KEMPER INSURANCE OPEN

June 4, 2000

Tom Scherrer

TOM SCHERRER: It's tremendous. I've been in the media room after the first round, the second round, and even the third round a couple of times. And to be in here Sunday afternoon is really special and I'm so pleased that my wife and baby were here. My parents were watching at home. It's just been a dream week. And oddly enough, I remember at the TPC this year where we would eat, there was a trophy room of all the trophies from every tournament on the TOUR, and I remember looking at them and thinking, that Kemper Open is really nice, big -- I said, "That's one of the better looking ones in there." So here I am a few months later and I've got it.

TOM SCHERRER: I might have to buy them a drink if I see them again. I'm sure I'll catch up with them sometime. One of my Pro-Am guys, I think putted pretty well on Wednesday; I didn't putt very good. Hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in. And one of the guys, I think his name was Jim Herr gave me a ball mark, a solid gold ball mark from South America or South Africa or something. He said, "If you use this ball mark, you'll win the tournament." "All right, all right. I'll try it." Sure enough, the first day I played pretty well. I'm going to have that ball mark for a long time.

TOM SCHERRER: I was pretty uncomfortable on the 18th tee. When I hit it in the fairway, I knew I had a one-shot lead and 17 and 18 are pretty tough holes. And walking off the tee I heard the crowd kind of moan, and Steve, unfortunately, hit it in the water. So I kind of knew that, you know, I had maybe a two-shot lead, but it didn't make it any easier. I still had to hit a pretty good shot on the last hole. The 2-putt, if I had it in any other circumstance, I would not think twice, but having the 2-putt to win a tournament is a little tougher than it seems. So I'm very happy that I did.

TOM SCHERRER: I didn't see it. But we were walking off the tee, which is kind of just parallel and I looked over and saw Franklin Langham was already walking, so I figured that it was Steve. So that probably helped me a little bit.

TOM SCHERRER: No. You could kind of tell with the moan. I figured it was in the water or else it was in the bunker or something. And then my caddie did tell me he did hit it in the water.

TOM SCHERRER: On the green, when I had my 15-footer. He said that he did hit it in the water, "so let's 2-putt and get out of here."

TOM SCHERRER: It came -- I hit my putt by only a foot or so, and, I don't want to have any putts longer than that on the last hole again. But I was fine. I wasn't emotional or anything and then I saw my wife and she was choked up, fighting back some tears, and I got a little teary-eyed, and having little Tommy there just made it very special.

TOM SCHERRER: It was under the TV crane or something. I hit a horrible shot. I didn't feel comfortable. That's a tough tee shot.

TOM SCHERRER: Sorry, 16. And made an unbelievable par. I took a drop, hit it in the bunker and made a nice up-and-down. They don't put those cranes in the middle of the fairway, they are way right and that's right where I hit it.

TOM SCHERRER: I was under it. I was under it.

TOM SCHERRER: Well, it takes a lot of luck. It's a putt here, a putt there. It's maybe a good lie in the rough, a putt that lips in, a shot that spins back close to the hole rather than going over. If you finish -- I think if you finish in the Top-10, you definitely have a chance to win. And the breaks just kind of went my way and Steve or Franklin or any one of those guys up there could just as easily have won.

TOM SCHERRER: A little bit. It's embarrassing to hit a shot that far off line. I kind of got on myself a little bit, "You can't do this. Too hard. Just got to trust your swing." On 18 I hit a beautiful 3-wood right, right off the tee and, thank God, I had a 9-iron in and not a 4-iron or something.

TOM SCHERRER: Well, pretty awesome. I didn't really see it. I just heard the crowd. Steve is a great player. He's won out here before. He's knocking on the door, it seems like almost every week. Yeah, I feel bad for him, because he certainly could have won. And it's really hard playing with a lead going into the last day. All the pressure is on him and all the odds are on him. There wasn't quite as much pressure on me. We were out before him, and so it's tough playing in that lead spot.

TOM SCHERRER: I don't think so. I'm playing at Woodmont tomorrow at 8:00 something. I wish it did.

TOM SCHERRER: I wish I did. I don't know. It's just one of those things, I guess.

TOM SCHERRER: I'm pretty good. When we first got married at the end of '95, then she started traveling in '96 and the first tournament I played in was Tucson. And she would not watch me putt. She would put her head in her lap, cover her eyes. I'm like, "Jen, this isn't going to work." (Laughter.) So the first few holes in Tucson, I said, "All right I'll make a deal. If I birdie one of the first four or five holes, you have to watch me putt." And, you know the 1st hole was like a wedge, the next hole a par 5 and a couple other wedges; so I kind of figured I might birdie one of the first few holes back in '96. And sure enough I did. So she's had to watch me.

