An interview with:
BRUCE LIETZKE

RAND JERRIS: It is an honor and a pleasure to introduce the 2003 United States Senior Open champion, Bruce Lietzke. Bruce, congratulations.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Thank you. Well, it's been a really long week. Today seemed like a very long day and I have been trying to collect my thoughts and sign autographs and do all of the right things and I haven't collected my thoughts entirely but I'm still trying to figure out this major championship thing and it may take me days and weeks to figure it out. I will tell you what I'm starting to feel and I will have to ask guys that have won masters and majors on the regular TOUR and majors out here; I think it has more to do with handling a golf course that is brutal. And if you think of U.S. Opens and PGA championships, Augusta can play that way and certainly British Open golf courses, it's not the quality. It's not the person that finished second or third or the quality of the field that you beat, but it's did you survive a week on a golf course that tests every part of your game. And I'm not so sure if I feel so much as champion as if I feel as much as a survivor.

This was not the kind of day that I envisioned trying to protect a 4-shot lead and actually trying to extend a 4-shot lead. I always expect to hit fairways and greens and get my putting to work and my tee shots did not work this week and I talked earlier about how few times I was able to hit driver and my 3-woods and 2-irons to have tees did not find the fairway very often. I understand I finished 58th in driving accuracy. And I think I told you guys I'm ranked No. 1 on driving statistics on the Champion's Tour. This was a tournament that I won with my putter for the most part. And today I won the golf tournament basically because of two hook shots. And those are words that I didn't think I would have been saying in public. But the two key shots that come to my mind right now is a 5-iron shot on No. 8 after a real nice tee shot to the bottom of the hill. I had 180 to the front and I had 205 to the hole. But I had trees blocking a cut shot. I would have preferred to hit a cut but I had to draw a 5-iron around the trees. I hit that shot eight feet from the hole and made eagle which really gave me a nice separation from Tom and Vicente for a brief period.

And another shot, the other shot that just immediately comes to mind was on this hole; I drove it into the right rough again. As I was getting my yardage I heard Roger Maltbie by saying on his microphone that "the only shot Lietzke has is a low cut shot under the trees." And I hadn't even been to my golf ball yet so I'm just assuming that I'm going have to hit a low cut shot which I don't mind hitting but I got over there and I looked at this low cut shot and that was not much of an option. As I was looking at it, I'm just certain I could not have made par going that way. I was looking at that; I saw this huge opening out to the right and I'm just sure Roger -- I would imagine Roger saw that opening but he was just thinking "Lietzke is not going to try to hit this shot" or "he can't hit this shot."

But it was the real percentage shot for me of having a chance at least escaping the trees and getting it close to the green. I didn't think I could knock it out but I thought I would knock it close. And I hit about a 25- or 30-yard hooking 7-iron from a decent lie that I was lucky to have, but it was a huge hook. For me that's just a gigantic hook that ended up five yards off the front of the green in the fairway and it allowed me to make a nice up-and-down and escape with a par and I am certain that par was not an option if I would have hit my little left-to-right shot.

So a 64 yesterday certainly gave me the chance to win this golf tournament but on today's round of golf, two hooks won the golf tournament for me.

All of these years I have had the guys on the PGA TOUR and Champions TOUR fooled that I can't hook the ball and now I had t to spill my guts and tell you that I can and that they actually won me the 2003 Senior Open. It's hard for me to say but I'm here to admit it right now. Two really amazing shots.

RAND JERRIS: Bruce for the historical record can you walk us through the birdies and bogeys.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes, let's go through them, lots of them. I bogeyed the opening hole. I drove it into the left rough with a 9-iron; I came up short of the green. I chipped -- I left my chip about 14 feet short and I missed that putt for an opening bogey.

Mostly 2-putt pars all the way around -- I'm trying to think -- until the 8th hole and that's where I made a great drive down the middle of the fairway to the very end of the fairway. I was actually through the fairway into the short rough and that's where I had tree limbs hanging over to keep me from trying to hit my fade. So I drew a 5-iron around the trees, landed just on the front of the green and ran back to the back pin placement and had about an eight-foot eagle putt and I made that putt for an eagle 3.

No. 9, I hit it into the short rough. I wasn't in the heavy rough. Then I hit a 7-iron and buried it in the left-front bunker to a very deep buried lie. I blasted out from that lie to about 14 feet from the hole and I 2-putted for 14 feet for a bogey.

A 1-putt par on 10, I knocked it over the green on 10 into the back fringe and I made a pitching wedge down to about five feet and I made a nice five-footer for a par on 10. Pardon; 11.

No. 12 was a 3-putt bogey. I hit a 7-iron to the back of the green. I hit my first putt about six feet past the hole and I missed that six-footer coming back for a 3-putt bogey.

