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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2016

Oakmont, Pennsylvania

ADAM BARR: It's 11:00. Out of respect for your time, I'd like to get started. Welcome to the 116th United States Open Championship for the ninth time at Oakmont Country Club. I'm Adam Barr, Senior Director of Communications for the USGA. We're very pleased to have you here. More than 800 media members have joined us from 22 countries here in western Pennsylvania, and we expect a magnificent week of golf.

It's my pleasure to introduce Diana Murphy, president of the USGA, to my immediate left. Stuart Francis, championship chairman, committee chairman. Mike Davis, CEO and executive director. Jeff Hall, manager of competitions. I'd like to start with Diana Murphy.

DIANA MURPHY: Good morning, everybody. We really do appreciate you all being here today. Before we get started, let me just take a moment to recognize all of our friends in the media, particularly the Golf Channel and all of you that may have friends and family in the Orlando area.

We know this has been a particularly challenging period for everyone in that area, and certainly the media is not in any way immune to that. So our thoughts and warm thoughts go to all of you. We really do appreciate you being here. As we get through one horrific tragedy last week.

But we are particularly excited about this 116th U.S. Open, and we're very excited to talk for a few minutes about what's been going on this week with our fans, our spectators, and certainly the players.

We are sold out. We do expect 30,000 paid spectators and thousands of volunteers every day on the course. We do know how excited Pittsburgh fans are and, needless to say, many of them are probably right downtown continuing to celebrate the Stanley Cup Championship, which we also are extremely excited about, and we know that there are many Penguins players that happen to be avid golf fans. So with any luck, perhaps we'll see some of those players here this week with us.

We're also very excited that, as you know, we've crowned eight U.S. Open Champions, two Women's U.S. Open Champions, and look forward to hopefully Sunday night crowning our ninth U.S. Open Champion here at Oakmont.

We really do believe that this exquisite golf course is providing what we think is the ultimate test of golf, and we couldn't be more pleased with some of the support that we've gotten, not just from the community, but certainly from everyone here at Oakmont. We'll have an opportunity to thank those of you that have really helped bring this course alive, particularly John Zimmers and his crew.

For the fans, we're also very excited that we've got a few new things to help our fans maneuver around the golf course and follow their favorite players, what we're calling basically is a digital caddie that everybody will have access to beginning tomorrow if you download our U.S. Open app. That basically will provide about all the information you really care to know about your players, where they are, and even predict where they will be throughout the day so that you can follow them and figure out what hole you might want to be on when they make the turn.

So it's a pretty exciting new technology for us. It is in partnership with IBM. So we look forward to everybody participating with that. Again, it will be available beginning tomorrow morning.

We also have basically a technology called beacon technology, which, again, if you download our app, it will have a little bit of an idea of where you might be. As an example, if you happen to be in Spectator Square and there's something going on and we have a player in our membership tent that you might want to stop in and see or visit, it will give you a text to say, hey, come on in. We know where you are. We've got a big sale on t-shirts right now for the next hour in the merchandise tent. Basically, it will give you some additional information throughout the course, depending on where you happen to be.

Finally, we've done some things prior to this that we've really enjoyed. We've had the six-week tour of our epic putt challenge through Pittsburgh. The 18th green in Spectator Square as the replica of that has certainly been getting a lot of publicity. We expect more than 12,000 fans that have enjoyed all the golf displays in Pittsburgh, both at the Heinz History Center and Carnegie Science Center. Many have participated in the Regional Trophy Tour that has introduced our trophy to both Penguins and Pirates fans for the past month.

We certainly appreciate all of the volunteers that are here. As you know, we have over 5,000 volunteers at each Open, and the Pittsburgh community continues to be one of our most enthusiastic ones in terms of volunteers. I think we're very well set for an extremely exciting and, we believe, certainly a historic Open beginning tomorrow.

So with that, what I'd like to do is introduce Stu Francis, who is our championship chairman, and he'll give you a few comments about our field.

STUART FRANCIS: Thank you, Diana. Our field is, once again, the most open and the most democratic in all of golf. We had more than 9,800 entries which the USGA received for this year's U.S. Open, representing 72 different countries.

The final field of 156 players includes 11 amateurs, which is very traditional for a host of them to qualify, along with 12 past champions. We had 76 exempt players, which means that over half the field had to qualify and play their way in.

