U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 12, 1997

Mark McNulty

LES UNGER: Mark McNulty with a 67 and with a 30 on the back 9. Mark, if you don't mind at the start here to go over holes that were not routine pars for us, please.

MARK McNULTY: Well, let me just first of all say that I know someone is going to ask the question how come this is my best U.S. Open score and I've played 13 or 14 of them. I don't know exactly how many times I've played, but that doesn't really matter. I guess the plain truth is that in the past, I've never really been playing that particularly well at a U.S. Open to be able to produce the shots that I did today. But, anyway, just to quickly go over the round. The first 9 holes, I played almost as well as the back 9, except I missed a couple of short putts and -- well, 4 to be precise, two for birdies and two for pars. Consequently, I found myself 2-over par. As I said to the TV guys, I wasn't too anxious or depressed about things. I felt that I was striking the ball well, and hopefully I would be able to shoot par or 1-under the backside. Fortunately, a few things came together, hit some really good shots. 10, in particular, a good drive with a driver and a 4-iron to about 6 feet. And then 14, 15 were also two good birdies. 14, I hit a driver and a 5-iron to about 6, 7 feet behind the hole and was fortunate enough to have Dan Forsman, who literally was a couple inches behind my ball and inside mine, so I had a good read of his and I holed that. 15, I sand-wedged to 3 feet, so that gave me the momentum to, you know, at least say to myself I can shoot under par on this golf course. Then to finish off, I got a little fortunate on 17, I hit a good drive and a 6-iron into the right-hand trap, tried to catch the right-hand side of the green and didn't, and holed the trap shot. So, you always put those in the old top pocket. And, the last hole was a good 5-iron. I guess about 20, 25 feet. And, just went in the hole. So, very happy with the round.

LES UNGER: Save par anywhere?

MARK McNULTY: Yes, once. I missed three greens, 1 and 4. And at 13, I hit a bad save shot. Good drive, hit a 6-iron into the left-hand trap. Otherwise, that was my only par save as such.

LES UNGER: How long were any of those putts, please.

MARK McNULTY: Which ones?

LES UNGER: On the saves.

MARK McNULTY: It was only the one, really. Only the one save. I was trying to save at 1 and 14 but didn't. But at 13, it was only about 4 feet, 4, 5 feet.

LES UNGER: Actually you played 11 rounds --

MARK McNULTY: This is my 12th? This is my 12th?

LES UNGER: This is your 12th, right. If this is right, a tie for 17th in 1988 would have been your best finish so far; is that correct?

MARK McNULTY: Whatever.

Q. How far was the shot on 17 out of the trap?

MARK McNULTY: Well, let's try to figure it out. The pin was about 20 on, and I was about 5, 6 yards deep into the green, and maybe 20 paces, 20 or 30 paces, 60 feet. It was a nice shot, I can tell you.

Q. Can you describe the course.

LES UNGER: Is that mic on?

MARK McNULTY: I heard that question anyway. I think everybody is asking that question to everybody: It's long. It's tough rough, and you've got to hit it straight. I mean, obviously having worked hard last week with Dave Leadbetter, and Nick Faldo had a practice round last week and Nick Price had a practice round last week, and I spoke to both Nicks and they said you have to hit it straight. So, whether you're hitting 3-woods or drivers, it doesn't matter, you just have to hit it straight. It doesn't seem, and I think you guys will agree with it, there are not really bunkers which are in play that you have to carry to be in the center of the fairway. And, so, if you're going over so many bunkers to try to catch right-hand side of the fairways, you also have the opportunity or the misfortune of going in that long rough, so a lot of the good scores, I'm sure Montgomerie hit many fairways today. I didn't miss a fairway today. So, that's where your good scores are going to come from, from guys who hit it straight. I played with Kenny Perry and Dan Forsman, and they both hit the ball a long way, and they were hitting in the rough a couple times, and the club was turning over. I mean, Kenny on 16 -- I mean, 15, hit it right. He was trying to pitch it back onto the fairway, and the club twisted, and he went in the left-hand rough. He's a strong guy. So what hope does a young, strapping young guy have is a good question. But, I don't care who you are, you have to hit it down the middle.

Q. You kind of answered this question earlier, but the fact is if there's a major championship that suits your game the best, this would be it. Are you surprised that you haven't had a better finish in U.S. Open because you are a straight hitter and hit a lot of greens?

MARK McNULTY: I must be like old wine, I age better. No, that's a good question. I've obviously hurt myself, mainly in the past when I have been playing well, I just sort of blow things away and don't focus on what my game is all about, hitting it down the middle and onto the green. I've always been known as a good putter, so there we are, as well.

Q. Mark, if I may, all week, all we've heard -- in fact, for two weeks, three weeks, all we've heard is, hey, this course is going to only favor the long hitters and things like this, and you're not the longest hitter out there. There are a lot of guys that have posted some good scores and doing very well that aren't the big hitters. What's the secret? What's happening, guy?

MARK McNULTY: Straight. That sums it up. What I was trying to say earlier on, what type of golf course is it, you know, we all know that if you hit the ball straight onto the green and have as few putts as possible, you're going to win the tournament. I mean, that's logic. But, everybody is going to hit it in the rough at least once, twice, three, four times this week. It doesn't matter whether you're hitting it straight or not. It's how you're managing yourself from there from the bad position. Fortunately, today, I wasn't in many bad positions. Twice in actual fact. And I dropped two shots on those particular occasions. One, I just missed the green right, and it was like that (indicating), and I was only sort of maybe 6 yards from the flag. And, at No. 4, plugged it in the bunker, but both the shots went into the fairway, so I think at least 70 percent of good scores are going to come from the guys hitting it straight. There's no question about that.

Q. A lot of players have said that they would take even par at the end of 72 holes. That was before the tournament started. What do you think will be the winning score?

MARK McNULTY: I still think that's going to be -- I don't think necessarily it will be 280, but that's still going to be pretty close. I mean, the fact that Colin Montgomerie shot 65 today, I don't know how many fairways he missed. Do you guys know?

Q. One.

MARK McNULTY: One. I mean, he's been playing well of late, and he hits his irons well, so that speaks for itself. Once you start missing a couple of fairways, it can get to you up in the old brain box. So, please keep it straight. Tell that to me, please.

Q. Do you have any idea how many of the players in the field are wearing those funny cleats?

MARK McNULTY: These ones.

Q. Yeah.

MARK McNULTY: Well, I came up with a good thought the other day for us guys. The guys who wear these can tap down spike marks and then everybody will be wearing these quickly and there will be no more spike marks.

Q. Mark, you went from rags to riches on the backside. Now, you know, I've seen you get hot, but I've always seen you get hot at yourself. Did you have a little talk with yourself as you were strolling toward that backside?

MARK McNULTY: No, as I was trying to say earlier on, you have to be patient at the U.S. Open. I've had good practice rounds, and I've -- I mean, I've been around for 20 years anyway. But you like to think how some of the guys who have won this tournament how they think. I asked Payne a very good question yesterday. I said, "What do you do when you play a U.S. Open?" He said, "I just try to remember that par is a good score." Par is a good score, right? And even though I was 2-over, I still felt that I shouldn't be, but I wasn't down on myself at all. I felt if I kept on playing as well as I was, I could maybe shoot 1-under on the backside and be 1-over for the round. I would still be still happy. Whether you shoot 68, 69 -- let's say 67 to 72, I think that is your broad band of good play.

LES UNGER: Anyone else? Mark, thank you very much and continued good luck.

MARK McNULTY: Thank you very much.

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