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SENIOR BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


July 24, 2003


Tom Kite


TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Tom, you started with double-bogey and then play the last six holes at 4-under par, and right now you're tied for the lead with Tom Watson at 4-under par. Just a couple general thoughts and then we'll go hole-by-hole.

TOM KITE: Obviously you hate to start on a golf course like this with a double-bogey. Not the start I was looking for. But been playing well the last couple of weeks over in the States, and had a good finish the last tournament I played in where I tied for second with Tom and Jim Thorpe at the Ford PLAYERS Championship. So I came in here with a lot of confidence.

That little double-bogey on the first hole was like a slap on the face. It woke me up a little bit. I think concentration kind of peaked from that point on. I was playing very steadily and very nice all the rest of the way around and not quite able to capitalize on everything on the front nine, but then I made some really nice birdies on the back nine on the real meat of the golf course. I was quite pleased with the way I finished there.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Just tell us about the first and then we'll go through the birdies.

TOM KITE: I drove it in the right bunker, just had a wedge out. All I could do was just put it out on the fairway, and when I laid it up out of that bunker, it went into one of those sand-filled divots. I only had 112 yards to the hole, just trying to play a little 9-iron because it was dead in the wind out of that sand divot and I just cold-bladed it. No excuses. Just looked like something you would see in a good Pro-Am. It was just an ugly, ugly shot. Knocked it over the green and was not able to get it up-and-down. That was the start.

Good birdie on the second hole coming back. Hit an iron off the tee, wedge into the green and made about a 15-footer.

Then parred all the rest of the way around until the seventh, the par 5. That's really not a par 5 the way we were playing it this week. They have got it way up. I hit 3-wood off the tee and still hit 9-iron into the green on the second shot, so that's a pretty easy, pretty easy hole if you keep the drive in the fairway. I had about a 15-footer for eagle and just missed it, to 2-putt birdie there.

Parred all the rest of the way around till No. 13 and hit a good drive, 8-iron to about eight feet and made that.

Really good birdie on 14. That hole is playing left-to-right into the wind. Hit a 6-iron from 157 yards up the hill from about eight feet and made that.

Parred 15 and 16.

Then 17, I hit 3-wood to the middle of the green and 2-putted, probably 25 feet.

Then hit 7-iron on 18 about probably 20 feet and made that putt for birdie. So good finish.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay. We'll go to questions.

Q. Were you surprised at how you played the last six holes?

TOM KITE: Total surprise. Total surprise. No question about it, too.

I won't say it was a total surprise because I was hitting the ball very solidly. But really, all of those holes you are not expecting to make birdies. If you are hitting solid, you are hoping to make pars. And I hit every green on the back nine -- no. I guessed I missed the 16th green, but just a little bit on left-hand side. But basically hit every green on the back nine and the par 5 in two. So I was quite pleased.

Some of those irons, those couple that turned out eight feet, those are nice when you get it in there that close, of course, playing the way it was, the back nine today.

Q. Did you think the golf course is set up too short?

TOM KITE: You know, it's hard to say because I don't know how the European PGA and the R&A normally set this tournament up, with this being my first time to play here.

But it seems like a couple of holes, especially on the front nine that are downwind are probably set up a little bit -- a little bit easier than you want to.

Having said that, I will also say that you've got a little bit different situation when you're setting up for the Champions Tour or for the Senior Tour because you have such a wide range of abilities and talents. The goal is not to embarrass anybody and we're really not trying to do that.

We'll give up a few good scores on one end to save having some of the players that we really want to see come out here that are playing quite late in their life, if you will.

Q. This week you have an age range of 50 to 81?

TOM KITE: Yeah, exactly. It's a totally different deal than what you have at a normal PGA TOUR event or certainly at a major championship. Because with those, you're trying to set it up as difficult as possible, to separate the good players from the poor players. We have a little bit different situation here.

So some of that might be understood. You know, the seventh hole is probably the one hole that you would certainly question that they probably could have gone back. But if the wind switches on Saturday the way they are talking about it, well, that might turn into a pretty good hole.

Q. Is this your first time here at Turnberry?

TOM KITE: First time I've been here? No, no. I didn't play '77, but I played '86 and '94. I had a good finish in '94. I finished Top-10, I think.

Q. Turnberry is not currently in line for another Open Championship?

TOM KITE: Is that right? I did not know that. There are a lot of golf courses that are clamoring to get an Open Championship. I would assume that in some short order, Turnberry would probably get that. Obviously, if the Open Championship would have to come here, they would have to play every one of the back tees that we just talked about that we are not playing, and they might even have to add a few more to strengthen the golf course to combat the distance that the guys are hitting it right now.

You know, there's plenty of room to add some length on a lot of those holes out there. So they might need to make some changes to accommodate that. But I'm sure it's going to be back in the rotation pretty soon.

How far out is it scheduled? It's only three years.

Q. One of the reasons given has been poor road system?

TOM KITE: Yeah, you've got that at a couple courses. I'm always amazed, the locals seem to do a really good job of getting people in and out in most of the areas. I know Muirfield is tight with the road system. Coming from Edinburgh, that could be a day trip from Edinburgh out to Muirfield. There are a couple of those that can be a little bit of a challenge.

Q. I believe your first time here was the Walker Cup?

TOM KITE: Walker Cup, golly, that was my first time to come over here at St. Andrews. Played the Walker Cup one week and the British Amateur at Carnoustie the following week. I really had some great -- still have some great memories from those, apart from the fact that we lost that Walker Cup and we're still a little ticked off about it. That was a great team and I still have some great friends that were on that team and some great friends that -- it was the British side at that time, the British side. That was the start of a very nice relationship.

I'm sorry that I never had a chance -- or that I never won the Open Championship. I had some chances.

St. George's was a wonderful -- the 10th hole, yeah, that was one of the freakiest things. I saw those quirky bounces they were getting there last week, and that's some of the stuff that happens. But I had some other chances that were very, very good. I'm disappointed that I never won the Open Championship but I still have great memories. I love coming over here.

Q. Have you had any duels with Tom Watson that you can remember?

TOM KITE: Well, right after we turned 50, we had a great head-to-head at the Tradition tournament, which is one of our majors over in the States. We actually went into a six-hole playoff. Larry Nelson was in the playoff, also. He went out on the second hole, I think.

But Tom and I went for six holes and I finally hit it like that (indicating close) on a par 3 to close him out.

But it's funny, we were talking about it the other day, that Tom was born in September of '49. Lanny and I were born in December of '49. So, we are all the same age, came out on TOUR the same time. They came out in '71 and I came out in '72.

Yet, even though we are exactly the same age, our careers are -- over the long haul they are very similar. Tom's is obviously a little bit better than Lanny's and nine, or a lot better than Lanny's and mine, but we all did some very nice things, it's funny that we did not peak at the same time. Because when we came out, Lanny was by far the best player. He had all of his good tournaments, or most of his good tournaments, through the 70s. Tom became a really good player in the late 70s and then through the 80s. And I really started my run in the mid 80s through the early 90s.

So we all aged differently, I guess, or matured differently. Just got there at different times. So even though we are the same age, we didn't have that many -- it's surprising that we didn't have that many head-to-heads against each other.

So I think we look forward to them out here right now. We've had a couple of them on the Champions Tour and it's been fun.

Q. Wouldn't it be nice if you two went head to head on Sunday?

TOM KITE: Wouldn't that be great? I think it would be wonderful. Both of us would love it. There's certainly a lot of other people out there that have some say-so in this matter, too. Tom is playing very well right now, and like I said, I feel very good about my game, so should be a neat week.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Thank you.

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