U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 1996

John Morse

JOHN MORSE: Okay, pretty standard pars at the first two holes. Not a very good bogey at the third. Fourth hole, is just a standard par.

JOHN MORSE: I hit a 4-iron, it was 201 to the flag. Hit a 4-iron, flew 208 yards to the back fringe. I just can't hit a 4-iron that far and it kind of got stuck up against the collar and just bladed a chip basically back across the green and 2-putted from there, so it was ugly, Wes. And then the fifth hole I drove it in the rough, left rough, and just basically had to wedge it out. Hit a 6-iron about ten feet, and I really thought I made the putt there. Hit a good putt, and it just didn't go in, and I kind of really got frustrated with myself and said, if you are going to make bogeys trying to make pars, you might as well make bogeys trying to make birdies. And I played 6, 7 and 8 very well. I hit it about eight feet at 6 and made a little bit more than that, maybe ten feet. Made it. Three feet at 7, three feet at 8 again, left bunker at 9, and very good up-and-down there, blasted it out to about two and a half feet. And so I'm real pleased with that. 12: I hit, what would be for me, a gap-wedge from about 98 yards and got in there about seven feet and made that for birdie. 13: I hit it about a foot with a 6-iron, and there is a slippery little putt. It wasn't the easiest of putts from one foot, but got it in, and you know, played the fine holes just tee-to-green, pretty much the way I wanted to in the fairway onto the green and some good 2-putts and, you know, that 18th hole, you can make 5 there in a heartbeat so I am not real displeased with that. Anything worse with a 5 would have been disheartening, but I am tickled pink with the finish today.

JOHN MORSE: The weather was beautiful, lots of people. The golf course is actually in magnificient shape. My hat is off to the ground crew. They had a difficult week to contend with. The greens have firmed up nicely. I think they are getting more like the USGA would prefer them in a Championship, and the fairways were a bit firmer today. So you know, if the sun stays out late tonight and tomorrow, the fairways will firm up and it will tighten up the fairways a little bit more and make driving a bit more difficult tomorrow.

JOHN MORSE: It was at 13.

JOHN MORSE: It was a little bit above the hole and to the right, and it had about two inches of break in it from a foot, you know, so you can either gently lob it in the hole and watch it zoom for a foot or try and beat it in the back of the hole and I kind of went middle of the road but at that point in time a foot with a lot of break and speed, well, that is not the easiest thing in the world sometimes.

JOHN MORSE: That would be hard for me to comment on because I haven't played them every year. I mean, I can't make a comparison. All I can say is, you know, for me it is a pleasure to get into the Open. And, you know, it is a fun week, really. And to go compete against, you know, a strong field is what we try to do every week.

JOHN MORSE: You mean in the qualifying process?

JOHN MORSE: But the beauty of that is that the USGA sets the golf course up basically the same every year. I mean, the first one I played in was at Winged Foot, 1984, and the first one you play in, it's a shock. You are just not used to the firm conditions and the high rough. But then you go to your second one, and it is the exact same. It could be five or ten years or 20 years later, but it is set up the same exact way; so there is no real conditioning to it. You know what to expect if you have been there once.

JOHN MORSE: Overnight I really didn't make any adjustments. I felt I played very solidly and very well yesterday, but I didn't make the putts. Then after the bogey at 5, the day I told -- like I said before, I told my caddy if I am going to make bogeys trying to make pars, I am going to make bogeys trying to make birdies. That is about the only mental adjustment I made out there today. It actually helped me relax and get a flow.

JOHN MORSE: Paparozzi (ph). That is part of the deal. I mean, I have had some good experiences with television stations in the past in countries other than the United States, so I have had the media experience, so it is not being thrust upon me. I know what to expect, and it is really not that big a deal.

JOHN MORSE: I never played the south course. I played the north course. In an amateur qualifier, U.S. Amateur Qualifier, something like that, but I never played the south course until this week. You hear about it, you know, The Monster and all this. It is a monster. We just go round and do the best we can and see what happens.

JOHN MORSE: Well, yeah, if I played bad I could have got been home in an hour and a half, so that is nice, but no, there is no special -- nothing special about playing an Open in your home state. Not that it is not a privilege and honor to play an Open in your home state. But once the bell goes on Thursday, you can be playing in California, or whereever. An Open is an Open no matter where it is, and the feelings, playing in the Open kind of surpass the idea of playing in your home state. I am not trying to belittle the fact that I am a Michigan representative playing in the Open in Michigan because it is honorable and I am real pleased to be representing the state.

JOHN MORSE: That is awfully kind of them. I hear a lot of that "go Blue" and all that out there, it is really good. Once you get out there, it is the Open regardless of where it is.

JOHN MORSE: 6 was a 9-iron. 7 was a 7-iron. And 8 was a 3-iron.

JOHN MORSE: Not going to try and change any routines at all. I will go home and maybe read a story to my daughter or have dinner with my daughter and play with her for a while; watch a little TV with her, no changes, and maybe the butterflies might be a little bit stronger tomorrow, two hours, an hour and a half or half hour before you play, but if you can get out to a nice solid start, you know, make something good happen reasonably early in the rounds, be it a 2-foot put that you don't feel comfortable with, if it breaks or not, if it is straight in, but if there is some little thing that you can just propel yourself past the emotional state, and settle yourself down, you should be fine and just continue on about your business.

JOHN MORSE: No.