U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 11, 2002

Andy Miller

Johnny Miller

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to be joined this morning by Andy Miller from Napa, California and his father, Johnny Miller, the 1973 United States Open champion.

We'll get things started with a question or two for Andy. Andy, this is your first appearance in the U.S. Open. We understand that you have been through qualifying several times before. Maybe you can walk us through your qualifying this year.

ANDY MILLER: I don't know, my main goal was to get here. I really wasn't going to be satisfied. Like you said, I had been to the sectional qualifying, what, four, five, six times, and I felt like I had a great chance, having the experience five or six sectional qualifyings and missing it by one, two times.

So I was ready to get here, I think.

I came out and I just played great the whole day, what can I say. I had five birdies and an eagle the first round and then one double, shot 67. I come out and I bogeyed my first two holes the second round and I'm thinking, well, what the heck am I doing now, and I went from 5-under to 3-under, but came right back with three or four birdies on the next few holes that relaxed me and I finished well, shot 68 the second round. Now I'm here.

RAND JERRIS: Tell us about what it means to you to be playing in the championship with your father's name so prominently displayed on it.

ANDY MILLER: This has got to be the biggest thing in my golfing career, playing in a National Open. As far as I'm concerned, it's the largest tournament in the world just because it's the National Open.

RAND JERRIS: Turn that question over to your father, as well. What does it mean having your son playing in this event?

JOHNNY MILLER: I caddied for him in Valencia Country Club in southern California and then played the next 33 holes 7-under on one of the hardest courses anywhere, and then bogeyed his 35th hole. The 36th hole, he hit a big drive. It went on this mound and picked up a big clot of mud and it was on the right side. I knew if the mud was on the right it would kick the ball to the left, but the pin in a huge deep bunker; so do I tell him to aim right because it's going to spit left. Then he his this thing, came out and rolled right up against the collar and he tried to skull it because it was up against the fringe and 3-putted and lost out by a shot. I choked as a caddie, I guess. But that was a bad break, he played like a champ in that one.

Every other year, they go to Lake Merced in the western part of the United States, and that's the lowest two-round total anybody has ever shot at Lake Merced, 135 he shot.

So he's playing well. Expectations, I think it's just the case for him to play the way he's been playing and see what happens, because he's got a lot of game. I'm obviously excited -- I'm excited to do the Open even if my kids are not in it, for NBC. I feel like I'm sort of the spokesman for the USGA in some ways, and now with him in there, it's going to be a weird thing but it's going to be very exciting. I'm looking forward to it.

He gets to play with David Duval and Mike Weir. Andy is staying in Napa, but he gets to go play with Weir and Duval and Billy Andrade. It reminds me of when I played my first Open. Jackie Swanson, a guy at the Olympic Club, arranged for me to play with Jack Nicklaus on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had just turned 19, so for me to play with Nicklaus was pretty exciting. When Thursday came after playing with Nicklaus, it was like that wasn't that much pressure, the actual Open, because I had been playing with the great Jack Nicklaus.

It's great for him to play with Duval and Andrade and Weir. It will take the edge off, get him a little more competitive and in the spirit of the Open. I think it's a good break for him today.

RAND JERRIS: Did you try to get him to caddie for you this week?

ANDY MILLER: No, not this week. I have a good friend of mine from high school that came out and he's going to caddie for me. He got me through the first stage so I figured I'd have him do the next two. And NBC would not be happy if he caddied for me.

Q. Andy, could you talk about your game as you see it compared to what you know about your father's game, and Johnny, can you talk about Andy's game as you know it compared to your game?

ANDY MILLER: Wish I hit it as close as he did with his irons. That would be a great part to have in my game.

My game has been pretty solid all around. When my dad was 24, 25, obviously I was not around to really see that. But to watch his game, I don't know, I guess we're pretty similar. That's usually been the strength of my game, has been my iron play. As of late, it was my driving awhile ago, but now my irons are coming around.

We have similar games. Our putting strokes are a little different, though.

JOHHNY MILLER: I was pretty good at 24, putting.

His game, if I analyze it, he's got a lot more distance than I did. If he was on TOUR right now, he would be in the Top-10 in driving distance, Top 15, anyway. I was like in the Top-30, maybe 25. I wasn't short, but he's definitely close to Tiger off the tee or Duval. It will be interesting to see today what his distance is compared to Duval. Not that it matters in an Open.