TOM SCHERRER: That's a tough tee shot for me. I never feel too comfortable there; so I hit a 3-wood. Hit it pretty good, right out in the left side and kind of had a hanging lie, and hit a good 5-iron that just kind of drifted a little bit because of the lie and the ball is below my feet. And then walking up to it, I said to my caddie. I'm like, "you know, everything is going to funnel right to the hole so it should not be too hard of a chip." Had a little bit of a tough lie and then actually chunked it a little bit, but it had enough steam and got down there and made an awesome putt.

TOM SCHERRER: Oh, 10 feet, maybe, which I'll remember that putt for a long time.

TOM SCHERRER: It seems like it. I think that I'm one of the better par 3 players, too. I know I was last year. It seems like I make a lot of birdies on par 3s. If anything that I struggle with, that would be my driver. And that would have something to do with my par 5 troubles.

TOM SCHERRER: Well, I saw David Leadbetter, Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, and he gave me a few pointers.

TOM SCHERRER: At Muirfield. And played pretty well the first two days and even played well on Saturday. I finished bogey-double. If I could have parred those last two, I would have -- sort of been in contention, certainly not to win, but maybe had a nice finish. And then the last day, I kind of struggled with my driver, hit it all over the map, shot 75. So I kind of had mixed feelings coming here, kind of close to playing good or close to playing bad. But I tried to look at the positives.

TOM SCHERRER: Jim Springer is my caddie. He's been with me for -- since early '98. So we've been together a while. We're a very good team that works well. We're good friends off the course, as well. I think he's been out here maybe 16 or 17 years and he's won a tournament before with Brad Bryant. I feel very comfortable with him, and listen to him, getting advice from him. So I think his experience certainly helped me.

TOM SCHERRER: Growing up outside of Syracuse, the golf season is at best six months. And I played hockey in the winter and golf in the summers, spring. But, there's been a lot of good players from New York, Jeff Sluman, Mike Holbrook, have all kind of come out of the same area. They have done it.

TOM SCHERRER: I was a little worried about that. I'm like, "This guy is going to do it to me again." But I guess -- I saw that he doubled the 12th hole, and I don't know what he finished, up there somewhere. To beat a guy like that, with his record, his experience, was again something I can tell my grandkids.

TOM SCHERRER: He beat me pretty good; 7-6.

TOM SCHERRER: Feels great. I'd like to have half the career those guys have had. I'd kind of walk by the locker room every day, I did see Freddie when he was just a baby, he looks like 22 or 23, Norman, Stuart Appleby, Rich Beem, just kind of got some momentum and said, "Gee, if those guys can do it, I ought to be able to do it." So it feels great.

TOM SCHERRER: I played hockey lefty, and I did pretty much everything else righty. I don't know why I was left in hockey. It was just natural.

TOM SCHERRER: About eight years for an overnight success, maybe. No, I've been very happy with my career. I feel I've gotten better every year. I got out here when I was 25, which is a pretty good achievement. Played well right away. I finished third in Phoenix, had a chance. I lost to Phil Mickelson by a shot, being in the last group with Justin, oddly enough. And I had some shoulder troubles and fell back down and slowly kind of worked my way back up. So I think as I have my whole year, even as a young boy, I remember just sitting with my father, and, "Gee, Dad, maybe I can break 100 this year." "Well, if you work hard." And next winter, I can break 90, and 80 and 70. So I'm pretty much a hard worker. And I'm just going to keep plugging it long.

TOM SCHERRER: Probably. I think I can clear my schedule.

TOM SCHERRER: Yes. Again, growing up in upstate New York, I think if I had won, I would have stayed amateur and enjoyed all the things that came with being an Amateur champion. But I finished second and it was kind of hard for me to put a whole year on hold, having no money and thought it would be best for me to turn pro and move on.

TOM SCHERRER: I went to TOUR school and got on the Nike Tour in '93.

TOM SCHERRER: I didn't have surgery. I just had some troubles and rehab and such. Actually I've lost about 30 pounds since March. I felt that I needed to lose some weight and get in shape, and I do work out fairly regularly. So I think the shoulder troubles with rehabing I figured I might as well go all the way.

TOM SCHERRER: Yes.

TOM SCHERRER: You know, again I played hockey left-handed, which was kind of strange. I don't know, similar kind of movement maybe. I know a lot of good hockey players are good golfers, but they have got their summers off. So maybe the baseball guys if they had their summers off, maybe they would be better, or other sports.

TOM SCHERRER: Yes. I'm sure it will change. Something I've been dreaming about forever. And it's what every little kid tries to do. It's going to change my life, but it's not going to change me.