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GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 27, 2003

Peter Jacobsen

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

TODD BUDNICK: Welcome 2003 Greater Hartford Open champion, Peter Jacobsen. Your second victory here in Hartford. First victory in 8 years, and 19 years since your first one here at the GHO. I heard you saying, wow. How does it feel?

PETER JACOBSEN: It feels great. I was thinking out there today, this is the first tournament back, two-year anniversary from when I had hip surgery. I had hip surgery back in 2001 and I came back to this tournament after being on crutches for eight weeks, two months, and I remember only being able to play nine holes and I just ran out of gas each day and I missed the cut. But it's kind of the finish line for me of a long road back from a quite a few years of playing hurt through the late 90's and into the early 2000, and then meeting Dr. Mark Phillipon, who actually I met him through Steve Elkington, Norman, Jesper Parnevik had the same surgery.

Thinking back 19 years ago, to 1984 when Sammy Davis, Jr., gave me the check down there. It's very, very special.

TODD BUDNICK: Your 20th appearance here. Last week Craig Stadler wins at 50, this week you win at 49, what's going on with the game.

PETER JACOBSEN: Craig Stadler called me last night and he left a message on my phone. He said, look, if you win, we will be paired together in January at the Mercedes Championship, because they pair you in orders of your victories. I actually thought about that all day. I love Craig Stadler, he's one of my great pals all the way back from college days. I actually thought about that, I said all right, playing with Stads at Kapalua.

TODD BUDNICK: Chris Riley said you guys had a lot of fun out there, he enjoyed talking with you. He likes to play that game as well. He said it was a very enjoyable experience.

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, I am a big fan of Chris Riley. I think he has a bunch of talent. He is going to win a lot of tournaments on TOUR. He hit 2 balls out of bounds today. He hit it out of bounds on the first hole and 13th hole. That's 4 penalty strokes. It goes to show you the kind of attitude he has. He hung in and shot 2-under for the day. Take those 2 balls out of bounds, it's a different story.

He is a talker, and I'm a talker. Most people - they don't want to talk but they just listen, that's all they have to do.

TODD BUDNICK: Talk about the walk up 18, 3-stroke lead. It had been a long time since the last time.

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, it had. I knew that 16, 17 and 18 are very, very tricky. We were helped with having 17 and 18 downwind. So I knew that was going to take a little pressure off the two shots. 16 is a very difficult hole. Chris Riley chipped in for eagle on 15, so he was up first on 16. It's always nice when you have a very tricky par-3 with swirly winds to see what your playing partner hit. Actually I think I got a break there. He hit a 7-iron, we both thought that he had to hit 7-irons have solidly to get it to the hole and he hit his 7-iron past the hole and I knew right then it was good 7-iron for me. I hit it on the green and almost made the putt for birdie, but the key I thought for me was the tee ball on 17. It was downwind, I hit a 3-wood, I murdered it off the tee, I hit a hundred-yard sand wedge shot and pulled it back off the hill to about four feet and I knew I was pretty close.

I'm sure -- you never know on 17, simply because there are so many things that can happen. It's one of those disaster holes.

TODD BUDNICK: Questions.

Q. With age 50 approaching, what has your approach be to how you are going to handle moving to the Senior Tour, if you would, and what has happened this week changed any of that thinking?

PETER JACOBSEN: I haven't really had a chance to think about it but I was planning on playing the Champions Tour next year when I turned 50. Now, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm in the same boat now as Jay Haas. Jay has had a great year and made 2 million dollars. He has contended in so many tournaments this year. He should have won a tournament by now. I'm sure he will win before the year is out. I don't know what I'm going to do but it's a nice problem to have.

Q. Peter, 17 was the key, when you had to get the tee ball off and everything, what about your thought process on 17?

PETER JACOBSEN: 15 was also a key. 15 was a key. I hit a 3-wood of the tee and I wanted to put it over to the right. And I was -- I thought the pin on 15 was questionable, very, very questionable. I would -- that's one I might look at the field staff and say, what were you thinking there? Did you set that last night when there was no daylight?

That's where everybody has walked off the green for 6 days, Tuesday practice rounds, Wednesday pro-am day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, everybody walks off that direction toward the next tee. So yeah, it's going to be baked and crispy and hard and fast.

So I had a choice to either put it up the hill or hit a little lob shot, and I thought if I putt it, if I got it a little too hard it would run over the green, so I tried to hit lob shot. I thought I hit the shot perfectly but it still was more toward over the green. As Chris said, he chipped his in for eagle, if his ball didn't hit the hole, he was down there with me.

