U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2005

Mark Hensby

Q. Mark, you said yesterday that you were going to go out and approach it like any other round of golf. Was that how you felt out there today?

MARK HENSBY: Pretty much, yeah. I didn't do anything spectacular, didn't play that well. I don't know what you want me to say.

Q. Not happy with the way you played?

MARK HENSBY: No, I played terrible. I don't know what else to say. I played terrible. But I scored all right, and who knows, tomorrow if I can play better, maybe I'll have a chance. But it eventually catches up on you if you miss as many fairways as I did today. And so we'll see what happens.

Q. Your short game was good today?

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, it was all right. You have to have a good short game, it doesn't matter if you're playing good or bad. But, yeah, I chipped well. Middle of the round I chipped real well.

Q. To go out and to play terrible, as you described yourself playing, but still score well, do you feel like there's really a red number round out there for you, if you go straight off the tees tomorrow?

MARK HENSBY: I hope so. Yeah, I would think so. You know, you've got to hit fairways to have a chance of winning, that's for sure. You can't be scrambling around, because it eventually catches up on you. Towards the end of the round I played better; the last four holes I hit the ball better.

Retief is playing well, he's going to be hard to beat. He likes this U.S. Open deal, so he's playing well, and you're going to need a lot of good things. You need a lot of luck to win a tournament like this.

Q. What were the problems today?

MARK HENSBY: I drove it terrible. And then a few times at the end I didn't really putt I didn't really pick my lines very well. I was standing over it kind of doubting, which makes it tough, obviously, to hit the putt where you're trying to.

Q. Will you practice tonight?

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, I'm going to go hit a couple of balls, see what's going on. I couldn't figure it out last night, so I'm not sure I'll be able to do it tonight, either.

Q. What would it mean to you winning this having spent weeks in your car?

MARK HENSBY: I'm not going to answer that question. I've already talked about the car thing a hundred times.

Q. How would it feel to win?

MARK HENSBY: Obviously what do you think, it would be great to win any tournament. The U.S. Open, which would be something special, obviously, but, yeah, no doubt, it would be something special.

Q. You said you treat it just like any other tournament?

MARK HENSBY: You still treat it the same as a tournament, but if you get a chance to win, obviously, it becomes a different deal. I'm not sure you you're human, I mean, what do you expect, you're not going to go out there and play like you're playing with your buddies, having a few beers or whatever. But, you know, everybody gets nervous, as Johnny Miller talks about, you know, everybody is going to be leaking oil.

The thing is, the good players, when they hit bad shots, you know, "Oh, he was being aggressive there." But when someone like me hits a bad shot, I'm choking. You tell me.

Q. You differentiate yourself when you say it like that, the good players as opposed

MARK HENSBY: I'm talking about the superstars. You hear it all the time when you're watching golf. A guy who's not up there, who shouldn't be up there, supposedly, he hits a bad shot, he's choking, but when a good player hits a bad shot or one of the superstars, well, he's being too aggressive, and that's just the way it is.

Q. You said yesterday that if you didn't drive it better it would catch up with you, and yet you shot another pretty good round today. So is it possible that you could maybe get away with it again tomorrow and still be up there?

MARK HENSBY: Well, maybe. It's worked so far this week. But it's a little more stress on you when you're hitting it in the rough, I can tell you. But anything is possible.

Retief last year won and he didn't hit a lot of fairways. It's just a case of who can grind it out the best.

Q. You see guys like Jason Gore and Olin Browne who play, 51 years old, and you've got an eclectic mix of people at the top. What is it about this setup that gets a 51 year old guy or a guy from the Nationwide Tour into contention?

MARK HENSBY: He's 51?

Q. Jacobsen is.

MARK HENSBY: Oh, really?

Q. He's the only guy in red numbers today.

MARK HENSBY: Oh, wow. Well, I think that's a testament to the way the course is set up. They've done a great job this week, there's no doubt. I have never played in an Open before, but the course is very fair. And you can get some good lies and you can get some bad lies. But the good thing about this course is even if you got a good lie in the rough you really have to think about where you're going to hit your ball.

And as I said, with so many different guys out there, it's kind of neat for tomorrow. It should be a great story and a great finish for everybody to watch.

Q. Are you surprised that a 51 year old can be in contention here?

MARK HENSBY: Not these days. Everybody is good. Peter is a great player. He won the Senior Open last year, and obviously he's been around a long time. And I think experience in these things is probably worth more than just age, that's for sure.

Q. What will it take to catch Goosen?

MARK HENSBY: Who? Retief? I don't think you're going to catch Retief. It's the case of we've just got to go out there and try and not make any mistakes, and if he plays a good round of golf he's going to be hard to beat, there's no doubt. You don't win two U.S. Opens without being any good, that's for sure. And obviously he's figured out how to win the U.S. Open. You just go out and play your best and see what happens.

End of FastScripts.