U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 2002

Walter Hall

CRAIG SMITH: Walter, six birdies, no bogeys for a 2 round total of minus 7. A great afternoon, or a great second round.

WALTER HALL: Yes, it was. I've had two great days, actually. Anytime you play any Open and you shoot scores, 1-under and six under, that's awfully good, especially for me. I've been very fortunate this week.

CRAIG SMITH: Anything that really hits you going from round 1 to round 2? That's quite a jump from minus 1 to minus 7, right to the top.

WALTER HALL: I started off with a couple of bogeys yesterday, and even from hitting good tee shots on 1, I didn't hit a good iron shot. Made bogey on 1 and 2. And I settled down, my caddy told me to calm down, we've got a lot of golf left. And I really, really played good from there on out, even though I only shot 1 under par, but I played good and putted well, too. I think the secret of any Open championship is you have to drive it good and putt it good. You need to drive it in these fairways. Yesterday I missed a fairway on the second hole and I couldn't play the green, I had to pitch it out sideways.

CRAIG SMITH: Take me through your club selections on the birdies.

WALTER HALL: Well, started on the back 9, No. 13, par-5, I hit -- missed the fairway, and I was able to lay it up with a 7-iron, hit an 8-iron about 15 feet and made it.

Next hole, I hit a sand wedge about five feet and made that.

Then, on 15, I hit a 7-wood to that green, about 30 feet behind the hole and made that.

And then, parred the last three holes.

1, I had a good birdie putt there, and missed it. Then, on 2, I hit it about a foot, foot and a half and made that putt.

3, I had a driver and 4-iron about -- just off the right fringe of the green and chipped it down 8 or 10 inches from the hole and made that.

Then, the other birdie on the front was a par-5. I hit 7-wood off the tee, then 3-wood, second shot, then I hit sand wedge about two and a half feet from the hole and made that. That was pretty much my birdies.

CRAIG SMITH: Your low round in a U.S. senior Open prior to finishing this one was a 70. This is quite a jump between that and a 65.

WALTER HALL: It sure is. And I probably won't ever do this again. But I sure had my day in the sun today. Fortunately, like I told folks outside, this was my Tom Kite imitation today.

Q. Just wondering with the rains that hit yesterday, what's your approach mentally coming in? Do you think today is the day that, if you're going to take advantage of the course it would be a day like today?

WALTER HALL: Well, yeah, the only problem with the rain -- of course we got caught in the rain yesterday and we got caught out on 16. So we came in. I had about a 6 or 7 foot birdie putt on 16 yesterday. I really would have liked to have putted yesterday, instead of coming back this morning and putted. I actually hit a good putt this morning, but it just broke off right across the front of the hole. But I would have -- I really wanted to finish my round yesterday while I was -- when I got to the back 9 yesterday I really started -- my tempo got pretty good and I started driving the ball better and I really wanted to finish, especially 17 and 18 were playing downwind yesterday and we went back out this morning at 7:45, and the wind was flat. But we're hitting woods into 17 and 18. It makes a big difference. When the greens are soft like they were when we started, it's a good news, bad news story, with the soft greens you get waffle pads out there, that can affect the putt more so than if the greens are firm, you don't get that.

But the greens are in great shape. The course is magnificent anyway. And it was really in good shape, and you have to take advantage of when you get it anywhere from 100 yards, 120, 130 yards in, you've got to dial yourself in and try to make birdie.

Q. Do you feel that you had an advantage starting on the back 9, since you finished up with those holes today? You had three in a row birdies on that 9, is it better to play the back, since it is more difficult in the conditions that you had this morning?

WALTER HALL: I was glad that I played the back 9 first, mainly because I had more holes to play this morning. So I had to play 16, 17, 18 this morning, and then I went back to the back 9. So, I was sort of glad to get that back 9 out of the way. Because I knew that when I got to 4-under, say, making the turn, I knew that if I got to 3 or 4-under, even if I made a bogey on 17 or 18, or even both of them, I still had some good birdie holes on the front with 1, 2 and 3. So it's really nice to have that when you make that turn going to the front, you play those first three or four holes downwind, it makes a little bit of difference.

Q. You've been playing pretty well this year on the Senior Tour, and you said yesterday your caddy told you to settle down. Were you fired up coming in here thinking that this would be a year that you could challenge and contend and maybe win this thing?

WALTER HALL: No, I don't ever -- I try to win every golf tournament I play in. I don't ever tee it up, especially in an Open, and say, "Hey, I'm the guy, here." You've got some of the greatest players that have ever played the game of golf that I'm contending with. I just want to go out and play my game, try to drive the ball in the fairway, try to hit it in the middle of the greens and try to make a few putts and let everything else take care of itself. You've got some of the greatest ball strikers that have ever played playing in this tournament and I'm fortunate to be playing with them.

CRAIG SMITH: Do you have lots of friends coming over, since you're a graduate of the school from the University of Maryland here.

WALTER HALL: That's been back in the dark ages. We had bicycles back then, I think. No, not that I know of.

CRAIG SMITH: Thank you very much. Congratulations.

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