The third shot I had was out of an unbelievably poor lie and I hit a great shot that almost went in the hole for birdie and it went by about three feet, but I have been working on my short game with Stan Utley, who has helped Jay Haas and helped a lot of players out here. I couldn't have hit the pitch shot and couldn't have made that putt without Stan's help.

Q. Peter, getting back to the walk down 18, were you emotional? Were there butterflies? Are there emotions now?

PETER JACOBSEN: There are -- if I let emotions come, yes, there would be emotions. I really didn't want to think about winning the tournament until it was done. I have seen -- I have lost tournaments on the last hole before I hit it off the green in the Western Open in '88 with a one-stroke lead, thinking about winning, I made double and I throw the tournament and I thought, I'm not going to think about it until the putt is in the hole.

And I hit a drive to the right on 18 and had a sidehill lie, and I knew I still had some work cut out. Chris Riley hit a great shot in there, he was going to make birdie. I knew I had to 2-putt or 3-putt to win and that was my focus.

Q. Peter, was the wait hard on 15?

PETER JACOBSEN: We waited all day. Waiting was very, very hard. It's hard when you are in contention and you are waiting on the group in front of you because sometimes you get watching the group in front of you. And I know Chris and I, we both commented on that about watching Kenny Perry. Kenny has been on a hot streak and we knew he would be in contention, so we kept watching Kenny Perry and you sometimes lose the focus to your game. I don't know why it's was so slow today, but it agonizingly slow.

Q. Did it play slower?

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes.

Q. Why?

PETER JACOBSEN: I don't know, I think the stakes are up on the PGA TOUR. I just won 720,000 dollars. I think in '84, I won 72,000 dollars. Of course you can by a Buick back then for 47 dollars, too, (laughter). Times change.

But I think a lot of players, there is a lot at stake now. That is lot at stake. Top 125 on the money list. If you don't make your card, you are back to Q-School. If you don't get your card, you go to the Nationwide TOUR. So I think players are more cautious and there are a lot of good players now. A lot of good players.

Q. Everyone is talking about your age, 49, but being a veteran, did that play to your advantage?

PETER JACOBSEN: You know, I got to be honest with you, I never think of my age when I tee it up out here. I joke about it because people ask about it. I crawled up the hill on 17 there and people were yelling, go Jake. And I went like this, and I said, let me catch my breath. I said, I got a little winded coming up the hill. In fact, I got light-headed screaming at you. I joke about it. Today when I am playing Chris Riley, or Aaron Baddeley or Tiger Woods, I'm not thinking about age.

Q. I'm thinking from a point, you have been through pretty much anything.

PETER JACOBSEN: From an experience standpoint, yes, I felt the last nine holes, if I was near the lead I would have a good chance, because a victory is not going to change my life. A victory is going to change Craig Barlow's life, or a victory is going to change -- Chris Riley already won. If you could win your first or second tournament, it will change your life, especially if you are in your 20's, but me, I'm in my 60's now. It's just not going to change my life. I still got my beautiful daughter who is going to be going to medical school. Are you still going to go to medical school, Kristen? She is going to study -- what's your field of study, honey?

KRISTEN JACOBSEN: Neuroscience.

PETER JACOBSEN: She is going to start on me, you can saw off the top, pull it off and look inside.

Q. I was going to ask you about your daughter, she talked to us and she said she never seen you win before. It meant a lot to her, and also given your involvement with Suzy, the first time and last time at the GHO, it's real fitting symmetry?

PETER JACOBSEN: There is no such thing as coincidence. I believe that things happen for a reason. I remember on Wednesday, I was playing with Chris Berman and Ted May and Dan Baker gave me a guitar, an Ovation guitar, a beautiful guitar, thanking me for being at the GHO for so many years. When it's I that should be thanking them. And I said, don't worry, don't worry, you can't get rid of me, I'm going to win the tournament this week and I'm going to come back. I think that is little karma there. I have always been that kind of player. I really love to pull from the crowd. I'm not the kind that pulls the head down and hides behind the sunglasses and ignores everybody. If somebody yells my name, I turn and look at them. I think that's positive. With Suzy and Bill Whaley, Bill has been the GM so many years now, he does a great job and with Suzy qualifying, it worked. It worked for me. I played with her Tuesday I was so impressed with her game and her demeanor, her smile and everything about her. It was kind of a good-feeling week all around for me.

