U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 17, 2004

Spencer Levin

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, joining us on the podium right now, Spencer Levin, he's 1-under for the championship, finished with a birdie and aced the 17th hole, his first hole after the delay.

Q. Nice ace.

SPENCER LEVIN: Thank you.

Q. Tell us about it.

SPENCER LEVIN: What do you want me to talk about?

Q. Start with the ace.

SPENCER LEVIN: There was obviously a little rain delay. I went out there on 17. My dad was thinking 7-iron, I thought it was a hard 8. I picked a hard 8, and it was perfect.

Q. Was it a one hopper?

SPENCER LEVIN: Yeah, it landed just short of the green, bounced up there. I didn't know it was in, I just saw everybody cheering and walked up there and it was in, so it was pretty cool.

Q. How many career aces for you?

SPENCER LEVIN: That was my first ace, so that was a real good time for it.

Q. Did you get the applause you deserved at the Open?

SPENCER LEVIN: Absolutely. They were applauding pretty good. I gave them the ball and everything, so it was good. Yeah, they applauded really good actually. It was pretty loud, so that was pretty cool.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: Yeah, I gave it to the gallery.

Q. What's your pop's name?

SPENCER LEVIN: Doug.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: That's a buddy of mine. That's one of our boosters for New Mexico.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: I just went home, finished school, was going to finish at UCLA, then ended up transferring to New Mexico and it went pretty well this year.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: I gave it -- I qualified through both stages. My first stage was in New Mexico and the second stage was in San Francisco.

Q. Was it tough to get going after the delay? You birdied 16 so you're kind of on a roll and your entire backside had been really solid to that point.

SPENCER LEVIN: Actually going into the delay I missed about four putts inside eight feet in a row on four holes, so it was kind of a long delay. I missed par putts obviously on 13, 14 and 15 from about anywhere from eight to five feet, then on 16 actually hit it six feet for eagle with a 3-wood and I missed that one, too. There's no such thing as a bad birdie, but it didn't feel like a birdie.

Q. Was it the first shot after the rain delay?

SPENCER LEVIN: Yeah, that was the first shot after the rain delay was the 8-iron.

Q. What did your partner say to you?

SPENCER LEVIN: He said, "Nice shot."

Q. What did you say to your pops about the 8-iron?

SPENCER LEVIN: He thought it was a 7 just because it was downwind when we first got there, then we had to wait 15, 20 minutes once we got on the tee box. He thoughts it was just a cross wind. I hit 7 from the back of the tee box in the practice round all the way to the back, and the tees were up about six or seven paces and the pin was up, so I just figured it's a hard 8. I hit it as good as I could.

Q. What was the yardage?

SPENCER LEVIN: I think it was 163 to the front, 170 to the hole, and I landed it about 162.

Q. What was it like to get a 69 at your first U.S. Open?

SPENCER LEVIN: It was good. I was playing pretty well all day. I hit some fairways, hit some greens. I made a long putt on 10, but that was probably the only putt I made all day. I made about an 8 footer for birdie on 11 and about a three-footer on 12, and then after that my putter went kind of cold and then didn't have to putt on 17, so that was pretty cool.

Q. What are your goals now for tomorrow?

SPENCER LEVIN: I'm just going to go out there and just try and put the ball in the fairway. I think if I can drive the ball well I'll have another good round. If I do that I should be okay.

Q. When you came in here you were thinking I just want to make the cut?

SPENCER LEVIN: I didn't have any expectations. I just wanted to play well. I knew I was playing pretty well coming in here. I usually can drive it pretty straight. I wasn't putting any numbers out there, I just wanted to do as good as I can.

Q. What would making the cut mean to you at your level?

SPENCER LEVIN: Oh, it would be great. It would be awesome to play in the weekend out here. It would be real awesome. It would definitely be great.

Q. It doesn't sound like this is as big a deal to you as it is to us, an amateur in that position, 1-under and certainly in contention. You don't seem very wide-eyed.

SPENCER LEVIN: Oh, it's a big deal, but it's only one round of golf, you know. It's not like I'm standing here on the last day talking to you guys. I'd probably be a little more wide-eyed if it was on Sunday. I'm just going to go out there tomorrow and just keep having fun.

Q. Were you nervous today?

SPENCER LEVIN: On the first tee I was a little bit, but I'm nervous on the first tee in every tournament, whether it's a local city tournament or the U.S. Open. I feel like I play better when I'm nervous, I feel more focused.

After the first hole and everything, I was pretty calm, it felt normal. I didn't feel nervous after that.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: I mean, there's still three rounds to go. You know those guys will be back tomorrow ready to go. You know, I haven't accomplished anything yet. I've got to go out there and take care of business tomorrow.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: My parents were here, I just went out to dinner with my parents. It was pretty cool.

Q. (Inaudible).

SPENCER LEVIN: Was he pretty nervous?

Q. He said he was dying.

SPENCER LEVIN: Yeah, he's usually pretty nervous. It's a little better when he's on the bag than in the gallery, though.

Q. Do you want to play next week at Pebble?

SPENCER LEVIN: If I make the cut and I can make it back I will.

Q. Do you have a time you have to be there by Monday or Tuesday?

SPENCER LEVIN: My tee time is late on Monday, so even if I get back late on Sunday I can probably try to play.

Q. So it's definitely on the schedule?

SPENCER LEVIN: Yeah, it is. It depends on what I do this week, but we'll see what happens.

End of FastScripts.