Being away for the weekends, and me being the international player that I have been for those 30 years, I've spent a lot more time flying around the world, playing different golf tournaments around the world.
I always thought I was a pretty good driver of the golf ball in my heyday, and I feel like I've got that back again to some degree.
I always wanted to be the best I could be at whatever I did. I didn't want to be the number one golfer in the world. I just wanted to be as good as I could be. I work hard, I push myself hard, and I probably even expect too much of myself.
I don't see myself playing or adjusting my schedule for senior tournament golf.
I feel like I'm above average than most players, even on the regular Tour, so why not get out there and compete against those guys, as well.
I mean, I can actually say goodbye to the game of golf, never hit another golf shot the rest of my life and I'd be happy because I can get back in life without any rotation.
I owe a lot to my parents, especially by mother and my father.
I think it's great the opportunity is given to all of us really to come out and play major championships after the real major championships have gone beyond us.
I try and take the attitude that this is just a regular tournament with regular players and go play and don't even think of the age group.
I wouldn't call it bitter. I think it's just sweet. I've always believed my life seems like it's gotten better and better as each decade has gone by. So I don't see any I don't see any bitterness about it.
I'm a very intense person. When I go after something, I want to go after it with everything I have. I want to push myself to the edge.
I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to run around like Dennis Rodman and head-butt somebody.
I'm going to take it very slow, not going to my expectations aren't going to be high like I used to have high expectations in the '80s and '90s, just saying, okay, here you are, you're supposed to do it. I'm trying to keep myself very low key and within myself because I've got to take little steps.
I'm not interested at all in playing more than 12, 15 tournaments a year on an annual basis because like all the old guys out here on this Tour, we've played golf for nearly 30 years of our lives.
I've always missed the competition.
I've really got no complaints about the way I played, just extremely frustrating with the putter and I'm sure there's a lot of other players saying the same thing except the guy who's going to win the golf tournament.
My doctor asked me how many golf balls I had hit in my career. I'm lying there in bed calculating somewhere between four and five million golf balls I had hit to do that on my body.
No, it wasn't a big deal for me because I've always been a very physically, in control individual with my body.
Obviously it's my second senior event, and I'm tired obviously coming back from the British Open, from surgery, which was priority No. 1, did that successfully, and each week since the British Open I've felt in pretty good control of my golf game.
On 18 you've got to drive it up a gnat's ass.
Our success is a direct result of knowing how to market a brand and having the right people representing the brand.
Outside my back, I've always loved working out, I always felt like I was a little bit stronger and younger than what my actual age was.
People in this room must have back problems, I'm sure some of us do, and it is really, really one of the worst pains and debilitating parts of your body that you can actually have because you really can't do anything in your life when you have it.
So my game is solid. So that obviously makes me feel confident, that like anybody else in this field, you name them, I feel like I've got the ability to win the golf tournament just as much as they have, and that's the way I'm going to take it.
That's why we have practice rounds. We make the adjustments as we go around, try and find out how to play the golf course the best we can. No big deal, it's nothing to me, it's the same for me as it is to everybody and we're all trying to understand it.
The game of golf doesn't come rushing back to you. Last week I made a couple of fundamental mistakes that I probably wouldn't have made in the heat of the battle back when I was in my heyday, and those things have got to come back.
The players have competed on the level the last 25 or 30 years are always going to be the players that compete at a high level. These guys practice hard, they work on their game, they still hit the ball extremely well.
To me I've just really, really found a relaxed, peaceful side of my life and I'm enjoying it.
Well, I think any national championship is an extremely important championship to play in.
Well, I think from our own personal point of view, if you've been a competitor in the past and you've been successful in the past, no matter where you are in the future, no matter whether it's on a golf course or in business or in life in general, you want to be the best you can be.
What's a good tournament for him? Winning it. He's good enough.
When I turned 50, I said to myself, well, if this is what it's like turning 50, I can't wait to turn 60 because I still felt very, very mentally and physically good, outside my back surgery.
When you see that many people with a smile on their face, then you must be doing something right.
Whenever you don't win and you feel that you played well enough to win, you feel disappointed, no question about it.
Yeah, but I got my AARP card. I got that in the mail, and I said, what the hell is this? I can get discounts, right?
You know, like I said, I'm not going to adjust my Senior Tour schedule.
You only get out of it what you put into it. If you are a sheep in this world, you're not going to get much out of it.
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