As far as chipping, he's a lot better chipper than I was. Putting is pretty similar. I think his long irons are maybe even better than mine. I might have had an advantage with a mid or short iron, but he's got some good strengths that I didn't have. If I had his chipping and -- he's actually more level-headed. I'm pretty easygoing, but he's very strong mentally, very strong mentally. It's something that people like hanging around with Andy because he's sort of got it together.

Q. Can you tell us what part of your game do you attribute to your father? And Johnny, you're known for being very, very candid in your commentary. What's it going to be like commenting on Andy's play?

ANDY MILLER: Well, in almost every aspect. I grew up, mainly my grandpa when I was younger was my teacher. But from 15 to 23, my dad basically taught me everything I knew.

I think his biggest influence has actually been on my mental game, what he's taught me about how to get around the course, just because he's had so much experience as far as the PGA TOUR level and winning major championships. That's been probably the biggest help to me is what he's told me mentally on the golf course.

But obviously, he shaped my swing. I've branched out a little bit from some of his teaching, but everything I know is what he's taught me.

JOHHNY MILLER: He actually took a lot of the things that I did and modernized it. You hate to think that there's a generation gap, but he did some good things, copying some of the best parts of Tiger's swing and working on his own with a video in front of a big mirror in the barn. We have a barn that we restored and he spends a lot of time there by himself. He's a student of his own swing, very much so. He doesn't just run to me. I can see if he makes some tempo changes or ball position changes or I'll help him a little bit keeping the club on line with his left forearm at the top of the backswing so that he can fire that fast, strong body move. It sometimes gets a little this way, but that's about the only thing I've helped him with, which I think is a pretty important little thing.

But he should take a lot of his own credit because he's taken what I've done and he's sort of improved on it. I've actually learned some things with what he's been working on because he's more with it. I'm sort of still in the old 70s mode -- not really, but he's dragging me along. I'm open to suggestions. He's smart enough mentally to tell me to take a hike if he didn't like what I'm trying to tell him.

I'm cool with that. I've been there with my dad. My dad would tell me five things, four of them were nuts and one of them was pretty good. I'm used to that chatter back and forth with my dad, so he does the same thing with me.

We've done this before he played in the U.S. Amateurs and today, his younger brother, Todd, has played in U.S. Amateurs. If you watch those U.S. Amateurs, the way I announce, it just is what it is. It doesn't matter if it's my wife or my kids, it is what it is. If he's behind a tree and tries to hit a driver off a lie this deep, I'm going to tell him how dumb it was.

It's not because I'm trying to hurt him but I'm trying to basically inform you guys that I don't think it was a good decision.

You know, he's a smart player. I'm not too worried about it. The way I announce, I don't have to fake. So it's not like I'm Bill Clinton or a politician trying to be politically correct. I just tell what I see. He knows that. He knows when I work with him that sometimes I'm almost too blatantly honest with him and I sort of made some mistakes maybe being so honest with what he's doing in his game. But it's just the way I am. It's not something I make up. I am what I am. He knows how much I care about him and how much I am pulling for him, that's the main thing.

Q. Can you describe your nerves as far as what it's like to watch him play and what you think it will be like to watch him play in a tournament like this on Thursday?

JOHHNY MILLER: Well, one part of me, it's a celebration for him this week, and for me and for everybody that's close to him. I'd like him to play as if he's playing the game, not working the game, and really have a good time. But he's a good enough player that he's not just here to have a great experience and a celebratory experience. He's got the kind of game that if he can be a little lucky and keep his nerves in check and get off to a decent start, he could compete in this championship. It could be a nice little celeberatory, sort of like what I did ^ my first U.S. Open when I finished eighth. It's not a stretch for him to have a really good week the way he's been playing. Who knows. He can play with these guys. He has to know that I know, that he can play with these guys and he has to convince himself. That holds the same, the Pepsi tour ^ the U.S. Open just focus and play the way you can and have the attitude that, hey, I can whoop anybody if I can play good. You have to do a little of the Lanny Wadkins, Jerry Pate, Tiger Woods and when he came out on TOUR, "Hey, move over, boys, I'm ready." He's coming into his own right now, 24 years old. Next five years are going to be key years for him, and that's the way I feel. I have a lot of confidence in him.

Q. You don't have to go back too many years, Johnny, where you won. Do you get the itch to go out and play competitively on a competitive basis?