Of the 9,827 entrants which we had, 27 came through both stages, local and sectional qualifying, and they all made it in a series of qualifiers. We had 111 local sites, 10 domestic sectional sites, and TWO international sites. And when you realize that many players, that many sites were involved in qualifying for the U.S. Open, you realize what a global scope and a global scale this championship has.

We simply couldn't do all of that without the help of our state and regional golf association friends throughout the country and throughout the globe, and we truly appreciate their help in conducting the local and sectional qualifiers and keeping the U.S. Open Championship the one championship that is open for all.

Most importantly, if you think about some of the stories, there are just some great stories that come through the qualifying rounds. Jason Allred, the 1997 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, got into the sectional qualifier as an alternate. He received a phone call that morning, raced out to the golf course, played well, went into a sudden death playoff, and qualified for the United States Open, and he's out on the golf course today. So those are the kinds of stories that get created when you have an open qualifying system like we have.

We intend to make every participant's time playing in the tournament here very memorable, and we're delighted they all qualified.

With that, thank you, and I'll turn the floor to Mike Davis, our executive director and CEO.

MIKE DAVIS: Stu, thank you. Welcome everybody. Again, thank you, as we always do, for your coverage of this championship because it not only helps the U.S. Open, but we really believe it's these kinds of championships that do help and inspire the game of golf.

I think what I really want to do is talk a little bit about the great history here at Oakmont. It really does, if you think back to its founding in 1903, where it's come from and where it is really has set the culture of what Oakmont is as a championship golf course and as a club itself.

That culture was really conceived of, just like the club, by Henry Fownes in 1903, opened in 1904. And for roughly 40 years, Henry and his son William were really the patriarchs of Oakmont Country Club, and it's interesting because they really not only came from the penal school of golf course architecture, but they really in some ways invented it.

If you think in this country the golf courses that you think are a really tough test, Oakmont was really the first, and that has lived on 113 years. You think about Oakmont, you think about these legendarily fast greens, and ladies and gentlemen, these fast greens have been fast for many, many decades.

If you haven't read about it, read about the 1935 U.S. Open when there was a controversy with a player saying the greens were simply too fast to play a championship, and thus the USGA Stimpmeter was born out of that championship because to that point, there was no way to read green speeds.

There was also the bunkers that were legendary. The bunkers started out with the Fownes designing about 80 bunkers on the golf course. And that 80, over the course of roughly 40 years, grew to over 300. When somebody hit a ball to somewhere the Fownes didn't like, what happened? A bunker appeared. Back then, you might read in history, it's really interesting, but they had furrowed bunkers really up until about 1953. And it was a way, back then, to just make the bunkers tougher, like they were with the pot bunkers over in the British Isles. There was no way to go down with the thick soil at that point, so they decided to make their own penalty bunkers.

Today, they aren't furrowed, but I can assure you these deep bunkers are very difficult and probably the most difficult we play for the U.S. Open.

That culture, William Fownes, the son, was not only the patriarch of this club after his father, but he was a great player. He was 1910 U.S. Amateur champ. He was the first captain and playing captain, at that, of the Walker Cup match for the United States side, and he went on to become USGA president.

And he's got a lot of quotable quotes, but two are particularly interesting and probably appropriate for this week.

When he was speaking about those furrowed bunkers, he said, a shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost. And when he got challenged just about the overall difficulty of Oakmont, he said, let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artist stand aside. And I can assure you, please don't say this is a quote that came from the USGA, but that just gives you a little bit of a culture of this club, and I will tell you that culture is alive and well with the members today. They relish the championship test. They relish the architecture of Oakmont.

And I think, as we've seen great courses, architectural courses really do have a knack of bringing out the best of the best in these championships when you look at the history of Oakmont, you think about who's won here.

They've had PGA Championships here. This is the ninth U.S. Open. There's been five U.S. amateurs, a couple of Women's Opens. And you think about the names -- Gene Sarazen, Bob Jones, Tommy Armour, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Ernie Els, Larry Nelson. On the women's side, Patty Sheehan, Paula Creamer.

And you think about also who have been the runners-up? Who's been in the hunt? You think about names of Sam Snead in that '53 Open with Ben Hogan. Arnold Palmer. Tom Watson was twice runner-up here at Oakmont. Jerry Pate, Colin Montgomerie. Juli Inkster almost won the '92 Women's Open. And most recently, Tiger Woods and Suzann Pettersen.