Again, 14, was an up-and-down par from short of the green.

15, on the green and 2-putted.

And 16, hit a 3-wood into the left rough. I had an 8-iron second shot and I was just trying to putt that 8-iron. The pin was cut over the bunker, the very left edge of the green and I really didn't want to go over the bunker so I played at the middle of the green. Tom was not in position to make a birdie there, so I didn't feel too threatened. I wanted to make par and I aimed my 8-iron at the middle of the green. It felt pretty good as far as distance was going to be but I pulled the shot. I don't know where it bounced, it just carried the bunker, probably landed in the heavy rough and trickled down two feet from the hole. Just a terrifically lucky golf shot. I was trying the to do something else.

I still believe those are the kind of things that win you golf tournaments, and I think they especially win you golf tournaments on golf courses that are as tough as this one. That gave me a 4-shot lead and I felt really good about closing out the tournament despite butchering up the 17th hole. I actually hit a very nice tee shot on 17, a hooked 3-wood that took a bad bounce to the right and kicked down to this slope that I had a terrible lie on. That was one of the bad breaks today on my tee shot and I just kind of slashed that ball out with an 8-iron to a better lie. Then I hit a 9-iron into the middle of the green. I had probably a 28-foot putt that I ran about four feet past the hole above the hole; the last place I wanted to be. So despite having that 4-shot lead I was letting some of that oil leak out but I made a real nice tester of a putt right there on 17 just for that bogey.

I still felt good on 18 with a 3-shot lead as long as Tom didn't hit a real close second shot. Again, I sprayed my tee shot into the right rough. I put an 8-iron, the one place I was not going to hit the ball was to the right of the green on 18. With any kind of a shot lead you don't go to the right and I pulled my 8-iron second shot into the bunker. Fortunately it wasn't buried and then when Tom didn't hit a real good close iron shot I felt very comfortable with my bunker shot. Again, I was not going to hit my bunker shot past the hole so I just smashed it out feeling very confident that he wasn't going to make birdie and I could make double bogey and still won and I 2-putted for a bogey after exploding out of the bunker on 18.

RAND JERRIS: Let's take some questions, please.

Q. Bruce, could you sense the gallery's sentiment toward Tom and for Bruce and was it hard to block out sentiment on your part for Bruce, particularly?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes. The sense you are talking about is hearing, and it was tough not to hear. But I got to tell you something: I am a big fan of Tom Watson. I also am a big fan of Bruce Edwards. I'm as big a fan as those that were out there pulling for them. And I said in the ceremony down there if I possibly could I would share this trophy with Tom Watson and Bruce Edwards. They are a great team. They represent everything that's great about golf. Citizenship; good citizenship; playing by the rules, great integrity. I'm as big a fan as those people out there. It did not disturb me. I'm very graceful. I had my wife out there today and amidst some of the cheers I heard my wife's voice and that was enough to fill me and I had my share of people giving me applause and giving me encouragement, but the times I could hear my wife's voice it filled me with joy and filled me with pride.

Q. Bruce, do you remember the last time you played a championship round of golf or even 72 holes hitting as few drivers as you did here?

BRUCE LIETZKE: No, it's never happened.

Q. Never happened?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Never happened. I would guess that the fewest times that I ever hit a driver anywhere on any golf course would maybe be 8 -- oh, I almost had a flash there. I want to say Oakmont or something like Oakmont that I hit maybe eight drivers. But never two or three. I hit three today, I believe, and never that few, no.

Q. Due to the fact that you were having trouble hitting the ball in the fairway did you want to discard the plan and hit the driver any way?

BRUCE LIETZKE: No, because the bunkers are so severe and the bunkers literally choke off the fairway at about 290 depending on what the wind is and I am very capable. The bunkers are death. If you have seen the facing of most of the bunkers out there, the bunkers are literally death out there. And for the most part I stuck to my strategy. I did add the driver on No. 5 on Saturday and Sunday. I had been hitting 3-woods there. But no, I just didn't believe, and if -- Tom Watson hit a 2-iron today 10 or 11 times. And I told you on Thursday Gil Morgan never hit an arrive veer the entire day. So it's just not feasible -- it's not smart to pull out driver even though that would have felt more comfortable to me but I would have been putting it in places that were even more deadly than the rough areas that I was putting the ball in. I kept trying to correct. My swing was really not comfortable today and it comes from trying to squeeze it into these narrow fairways and knowing what the penalty is if you hit it in the rough. I guess that's what major championships and tough golf course setups are all about. It's trying to control it. And I didn't control that very good. It's actually something that I'm going to have to go to work on. I'm not pleased at all with the way that I drove the ball this week. It shows a lack of continuity through my golf bag. I'm a wonderful driver of the golf ball but I'm finding out I'm pretty crappy when it comes to 3-wood and 3-irons off the tees and I am going to have to do something about that. This will not be the last championship test that has the 5-yard-wide fairways so once again the putter won this golf tournament for me and several of my golf clubs let me down.