JOHHNY MILLER: Physically I have just been a mess. Since about '97, between my herniated back and I have a broken vertebrae in my L5 and had wrist trouble and different troubles in my legs and knees. The funny thing is my back has been bad since January 1 last year, so I haven't really been abusing myself and now -- because I haven't been riding motorcycles and four-wheelers and everything else, I'm healing up and feeling pretty good, about my game. And physically I'm pretty good.

So for the first time in about 10, 15 years, I'm getting the itch to play a little bit of senior golf because I am playing well, and my back is almost all healed up. So, maybe Andy is making me get the itch, I don't know. But I'm putting better, with that claw grip, so I don't have the yips. My game, it doesn't matter for me. Right now, my game is just for fun. If I go play it's not because I'm trying to make a living. Where Andy, this is big stuff for him.

Q. How often do you guys play together, and what is the competition level when you play together?

JOHHNY MILLER: He whoops me. But lately I've been making them. I played a couple of times with him and I've been playing well. I'm definitely not as good as Andy right now. I'm just not as good as Andy.

But I'm not chop liver, either. He's just been playing really well. He hits it so darn far. He out drives me by 20 to 40 yards, and I'm not that short. That's a big advantage.

ANDY MILLER: He can still get it going. He gets out there and he'll start knocking it tight. We don't compete that much. It's my younger brother who is on a mission right now for our church. Those two, they used to go at it. It will be interesting to see when he comes back if they will still have that competition. He always wanted to beat my dad.

JOHHNY MILLER: I don't let these guys beat me too easily but lately I didn't have much choice. I don't play much, is the bottom line. I only play nine holes. If the Tour became nine holes, I could come back out there. Nine holes is just the right amount, I think. (Laughter.)

RAND JERRIS: Could you talk to us a little about the golf course. Is it what you expected of a U.S. Open golf course and how does it fit your game?

ANDY MILLER: Well, I've hit every fairway and every green because I haven't played it yet so I don't know how it is. I'm going out there right now. This will be my first round.

JOHHNY MILLER: He's been lucky because lately he's been playing Olympic Club once in awhile, growing up in Pebble Beach, those are Open courses. And Lake Merced where he qualified in essence is an Open course. So he's been introduced to courses that are -- at Valencia Country Club. He's played top courses, and so that's a big advantage. You get a lot of guys that grew up on courses that are nothing like this, and so he's played Pebble in the Pebble Beach Invitational, so this is not going to be that much different for him.

Q. They are going to bring in Derek Tolan after this; can you fathom a 16-year-old playing in the U.S. Open and do you have any advice for him?

JOHHNY MILLER: Man, 16 years old, that's something to hooray about. Where did he qualify in, Alaska or what? (Laughter.) That's amazing, 16. That is great stuff.

For him, it's just basically -- you know, the game comes down to, it sounds so trite, but get it out there in the fairway, pick your spots when you want to go for the pin. The rest of the time, mitigate a little bit of the shot if it's not your shot, make par when you can, pars are golden at the U.S. Open, if you make a birdie once in awhile on the holes that you've got a green-light iron shot, just keep it simple. Just get it down the fairway with some ugly slice or whatever you can hit.

Occasionally you can let it go with a driver and take advantage of your length, but the Open is sort of about reining the horse in. Pars are phenomenal scores. If he shoots four 70s, he's got a 30 percent chance of winning the National Open. Birdies you're going to need some to offset the few mistakes you make, but you really try to pick your spots with those iron shots. If you've got one right on the button with an iron, go for the pin, but if you have a tough hill, sidehill lie, get it on the green, get your par and go to the next hole. That's what every player here has got to understand, is that it's about hitting fairways and greens and pars are great.

Q. How is what Tiger has done since '97 affected you and your thinking towards the game? And Johnny, I was curious, since Tiger won his first Masters, how has the game changed, good and bad, over the last five years?

ANDY MILLER: Well, what Tiger has done is huge as far as bringing new people into the game. You see so many more people coming in to play, and just competition-wise. All of the money he has brought to the game has led to a lot more pros trying it out there. Even on the mini-tour level, you see so many more guys coming out there and starting to play. Not that I have been around that long, but I just see that the competition is getting better and better because so many people are trying to choose it as a profession.

Also, Tiger is a guy that just like my dad tried to emulate great players when he was a kid. I watched Tiger, and I'm not that much younger than he is, but I look at his swing and what he's done. He's the model that every guy growing up now is going to be copying because he is the best player in the world right now.