But it really does go a lot to saying when you get a great architectural golf course and match that with the setup that's legendary here at Oakmont, it produces great champions.

Knowing that you've got the transcript from the media day at your disposal, I'm really not going to go into the details about the actual setup and some of the other architectural features, but know they're there.

I guess, to continue on a little here, in terms of what the USGA has done to Oakmont, really we would say very little change has occurred. What you're seeing out there in so many ways is everyday Oakmont. It's what the members encounter. I'm not saying they encounter it every day, but oftentimes, they're encountering greens speeds every bit as fast as this. They're encountering the same fairway widths and contours that you see here. The point being here is that this really is a golf course we can come to. It's U.S. Open ready seemingly all the time.

If you think about, going back to 2007, there's so much consistency there. It's the same exact yardage we played in 2007. Again, same contours. The only differences with the contours is that we did mow out the insides of the rough as they lead into the bunkers because in 2007 we felt we saw too many balls hang up on steep edges going into the bunkers. So it really wasn't necessarily playing, in that regard, the way the architect wanted. But other than that, it's pretty much the same.

In terms of the greens, we all know these truly are legendarily fast. We believe, at least the championships we play, they play faster than any place we go, and that is, as I said, a longstanding kind of DNA of Oakmont.

So I guess that, in closing, what I would say is that for more than a century we have played this U.S. Open on some of the country's truly greatest golf courses. We have also wanted this to be a tough test, a fair test, an exciting test, and ultimately, as Diana said, the ultimate test in championship golf. I think we believe as an organization that Oakmont meets that criteria beautifully.

Before we go to questions, allow me to acknowledge a few people that really have been a big part of how the golf course is presented. To my left is Jeff Hall. He's our managing director of Open Championships. Jeff's been on staff for roughly 26 years. He's a part of everything we do. We work together very closely over the years.

And then also in the front row here, John Bodenhamer, in charge of the USGA's championships and all of its governance functions. John works very closely -- and Darren Brevard, to John's right, is our championship agronomist.

And the two other people we do want to acknowledge that arguably are as important as anybody at this championship is John Zimmers, who's the golf course superintendent. This is our fourth championship we're working with John, and he's as good as anybody in the business and a delight to work with. And his right-hand man, Dave Delsandro. Gentlemen, thank you. You're masters at what you do. You have presented this golf course beautifully. We can't imagine it could be in better condition. So thank you.

With that, I will throw it back to Adam for questions.

Q. Mike, after being staged at Pinehurst and Chambers Bay, this is a return to a more traditional looking golf course, more of the traditional identity people have of the U.S. Open. I've heard people question did the U.S. Open even go through an identity crisis with what it's gone through. Can you address what you see as the identity of the U.S. Open and how it's encompassed in these three different venues?
MIKE DAVIS: Randall, really good question. You've heard Diana and I mention really ultimate test. It really gets down to we want to test, this week, all of the shot making skills of the players, and we also want to test their course management skills and their ability to handle the nerves.

I think when we're looking at golf courses that could potentially take a U.S. Open, what we really want to do is take it, first and foremost, to one of the country's great golf courses. So it's got to be a golf course that tests all those aspects I just mentioned.

The other thing we want to do is, where possible, try to allow each course to show its own architecture. And I think that when you look back -- you use Pinehurst as an example, what Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw did a few years back was take that marvelous course back to really what Donald Ross designed. So for the U.S. Open, it didn't have fairways that were nearly as narrow. It didn't have the high Bermuda rough. What it had was the sandy wire grass areas. We wanted to embrace that because we felt that's what people would see on a regular basis at Pinehurst.

When you think of Chambers Bay last year, it was on a sandy, hilly, kind of manufactured, if you will, site. That's what the architects wanted. Did it play exactly the same as Oakmont? No. So when you come to Oakmont, this is what you see on a regular basis, and I do think your point's well taken that it's in some ways, since the early 1950s, very narrow fairways and high rough has been a part of the U.S. Open, along with firm, fast greens.

We embrace that, but we don't necessarily think that every site needs to be that way. What we really want to do is showcase different types of architecture because, in our country, there are so many great golf courses, and why not embrace that?

Q. Mike, could you compare the rough height and the fairway widths going back to, say, '53, if you could compare that and what it is today.
MIKE DAVIS: What I can do is compare back to at least 1994 and 1992. They're not dissimilar then. I can tell you in '07, they're virtually the same going back to that Open and the 2010 Women's Open.