Q. Bruce, when you look back at this, regardless of how you in your mind justify major championships, will you be as proud as anything at how you managed to win when you were far from at your best; is that what will give you as much pride as everything?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes, that too, and hanging in there and staring down a guy like Tom Watson that you know is capable of putting on a charge and you know having some adversity out there. Fortunately I had that nice 4-shot cushion to help me through the day. I never gave that cushion up but I still continued to strive and my -- the last thing in golf that I really, really, really want to do is win a golf tournament by 6 or 8 or 10 shots and I would love to play the last five holes, as I have said before, I would like to kiss the babies and hug my wife and tell jokes and act likely Lee Trevino playing the last five holes. I'm not very good at doing that. I had a chance today. I believe I had a 6-shot lead, or did I have a 5-shot lead? I think I had a 6-shot lead when I eagled the 8th hole and nothing changed in my thinking. But I really wanted to win by 8 or 10 shots. I didn't want to put myself through that and I didn't do that. So once again I have given up that opportunity but I will take a lot of pride in surviving one of the toughest tests of golf that I have ever been exposed to. With this golf course set up I think it's probably in the top-5 of the toughest tournaments that I have ever played in my life and maybe that's where that appreciation comes from for mayor championship winners, the guys that have gone to Pebble Beach and Shinnecock and Oakmont and Oakland Hills, maybe that is where the pride comes from instead of beating the champions, maybe it's just that you survived the ultimate test in golf.

And golf is still in the same place for me. I don't know where this ranks as far as my PGA TOUR goes. I still want to say my first TOUR wins and my Colonial and special Texas tournaments have special places in my heart and there isn't any good reason that I can't make more room for surviving on one of the toughest tests of golf that I have ever been exposed to.

So I will find a way to make room. This is certainly the biggest win of my champion's TOUR career. I have only been out here a couple of years and I still think of myself sometimes as a PGA TOUR player. And I still think of the majors, the Masters, the PGA, the British Open and the U.S. Open. So I'm new to this tour and I'm certainly new to this idea of winning a major championship. So give me some time to reflect on it, but I'm very happy to be here right now for sure.

Q. Bruce, in some ways it seems like a transition from 24 hours ago when we heard you in the flash area talk about that you may look at trying to find a way to defend -- yesterday, I know when I talked to you, you talked about winning this tournament would have been just like any other champion's tournament, did something happen over the four hours except for the fact that you won that made you feel differently?

BRUCE LIETZKE: No. I will tell you, this is the biggest -- this is the biggest tournament that I have won in the last two years. I can't ignore that. The media feel here, the golf course set up; it's obvious when you come here that this is not a Champion's TOUR event. But I try to win every tournament that I go to and I still, like I said, I still think of myself as a PGA TOUR player. I'm still pretty fresh off of that tour. And those are the majors that I have looked at and lusted after for 27 years.

All of my days as a kid practicing on the putting green and having that four-footer, not one time in all of my life as a kid did that four-footer ever -- was that four-footer ever for the U.S. Senior Championship Open. That was for The Masters, and for the U.S. Open.

So you know, I really feel better leaving it up to you guys to tell me where this tournament falls. I still don't even like the idea that I'm 51 years old. I still got some of that rebelliousness in me. I still think I'm a TOUR player and Jay Hass is probably going to feel the same way when he comes over here and Craig Stadler, too. I'm going to leave it up to you guys. I think you guys -- it's more of your place to tell me where this tournament falls in my list of accomplishments than it is for me to list it. I'm still pretty fresh to this thing. But I came here to win this golf tournament and I will go to Detroit in two weeks and I will try to win that golf tournament, too. They tell me that's a major championship, too. And if you tell me it is, I will believe you.

Q. One follow-up question, you talked about Colonial and you talked about your first win did you ever struggle as much around 72 holes and win a tournament as did you this week?

BRUCE LIETZKE: I have never struggled off the tee that much before. That has always been my bread and butter. A two times the putter has won a golf tournament for me. Most of the time my fairways and greens have won golf tournaments for me a majority of the time.

I have never struggled off the tee like I did really the last two days. I missed a ton of fairways yesterday. Somebody said that I finished 58 this -- of the guys that missed the cut I finished 58 out of fairways hit. That was the real problem for me. This probably could have been the tournament I could have won by 10 or 12 shots as well as I putted if that tee ball had cooperated.