JOHHNY MILLER: It's interesting, because my role models were like Palmer and he had a swing nobody wanted to copy. Nicklaus was phenomenal but nobody wanted to copy his flying right elbow; and Trevino was great, but who wanted to aim left and push the ball out there.

All of a sudden you have a guy that you can look at and say this guy is textbook. He's flawless. What's happened is with that big, huge shoulder turn that he has, the width, the big follow-through, the strengthening that he does, the conditioning, all of the things that he does are things that you want to copy, where my role models didn't have these great swings. Sam Snead had a great swing, but he was -- I never really saw him play that much until right at the end. I think it's great that Tiger has been a pretty good role model in every area, including the swing. It's influencing these guys, the way they are using their body rebound, how much flexibility they use, and the flexibility exercise, and how fast their body moves through the ball. We didn't used to have guys that moved their body fast, and Tiger has that. All of the young guys see them to pick up on copying and emulating what Tiger is doing. You have a tremendous power game going on right now.

Andy works out an hour and a half five days a week or so.

ANDY MILLER: Three days a week, a couple hours.

Q. Could you talk with us about what it's like, the advantages or if there are disadvantages of growing up in a famous golf family?

ANDY MILLER: Well, I've been asked this question many times, and I've always said, I have only seen the advantages to it. I can't really think of any disadvantages. I look at it as I get to play some of the best courses in the world due to the fact my father is who he is. I get some of the best equipment in the world and the best advice in the world. How can that be a disadvantage to you as far as playing golf?

I just haven't really seen any of the disadvantages to it. Maybe my brother, John, saw a little bit more because my dad was a little bit more of a player then. But now my dad being a broadcaster, I don't feel the pressure being Johnny Miller's son and I enjoy the fact that I am Johnny Miller's son. That's not something to look at as a disadvantage. I definitely look at it as an advantage.

Q. You talked about the course. How do you think it sets up as a U.S. Open course and how do you think it fits Tiger?

JOHHNY MILLER: I would think this is an absolute great course for Tiger.

I think Pebble Beach will always be Tiger's best shot at winning an Open. He grew up there in California and knows the course. They let the fairways be a little wider there. I think he's inspired by being at Pebble.

The rest of the Opens I really believe are his hardest tournament to win. I believe the Open will always be the hardest one for him to win. But of all of the Opens I've seen besides Pebble, this course looks like it sets up perfectly for his game. Not too much wind, a lot of forced carries over big bunkers, more room off the tee, the drives are not tricky or funky. Olympic Club had the reverse bank dogleg so if you hit a good drive it runs through into the rough.

I just think that even Southern Hills had funky holes like 18 where those are awkward holes for him. This golf course is pretty straightforward. There's enough room off the tee. Length is a huge advantage. The greens, he can handle any greens, but these greens are pretty benign. They are very fast, but they are very, very flat. There's so many 10-footers that are inside the hole. I've never seen a championship course with too many 10-footers that you can make dead center, left-center, no break. If you want to hit it with pace, you can play inside left, inside right, left center and make every 10-footer. I would say nine out of 10-footers you can play inside the Cup and make it.

Now, you've got a guy that's putting good, I mean, Tiger, we saw the Open on Pebble, on bumpy poa annua greens, he missed one putt inside eight feet inside the whole week. Somebody is going to have had a kind of week, maybe more than one. These greens, if you're knocking it close you can make that putt.

I think you can make some birdies out here, but you are going to be offset by -- if you hit it in the rough, the longest shot you hit on an average out of the rough from talking with the guys and watching them, looks like average 140 yards you can hit the ball; maybe 130. I haven't seen an Open like that since the old Opens when we had big rough.

Like Winged Foot, the average shot out of the rough -- the year after I won the Open, the average shot out of the rough at Winged Foot was 70 to 80 yards. The rough was this tall (indicating one foot). You had to have about five spotters on each hole just to find the ball, and then it was a sand wedge as hard could you hit it and sometimes it would only go from here to the wall.

The old days you look at Hogan in '55 at Olympic Club, the rough was right there at his knees. I don't know how they found these things. Since then, remember Baltusrol where Janzen won, they miscalculated -- remember they miscalculated the growth of the rough and they had a heat wave and the rough was that long and broke the Open record, too.

But this is the slimiest, rye, wet roughs and it doesn't have enough body to hold the ball up and it goes right to the ground and to go through this cabbage, wet grass and it just splats out, no spin.

I guess that was descriptive enough for you, right? (Laughter.) So stay out of the rough.

