U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

May 10, 2004

Corey Pavin

COREY PAVIN: 4-wood I think. I don't think I can hit a 3-iron there still, but it would probably be about the same club, I think. I do have that 4-wood, in a very secret, safe place. I have it in my house, up on the wall actually. I actually just stopped using it a couple of years ago. I used for maybe six years after that, as well.

COREY PAVIN: I actually came in late last night and drove under the walking bridge. I think that's the first thing everybody sees when they come back here for the Open is the bridge, so that was neat to see last night. Just coming up to the club, it was nice to come back up here, being able to play a few holes. Last year I played here, I really didn't see the course much. With the trees they took out, they have opened up the course a lot more visually, you can see things a lot more, which is neat because that's the kind of course it is. It's a links course. I know Tom has been talking about they added yardage on a couple of holes and it's not really that big of a deal. The course stands on its own, has great merit all by itself out there. It's a beautiful track. And emotionally coming back here, it was just fun to kind of remember some of the shots I hit, how far I was, what I was thinking about during the last round. It brings back lots and lots of memories, certainly probably the most dominant one is the 4-wood on 18. And the other one is probably the putt I made on 17. Those are the two things I probably think about the most.

COREY PAVIN: That was a loaded question. Tom, can you leave the room for a minute? (Laughter.) I like this golf course a lot, obviously. I don't know what the carry is on 6. I just remember that hole being a very hard hole and I think it played the hardest hole in '95. Great par 4, tough hole. There's not a lot of carries on this course like Bethpage, like No. 10 I'm sure you're thinking of. I thought about that a lot on Friday when I stood on that tee at Bethpage and it was into the wind and breezy. It was, I don't know, how far is the carry, 245, 250? (Laughter.) Okay. Next subject.

COREY PAVIN: You know, I think Shinnecock, I think it's -- the Opens that I've played, Pebble Beach and here are the two links-type golf courses. I think course is more of a links course, definitely, than Pebble Beach. That's what in my mind, why this course is so unique. It's a links course and you get a lot of breeze off the ocean, a lot of rolls in the ground. Beautiful golf course to look at. It has a great flow to it, the golf course. There's not a lot of courses like that. We play a lot of old courses when we play the U.S. Open and those have that kind of a feel, but this course is unique with the open area. It's not tree-lined like some of the Opens we've played. It's very unique in that regard. But it's a shot-makers golf course. You have to be able to hit different shots, play in wind because it's very likely going to be windy almost every day you come out here. There's some wind and it can blow from different directions. That makes the course very interesting, just like links courses over in Scotland. It's just a marvelous golf course on a beautiful piece of land, and architecturally, done perfectly.

COREY PAVIN: Well, I think the fans in New York are great. I love coming to New York. I like hearing the fans express themselves, as long as they express themselves at the proper time. It's great to hear the people yelling stuff out and cheering you on. It's wonderful stuff. Definitely more vocal here than maybe some other places, which I think wonderful. I like it. When I played at Bethpage, people seemed to remember '95 and cheered me on a lot and I was really pleased to hear that. I was glad to have the people backing me. But I think it probably will be the same when I come here in June. So I'm looking forward to coming back and enjoying the people and what they have to say.

COREY PAVIN: Well, you can always attack a golf course, but this one will bite you if you do. Any U.S. Open will do that, but this one, you can get into some real trouble trying to be too aggressive. I notice on the course there's a few different cuts around the greens. They have let a lot of, what do you call, maybe chipping areas, is that the right term, mown areas around the greens. The one that struck me the most was No. 10, that's been mowed all the way back down, and that's always a green you wanted to make sure you miss long, but now if you miss it long you have to chip it back up the hill, very tough, that's going to be. It's set up beautifully. If you get really aggressive, if you miss these greens on the wrong sides, look out, you've got some trouble. It's just a great course to play smart, try to make as many pars as you can. And there's a couple par 5s you might be able to birdie and a couple short par 4s you can be a little more aggressive on. Definitely, I'm going to pick my places where to being aggressive.

COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think the thing that's going to be the biggest factor during the Open week here is going to be the weather. If it's real windy the scores are going to go way up. You could have over par winning here very easily. If it isn't windy, which is unlikely, you can get some good scores. To me there's nothing wrong with having low scores being shot, whether it's U.S. Open, Masters, PGA, British Open. It doesn't matter to me. The conditions dictate that a lot, the weather conditions. You know, even par is a nice number to have as your champion because it shows par as a score and that's great in its own merit. Sometimes it dictates that scores might be higher or lower. Baltusrol, I think the first round there in 80, I think it rained a lot, but there was some good scores shot. It depends. This course will take a lot of rain and it goes right through it. In '95 I think it rained pretty hard on Wednesday but the course was still pretty firm. This course will be up. It's a hard golf course. I think before I came in, Tom was talking about the course being under 7,000 yards. Yardage is not what makes a golf course hard. It's the way it's set up, the way it's playing and what the conditions are. You can set up a golf course 7,400 yards and it might not play that yard hard to par.

COREY PAVIN: I think there's just a lot of precision out here. You don't have to hit the ball long. It's not a matter of hitting over doglegs. There's doglegs out there where you have to position your shots, but the greens are the biggest factor out here that dictate what you need to do. You know, as I said earlier, you don't want to miss greens on the wrong side. There's a lot of slope out here, and in some ways you can kind of compare it to Augusta in that regard. You don't want to have these uphill putts here, you get on the wrong side here you can't even get the ball close to the hole. The greens are a big factor and the wind is another factor. You need to work the ball.

COREY PAVIN: Well, as far as exemptions may be what you're talking about, I'm exempt through next year, as well. I come in here to Shinnecock and everybody keeps asking me, "Gosh you must be so happy to go back." And I am, I'm real glad to come back here. Obviously it has great memories for me. But frankly I haven't played all that great the last seven or eight years, and all I'm trying to do when I come back here is play some good golf, play the best I can and just play and see what happens. My expectations aren't what they were in '95 when I came in here. In '95 I had just lost a playoff the week before, I was playing very well and I expected to do reasonably well. You know this year, my expectations aren't there because of the way I've played. So I'm just going to come here and just see what happens, do the best I can, and add them up when I'm done and see where I am. So it will be great to be back here, it's a neat place. I think maybe the Open should be here every year. Maybe there's a permanent site for the U.S. Open. It will fun. I enjoy coming back here and the people and the crowd, the weekend will be really fun. Thank you very much, everybody.