U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2001

Bruce Fleisher

BRUCE FLEISHER: Much too quick. Well, Mike, I've only had a chance to see this one time which was yesterday afternoon. I am doing the same thing today about 3 o'clock. I think the course will be open at 3, will it? It seems to slow down quite a bit. And need a little bit more time, but I think in most major championships you know basically what you got to do. You got to hit fairways and keep it below the hole here. So wonderful course. Large, wide fairways, I think it's very fair. I got a wonderful opportunity this week with Floyd and Nicklaus. So other than the fact that it's going to be -- I'm going to have to stay a little more focused than normal, maybe. Looking forward to it.

BRUCE FLEISHER: I haven't really played with Jack too much. I mean, he's my neighbor, but Jack - not that he's unapproachable, but your lives go different directions, I think it's a wonderful opportunity. I mean, Senior U.S. Open, playing with Jack Nicklaus, so I'm going to take it and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm not going to fight it. Normally I think I would be very uptight emotionally, but I think at this time and stage certainly of my life, I'm going to relish it and hopefully play well. If I don't, hey, listen, you know, the sun will come up tomorrow. My dog will still love me, I think. (Laughter.)

BRUCE FLEISHER: Did I?

BRUCE FLEISHER: No, I don't mind at all. Listen, I don't know if you ever quit learning in this game. Emotions certainly plays a big part. Every one thought I probably blew the tournament on the 1st hole when I made bogey and they all made birdie. I thought maybe I lost the tournament on the 18th, the day before when I bogeyed it with a 9-iron in my hand. I could have had a 4- or 5-shot lead, versus a 3-shot lead. Which in the Open as you well know is makeup time, very easily. And especially this course, if you don't drive it well, you're going to be putting for pars and Trevino says two things that don't exist very long are pros that -- dogs that chase cars and pros that putt for pars (Laughter). And that's going to happen this week. Trust me. So there's some blind shots out there that some of us probably don't particularly care for. But like I said before, I think it's very fair. Very fair course.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Absolutely. I think you want to come into this tournament with confidence. I played with Tom Kite on Sunday and I think he's swinging very well and he's very confident. So I think if he can keep his driver in the fairways, he's gotten extremely long for some reason and, of course, Hale, you know, is always a -- he always gets up for this event. I would venture to say you also want to beat him. I think Tom is ready to win and Jim Thorpe has been playing very well of late. Me? I want to be the dark horse. The sneak, kind of sneak up there. It's hard to tell really. I feel like I'm putting well and that's a big part about my game now. I feel good about that.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Oh, it brings back wonderful memories. There's a lot of good karma here in the Boston area, in the Massachusetts area. I could go through it with you. But I won't. But of course you know in 1991 that was my moment in time and it put me in a position where I never really looked back. I had not played for seven years. A PGA co-sponsored event. And I never forget after the first two days I think I shot 64, 67, I had a four shot lead. And Friday night I look at my wife I say, "Honey, I'm not comfortable. What am I doing here? I don't like this feeling." But Saturday I kind of struggled and then Sunday everything just kind of was in place. It was a wonderful, wonderful seven hole playoff that was destiny. That's the only way I can look at it. It was meant to be. And of course my goal at that time was to get back on the Tour. I had left my job, SENIOR TOUR was starting to really roll pretty strong at that time and I think I was 42. Even though there was eight years left I wanted to play the Tour again. I felt that maybe I had gotten off too early in my 30's. But as it worked out it was fine. Certainly don't have any regrets. And I would probably be at a club today if I had had the right situation. I would have probably never come back out.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Well I got off in '84 and I came back in '91. So I had a boss that wanted to have meetings at 6 o'clock in the morning and I and said, "My God".

BRUCE FLEISHER: No, you know what, Dick, he used to do? He used to call me up, you guys want to write it, that's fine. And he would say -- and this guy owned the golf course. He would say, I'm coming out at 2, I want you to close the first tee at 1. And I don't want anybody teeing off before 3. And I said Mr. Willy, I got lessons this afternoon. Cancel them. They're your members. I don't care. This guy was about 88 years old at the time hit it 60 yards, you know? And I had to play with him. And I never forget I'm playing in a Monday was the only day Monday was my day off, most club pros have Monday off, which is the worst day of the week anyway. Mondays, who takes off on Monday, right? And I was playing in a section tournament and there's a phone call right in the middle of the round, "What are you doing? What do you mean what am I doing, Mr. Willy? I want you at my office at 6 in the morning." And I said man, I don't want to live like this. But anyway. Now is now.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Yeah, I thanked him very much.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Well, that's up to the USGA. I'm sure this course will change come tomorrow morning. The greens, I don't know what the plans are you guys have, but they're relatively slow right now. And maybe the weather has something to do with it. Because it's hot. And there are going to be some struggling guys out there. Especially if they don't get into their game plan early that are going to struggle with this weather. And possibly me. I mean I was playing a practice round yesterday and I was tired walking. So the heat's going to play a big factor and of course I got early time tomorrow, which I think is probably positive. But those late tee offs tomorrow, I don't know what is the forecast?

BRUCE FLEISHER: Oh, is that all? Mid 90's. Oh, beautiful. Put your suntan lotion on. But we played enough of these Opens to know that it will, it could change drastically and of course the pin placements, I think it's very difficult unless you have an incredible creative mind like a Jack Nicklaus, whose been able to do it his whole career to be able to picture certain images and be able to take it all in. I was never that lucky or that bright. So 18, God knows where you can put the pin there. I don't even know if there's a place on that green as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure there's four places that you'll see it.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Maybe in the stands, but it's going to be fun. You got to go out there and you got to kind of laugh with it and cry with it. And enjoy the moment.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Come on, Dick, I know you got a question over there.

BRUCE FLEISHER: You guys are easy today.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Again, this course, at an Open championship, you got conditions that are a lot more severe than most of the golf tournaments we play in. So I've always liked traditional. I grew up in the south. Target golf gets old after awhile. There's not a lot of water here, so that's kind of nice. But here you have to be patient. You got to be able to put your ball in certain positions, I'm sure, to make shots a lot easier going into the green. Even though you have some blind shots you know you still got to stay below the hole. And I'm sure most of the players enjoy this.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Come on, Phil, you got a question. Come on, you're over there sleeping. You're over there sleeping for God sake.

BRUCE FLEISHER: Thank you, folks. Thank you.