U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 1996

Payne Stewart

PAYNE STEWART: It was -- I felt, you know, as I said in here yesterday, that I needed to go out and drive the ball better, put the ball in the fairways and I felt like I did that better today. I hit some nice iron shots. I putted the ball, as a whole, pretty well today. I felt comfortable doing that and then the two swings on 16 and 18 from the fairway, we are just going to forget about those because they weren't characteristic of the day. And other than that, you know, that leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but I played well. You know, it is a tough golf course, and it is demanding, and you have to do it all on every hole. And if I could put my 33 with my 31, that would have been nice, but anyway, you know, I am pleased. I am still right there with the chance to win with two rounds to play, and that is the idea. I birdied 5. I hit driver, 6-iron to about twelve feet and made it. Let us see. 7: I hit a 3-wood, 7-iron to about 20 feet and made it. 8: I drove it in the rough; chipped out; hit a wedge on about 15 feet and lipped it out; made bogey. 9: Hit a 2-iron to about three feet; made it. 10: I hit a good tee shot. It ended up in the fairway bunker; hit a bad shot from there short of the green in the rough; knocked it up about 15 feet and two putts for bogey. 11: I was in the fairway and hit a poor iron shot, ended up coming back down on the front of the green with a 7-iron and 3-putts. 12: I hit driver, 3-wood to about 20 feet and 2-putted for birdie. And then 16, I drove it perfect and hit a bad 6-iron left over in the gallery and made bogey there. And then 18, I drove it really good and hit a very bad 2-iron, pulled it left of the green and chipped it up there about 15 feet and hit a good putt and lipped out. 71.

PAYNE STEWART: They are not going to get crusty Larry, but they are going to firm up and speed up as the weekend comes about, yes.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, it makes -- it is a difficult golf course. With faster firmer, greens, yes, it will be harder to get the ball closer to the hole for birdies.

PAYNE STEWART: Yes, especially when I was 5-under. (PAYNE LOOKING AT TV MONITOR) And there it is, The Terminator. Could have use that over there.

PAYNE STEWART: What did I lose? I didn't lose a bet.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, you know, with the size of cut that we are going to have, we are going to have, you know, a large cut. But, you know, yes, the greens have a little bit more moisture in the morning. There is not as much wind drawing them out. There is not as many people that have walked over them that leave impressions, so there are a little -- they are a little tougher to putt in the afternoon than they are in the mornings.

PAYNE STEWART: I had 168 yards to the hole and I tried to hit a 6-iron.

PAYNE STEWART: Had 215 to the front and 228 to the hole.

PAYNE STEWART: The putt on 17 was about 15, 18 feet.

PAYNE STEWART: They are just two bad shots that won't be thought about anymore.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, the last three at Hazeltine weren't just gravy, you know; they were pretty difficult, too. I mean, they -- they are very similar, you know. You have got a difficult par 4 over water at Hazeltine; then you have got a tough par 3. Then you have got a long, demanding par 4 uphill except it dog legs to the left instead to the right.

PAYNE STEWART: You always like to be leading, yeah, sure. But running in front -- there is a lot of people that have a chance to win this golf tournament on the weekend, and I am one of them.

PAYNE STEWART: At the Opens?

PAYNE STEWART: I think it is because nobody -- it is -- very rarely does somebody run away and hide the first two days, you know. It is just -- it is just that the type of golf courses that we play in the Open Championship is not conducive to that. I mean, Gil Morgan was, I guess at Pebble, was the one that -- yeah, he got deep, what, after 36 holes. He was way under -- no? He was at one time.

PAYNE STEWART: Right. It is just -- I think it is the type of golf courses that you play, you know, the players out here are getting so good, chipping and putting, and they know that patience is a virtue at a major championship especially at a UNITED STATES OPEN, and that is -- something around par by the end of the week will probably be very good.

PAYNE STEWART: Will the golf course --

PAYNE STEWART: Other than the 10-shot rule, they might look at that like the British Open did. They looked -- they redid that after they had a cut of 120-something one year.

PAYNE STEWART: No, because I have hit people before and it is not, you know, it is not something that you want to have happen, but it is something that can happen. And you know, I think the fans understand that along with the players. If you hit an errant shot into the gallery, you always hope that it doesn't hit anybody and hurt anybody, but it is possible that it might.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, I hope to continue doing that. I am pleased with my birdie output. I'm obviously making too many bogeys in others, but if I can produce more birdies than bogeys and others, then it will be good.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, I would -- you know, I would prefer to be making a lot of birdies. You can eliminate the bogeys by just doing better, but, you know, if you are going along and if I had gone along and made one bogey and three birdies, and be 2 under par, that is -- to me, that is not telling me that I can produce as low a score if I am going along and I am making seven birdies yesterday and I made, I don't know, five today or something like that. I feel that I can produce a low score on this golf course if I cannot make you know, -- if I don't finish bogey, par, bogey today, I still shoot under par.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, a recent phenomenon. I have just decided life is way too short to be miserable after a bad golf shot. Yes, this is what I do for a living and I love it, but it is not life or death. It is a game, you know, so I am trying to enjoy myself more. Yes, I am an intent player. I am very intense when I am out there, and I always here the gallery, "smile, smile." Well, there is times to smile and times of concentrating and I don't smile, but, yeah, I am enjoying what I am doing out there. I am having fun at it.

PAYNE STEWART: (laughs) Well, it is not polite. It is just like, you know, "miss it." You are sitting there, "miss it. Don't birdie the last," you know, something like that (PAYNE SAYS RAISING HIS VOICE WHILE LAUGHING). Something along those lines.

PAYNE STEWART: That never entered my mind. You know, Roberts asked me that when I finished playing, that is not something I concern myself with. I mean, however many people make the cut -- yes, obviously, if I had finished at 5-under not many people made the cut, but I didn't, and I am still trying to win this golf tournament, that is what I am concerned with.

PAYNE STEWART: I believe I am playing well, yes. I don't know that you can draw a comparison to now to then. I think that I am probably a better player now than I was then.

PAYNE STEWART: I think that I am -- I work at my game with more purpose, you know, I don't spend as long practicing, but I practice things that have been troublesome in the past and I am getting better at those, so that, you know, along with the things that I have always done well, refining the things that I didn't, have made me better.

PAYNE STEWART: Well, he has worked for me for -- worked off and on last year for me as he was finishing up his PGA Class A. Status. And this year he has been full-time. So -- Scotty is a great guy. He is a motivator out there. He doesn't let me get down after, you know, bad shots or anything. But -- and he understands what the game is about.