Interviews

An Interview With: TOM WATSON

MARTY PARKES:  It's my pleasure to welcome Tom Watson into the interview room.  When you came in the other day you talked about your plans for this week, and I would assume that a minus 4 after two rounds, you're probably pretty content with that score.

TOM WATSON:  It was a pretty good round of golf.  I left a lot on the greens, as I did yesterday, more today than I did yesterday, but I'm still in the golf tournament, 4-under par is still right there.  I look here (Indicating score sheet) and I like the way I'm driving the ball.  I'm hitting 11 fairways, and 12 fairways and 14 greens both days, that's pretty good golf at an Open quality golf course.  The only negative you see on here, 33-putts today and that could have been a lot better.

My round was -- I started off with a birdie on No. 10.  I hit a 2-iron and a sand wedge about 10 feet and made the putt.

I 3-putted No. 12 from about 35 feet, I left my first putt about 6 feet short.

I birdied the 16th hole right after the rain delay was ended.  I hit a pitching wedge in to about 3 feet from the hole and made the putt.

I bogeyed both 17 and 18.  I hit it -- I hooked my drive at 17 in the rough, short of the green, out about 12 feet with a sand wedge, missed the putt.

18, kind of similar.  I had a good drive, poor second shot with a 5-iron, that was the wrong club.  Should have hit 4-iron.  And then, I hit a bunker shot out about ten feet and missed that putt.

On the front side it was -- I made a birdie at No. 3.  I hit a 3-iron about 20 feet from the hole, 2-putted for birdie.

No. 5, I put my tee ball in the rough and put my second shot in the front bunker out about 15 feet and missed the putt.

7, par-5, I hit 3-wood, 3-iron and a pitching wedge about six inches from the hole, easy birdie.

And that was -- the round of golf as far as birdies and bogeys, but quite a few missed opportunities with making -- actually putts inside the 10, 12 foot range, four or five putts there I could have made, and I didn't.

Q.  Tom, are Senior Majors different than regular majors in the kind of players who can win them in terms of when you look at -- when you guys are in the regular Tour it seems that the players who win the Majors on a regular basis are guys who have been accomplished players for most of their careers.  Out here it seems to be a little different?

TOM WATSON:  How do you think it's different out here?

Q.  I think there are more first time winners of Open championships, than there usually are on the regular Tour.  Is it just a difference in the type of players or is it a difference in the way the courses are set up?

TOM WATSON:  There's so many answers, there's no answer to it, one of the two.  In answer to your question, my first impression, first way of answering would be that you normally have people who are in the hunt in the Majors in the regular Tour that get in the hunt out here.

As far as the golf courses being maybe a little easier out here for the Senior players to win on, I think that's probably true.

I guess that probably answers your question, because it's just a little easier to get around.  And we have that five year window, that seven year window out here, before we lose our elasticity, and that putts a lot of the guys who have won it in the past, kind of out of the realm, and let some people in there who have won it here in the prime of their senior career.

Q.  Yesterday Eaks is in the lead, today Walter Hall.  Those are two guys that never really did anything on the regular Tour.  As such an accomplished player as you have been, do you think that's a great thing?  Is it good for the game to have those kind of guys in the mix?

TOM WATSON:  You can't take anything away at all from these guys.  As they would tell you, it's a 72-hole event.  It's always nice to be in the lead, though.  And these players -- Walter Hall's, he's won tournaments out here.  But he's been there.  He's had actually a pretty good stretch of golf this year, I've seen his name up there recently.  People ask you:  Who do you pick to win a tournament?  Well, you pick who's playing well at the time, who is seemingly playing well at the time.

MARTY PARKES:  Thank you very much for coming in.

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