then 18 today, and I didn't feel like I went at it 100 percent every time. So I still have a little bit of reservation with my swing and my confidence with that. But, hopefully, it will get better as the day -- you know, as the weeks goes forward. I don't know whether I'll be able to play any better. I haven't practiced much in the last two weeks, so there's a couple of negatives there that I don't like, but at the same time, you have to go play.

GIL MORGAN: There's more trees. Kemper is a lot more open golf course from a tree standpoint. It was a pretty long golf course for the players, I remember. Most of them talking about it being long, so I would expect to see the same type of scenario here as far as length is concerned. Even some of the short holes here, to me, you have to play 3-wood or 4-wood off the tee and then that makes your second shot appear longer than, say, the holes at 388 or whatever it is. But, it seems like you're hitting longer clubs than what you would normally do at that length because you can't drive it on some of the holes. But, Kemper has got, you know, has got a little bit more water trouble, so that's -- there's kind of a mix between those two types of golf course. I think they're both very -- can be very difficult. When we played up there, the last round, it was very windy, very difficult. I would think this course would be that way in the wind, too.

GIL MORGAN: I don't think you can ever make up that situation. You know, I had a good opportunity, and I kind of let it get away to some degree. Conditions were pretty tough the last couple rounds there. There was a lot of players that didn't do very well the last day. So, you know, I -- I don't really compare those two. It just, if I could win here, it would be great. If I don't, then, you know, I'll try again another time.

GIL MORGAN: Well, thank you.