U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2000

Tom Kite

TOM KITE: First time to see it.

TOM KITE: I think it certainly has the potential to be a very, very hard golf course. Very difficult. A lot of it is going to depend on what the weather does to us over the next few days and how soft the golf course stays. These greens are very severe. The golf course is, from tee-to-green, is just wonderful. Just straightforward right there. Right there in front of you. You know exactly where to hit it on every hole; sets up wonderfully well, you know. The fairways are narrow, but not unbelievably narrow. But there are a number of holes where you absolutely must drive it in the fairway, because if you don't, they have cross-hazards on a lot of those holes. So if you don't drive it on the fairway on those holes, you are going to be pitching out because you won't be able to get it over the water hazard or the bunker or whatever the hazard may be. But the main part of this golf course is going to be the greens, and they are severely undulating -- a lot of little ledges and nooks and crannies where they can tuck the pins. And if the greens dry out, if they get firm and fast, we can be in for a very long, difficult week. If we get some rain, then it will make it a little bit easier. But even if we get that, it is not going to be an easy golf course. I am very impressed with it.

TOM KITE: Well, heading into it? I am playing fairly well right now. I don't get into giving grades. I will let other players do that. That is a little more sophisticated than I am. But I feel like I am playing fairly well right now. Obviously won a couple of weeks ago up in Chicago, and had a reasonably decent U.S. Open out at Pebble Beach. Was not -- didn't get the good end of the draw out there, and didn't play well on Friday and Saturday or the second and third round, you know. Those days kind of ran into one another out there, as you all know. But didn't play well in the second and third round. But played reasonably well the first and fourth. And so I feel like my game is in good shape. I am pleased with where it is right now.

TOM KITE: Most severe greens on the golf course I think are the 15th and 16th. That is just to pick out two. But all the others are fairly difficult. There are quite a few that are going to create a lot of problems for a lot of guys, and you are going to hit some good shots that are going to catch a ridge and the ball is going to start funneling down and end up -- you think you might hit it in there five or six or ten feet, and going to have a 30- or 40-foot putt up over a hump, up over a ridge. That is going to happen quite a few times, and it is going to be a little frustrating for a number of players. You are going to have to really maintain your patience level and your composure, and just know that that is going to happen. Of course, then obviously you are going to have to putt well. Because the lag putting is going to be crucial this week, because you are going to have so many putts where you are going up and over, or up over on a couple of ridges or along a ridge, and speed is going to be paramount. Being able to control the speed of those putts is going to be huge this week. You are going to have to do that to even have a chance.

TOM KITE: It is our first Senior major. I mean, first Senior Open. And obviously, we have been looking forward to getting in here. I know Tom was in here a few minutes ago, and we played a practice round today with Andy North, and it is nice to have a chance to see this. We now have eight majors instead of only four, like the guys on the regular Tour. So that is the good news/bad news. They all seem to come in one chest. For those of us that were in the Open and going to the British Open, we have got four major championships in a six-week span, so that is very difficult. But obviously we are looking forward to playing, and especially when you got a golf course like this. This is my first time to see it. I have heard so much about it for years and years, and it is all it is cracked up to be.

TOM KITE: The greens are severe, and they are going to have to be careful in where they set their pins. I don't think it is -- it is not going to be that difficult to locate a general area, but similar to what the USGA did to us at Pinehurst --, you know, two feet or a foot and a half, or three feet, one way or the other, is huge. I think at Pinehurst they came very close to setting up the golf course perfectly. I think they missed it about a foot and a half to two feet every hole for about 72 holes. I think they got it just a couple of feet too close to the edge or a couple of feet too close to the ridges in a lot of cases, and I think they -- you know, at Pinehurst, I think that golf course played probably a little too severe. I think they can do the same thing here. If they -- if you have an area that is reasonably sufficient for holding a pin but you get the pin just a little close to the drop off, then it can really make a big difference in this golf course. I hope they do a wonderful job of setting it up. They are going to have to be very careful. And especially, like I said earlier, if the greens get drier and a little faster, they are going to have to be very careful. They could have some bruised egos out there. A lot of -- 150 of them.

TOM KITE: I had a good day today. I played with Dick Smith, who was president of the PGA when Tom Watson was the Captain of the Ryder Cup team. As I say, with Andy North and Tom Watson. So I was out there with a couple of my good friends, and we had a great time out there playing today. I think everybody is enjoying it, or at least everybody in our group was having a good time. And we know the importance of the event; and obviously, we all want to be playing -- bring our peak game in here. But it is a heck of a lot easier to maintain your patience when you are having a good time.

TOM KITE: We didn't have any games. I guess that is why we were in a good frame of mind. Didn't have any matches. Nobody lost any money. Of course, nobody won any money either.

TOM KITE: Certainly, what we have seen The Tradition is a very difficult golf course where we play out at Desert Mountain. As those of you that were at that PGA Seniors down in Florida know, that is a very difficult golf course. And we had some tough conditions down there. This golf course is going to be very hard. But it is not going to be like Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach was just, I mean, that was just a very, very difficult setup. It was a brutal golf course that everybody but one was having difficulty with. It was a very trying week for a lot of players that went in there with their games, hitting all cylinders, and they still struggled on that golf course. Saucon will not be that hard, for sure. But it is still going to be much more difficult than what we see on a normal weekly basis. We will have to wait and see whether that proves to be an advantage. But those of us who have played a number of tournaments on the regular Tour and those of us that have played a couple of the majors Championships on the regular Tour, you have to think that that is probably a little bit of an advantage. But, again, we will have to wait and see.

