GREATER GREENSBORO CHRYSLER CLASSIC

April 25, 2002

Jim Gallagher

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Jim, for joining us.

JIM GALLAGHER: I'm glad to be here to say the least.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Great round today, 5 under par 67, make a couple of comments.

JIM GALLAGHER: I played a couple of the BUY.COMs last week to prepare for this week, because I'm playing once a month, so it's hard to be prepared. I felt I was prepared for the first time in a while, just hit a lot of quality shots and made some putts. I was real relaxed out there, I've done some work for CNBC so I guess from the other view you see things differently and I think it helped me out today, I concentrated better. I haven't been doing that the last year, so I think those combination of things helped.

Q. What do you think about the changes at No. 2?

JIM GALLAGHER: It's long. It's different. I mean, they've extended some of the tees and they are good changes, with technology and as strong as these guys are and as far as they hit it, they have to do that, but that 4- or 5-inch rough out there still kind of takes care of it, I tell you, it's thick out there, I found some of those spots. The golf course is in great shape. The fairways were absolutely perfect, I commented on that Tuesday. They've done a good job.

Q. How about yourself, how do you feel you played today?

JIM GALLAGHER: Like I said, I played really solid. I made birdie on 10, and kept hitting good shots and making some putts. I had some opportunities at the end to make some, but it's not like -- I'm not complaining by it. I did hit it in the rough a couple of times and had to wedge it out. But overall I'm extremely satisfied. Like I said, I felt prepared. That may have been the biggest part, just being prepared to play for a change.

Q. You said you've been playing once a month?

JIM GALLAGHER: This is my second tournament.

Q. What's that all about?

JIM GALLAGHER: It's called getting in, so I decided to do something else. It's kind of hard to get in the tournaments with exceptions and all that. I just wasn't going to get too frustrated with it. I was playing once a month, one tournament a month and that's what it amounted to, and that's very hard. I messed up at Tour School last fall and sat back and said I'm going to do a little bit of both, broadcasting, because I enjoy that and play when I can. Gary McCord does a great job of doing both. The key is coming out here to play, is be prepared if you can. These guys are too good to be sitting at home. I have four kids so I have a lot going on where I'm at. My whole life has changed. Priorities are in different orders. Golf is important, but it's not as high up there as it used to be. I have kids playing baseball and soccer and basketball and homework. I don't remember 4th grade being that hard when I was a kid. I don't remember reducing fractions and coming up with common denominators in 4th grade. That's the fun part about being home and helping out and just being there. And when I came out this year, I feel when I do play I'm going to enjoy it. I enjoyed the TV stuff and it's been a good mix. I'm happy with myself. I'm happy with Jim Gallagher. That's the bottom line. I'm happy with myself. Life is great and I've got no complaints.

Q. What would it take for you to win again (inaudible) --

JIM GALLAGHER: Well, I don't know. If it happens, it happens. I'm playing very well. It's just a matter of me concentrating and staying focused and staying in the present and doing things I did today for four rounds. The intensity is there when I'm playing. When I'm home I don't care whose play, I don't have any desire about what's going on. I just want to go home and stay home. That's the biggest thing the last couple of years, when I was home, my mind was wandering. I wasn't home. And that's one thing that I worked on. When I was home, I was going to be home, and when I came out here I was going to be out here. That's the only way you can play. Like I said, I'm satisfied with my life and everything I've done and myself. That's been the biggest hurdle, just to be happy with yourself, and if you're not there, you're struggling. Life is great, so I'm not complaining.

Q. Does that explain the lack of productivity in your game after 1996?

JIM GALLAGHER: I would say lack of productivity is just bad playing, concentration and a little bit of desire and the burn was not there and just getting frustrated with myself and I think the combination, I lost some confidence - I play on confidence and emotion and those things were missing. When you come out here lacking in the confidence, you're going to get toasted. That's the bottom line. These guys are too good to come out there and -- I know my talents are there. I put my talents up against anybody, but if your mind is not working, it doesn't matter how talented you are. That's the bottom line, let your talents take care of everything.

Q. Were you spoiled by any degree with your success?

JIM GALLAGHER: I enjoy my success, but I love my kids and family, it was easy to make that transition, it was difficult the last two years because I was better than I was playing, but I'm not going to come out here and not play well, it wasn't enjoyable; and I wasn't going to fight myself anymore, so I had to sit back and look at Jim Gallagher in the mirror this fall and say, you've got to figure out what you're going to do. I think that's what is going to make this year easier, when I play, I play. When I'm doing TV, I enjoy that, and when I'm home I enjoy that, I've got life going pretty good. That's the neat thing.

