U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2005

David Toms

Q. After the finish yesterday, what were you thinking? What was your approach going into today?

DAVID TOMS: Just play the first hole well. I finished double bogey, triple bogey; I didn't want to get off to a bad start.

I played the front nine very well today. I played good, solid golf. I felt like I was back right where I was yesterday midway through the round. I wasn't out of the golf tournament yesterday; I still had a chance. I had to dwell on that last night. Certainly I was disappointed with the way I finished. But I was right where I needed to be with a chance to win the tournament after 36 holes. I needed a good round today.

I was disappointed with my tee shots today. The putter felt good and the irons felt good, but it was a struggle for me off the tee today. I didn't miss it by much, but I had them going a little left. It's tough to play this golf course when you can't get in the fairway.

Q. 15 through 18, take us through that if you can.

DAVID TOMS: 15, one of the hardest par 3s we play. I was lucky I hit the ball dead, pin high, and 3 putted for bogey. So the key is to hit the green. I did that. I got the hard part over with and I 3 putted.

16, you know, just a long par 4. I guarantee if you measure the thing, it's 500 yards long, and another green that's tough to hit.

17 has been playing downwind; it's only been a 7 iron. I should have made birdie there today.

18 is another hole where it's tough to angle off the tee to get the ball in the fairway. And then from there you've got a tough green, too.

Good finishing holes, that's for sure.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVID TOMS: On 18? There again I missed the fairway by a couple of yards like I did all day. I only had a wedge left and 132 to the front, trying to bounce up short. And I hit a great shot, and I couldn't really tell. I saw the bird, I don't know if it helped the ball. Maybe it was a good omen for me.

Q. What were will you think about tonight considering your position, what you've already been through in this tournament?

DAVID TOMS: You know what I think about tonight is I've got a chance tomorrow. It's going to have to be a good round, but it should. It shouldn't you should never have to back into winning a major championship. You should have to play well to win. That's what I'm going to have to do tomorrow.

If I can put all the parts of my game tomorrow, I'll be fine. I have to get the ball in the fairway like I did the first two days. I have to continue to play smart. Even though I wasn't hitting the fairways, I grinded it out and played smart. I had a decent round.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVID TOMS: He played he got off to a shaky start, but he turned, he made three birdies in a row on the back nine and was hitting his 3 wood off the tee on every hole. I was trying to thread driver in there and he was bombing the 3 wood out and he played real solid. I enjoyed playing with him today.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVID TOMS: Well, I just wanted to play good, solid holes. I hit a great drive on 8, and it just rolled into the first cut of rough. I hit a good shot out, barely missed the putt.

On 9 it was another one of those 6 irons I hit yesterday. And I just hit it a little better and got it past the hole like I needed to do and had a nice 2 putt and played those holes a lot more solid than I did yesterday, for sure.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVID TOMS: 13, missed another fairway just by a couple of yards there. I only had 69 yards to the front; I was trying to hit a hard lob wedge and land it on the front and let it roll up there. I came up a couple of yards short and it rolled back down, and I didn't have much of a shot and made a bogey.

Q. (Inaudible.) What do you think you need to do tomorrow?

DAVID TOMS: I have to shoot under par, that's the key. I haven't done that yet on this golf course. I've been under par every day, well into my round, and haven't been able to maintain it. I'm going to have to do that tomorrow to have any chance.

Q. Your putter has been good, your driver (inaudible).

DAVID TOMS: You have to in a major championship, you have to have everything working well. I've just got to get the ball in the fairway tomorrow, for sure, and still play smart.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVID TOMS: Yeah, I talk with her every day, she's fine, and probably ready for me to get home. But I'm ready to get there, too. I just have little a little more work to do here.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVID TOMS: She had no idea how I finished up yesterday. She didn't watch one shot of golf. I don't know what she was doing, but she told me she didn't see anything. I told her to stay off her feet; you'd think she'd be on the couch watching me play golf, but she wasn't doing it. It's funny, when you have a seven year old at home that's playing baseball, there's always something going on. But, yeah, she didn't see it. I told her about it and I figured she was going to hear about it sooner or later, so I might as well fess up. I have to go out and play well tomorrow, and that's what I did today and had a decent round.

Q. We saw a couple of people climb up the leaderboard and then fall back down. How tough was it to get momentum going?

DAVID TOMS: It's very difficult. It seems like you can't be aggressive at all. As soon as you try to do something, you know, you made double or you get in a bad spot to try to make a par. And so you just to get on any kind of roll at all, you have to be a little lucky. You might hit a shot that you're not trying to hit close and it gets up there or you make a long putt. It's hard to get 3 , 4 , 5 under par and stay there. You have to hit good shot after good shot after good shot. And like I said, I think it's more that you can't play aggressive enough to get very far.

Q. When you walked off last night, were you thinking about not having a chance?

DAVID TOMS: Not really. My reaction was "How could I be so stupid to play the bunker shot that I did on the last hole instead of chunking it out, making my bogey and going to the next hole." I was more mad at myself at the time, not really thinking about where I was in the golf tournament until later and I saw that I was still right there. I should know better; I've done a few things this week where when I win tournaments or have chances, I don't do those type of things. But I think it's this tournament and this golf course that makes you do it without you trying to do anything stupid.

Q. Isn't it possible to actually have fun while playing?

DAVID TOMS: The fans were great. They were cheering for me, and I was wanting to play well. And I was grinding it out and I just couldn't get the ball in the fairway to give them anything to get excited about. I was trying to get up and down or having long putts and I just never could get in a position where I was really doing something good. And it was a good crowd; they were behind me. Hopefully tomorrow I can give them something to get excited about.

End of FastScripts.