After last year's Masters, Mark Calcavecchia was critical of your participation and suggested it was time to hang it up. He later apologized profusely.
Mark wrote a very nice letter, and I acknowledged it. I think he was very sincere in his apology. Sometimes, in the heat of frustration, we all say things we wish we hadn't said. I took it that he wasn't mad at me but that he was mad at himself and mad at his game. I can understand that, believe me.
What is your definition of being "a nuisance"?
Not being able to contribute something to the tournament. As I said, I think I would always make an appearance. But as long as people want to see me play, I suppose I'll play if I can. When I'm the only one out there, and nobody else is watching, then I won't play.
It would be a cold day in Georgia when that happens.
I don't know. I can't answer that. I see things happening as I get older. I find myself getting associated with a lot of younger people in the game. I still enjoy playing with them, and I think they still enjoy playing with me. As long as I can stay competitive and have fun doing what I'm doing, I guess I'll keep doing it.
You seem quite contemporary, even among players half your age.
Well, that's part of what I mean. Not only being able to play a little bit, but still being able to relate. When I feel out of place, I'll put the clubs away, get in a cart and just ride around and watch.
How else have you celebrated being 70 years old?
Well, I'm running again. Jogging around the golf course in Latrobe all summer. I feel better, and it's better for me. As I told someone who asked me about my prostate problem, "I don't have a problem—I don't have a prostate." I'm still at my desk most mornings, but I have scaled back a little. I used to get up at 4:30. Now it's 5:30. Sleeping in.
To bed early?
Oooh, do I ever. Between 8:30 and 9 every night. Your wife, Winnie, chooses to be private about her battle with cancer. You went public with yours.
I did a public-service announcement. I'm not reluctant to talk about it. I would urge the government to allocate more funds toward fighting cancer. My own situation, it made me think. It made me think about the potential of dying. I wouldn't say I was scared. I'm more scared of how it will happen than of it happening. I'm not scared that I'm going to die. I think of how I'm going to die. If I'm 97 and I have pneumonia and I die, then that's appropriate. I don't think Gene Sarazen would have had a problem with that. But I don't want to linger. That scares me a little. The idea of lingering.
Being 70 means saying goodbye to some friends.
No question. I had to deal with the death of my roommate at Wake Forest, Bud Worsham, when I was in college. That's a long time ago, but it devastated me, and I still wonder whether he'd be alive if I had gone with him to drive that night he died in the car accident. But now, you're right. You see more and more contemporaries die. Frankly, I'm not much for funerals unless it's absolutely an obligation. I don't feel it serves much of a purpose to go and see my friends just lying there, dead. I try to pay my respects to my friends when they're alive.
What's your schedule for next year?
After we get Winnie healthy again, I'll continue to play, but I'll also continue to cut back. I have Winnie to think about, as always. I have my daughter Amy's son coming along, Sam Saunders. He's 12. I have another one, Will, who's 5.
Both those boys are potential golfers. Anyway, I'll play the Bob Hope, a tradition. Bay Hill, hopefully. Augusta. The Senior Open, where Winnie and I are honorary chairpersons, at Saucon Valley in Pennsylvania, where her home was when I met her. I'll play there. And I'll play better than I did at the last Senior Open.
Which was in Des Moines. You shot 81-84, and it didn't bother anybody.
It bothered me. But that tournament was one of the greatest examples of American style. Mid-America at its best. All of us were pleasantly surprised by how receptive they were to us.
You're credited with getting the Senior PGA Tour on firm ground.
I don't know about that. It took more people than me. And whatever I did on behalf of the senior tour was partly selfish, because I enjoyed playing golf too much when I turned 50...and still do...so it wasn't like I was doing something I didn't want to do or something I felt I had to do. The senior tour has been a tremendous success, and to a lesser degree than the regular tour, some players out there need to remember how things came to be what they are. The seniors, too, need to try harder to keep what they have.
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