Interviews

An Interview With: BRUCE FLEISHER

MARTY PARKES: Good morning.  It's my pleasure to welcome our defending champion, Mr. Bruce Fleisher into the interview area.  Let's start off by talking about your win last year.

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Last year?  Isn't that history, past history?

Well, I think whenever I hear defending champion, it still sends a little bit of chills through my spine.  It was a wonderful time in my life.  I can't believe the year has gone by so fast and, however, physically I feel it.  I'm certainly looking forward to this week.  I think, the USGA has done a wonderful job here this week.  I'm looking forward to defend.  I'm kind of saddened by the fact that Jack is not here, but bottom line, this is going to be a tough physical week, for anybody.

Q.  At Media Day we talked about the difficulty of walking the golf course and you said that you were thinking about dropping five to seven, did you hit your goal and are you ready?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  No, in fact I went the other way.  My daughter got married about three weeks ago and with that week of partying I got out of my routine.  But I'll probably drop about five or seven this week, trust me, along with everybody else, if we can get you guys out of the media tent, get you guys walking.

Q.  Can you talk about practice rounds and walking the course in this kind of heat.  What's that going to mean to you and for some of the other players to make it around four rounds with weather like this on a course this hilly?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Well, if you want to talk about practice rounds -- I thought I was being pretty smart, and I hope I am.  I didn't play Monday.  I came out and decided not to play Monday.  Yesterday, I went out of town, but I played on the golf cart.  I'm trying to reserve my energies, only knowing that if you're playing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and have to tee it up for four days, you're -- I think you're in for a beating.  But hopefully, this will work today.  I'll get my real practice round in and maybe get ready for this golf course the way I'm going to see it the next four days.  Hopefully, it's a good thing.

Q.  Do you feel any kind of extra pressure because you're defending champion?  It's your trophy until somebody takes it.

BRUCE FLEISHER:  It's for you guys to make that story up.  It's another week of -- it's a major that the Senior Tour has.  We do have four majors, some of us feel that the Open and the PGA are the real majors, for whatever reason.  It's a special week.  It's always been very professional, the courses are picked out gingerly, so to speak.  I'd like to defend it.  I'd love to win it again.  A lot of good players today, so it's going to come down to the guy that is going to be able to pace himself and patient enough and really play a lot of good golf.  I don't know what's in the envelope this year, I don't know what the USGA has got up their sleeves, but you can bet the guy that's going to win it is going to have to play to win.

Q.  Very new course when it comes to courses that get a major.  Can you just talk about -- you've seen the course out here on Media Day, can you talk about what you think made this course an attractive site?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Last Tuesday, I did an outing for the State of Maryland, Dennis Satyshur, who is the director here, is the main reason it was put on, and it was the effort of getting the State of Maryland companies to come out here to see what the USGA picked out this year for the community -- I'm trying to say all the right things -- and I don't remember the question you just asked me.

Q.  I just wanted to know what about this course do you think -- the course, itself, Caves Valley, made it an attractive site?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  I think Tom Fazio, his name alone, I think certainly the surroundings, the esthetics of Caves Valley, the name alone, it's kind of intriguing for -- a lot of people would never get the opportunity to even set foot on this place.  So, I think it's a beautiful, beautiful piece of property.  I think it's eloquently done.  It's a challenging piece of property known as Caves Valley.  And I just think with all the marketing and the -- and all the business opportunities that the USGA provides it's a great match.

Q.  Arnold Palmer, obviously, still a huge attraction.  Can you talk about, as a guy that I'm sure you watched when you were younger, what makes him still an attraction at his age?  Do you think to all these people out here, because he'll have huge galleries, can you talk about the dynamic that is Arnold Palmer?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Arnie probably brought television alive.  I mean, he still has his baby blue eyes and he's still loved by all.  I had an opportunity to play with Arnold last year in the Hyundai Classic, and I was amazed at his graciousness, at his ability to still tolerate people.  I don't know if I could, but wherever this man went, whether you were a cleaning lady or you were the president of some corporation he gave everybody, each and everybody time.  He just stands for what it's all about.  And golf has been very good to him his whole life, and I'm sure he's very thankful.  I know he misses Winnie a lot.  She was his life.  She was his strength.  And I'm sure as he looks back on his life and his career, memories of what it's really all about.  And like I said before, golf has been very, very good to him.

