GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 26, 2003

Peter Jacobsen

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Peter, you started out the day with the lead and you got the lead after 54 holes. If we can get some opening comments. An up-and-down round for you, it was that way for a lot of players today.

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, the wind was up and swirling and it caused a lot of indecision on the second shots, the approach shots to the green.

And it just made getting the ball close to the hole very difficult. The pins, the PGA TOUR pins, as you may or may not notice, are barely on the greens. So it's -- on a Saturday or any round on the TOUR, you're inherently aggressive, so you are always hitting at the pins and you end up leaving a lot of little teeny chips and putts off the fringe. So the days of hitting the ball to the middle of the green, just to try to make par out here are over. You got to be aggressive and I think that's why you see so many players kind of jockeying around position.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You had 3 bogeys but you avoided big numbers, there goes 2, 3, 4 players that made doubles or triples, talk about that.

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, I wasn't aware of that. I was coming down. I know Jay Haas and I were struggling. He was struggling more than I was. I was at 9-under or 10-under and I saw some scores at 13, I think, and I thought, if I could birdie one or two holes coming in, I might be able to get closer to the lead and I birdied 15 and 16. When I came down 18, I didn't see the scoreboard until we were done. So that's the nature of those finishing holes, they are tough. They are very, very difficult.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Take some questions.

Q. Did you watch more leaderboards today, more so than yesterday?

PETER JACOBSEN: Watching leaderboards, it's a tough thing when you are in a twosome. You are playing quickly so you don't really stop to take time to look at leaderboards, if you happen to catch one. But again, the days of playing for par to protect a lead on TOUR are over. You can very easily have the lead tomorrow and shoot -- I got the lead going into tomorrow I could shoot a 67 and finish fourth.

You just have to be aggressive. You got to play for birdies.

Q. Why do you think they are over, Peter? Can you elaborate as to why they are over? Why are those days over, because of the pin placements?

PETER JACOBSEN: Because of the skill of the players, the skill of the players. There are just so many good players now. In the old days you might have -- 11 might be the lead, there might be one at 10, one at 9, one at 8 and two at 7. Now there is one guy at 11, two or three at 10, 15 at 9 and the rest of the field is 8. It's like the Indy 500. If you take a pit stop too long, the whole field goes by you.

Q. Peter, you have a long history here. You come back every year, what would it mean for you to win this tomorrow?

PETER JACOBSEN: It would -- thinking about sitting here 19 years in here having won in '84. I can't even believe it's been 19 years, first of all. But it would mean everything to me. I love this tournament, I love this community, and I think this is one of the few tournaments that's upgraded itself so dramatically over its years from Wethersfield to this facility now and the change to the TPC of River Highland and now with Buick coming on. This tournament has upgraded itself. It's a real tribute to the community and the efforts of the Jaycees. Is that right? I said it right today. Service organization. It would mean so much for me to win.

Q. Willie Wood was in here, he said going back to the question you said before that, the nature of younger players is to be a lot more aggressive, is that part of what you were talking about?

PETER JACOBSEN: That's well put. The equipment is so good now. I think back to '84 when I won, I was using a Persimmon driver. Terry, what year did we start going to metal heads? What was it, about '90? '84, I was using a wood driver, hitting driver and 5-irons on the 18th hole. Today I hit a 5-iron and wedge. The players are much more aggressive. The shafts are much more consistent. The clubs are better.

Q. Would you like to know that Darron Stiles went for the 9th green?

PETER JACOBSEN: What? He is long. He is huge and long.

Q. He hit it 30 yards from the green. Is that good for golf, Peter?

PETER JACOBSEN: Sure, sure, why wouldn't it be good for golf? We are all playing the same game. I have yet to meet an amateur that hits it too far. Bill Whaley, do you hit it too far? I think the fact that we compete against each other out here doesn't matter, whether we are using equipment of today or equipment of 20 years ago, the best player always seems to find his way to the winner's circle.

Q. Were you surprised to be leading yesterday?

PETER JACOBSEN: I'm surprised again. I thought probably 13 or 14-under would be leading after today.