Q. What do you do at home?

JIM GALLAGHER: I do everything. You name it, I do it. I have a bulldozer and tractor and I hunt. It just depends what time of year. I hunt a lot in the offseason and the kids go with me, the kids have soccer games and I coached a basketball team, I fired myself after going 0 and 8. I blamed the coaching, not the talent, but that's the fun part. The kids are still young enough and they enjoy those things and I get just as big kick at watching them doing things, they're starting golf, that's going to be fun. And I get more of a kick watching my kids than some of the stuff I accomplished, and that's the neat thing. You see a lot of guys when they get my age things change. If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. I would say this, in '95 I was able to juggle family and playing really well because I only had two kids, I enjoyed being around my kids and I just enjoyed those things and I wasn't playing very well, so it made going home a lot more fun, because they don't care what I shoot. That's the neat thing about it. They will today, though. They do like when I'm on TV, they hear my voice. They enjoy that stuff, so that's kind of neat. And I love to win again for them, that would be kind of neat. They're not here this week. Two of my kids have been with me when I've won. My wife and I were saying to get all four of them up there at the green at one time would be a neat thing.

Q. Do you think they'll show up?

JIM GALLAGHER: No, my wife broke her left foot ten days ago, so she's -- her left foot, so she can still drive. That's a good thing. She can give those NASCAR boys a run for their money, that's for sure. It's her left foot. It's been tough on her, because she's getting them going everywhere, with me being gone the last couple of weeks. She's the reason I'm able to do the things I'm doing. She's a wonderful wife.

Q. What would a top 10 finish this week do for you for the next month?

JIM GALLAGHER: Well, I would go back to work next week at Birmingham at the Seniors. I would do that for sure, and then probably nothing. I mean, I don't have any more tournaments so I'm going to sit back and do that. I'm working next week and I'm working the week of Baltimore. Actually it might get me in Kemper, but I don't know. It would be great for me personally just as an achievement, just for my personal satisfaction, so just satisfying for me to know I can still do this, knowing I can, but it's letting myself do it, and that would be great.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JIM GALLAGHER: Former Champ, '95.

Q. Was there any particular part of your game that caused you to lose confidence?

JIM GALLAGHER: I think everything went. I wasn't driving it real well and I wasn't putting very well. I think scoring was terrible, and I get frustrated with myself. I was hard on myself. When you've had the success and you've played at the level I did and then all of a sudden -- that's the thing about the game: Enjoy it while you can, because it can be taken away from you in a heartbeat. That's just life. That's the lessons you learn, you learn from those things. Hopefully you learn from the things you did wrong and you can improve on those things. I think every great athlete or every great person, whether he is in business or whatever, learns from his mistakes. I was reading Bobby Knight's book this last week talking about stuff, it's not so much how to win, it's trying -- not so much how to lose, but there is a process in there of doing things to eliminate the mistakes and going on with that and I think that was a neat concept. And that's true with everything.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JIM GALLAGHER: We are our business. So there's no such thing anymore. That was a cotton company my father-in-law ran. Cotton is selling about 39 cents a pound and you have to make about 60 to make it, so it's not too good. So we closed that up about 3 years ago. So we're not existent there. The media guy is wrong there. I didn't really do anything there. He just borrowed my name. He had a big billboard, so he needed to fill it up. He figured it looked good, so that's why.

Q. Is that how you settled in Mississippi?

JIM GALLAGHER: Actually my wife is from there, her mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and she was real sick at the time we married. She died at 48. I think she died about two years after we moved there, 3 years. That's the reason. It's a wonderful little town and you can raise your kids there and they have a great little school. It's a little bit of a hassle to get out if you're traveling, but if you have a Suburban you just get in it and drive somewhere. It's no big deal, but you get away from the world and see what the world is all about. This is a fantasy world out here. This isn't the real world out here. This isn't what everybody else is doing in the world. That's the neat thing about where I live. I keep things in perspective that way, or at least try to.

Q. (Inaudible)?

JIM GALLAGHER: Nine times State Champ, too.

Q. Does that help with understanding?

JIM GALLAGHER: Absolutely. She's there -- even if she didn't, she is just a wonderful person. She basically put my career ahead of hers years ago, but she wanted to be a mother and she's dang good at that. She still is competitive. She's won nine state ams and doesn't play. Bruce Lietzke has got nothing on her. He can't touch her. She plays a lot less than he does, but I'll tell you what, she'll make you lose and you'll enjoy it, but she's down there cutting you up as she's knocking you down there. She's competitive. And I think that's the neat thing about her, she's able to understand what I'm going through. She's always there for me. And she's there for everybody. That's the neat thing about her.

Q. Did she win on the LPGA?

JIM GALLAGHER: She didn't. She played only about 6 tournaments. She didn't play much. She hurt her shoulder. That's part of the reason she took the rest of the year off. I would have liked her to see her give it a real try. I would have liked to see what she would have done, but I think the way life was doing, she would have to quit anyway. She couldn't do both. But it may not have been long enough for her out there. She can putt. She can chip. She believes in herself and that's why I think she's so good now.

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