Q.  About ten days ago you were tested at the Nashville event and your agent said that your PSA count was up.  What's it been like the last ten days thinking about that and worrying about your health while trying to play championship golf?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  I think we're all a little bit different, in ideas and our views.  I think a couple of positive things could come out of this, No. 1, awareness.  As you know, the Senior Tour, we have a drive on CAP Cure, that Arnold Palmer and Jim Colbert has been involved in for some years now.  I don't know how many years we've been doing this, five or six years, and have raised a lot of awareness, a lot of dollars.  I think when a personality or when an athlete has this news, it becomes news.  I plan on going in Monday after this week and having some work done and I'll let you know.  I really can't say.  So, as far as really thinking about it, no, no.  I'm thinking the best, you know.  And the attitude certainly is going to get me through this week.

Q.  Have you had any players like you said, Colbert or Palmer or other players come up to you and talk to you since then to let you know --?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Absolut ely, absolutely.

Q.  What's that meant to you?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Well, we're human.  As you well know the Senior Tour is certainly a different animal than any other Tour.  We're competitive, but we're still a show.  We're grateful that we have the opportunity to still be here playing a game that we love.  I know I had a long talk with Bobby Walzel, and he's going to go under the knife.  And it's something that -- God bless him.  I think he'll be fine, but this is real, and it can happen to anybody.  So, again, like I said earlier it's awareness and once you get in your late 40's and '50s, if it's caught early enough it's curable.  So, I feel fortunate I went in and was tested and found out, "Hey, I may have a problem, but I'm going to fix it."

Q.  Last year by winning the Senior Open you joined some elite company by being a USGA champion for the U.S. amateur and the U.S. senior Open, and that was a 30 year span basically between your two titles.  What's in your game plan to reduce the span of time between last year and your next USGA championship?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Well, I can't play in the U.S. amateur championship anymore, I don't think.  Actually, you know what, I got another -- I played in a 1969 Masters and didn't get back to Augusta until 1992.  So, I'm a late bloomer, I'm one of these or kids that bloom late, versus a rose that kind of dies early.  I'm enjoying the ride, it's been a wonderful three and a half years.  You folks have made it terrific for me, and I've got to pinch myself most of the time to make sure I'm still around, to be in the record books with Palmer and Nicklaus, it's kind of neat.  I still don't believe it, to be quite honest with you.  I don't even know if I deserve it, other than the fact that I'm at the right place at the right time.

Q.  You took a few hits when you passed on the U.S. Open.  Could you talk about how you felt about those hits, and then the irony of had you been at the Open you probably wouldn't have gotten tested?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  That's true.  And that's just the way I look at life.  I think there's a reason for everything.  To be quite frank, and we'll make this short, I saw the course, I thought it was unplayable for my game.  I was willing to pass my spot on to some young, aspiring golf professional.  I don't know who got it, I hope he played well.  And you know what, I understand where Hale and Kite were coming from, I think in their hearts they felt I would be a wonderful representative of the Senior Tour.  But it was my choice, it wasn't theirs, and you have to respect it.

Q.  You mentioned that you had played Augusta, which has a reputation for being a difficult course to walk.  Could you compare Caves Valley to Augusta on the difficulty?

BRUCE FLEISHER:  Back in 1969 when I found out I was playing with Arnold Palmer, you can imagine Wednesday night was not very -- it was sleepless.  And I can remember trying to tee my ball up on the first tee with about 20 thousand people around, because the first tee, and I'm sure you guys are aware, you've seen it, you're pretty exposed.  And it was a pretty remarkable shaken moment in my life with the jitters and praying to the Lord I'd hit the ball somewhere, it didn't matter where or when, I just wanted to get off this tee.

But today you have to be physically fit.  And we do have carts out here, but most of us walk.  So most of the senior players, and certainly can't talk for everybody, we're in pretty good shape.  And they're going to be ready for this week.  We've learned to pace ourselves and drink a lot of water, obviously.

Augusta, I can't remember really that far back.  I know that golf course has got a lot of elevation in a lot of places, but I think with the excitement and all the adrenalin that's running through your body, that's something you really don't think about, being tired.  You're only being tired when you're playing lousy.  When you're not playing lousy, you don't -- of course playing lousy makes you tired, physically and mentally.

MARTY PARKES:  Thank you very much for coming in this morning.