I don't think so. This golf course, you know, PGA TOUR events, the Colonial, the rough is not as penalizing; you can miss some fairways and get away with shots at most of those tournaments. You are really lucky to miss fairways here and have any kind of shot to the green and yet, like I said, my first win, my two Colonials and my two Byron Nelsons have always been my source of pride of my 13 wins on the PGA TOUR. A certain amount of pride to win my third week as a member of the champion's TOUR.

This is a big event and it's the biggest of my seven victories since I have turned 50 and I will just let you guys categorize it for me, please.

RAND JERRIS: Sort of a hometown question I guess but since you're still in a PGA TOUR frame of mind as you put it, when you look at the Tigers and Ernies and Phils and the other young talent that is coming along, is this a U.S. Open golf course for those guys to come play on, because they are interested in hosting an Open down the road.

BRUCE LIETZKE: Yes. They can't -- if they could lengthen the golf course a little bit I would give it an automatic yes. I really believe -- we played close to the tips, I did notice a couple of tees were moved up 10 or 12 yards. I'm just trying to think how Tiger -- and I know when Daly was here last time he never had any woods in his bag; is that correct, that was this golf course? I could see Tiger going around this golf course without a wood in his bag, too, as hard as he hits that 2-iron. But the bunkering is so severe and the rough could be -- the rough could have been thicker this week. Kudos go out to the USGA for remembering that we are 50 years old. Maybe it was that tendonitis band that I was continuing to wear all the time, maybe I was getting some sympathy from them but believe me trying to hit out of the rough with tendonitis is brutal.

I thought they kept the rough at a pretty manageable height. If they grew a little more rough, this is a wonderful strategy golf course, where you have to go to each tee box and you don't just automatically grab a driver out of your hand. I wish that was the golf course it was because it would have played more in my hands but every tee box you had to make a choice of not only what kind of shot you're going to hit but what club you're going to hit, and that makes the players work on their strategy and it leads to mistakes. They will pull the wrong club out.

And I would say, yes, because of the size of the greens, the degree of difficulty of the bunkering and how strategically those fairway bunkers are placed again, you wouldn't see guys hitting many drivers off the tee but it would be a best test of golf. I do believe that. And if they had a way of lengthening the golf course to 20 or 25 yards in many places it would be a great test of golf.

Q. There is about 280 yards out there you didn't see; would that be enough?

BRUCE LIETZKE: Is there really? Was there that much?

Q. It's 7230 from the tips?

BRUCE LIETZKE: That's enough. I didn't see that much. I can't say I was really observing.

Yes, that would be enough, absolutely it would. And again the super-long hitters would be hitting those stinger 2-irons. Tom Watson was hitting his 2-iron all day long and he would see a lot of that from the boys that really hit the ball long. But man, it's makes for a great championship. The golf course gives up rounds but it doesn't seem to wanted to give up consecutive rounds very easily. And look at the quality of the players that have won here, Greg Norman probably should have won here twice. Hale Irwin has won here. It has produced great champions. So if they had that kind of yardage already, yes, I think -- and they do, and they have done a great job of running this event. You can tell they have done it before, the things that pros appreciate when a smoothly run operation is in effect the entire week it makes the pros really happy. So they could do it, they could easily have a U.S. open or a PGA.

Q. One quick question, there was some thought about if you would play Shinnecock next year or not because you will get an exemption there?

BRUCE LIETZKE: I won't play Shinnecock next year. There was actually a question of whether or not I was going to play in the tournament next year. My daughter has a graduation cruise that we were going on the last week of July. This tournament has been moved back to the last week of July next year, I found that out about a month ago. I believe cruise plans can be changed. We are working on that right now. I expect to be at Bellerive to defend my championship. I don't expect to be at Shinnecock. I don't even know when that week is. I don't imagine I would play there.

Q. Is it because of the course itself or --

BRUCE LIETZKE: I'm not in the habit of adding tournaments to my schedule. I'm still in the mode of keeping my tournament schedule at a minium until this daughter of mine is out of high school, in college and my wife and I are free to travel as much as we want and until those days when they are both in college my tournament schedule will be in the low 20's, and I have an obligation to the Champion's Tour to support it for probably the same reason that Bruce Fleisher did not play at Bethpage. I just don't want to take a spot up. It's probably a spot they wouldn't fill up any way. I have played in 12 U.S. Opens and I am pretty happy to be where I am right now. I don't expect to be at Shinnecock.

Q. If, in fact it was two years from now when both of your children are in college would you rethink it?

BRUCE LIETZKE: I possibly would rethink it but I really believe my PGA TOUR days are behind me. I have skipped Colonial the last two years. I skipped my Memorial tournament, which is my ultimate favorite tournament for the last four or five years. I firmly believe my PGA TOUR days are behind me, and I don't expect I will every play another PGA TOUR event or another major.

RAND JERRIS: Bruce, again, thank you very much. Enjoy your year as national champion.

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