Q. You were saying you got to play Olympic and Pebble growing up, because of Johnny. Johnny, growing up and going to Washington High in the city, you played Lincoln and Harding, total public tracks. Do you see any symbolism or meaning to this truly "open" golf course, public course for the first time?

JOHHNY MILLER: It doesn't look like one, does it? You have to admit the USGA and the superintendent and all of his crew, they have brought this, I think, up to a level that, I mean, they could take the Augusta members out here and they would not feel like they have had much change from Augusta National. This course is perfect. This is as pure as it gets. I love that fescue out there that doesn't come into play, the look of that, and those huge bunkers. So I mean it's a public course, but it surely doesn't look like Harding Park where I grew up, where you're just praying for a lie when you hit it out there, and the ball is like this on the green.

I guess maybe they will try to keep the level of this conditioning after the Open leaves, but it's a real treat. People will come all over the world to plank down their $31 or $39 for the best bargain in town if they want to sleep in the parking lot.

Q. Any theories why the Europeans haven't done better in this event?

JOHHNY MILLER: Well, I probably shouldn't say that, but I really believe -- when I played in the Italian Open, I was actually choking because I was playing for the Italian Open. There's something about playing for somebody's National Championship. I'm not -- for a guy from France or Germany, England or whatever, to play for the United States Open, that's a big deal. I don't know if you understand how big that is. Maybe we take U.S. for granted a little bit, but when you're playing for somebody's national title, it seems like, you know, Ernie Els and Goosen and guys, those guys, just are two super-placid guys. They are the perfect kind of mentality to play in this nervous championship. It's the most nervous championship in the world. Tony Melus (ph) said that in his book. He said Nasser (ph) was fun at the top and basically he was saying the U.S. Open was diarrhea at the top. It's a nervous championship.

I just think that's one of the reasons why they haven't done better is they are a little too psyched up about winning it. Plus, the Open doesn't let you scramble, and the Europeans are great scramblers, better than our guys. You just look across the board and look at Seve and Olazabal, these guys can get it up and in from anywhere. The U.S. Open is not really about scrambling, per se. If you miss the fairway, you're smart and find out where your favorite yardage that you are hot on, whether it's a full 9-iron or full wedge; but have the discipline to take out the wedge, throw it in there with a spin, get it in there with eight or ten feet. Make half of those and get out; five option four or four option five. You don't say: I'm going to take this 3-iron and hack it out and run it through that five-yard chute and make par that way because it will come out dead left and you come in some gunky lie and knock it in the bunker make trouble or double. You can't do that.

The Open is about, if you get in trouble, you get it out to your favorite yardage, and then take your chances from there. Just suck it up. They don't like sucking it up that much. They like to scramble.

Q. Looking back at the last major championship and what happened on Sunday when Tiger got in the last group and on the leaderboard, how much is Tiger-phobia a factor with player these days and how much do they have to overcome that?

JOHHNY MILLER: Well, he has the ability to make people feel uncomfortable, not because he's not a nice guy. I guess that's the mark of a truly phenomenal player is that it's not because of what he says or how he acts. It's just you can feel that he's better -- you can feel he's better than you and he knows that he's better than you, and that just widens the gap, even though he doesn't say anything.

Tiger, when he plays with these guys, they just seem to know that mentally, he's stronger, and physically, he's stronger. He's got a better swing. He can get it up and in from anywhere. He can mitigate his bad days with his wedge play and around the green, and I just think that they know he's better than them, and that makes them play even worse than they should.

It's weird, because Greg Norman was a tremendous player, as good as really Tiger in a lot of ways, but there was something about Greg Norman that almost made people become heroic. I don't know what these things are, what the intangibles are we are talking about, but Tiger seems to, with this last generation of golfers, do just the opposite. Maybe try shots they shouldn't try, not able to pull off the shots they should or normally could, just because of who Tiger is.

That's a real intangible, but this new generation of golfers coming up, including Sergio, when he gets a year or two more on him, and the Andy Millers of the world, maybe this next generation will say he's gotten old, he's already done what he's supposed to do.

So pretty soon they will say, "Yeah, he's Tiger Woods but he's old." I remember saying that about Arnold Palmer. "How is he going to beat me? There's no way he can beat me. He's old." So it will happen. He's got their number, doesn't he?

He's getting so much scar tissue on his contemporaries, I don't know if those guys -- it's the new generation that haven't been run over eight times.

RAND JERRIS: Johnny, thanks very much for your time. Andy, we certainly wish you the best of luck this week.

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