Oakmont, this golf course has truly evolved over the years. It's not been stagnant. So when you think about what the Fownes did over a 40-year period, they were constantly modifying this to make what they felt is a better championship test.

And you think about how Oakmont itself has changed, and now what's happened in the last several years, the club has really wanted to restore certain features. So they get rid of a lot of the trees. They restore the back right part of the 6th green in the last few years.

So I'm not sure I can tell you all the way back to '53, but in general, it is the same routing of the golf course. For the most part, it's the same contours of the greens, although I do think, when you look at some of the old photographs and go way back, maybe they've shrunken a little, but if you go back to the '50s, I suspect that today's greens are a little bit bigger than what you saw there as they've grown in.

All courses change a little bit, but I think that Oakmont has been very, very true to this overall design philosophy.

Q. Mike, have there been any changes to the setup this week in terms of rough height or green speed or any other elements? If so, have any of those been inspired by some of the player feedback?
MIKE DAVIS: So we got in Monday a week ago, and I will say when we got in then -- it was Jeff Hall, myself, John Bodenhamer, along with our championship agronomist, we did think the rough was a bit too penal, and this was before the players arrived. So we did take the levels down.

It's continually one of those things where we are looking at it on a daily basis to say how can we get to where we want? For example, when we're mowing rough -- in fact, they're mowing rough as we speak right now -- we want the grounds staff to mow tee to green because the way it lays, the shots are played with the grain, and we feel like the player has a better opportunity of really showing his shot making skills rather than hitting into the grain and not even being able to move a club through it.

But we do modify it. I will say it's been consistent for pretty much the last four, five, six days, but we did take it down when we first arrived.

In terms of green speeds, they too have been very, very consistent although I will tell you, going out this morning, they were slightly slower just because the moisture in the grass puffed up a little bit, but they're still very, very fast.

Q. Mike, you pretty much answered every question I was just going to ask you about the rough, but did you take it down to maybe like around four inches? And then secondarily, how will you use the 8th tee and maybe the 12th tee? One day, two days all the way back?
MIKE DAVIS: So, yeah, when we got here, I believe we were mowing the high rough around five inches, and we've taken that down to -- I think it's -- what is it, four inches, four and a quarter?

JOHN ZIMMERS: Four and a half.

MIKE DAVIS: Four and a half. So we have lowered that a bit. The next step, the lesser of the two roughs, if you will, the primary rough, that actually grew up a bit. When we first arrived, we didn't feel there was enough of a penalty there. So I think we went from two and a half inches up to three, three and a quarter, and then mowing that tee to green.

That's the thing. Once you get here and you see the density of it and so on, that's a normal thing we do in the setup. With respect to the 18 ground, we played that hole back two days. So it's a 288 tee in 2007 and up at the 252 tee. That hole, by the way, when you read about it, that was designed for drivers, 3 woods. That's what the Fownes wanted. It's a big green. It's a relatively flat green. It's probably the flattest green at Oakmont. It's not flat. And there is an area roughly 40 yards in front of it that pitches slightly towards the green that does feed a ball on.

So we don't set the tee markers until really the morning of, and we won't make that decision based -- and if it's real soft, we'll be mindful of how far back we go. But in 2007, it was nice and firm so we could go back.

On No. 12, what I will tell you there, it's a little bit of the same, that we'll decide based on weather conditions. But we want back on the 667 tee twice in '07, and we went up to the 632 tee twice, and it really did play -- I mean, it's two very different tee shots from those just because the forward one, you can carry the first cross bunker without any problem, but it brings very, very slopy drive zone into play.

Q. Mike, on the 17th hole, have there been any significant changes in the setup since 2007? And how tempting are you trying to make that for the golfers to go for the green off the tee?
MIKE DAVIS: Yeah, that hole is drivable from the very, very tip. It really is a tremendously exciting hole at a great time in the round. To think that you've just played this really hard 230-yard par 3, the 16th, and then 18 is one of the tough par 4s, it sits really in a great position.

The only thing we have changed about 17 from 2007 is that, if you look at it, the insides of all the greenside bunkers have been closely mown because, again, we saw a lot of instances where balls hung up on a very steep slope, and I'm not sure that's necessarily what the architect wanted there. So when a ball gets near one of those bunkers, the ball will feed down into one of those deep greenside bunkers. But other than that, that's the only thing we've done.

