Press conference - Tom Lehman

JULIUS MASON: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, it is a beautiful Wednesday. In Louisville, Kentucky at the 82nd PGA Championship. We'd like to welcome Tom Lehman to Valhalla Golf Club.

Some opening thoughts, Tom, then we will go to Q&A.

TOM LEHMAN: I am happy to be here. Wasn't really too certain a week ago that I would be here. So, I am very pleased that I am able to play this week and everything with me is fine.

JULIUS MASON: Good deal.

Q. Can you just go through your surgery? We talked about it yesterday, but would you talk about that and how quickly you were able to walk and just how you were feeling the last few days coming into this?

TOM LEHMAN: Well, I mean, there is-- really had good news. I think the initial feeling by the doctors was I had a torn cartilage in my knee, which turned out to be not true, but there were other things going on that needed to be taken care of, because I really couldn't walk on the Saturday of The INTERNATIONAL. It was too swollen, too painful; so, I had it drained twice and I kept on swelling up.

So, Dr. Steadman (phonetic) thought that the best chance of playing this week actually was to do the scope surgery last Monday. In fact, he said, "There is no question that your knee will feel better this week than it would otherwise. Whether you can play or not ..."

Every day, it's gotten better. I played nine holes yesterday with no pain, and the swelling didn't -- stayed down, so, I feel really good about it.

Q. Can you express how you feel about the possibility that Jack Nicklaus won't be playing in too many more majors after, this according to what he says, with the exception of The Masters now and then, I think is the inclination, and in the future will it be strange to tee it up in a major, not seeing the name in the field?

TOM LEHMAN: Oh, no doubt about that. When you think of majors, major championships the first name you think of is Jack Nicklaus. As long as I have been playing golf, he has always been teeing it up in the majors, and competitive. Even last year, I think it was, didn't he finish 6th in the Masters last year? Or two years ago?

So it will be very strange to not see Jack's name on the roster in a major championship.

Q. Can you give us an idea of when your knee first started bugging you, when you started feeling the pain? What happened? What can we expect from you this week?

TOM LEHMAN: I had surgery when I was about 20. I had hurt it playing football -- I think I was 19. Really, it has always at times ached since then. Never been a bad knee, but if I was very active at all, it would get swollen, but never painful. It would just swell up and limit my mobility.

But the last, I guess, Thursday of The INTERNATIONAL during the first round, it started to hurt, and Friday morning, it was really swollen. I started getting these shooting pains up both sides of my knee to the point where walking downhill was nearly impossible. By Saturday morning, it was even worse, and I had it drained, talked to the doctor, talked to the physio guys, and really kind of felt like the best chance of playing in this tournament this week would be to get it taken care of, and hopefully, be able to play the PGA.

Q. What do you expect out of yourself out of this week?

TOM LEHMAN: My expectations are actually quite high. It is funny, I walked -- three hours after surgery, I was walking in the hospital, and a day later, I was out chipping and putting, and four days later, I was hitting balls. So I have actually been practicing since about last Friday and just haven't been able to walk and play a round of golf.

My swing actually feels really good. My putting stroke feels good. I expect to play well. I don't really don't see any reason not to.

Q. Do you have a Web site that you can post this on?

Tom Lehman, practising at the PGA Championship. Allsport.

TOM LEHMAN: Not yet. No.

Q. Are you babying yourself during the practice rounds to make sure -- I mean, a lot of hills, things that could work on the knee, or are you just going out there and saying, "Let's just do it"?

TOM LEHMAN: I think I am being a little -- I played nine holes yesterday only, and I will probably play the whole course today, you know, but definitely, I am not overdoing it. I am trying to, you know, be smart.

Q. You obviously had some experience of playing in the last group in the Open for, what was it, four years in a row?

TOM LEHMAN: Yes.

Q. -- and not winning. We have had a case with Ernie who has finished second all three majors coming into this one. Can you talk about the positives and the negatives you take out of being there? Although, granted, you weren't exactly there at the Opens, but just the fact that he is obviously playing well and for whatever reason not getting it done?

