U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2003

J.C. Snead

Q. You played very well.

J.C. SNEAD: Yes, I played pretty good today, I did.

Q. In making putts, keeping it in the fairways?

J.C. SNEAD: I think the only time that I got in the long rough was on the short par-5; I had to lay up. I was in the short, just barely off the fairway a couple of times which is like being in the fairway. I didn't get in the hay. I hit two bogeys, I bogeyed the par-3. I put it in the bunker. What's that? 6, maybe? And it wasn't that hard of a bunker shot, there was no sand under my ball. I felt like I hit it off of a board or something. It was weird. I made bogey there. I actually made about a five-footer for my second putt which I dodged a double bogey there. I think 11. I hit it in the bunker there, I hit a decent bunker shot I hit it on the down side. It went by about six foot or so and I made that. But I made a couple of nice par putts and my lag putting was very good except maybe the par-3; I left it short. It was into the green. The pin was in the back and there was a little hump right at the hole and I didn't want to knock it by the hole and I had a fairly long putt I had to hit first. I had no idea how to hit it, I left it about six foot short and I made it. That certainly helped. I bogeyed 17. I hit the wrong club off the tee. And I hit it in the bunker. I actually hit a good bunker shot. I had about a six foot putt, but I was pin-high and I had about a two or three-foot break from six feet. It was one of those you have to throw it up there, let it drift down to the hole and hope it gets close that you can make the next one.

Q. Can you talk about playing consistently and accepting par?

J.C. SNEAD: Well, you have to. There is no way you can attack these kind of greens. The pin placements were, you know -- Ray Charles put them out, I think. But I mean the pins were very tough. They had a lot of them up on the side of the knolls. I made a comment before we started, you had to have 100 percent concentration on every putt or it could really get away from you. Luckily I only had, where I left one short and I knocked one by and they were both on 3-putt. Other than that I had it where I could tap it in.

Q. (Inaudible)

J.C. SNEAD: That's pretty good for me.

Q. 3 bogeys?

J.C. SNEAD: No, I made two bogeys and I made three birdies. I birdied both par-4's on the back into the wind. I hit a 5-iron probably about 15 feet on one of them.

The other one I hit a 9-iron to about three-and-a-half feet.

The par-5 I chipped it about two feet. I knocked it over that green in two and chipped it and made that.

I had a couple of other birdie putts. I say birdie putts but not really; you have to be so defensive. If you get above the hole, actually pin-high is almost worse than being above. You just have to slow it at the slope and let it die down the hole and let it stop. I hit it at 9 but behind the hole. I hit it six or seven feet behind the hole, a little to the right. I just throw it over there. It actually touched the hole but didn't go in.

Q. Does it play tougher this course?

J.C. SNEAD: If it rains and the wind blows harder. If it rains the greens would be easier. Some of the greens were soft, some of them were not. You are really never sure whether it's going to stop or run. We hit it -- I hit a cut 6, landed it right to the front edge and he landed it just on the green and neither one went anywhere. Yesterday it would have gone back to the green, today it stopped. But they were probably watered there. They watered the greens down towards the front.

But I take my chances on a 30 -- 40-footer than trying to chip out of that hay. But I drove the ball good and I hit a 3-wood off the tee several times. I hit a TaylorMade, whatever you call it, off the tee a few times. That's where I screwed up on 17. I laid back too far. I didn't look at the card. I made the mistake there without looking to see how long the hole was. I was thinking yesterday I hit a 3-wood down there yesterday and I hit a 6-iron or something. I hit the wrong club off the tee. I used that TaylorMade 22 degree deal, I hit it down the fairway but I left myself 25. It was a mental mistake. I had another probably 20, 25 yards that I could have hit it at the bunker and not reached the bunker. I should have hit either that 16 degree or the 3-wood; one of the 2. But that was just -- I hit a 3-iron. I hit it pretty good. The wind was blowing kind of at us left-to-right. I cut it just a little bit and it bounced in the bunker.

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