And I will tell you, in terms of where tee markers get set, again, it really is the morning of based on what the winds are like and the firmness or softness in the case that we'll probably have.

Q. Mike and Jeff, two questions. One, about the Stimpmeter reading, since this is -- I don't want to say the home, but this is where it kind of percolated. Could you actually give us what your projected Stimpmeter is for this week? And then secondly, are there any particular areas on the golf course that concern you, depending on weather and such, that you have to keep an eye on?
MIKE DAVIS: Yes. So the green speeds will essentially be what we had in 2007, 2010, and they will be barring some heavy rain event, which could be very possible tomorrow. They will be up in the 14s on the Stimpmeter. That's what the players will be playing. That's what they played in 2007. That's what the women played in 2010. That's oftentimes what the members -- in fact, there's a couple times the members actually go beyond that, which I don't know how that's possible, but they tell me they do.

And then lastly, yes, to answer your question, there are probably three or four hole locations that we really do have to be mindful of at those speeds, and particularly with what might happen with wind. If you get one of those downhill, downwind scenarios, those are the ones I think we worry about most.

But John and his staff do a masterful job at managing these, and they're strategic at that speed too. On some of these locations that I'm talking about, you really want to get yourself below the hole because it's really the only way to play it. Leaving yourself short of it, we've seen time and time again here at Oakmont, not a good thing.

ADAM BARR: Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to wrap up, but before we go, please keep your places. We have with us a longtime friend of the USGA, of all of you and of golf, and we'd like to honor him briefly today.

MIKE DAVIS: So if we've contemplated this return to Oakmont for this historic ninth U.S. Open, we realized we had a unique opportunity to recognize one of golf's true gentlemen, and we all know that western Pennsylvania breeds men of extraordinary character, the highest integrity and generosity of spirit, and we're proud to call this person a real friend.

We've been fortunate enough over the last 50-plus years to have worked with him. We've been a friend of his. And I think that many of you suspect that this is probably a lead-up to an honor for Arnold Palmer, but it's not. Rather, what we want to do is honor a gentleman that served Arnold for 50 years, and I know so many of you out there know him. He is Arnold's right-hand man, and, of course, I'm speaking of Doc Giffin. He is truly one of golf's good guys. He's always well dressed. He's a gentleman. He's polite. He's efficient.

Doc, you started out as a sportswriter many years ago. You became the press agent for the PGA Tour, and then you went on to really be the personal secretary and confidant of the King. You've done so much for the USGA. And over the years, anything we've needed from Arnold, whether it's him serving in 1975 as the USGA, what was then known back then as the associates program, and he still serves in that role today.

But, Doc, you have been there every step of the way, and as I say, when it comes to gentlemen, integrity, and just what's so great about the game of golf.

So, Doc, like Arnold, you've called your home in Latrobe for many, many years, and your office is right beside Arnold. So what we're pleased to do is present you, as a token of our gratitude, the painting of Latrobe Country Club.

Thank you for being a steadfast friend, your professionalism, and your generosity. With that, ladies and gentlemen, let us present Doc Giffin.

(Applause.)

DOC GIFFIN: Thank you. Thanks very much. I'm overwhelmed. I was thinking about this, knowing I was coming here today.

1962 Open, such a historic Open for everybody, particularly my boss and Jack Nicklaus. It happened to be my first U.S. Open. That was my first year as press secretary, my first year to assist the USGA by helping in the media center that year and subsequent years, and it's just been great working with everybody here.

The USGA has always been very close to me. I've enjoyed my association with the national, with our local. My days go back to the late Jim Potts. What a great guy he was.

I'm just appalled by what we have here compared to what we had in 1962. We had one tent, and that was it. I think there was a little auxiliary tent for the food. But it's great to be here. I'm most appreciative of this recognition. I know Arnold will be pleased.

I would just say to you, as you probably saw in the paper, Arnold has had some serious mobility problems and has decided that it was going to be a bit too difficult for him to get down here this week so he's going to be watching and rooting and paying close attention to the tournament. Let's hope that the weather that they're talking about isn't too bad.

Thank you again so much to the USGA and to all of you.

(Applause.)

ADAM BARR: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Have a great U.S. Open, and let any of us in Communications know what we can do to help.

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