TOM LEHMAN: I would have to say that sometimes you can play some really good golf and somebody else just plays better. Which has been the case.

Ernie has played extremely well this year even starting at the beginning of the year in the Mercedes Championship where he played really well and ended up losing in a playoff, even though he played great.

But the majors, he has played extremely well, just that Tiger has played, you know, really phenomenal, and record-setting phenomenal. There is not much you can do about that.

I have always contended that no matter, you know, really any of the players out here, if they are really on their game and clicking on all cylinders are capable of running away from the field. Loren Roberts was an example down in Milwaukee winning by eight or nine shots. So, we know -- when the top players are just hitting on all cylinders, you know, they can really distance themselves.

I think Ernie, you know, if you were to ask him honestly whether like at the U.S. Open he played his best golf, he would have told you probably not. I think I read somewhere that he said he played one good round at the U.S. Open and finished second. So you are not going to win with only one good round. So I think when Ernie plays his very best, Ernie is going to win.

Q. Each of the major championships seems to have its own feel or flavor, at least from the outsider. From a player's standpoint, what does the PGA like or feel like compared to the other three majors?

TOM LEHMAN: Well, it is definitely a major. I think the four majors have a different feel, and this one is no different than the others, the fact is that you know that it is a major championship. There is all the buildup to it there, the media excitement. There is the crowd excitement. The course is set up phenomenally. So, really, feel like, you know, since 1983 when I started playing the PGA that the courses have been great. The fields have been great and the setup has been great, and the atmosphere has been great; and so, it is really not that much different if at all different from the any of the others.

JULIUS MASON: Good answer.

Q. You played reasonably well at Castle Pines on a wounded knee, 23 points after two rounds. Is the surgery going to hurt that?

TOM LEHMAN: Well, it shouldn't, I don't think. Actually, I actually had 23 points for 22 holes that week. Then I really started to struggle.

So, my game, you know, I played well in Europe for two weeks. Then my game at Castle Pines was real sharp, and actually, I could say my knee feels better, even though it is a little bit weaker than it has in a while. My swing feels good. I have been practicing and hitting balls, and it feels -- I feel like I am right there in the groove. So expect good things.

Q. Is there any reason to go down the right side on No. 7?

TOM LEHMAN: Well, I think last time we played here, I think it was into the wind and I went right every day. If you can't reach the green in two, there is no reason to go left. So if the wind is hurting you, then you probably want to go right. But if you can reach the green, I mean, the left side is the way to go, and the only risk there is if you hit a bad tee shot, there is nowhere to go, except 20 yards further up the fairway. You hit a drive and chip it to yards on the fairway, hit 5-iron into the green.

Q. How severe is the risk?

TOM LEHMAN: Well, I think -- you know, I know that I cannot get there going to the right in two. If I go right in two, I have got to lay-up then hit a wedge, which if I do that, I am probably going to make, you know, statistically probably two birdies with a wedge. If I go left, hit four good drives, I am probably going to make three birdies, maybe four birdies.

So, that is the trade-off. You want to play it safe and make one or two birdies, maybe; or do you want to be kind of a little more risky, birdie every day, and maybe even make an eagle.

Q. I guess what I am asking: If you miss the fairway left, how severe is the penalty?

TOM LEHMAN: Well, I -- you can't -- the only place you can hit it to is to the end of the fairway, which is about 20 yards. You can't go right because you don't gain anything. You can't go straight ahead because you want carry the big hazard; so, the only place to go is 20 yards, you know, up the fairway.

That is frustrating. You hit it on the left side, maybe a yard off the fairway, your next shot is from here to the wall right there. Then you hit a 5-iron, that is -- on a par 5 that can -- what is a little bit frustrating. But, that is the risk you take. So, you need to weigh it in your mind, is it worth the risk of possibly having do that, then maybe making 6.

JULIUS MASON: Questions? Tom Lehman.

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