TOM KITE: It is nice of Dave to say that. Doesn't really mean a whole lot being tabbed as one of the favorites. But certainly Hale is playing very well, Tom is playing well, and I am playing well. So that doesn't really surprise me. As far as the pressure, you know, we all want to play well, and we all want to have a great week. All three of those that you have named, plus a whole list of other guys, think they have a wonderful chance of winning this tournament this week. So the pressure is going to be evenly distributed among a number of players.

TOM KITE: Three is, I think, cutting it a little bit short. I think you need to include Andy North in there. And the way he has played, I think you have to include Doug Tewell - five guys.

TOM KITE: You will have to ask everybody else as to whether we have brought to the Tour what they thought we were going to bring. I think we have had or I will speak for me, I can't speak for Tom, Andy, and Lanny and Doug, but I certainly have enjoyed my short time on the SENIOR TOUR. I have enjoyed getting out here. The guys have been super. They have been very nice and encouraging and accommodating and helpful. It has been a fun experience as far as I am concerned and I really enjoyed getting out here. It is a double-edge sword, I miss the PGA TOUR. I have a lot of good friends out there, but I have played a number of tournaments now on the PGA TOUR and it is nice to get back out there. But this is fun and, you know, hopefully we have been able to add a little something to the SENIOR TOUR. I don't think that the SENIOR TOUR was in the dire straits that a number of people said it was. There were a number of articles written that the SENIOR TOUR was on its death bed, and that certainly was not the case. It is a wonderful show that they have out here and the guys do a great job. But if the five of us that came out in late 1999, 2000 age, if we can add a little bit to it that just makes it that much better.

TOM KITE: By who?

TOM KITE: I don't really worry too much about what other peoples' expectations are. I expected to have a good week out at Pebble Beach. I expected to play actually much better than I did. I was a little disappointed there: The draw that I got there; the way the weather turned because I think I saw somewhere where three-fourths or about three-fourths of the people that made the cut came from the early/late rotation. I was in the late/early. So that was certainly a bad part of the draw. That just nothing you can do about it. It just happens that way. But I expected to play well. I won the week before. I went to a golf course that I love; that I have had great success on, and enjoy playing so, I expected to have a good week out at Pebble Beach, significantly better than what I did show. I was a little bit disappointed in the results out there. This week, coming in, I hope to have better results. I hope to play better than I did out there at Pebble Beach and capitalize on some good shots and some good opportunities and hopefully be able to really contend in this tournament.

TOM KITE: It's an awesome field, there is no question about it. That is the thing that is so amazing about the SENIOR TOUR is not only is it legendary in the things that they have done, but it has also been the things that they are doing right now. The guys are really playing some great golf and it is not just, you know, let's just come out and watch a bunch of old guys walk around on their canes out there. The guys can really, really play some golf. I guess one of the biggest surprises to me in coming out here on the SENIOR TOUR is how competitive and how well the guys really do play. You kind of get on the PGA TOUR and you see a lot of these mid-60s scores being shot on a weekly basis you think well, golly, I mean, they are probably playing 5,800-yard golf courses. That is not the case. The golf courses are fairly challenging. They are not as difficult as the regular Tour, but they are quite challenging, so I am constantly amazed at not only how good-I mean, we all know the records of the guys in this field, but what amazes me more is what they continue to do. Last week is a perfect example, with Trevino winning. That was awesome and fun to watch.

TOM KITE: Yeah, I played -- let me see, the last two tournaments that I played, I played with him on Sunday at -- well, last three -- played with him Sunday at Nashville, a tournament that he won. Hale and I were tied for the lead going into the Sunday. He ended up winning the golf tournament. Then Hale and Tom and I got paired together the first two rounds at Pebble Beach. Hale is playing very well - surprise, surprise.

TOM KITE: I don't know enough about the golf course yet to really give you a comment on that. Just one practice round, seeing it today, and again, the greens were relatively soft today, which I don't anticipate them staying like this unless we continue to have some rain. It will be a little early for me to give you a number there.

TOM KITE: Yeah, I mean, I am used to seeing narrow fairways. Of course, all the guys that played last week, I didn't play at Cadillac, but they said the fairways were very narrow there too. But yeah, I think we are getting to the meat of the Tour in that with all the major Championships you are -- we are away from some of the TPCs that have the 50- and 60-yard fairways and we are now going into a large portion of the Tour where they are able to start narrowing up the fairways and that is on both Tours. Westchester is a perfect example on the regular Tour of a normal PGA TOUR tournament that narrows up the fairways. And Montclair last week for the SENIOR TOUR, Kemper Lakes has some fairly narrow fairways for a big golf course. We are getting into some of the months where we are able to grow the rough up and we are seeing that. Certainly playing at Pebble Beach on that big a golf course having to drive the ball in the fairway to even have any chance of making pars, you know, kind of gets you thinking in that mentality.

TOM KITE: Right.

TOM KITE: The thing why you can't comment on it, it is all after the fact. I don't think the way Tiger played had he been in the other half, he still would have won the golf tournament. Maybe not by 15; probably would have won by 12. Not that big a deal there, but, you know, except for him, it was -- it had a huge impact on the outcome of the tournament. But you don't know whether early/late or late/early is going to be the advantage until after it is over. Until you know what the weather does and how the weather delays break, there is just no way to speculate on that. And again, it averages out. It doesn't -- if you are in that one particular tournament, yeah, you get the wrong draw, that is bad luck. But over a year's time or, you know, five-year span it is all going to average out. You are going to get some good ones and you are going to get some bad ones.