Q. And your daughter?

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, and Kristen, she has been putting up with me for so many years telling her what to do and what not to do. I call her 85 now because she got 85 percentile on her MCAT scores, which is pretty good. That's pretty good.

Q. If you can remember in 1984, 30-year-old Peter Jacobsen, what kind of emotions was he having as he was walking up 18?

PETER JACOBSEN: When I was 30 years old I thought I should have won every week. That's what you do when you are young and you are cocky. Well, cocky, I don't know if I have ever been cocky. You think you are going to do it again and again. That was my second win of the year, I won at Colonial and I won here in '84. So I thought, oh, man, I'm going to just do this forever. It doesn't happen like that. Life happens to everyone of us. So I think it makes this victory that much sweeter and I think I will appreciate it a lot more.

Q. Do you think having Chris hit in front of you for most of the holes on the front and the back was beneficial and you saw how the wind affected his ball, it looked like it was swirling especially 11?

PETER JACOBSEN: Chris hits a very low, penetrating ball. He and I hit pretty much the same type of ball flight, low and penetrating, the wind doesn't affect our ball flight.

So yes, it probably did help me because I saw the kind of shot that I wanted to hit as well but where it really helped was on 16 with that swirling wind down there on the lake.

Q. When was the last time that you came to a golf course on a Sunday thinking you were going to win a golf tournament?

PETER JACOBSEN: A couple of times this year earlier, at the Heritage. MCI. It was called Heritage Classic now it's back to the MCI. I had a chance to win there and then earlier this year the Shell Houston Open, where Fred Couples won. I actually designed the golf course. I came into the Sunday round 3 or 4 back and was playing some great golf and I thought, I have a chance here because I know the golf course so well. Sometimes when you design a course, you know where not to hit it. It's pretty obvious where, you hit it in the fairway and in the hole. But when you are the designer you know where not to hit it. In fact, I led that week in greens and fairways hit, so -- when was the last time I came to a Sunday where you thought I was going to win?

Q. This Sunday. Peter on 17, can you talk to me about that great drive off the tee but then he was right back there with that great shot over the water, stuck it right on the green? If he had birdied that shot, do you go into 18 with a different scenario? What was going through your head when you were getting ready?

PETER JACOBSEN: Again, I think after 27 years, I know what I need on the golf course, and I needed that. I pulled from that. When I got up the hill the people were yelling, go Jake, go Jake. This is great. I stopped and said, wow, this is great. Chris hit a wonderful shot and I pulled from that. I said, wow, he hit a great shot, I'm going to follow right up. He hit it in there close and I immediately thought, yes, I can do that, too. I'm going to knock it right inside him. Because it's the competitiveness out here, and I did, I was thinking I'm going to spin a sand wedge back down the hill and tap it in. So it was a good thing.

Q. If you go into Champions Tour, will you do as Stadler does and as Ray Floyd did, also play quite a few PGA TOUR events?

PETER JACOBSEN: I don't know yet. I know one thing, when I get in that cart on Sunday and I'm on the back nine I can leave that left turn blinker on the entire back nine and not care about it. That's going to be the best part of the Champions Tour. Sitting low in the seat like this, blinker on, the whole back nine, making a right turn. "Shut up."

Q. Peter, what was the connection from 20 years ago? What happened here that you became almost family?

PETER JACOBSEN: Well, I do have family here. I have got Peter and Jeanie Humphrey, Jeanie's brother Richard, I got Dickie Bruno, I've got Heidi and Franz, I've got so many friends that -- we met back in, was it '85, Peter? '85, Honda Classic. And they live right down in New London and we became lifelong friends so it's family here every time I come back I know that -- I know Peter is going to buy me dinner every night. Not tonight.

Q. What about the connection with this tournament?

PETER JACOBSEN: I just want to say to Ted and Debby May, we all know Ted and Debby. They made me a part of their family back then, way back then I stayed at their house, I watched their kids grow up. As I said, I feel like I'm part of the family here. I worked close with Dan Baker and his staff. We helped them with the GHO 50th anniversary pro-am a couple of years ago. I've got an event management company that runs tournaments on TOUR, Champions Tour events, special events, so we are all kind of in the same business.

Q. The Golf Channel says you have as many as 17 tours plugged in, I wonder if this would up the viewership?

PETER JACOBSEN: I don't know. I got a co-host that drags the ratings down. Hey, is that sign boy?

Q. No, it's Dan Baker. He runs the thing.

PETER JACOBSEN: Good. Hey, if I hit it in the water at any time, would you have jumped in? Would you have stripped off and jumped in?

