U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 23, 1998

Bob Murphy

BOB MURPHY: Got off to a good start. I hit a 3-wood on the green about 35 feet from the hole and tapped it in for eagle. And missed the green at No. 2, going up that hill, I left it short and chipped it by about eight feet; made it for par. No. 3, I drove it in the right rough, had what I thought was a reasonable lie, but I didn't get it out into the bunker and into a wet depression like and I couldn't get it on the green and I made double-bogey. Next hole I hit a wonderful shot, and got it right below the hole and I ran it just over the top edge and it sort of a quick lip-out. It went about eight feet below the hole down there. That was a terrible pin placement there. I don't know how they ever came up with that one. Made bogey there. 3-putted. Next hole hit a good shot, missed the putt. Next hole No. 6, I buried it in that left-hand bunker up there right against the lip. I had to play out backwards down into the green and so made bogey there. 7, missed the green, chipped up. 8, two putts for par. Number 9, again, the golf course -- the air is just incredible. I had 180 to clear the top of the bunker and to get onto the green and I hit a 4-iron. Now if that is -- that is normally a 195-yard shot for me, a 4-iron, and I hit a 4-iron to go 180 and did it not go 180. Down in the bunker and I blasted out and it pitched straight instead of out right. I read it to pitch right. So made bogey. 10, knocked it a foot from the hole birdie. No. 11, put it ten feet behind it; made birdie. 12, put it twelve feet behind the hole with a 6-iron, made birdie. 13, good birdie opportunity I missed. 14, hit 4-iron that went just over the back edge in that kikuyu grass and I chipped it and it didn't come out, grabbed my club, made bogey. 15, I left it short of the green. 16, I hit it -- boy, hit a good shot there. Knocked it about six feet at 16 and missed it. 17, put it pin-high just about a foot off the green. So it was about 16, 18 feet and I made it. And 18, two putts for par.

BOB MURPHY: Well, golf course is for me -- for Jay Sigel who hits it as far as he does, the golf course will play a lot easier than -- my drives are going one yard when they land because I hit the ball up in the air more and they are just -- they are going nowhere. The fairways are soaking wet and the greens are very, very firm so with that combination, for me, I would say the golf course is playing at least 7,500 yards. It is very, very long. Then the air, the air is heavy and we just came from a week of nice hot weather where the ball was carrying and so it is hard to judge. It is very, very difficult to judge. Even at 17, I hit from 114 yards to the hole. I hit a good hard wedge and I just barely, barely got the ball pin-high and so it is very difficult to figure what club to hit, I think.

BOB MURPHY: I think par is a good score. One characteristic of Riviera that has really changed, you cannot bounce the ball into any green and that is a characteristic that we always had. When you play holes like -- well, No. 1, for instance, you land down there short of the green and you bounced it into the hole. You can't do that now. That grass is just -- it is so wet and so thick, it grabs the ball. I could go on and on and on. 15, another hole like that. 13 another hole like that. Those are holes where you work the ball into the green and you can't do that now. You have to fly it onto the surface and the surfaces are very hard, so if a guy who hits it long, longer than most of us, like Jay Sigel, if he has a good week, then he should win because he is going to be hitting high short irons into these greens instead of 4-, 5-, and 6-irons like I am hitting.

BOB MURPHY: Ever played golf?

BOB MURPHY: Yeah, that is what happens (laughs) only time I make eagle and birdies and bogies an doubles is when I play.

BOB MURPHY: It is unusual to have that, but this is a major championship, sir, and it is playing very difficult out there and you are going to make -- you are going to make bogeys on good shots and make bogeys on bad shots. So, your hope is, as I did today, I capitalized on three pretty good shots and made birdies, otherwise I shoot 3- or 4-over par which is the way my card really looks with all those others on there. But, it is playing that tough. In normal conditions you are not used to missing green by a foot and not knowing whether or not you can get it on the green. So I watched guys today that played with me who missed, I am telling you, they missed the green that far (indicating a foot and a half) and did not get it on the green, it is that hard.

BOB MURPHY: Par would be a wonderful score at the end of the week, yes.

BOB MURPHY: The air is a huge issue. Especially when you have -- when you have played golf as long as we have and you stand out there in the fairway, and you have 145 yards to a pin, that is normally a hard 8-iron and today I had to hit 6-iron to get it there. That is a big change. That is a two-club swing and that is hard to commit to when the greens are as firm as they are. But that is how heavy the air is going into the greens and so I got lucky today. I made some good decisions. A hole like No. 15 where I tried to land it right on the front, and bounce it in, it just hit there and stopped. So didn't give myself quite enough credit there. But you have the same feeling, too, standing in the fairway, of course, that if I land it on this green, it is going right over. So it is tough. It is just tough.

BOB MURPHY: I don't know (laughs). The kikuyu is, without question, I have talked to a lot of guys here, nobody has told me of a tournament that we have ever played that is more difficult than this kikuyu rough here is. It is very, very deep. It is so high that the root structure when you make a swing through it, if you get a piece of that root which can be 3/8 of an inch thick, if you get that between the ball and the blade, you shank it, you know, it pops straight up; it does all sorts of things. When you are in that kikuyu, you are guessing. That is it. You are guessing.

BOB MURPHY: Because the fairways are very wet and that fairway grass, it is a very different grass too and the ball just doesn't -- just doesn't bounce out of that stuff. You have got to be very lucky to get one to land and release. That is the way we learn to play. We learn to play -- I call it feeding the ball into the hole. I am trying give the ball a chance to keep going towards the hole and when it lands, it just stops. That would be the same as playing on greens that are very slow and soaking wet, for instance, where the ball doesn't roll to the hole. You will see guys hitting a lot of shots that will be way short of the hole.

BOB MURPHY: I was lucky I didn't get it -- I hit in the high rough only one time and it -- it sat down like it was in a bird's nest and so was able to get it out of there about three feet past the hole and I made it for par. I didn't hit it in that heavy stuff except on the one other hole I was in the -- I was in the area where guys are walking off the green and so they had trampled that area down. That was the good news. The bad news was that the grain of the grass was laying right into me and when I went to hit my chip shot, it just grabbed right in it. No, there -- I am not saying there is no expertise out of that, but you are only as good as your lie is in that kikuyu grass for sure.

BOB MURPHY: Well, I am playing well. And, when you are playing well, you should feel good about your chances. I am also putting very well. So if I can get to my short wand in the fewest amount of shots possible, then I will be pretty good this week, yes.

BOB MURPHY: No. 7 where I pushed it just slightly to the right and I just chipped out of it. That is where I got a pretty good lie and was able to get it about 3 feet from the hole. I was pin-high just off the fringe. Then the par 3 on the backside, is that No. 13?

BOB MURPHY: 14, yes. 14, I was just, as I said, it went up past the hole and then it just dribbled off where everybody had been walking, so, that was one there and I failed on that one.

BOB MURPHY: Thank you see you this week.