Q. Peter, how much does seeing Stadler win this year, seeing Kenny win this year, the over 40 guys, how much does that give you confidence for tomorrow that you can hold off?

PETER JACOBSEN: Hope. It gives you hope. It gives me hope. As I said yesterday, I don't know why anybody would let themselves limit themselves by age or inexperience, as I said yesterday. Ben Curtis, he didn't let inexperience get in his way when he won the British. Stadler didn't let age get in his way when he won BC. Look at Nicklaus. Great players. Coming down the last nine holes tomorrow it's not going to be an age thing, it's going to be who is hitting the ball on the fairway and making the putts.

Q. Do you expect another kind of wild back-and-forth, up-and-down things like this afternoon?

PETER JACOBSEN: It depends on the weather. With the wind swinging the way it did on the last four or five holes, it makes club selection very difficult.

Q. You can see leads and deficits turning back again?

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, that has been the history here.

Q. Peter were you more surprised on the putt you made on 17 yesterday or 16 today?

PETER JACOBSEN: 16 today. It was a hard putt. I had to putt up over the knob in the middle of the green, I was just trying to trickle it down and get it close and it fell in. I love it when that happens.

Q. It gave you the lead at that point.

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, I didn't know that. It gave me a 2. It gave me a 2 on a very difficult hole.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Go over your birdies and bogeys, first bogey.

PETER JACOBSEN: I hit it in the bunker, front right. I hit a good 3-iron, the wind blew it left-to-right into the bunker. I blasted out about four feet and I missed it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: No. 7.

PETER JACOBSEN: I hit a great drive down the middle, hit a wedge to about eight feet and made it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 11.

PETER JACOBSEN: 11, I hit a wedge into the bunker, a very easy downwind par-3. I hit a wedge and I blocked it in the bunker, blasted it out about ten feet and I missed the putt.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Birdie 13.

PETER JACOBSEN: 13, par-5, I hit a good drive, laid it up with a 5-iron and that pin was a very, very difficult back right. You had to be careful not to suck it back with a wedge -- did Darron Stiles suck it back into the water on that hole, because his ball --

Q. He was in the bunker and he skulled it in there.

PETER JACOBSEN: Because Jay had hit a wedge and it drew it back, it almost went off the green so I had to be very careful. I put it up there pin-high about 25 feet and I made that. I came back on 14 and I hit a great 6-iron. Pin-high left on the fringe. And oh, probably 18 feet. I got a little too aggressive. I knocked it about 6 feet by and I 3-putted that for bogey.

15, I hit a driver on the fringe of the green. Chipped it to about three feet and made that putt and made probably a 40-footer on 16.

And then parred 17 and 18.

18, I had kind of a scary downhill right-to-lefter, and I tried to lob it up high and let it come down and I just didn't hit it hard enough and it died off.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: One or 2 more questions.

Q. Is a round like today a little more satisfying to be at the top of the leaderboard when you seem to have to chase it a little bit and the wind was a factor and the second shots were questioned?

PETER JACOBSEN: A lot of times when you play a round, a tournament 4 rounds, you are going to have a day where you struggle with your ball striking, or your putting or your chipping, and today was certainly that for me with my iron game.

My driving was pretty solid but my iron game was a little bit off. Let's go to the range and work on it for tomorrow.

Q. With Stadler winning last week and if you win tomorrow, do you think, Peter, this could inspire some of older players on the TOUR, as you said, not to limit yourself?

PETER JACOBSEN: Absolutely. There have been a lot of good players in the last four or five years older players playing well. Look at Nick Price I think he is 46. O'Meara, Jeff Sluman, Kenny Perry, Loren Roberts. I got Loren Roberts' caddy caddying for me this week. There are a lot of good players. I think with the Senior Tour, a lot of players -- when the Senior Tour became an organization 20 years ago, players in their 30's said, hey, I got something to look forward to when I start to slow down.

Q. Considering all that happened again today are you even more surprised to be leading today than yesterday? I mean to you in particular?

PETER JACOBSEN: Yes, I thought probably when I was on 14 or 15 I thought 13-under or 14-under would be the number to be leading today. I will take it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Peter Jacobsen, thank you.

End of FastScripts....