Q. I have a clause that I can't do that at a Tour event.

TODD BUDNICK: Way in the back.

Q. Number 9 you hit the pin on your approach shot, are you thinking, I'm on fire this week or what?

PETER JACOBSEN: Well, in a way I have been hitting my iron shots the whole week and I had a wedge in my hand. You have a 7, 8, 9 wedge in your hand, you are going to go at the pin every time. Anything 6, 5, 4, you every going to play for the green and I knew at that point that I had a chance to really make birdie, and I hit a great shot, hit the pin and it jumped back to about 15 feet. I did, I felt great. I felt very confident going into the back nine because of that shot.

Q. Do you feel that you made any mistakes today? Any shots you regret when you look back?

PETER JACOBSEN: No shots that I regret. I 3-putted No. 5, I hit a great 4-iron on 5 to about 30 feet. You know the mistake -- I did make a mistake on No. 5. Chris Riley's coin and my coin were right next to each other and I almost -- I was almost going to stand on his coin to putt, and I actually readjusted my stance. I put the ball farther forward in my stance so I wouldn't stand on his coin because I knew if I said, hey, Chris do you want to putt first? Then he is going to show me the line, and he doesn't want to do that because he is actually trying to beat me, which pisses me off, first of all. Doesn't he know that I'm supposed to win? I had adjusted my stance, I left it like that and I missed it. So I do regret the fact that I let his coin and my standing on his coin bother me.

Q. What's the etiquette in that situation? What were your options?

PETER JACOBSEN: My options are to say to Chris, Chris, I'm going to stand on your coin or do you mind going first? He has a choice to say, I'll putt first or go ahead and step on my coin. He probably would have said, step on my coin. I want to see your line.

TODD BUDNICK: Peter, let's just go through the birdies that you had, No. 3.

PETER JACOBSEN: No. 3, I hit a great drive down the middle. Hit a pitching wedge to about ten feet, and I made the putt.

TODD BUDNICK: No. 4.

PETER JACOBSEN: No. 4 was the greatest. I hit a 6-iron from the right, just the right side of the fairway just to the first cut and it hit on the green and it came down in the bowl, down in the little collection area. And I was so close to the edge I putted it. And I putted it up the hill and it went in the hole. That was huge momentum shift for me there.

Q. How long about?

PETER JACOBSEN: Oh, gosh, probably 45 feet. I had about 25 feet of rough and then 25 feet to the hole up the hill. It was a prayer. But you know what, sometimes prayers are answered. I learned that.

TODD BUDNICK: No. 13.

PETER JACOBSEN: No. 13, I thought 13 was a turning point. I know Kenny Perry birdied No. 13 to go to 11, and I hit a huge drive off the tee and I had 218 yards and I hit a 3-iron.

My caddy, Graham, said this is a 3-iron. I said, do you want to lay it up and just hit a wedge and spin it back to the hole? He said, no, let's hit a 3-iron on the green. I aimed at the right side of the green and I hit a perfect 3-iron right where I was aiming and it stayed on the fringe and I had about a 60-footer and I lagged it down to about six feet and I made the putt for birdie.

TODD BUDNICK: Okay. One more.

Q. I guess you jumped yesterday, you said if you shot 67 today you would finish fourth?

PETER JACOBSEN: I could, I could. The weather helped me out quite a bit as blustery as it was. If we came in with a perfect GHO day and guys started shooting 62, 63, anything can happen. When I woke up this morning and I saw the weather report was for 15, 20 mile an hour winds, I knew that was going to work to my advantage. Because solidly struck golf shots into this wind, the ball is not going to affect that. I proved that today. I drove it very well and hit a lot of good iron shots.

Q. You played at or in the lead through a lot of this week, at what point did you start thinking, do you know what, I can or I'm going to win this one?

PETER JACOBSEN: When I made the birdie on 17, I knew that was it.

Q. That late?

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes. Anything can happen out here. I've tossed them away with the best of them. As I said, The Western Open. I was talking to my caddy, I had Fluff, everybody knows him as Fluff, he caddied for me when I won in '84. He caddied for me 19 years. We came to the last hole I had a 7-iron to the 18th hole at Butler National and a one-stroke lead, hit it over the green down into the water, made double and lost the tournament. I said, never again, never again will I count my chickens before they hatch.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you very much, this tournament had a great champion in '84 and even a better one this year. Thanks.

PETER JACOBSEN: Thank you. I look forward to seeing you next year.

End of FastScripts....

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