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June 12, 1997
BETHESDA, MARYLAND
LES UNGER: Steve, you don't mind if we start off with a review
of the round, your birdies and bogeys, the routine pars first,
please, any par saves perhaps.
STEVE STRICKER: Okay. You just want me to give you the distance
and stuff? No. 1, hit it in the -- out of the first cut of rough
from about 135, a wedge to about 12 feet for birdie. 3 was a
3-wood and a 8-iron to about 30 feet left of the hole. Bogeyed
4 -- 3-putted for -- from above the hole probably about 25 feet.
Hit it in the rough on 5, chipped out short of the green and
missed about a 5-footer for par. Then birdied 7. Hit a 7-iron
to about probably about 25 feet right of the hole. No. 8, hit
a 3-wood and a sand wedge. Sand wedge was from about 90 yards
to about 10 feet. 9 was driver, 6-iron, wedge from 112 to about
6 feet. And 10 was a driver and a 4-iron to about 20 feet.
LES UNGER: Steve, from the record I'm looking in the book,
you've had sort of a quiet start to the season. Is this the start
of something good what's been happening with you?
STEVE STRICKER: I sure hope it starts something good. It's
been a tough year. I was wondering if, you know, if I was ever
going to play good again and shoot any decent rounds because,
you know, even last week at the Kemper, I played okay, and didn't
get anything out of my rounds and ended up missing the cut. And
I was just, you know, it's been kind of concerning and I changed
equipment at the first part of the year. And, it's taken awhile
for me to get used to the driver, 3-wood combination type thing.
I really feel comfortable with that now and I feel good about
it, whereas, I didn't feel so good about it. So, I think it's
taken a lot of the pressure off me and now I can focus more on
playing and practicing and trying to play better.
LES UNGER: Questions.
Q. Steve, can you talk about the save you made on the par
5 on the back?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, that was on 15, I think. I drove it
hit in the left rough, and you know, the ball was sitting down
and I -- you know, it doesn't look like it wants to come out of
there. I took a wedge to get it out of there and get on the fairway
and get up there on the green in 3. It came shooting out of there
better than I thought across the fairway into the rough, and into
a worse lie. And, at that point, I knew I just was going to be
struggling for par, and I just hit a sand wedge and chipped it
out, and hit another sand wedge from about 88 yards and almost
flew it in the hole, and made about a 4-, 5-footer. And, you
know, saving par like that, really, it's almost like making birdie
and really kind of kept my round going and my attitude, you know,
strong. And, you know, you kind of look back at that one and
kind of almost felt like I got away with one there.
Q. Steve, what did you do after missing -- I think you missed
the cut last week. Did you come over here and play over the weekend?
Did you do anything -- did you make any adjustments that helped
you hit the ball better?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I did come over here. I think I played
a whole tournament, 72 holes before I even started today. So,
I've got my fair share of practice and my father-in-law which
is my teacher, he came in on Sunday afternoon and so I was able
to spend three days with him Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and,
you know, we worked on it a lot, and just hit a lot of balls.
And, he went around with me, nine holes each day. And, so, I
was able to get some good work in on it and it felt pretty comfortable,
you know, playing here just because I played so much already.
Q. After having such a good year, did you have any reservations
about switching equipment?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I did, to tell you the truth. But, the
equipment -- it's kind of a touchy subject to me because the equipment
that I was using before, I really liked and -- but the offer that
they came back with, you know, it wasn't even in the same ballpark,
you know, and it's a business and I felt like I could drive the
ball better and play better and I didn't come to Taylor Made thinking
that I was going to become a different player or a worse player.
I thought I was coming to Taylor Made to become a better player.
And, the staff that they have is strong. And, the equipment
and technology that they have is strong. I came there thinking
that I was going to become a better player and I still believe
that. I think it's just taking a little time.
Q. Steve, everybody else that's been in here has hit 10,
11, 12, 13 fairways. I think you hit six today. That's kind
of amazing you hit six fairways and still come up with your score?
STEVE STRICKER: That's kind of deceiving those because I hit
a lot of the first cuts. I can think of three on the front 9
that I hit in the first cut, and, you know, as long as you're
in the first cut and able to get it onto the green, I'm okay with
that. Getting in that second cut, I don't want to have any part
of that. If I can get it in the fairway off the first cut off
the tee, I know I can get it onto the green. It may not be as
aggressive out of the first cut as you are on the fairway, but
at least you can get it up on the green ^ ^.
Q. Steve, this is almost like a two-part question. What
was key to the round today and how did you putt?
STEVE STRICKER: I putted good, finally. And, that's been a struggle
this year, too. And, I think getting off to the good start, birdying
No. 1 and No. 3, although I gave them back, you know, it gave
me the confidence of making birdies and, you know, you go so long
in an Open without making birdies and I think I made 6 today.
So, you know, it just gets you going in the right frame of mind
and being aggressive and feeling good about it.
Q. Steve, what was the low point for you and what did you
do to try to get yourself out of if?
STEVE STRICKER: Today or this year?
Q. This year.
STEVE STRICKER: Well, I haven't had too many high points in
11 or 12 tournaments that I've played. It's been pretty disappointing
to tell you that. And, you know, I was starting to wonder if
I'm in the right profession or not the way I've been playing.
And, you know, it's been hard on my wife as well. She's out
there carrying the bag for me and she probably feels just as bad
about the way I play as I do. And she goes through the ups and
downs as much as I do. And, a round like this is good for us.
And, it, you know, gets me going in the right direction and makes
me feel a little bit better about what I'm doing.
Q. Steve, Colin Montgomerie was saying earlier this week
that the U.S. Open is no place to try to find your game. You
have to have it when you get here. You seemed to somewhat disprove
that today?
STEVE STRICKER: Well, he's right. I mean, and he showed, you
know, why he's a great player, just because his game sets up
to Open-style courses because of the way he hits it so straight
in the fairway and he's a good long-iron player. And, I just
think you need to be aggressive still and, you know, you really
can't back down just because it is the Open and the course conditions
are a lot different than what you play week in and week out.
But, you still have to be aggressive and -- be smart aggressive
though, I should say and lay back and hit 3-woods at times .
But your main goal is just to get it in the fairway on the green.
Q. When you made bogeys at 4 and 5, can you talk about how
difficult it is to keep your composure?
STEVE STRICKER: It was difficult, and I didn't really get down
on myself, though, just because you know, even par in Opens are
pretty good scores. I was trying to stay patient and keep plugging
along. I knew I had No. 6 coming up the next hole and I lipped
out a chip there and almost made a birdie, but then rattled off
four birdies. So, you just have to be patient and hang around
and keep trying to do the positive things and keep trying to hit
the fairways.
Q. Steve, Tom Lehman was through here earlier and was talking
about how he felt the conditions today kind of made the course
more vulnerable than it will be later in the week. Do you agree
with that?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I totally agree. It's firmer than any
of the practice round days but there was no wind to speak of,
and you could still hold the greens with a good shot out of the
fairway. So, I was thinking there was going to be some low scores
today. But, you know, it's hard to tell in an Open and, you know,
who's to say what the winning score is going to be. But, definitely,
it's going to get firmer and faster as the week goes on.
Q. How many holes did you play in practice rounds and what
days did you play after you got here?
STEVE STRICKER: I played 18 on Saturday and then I played 9
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and played 18 yesterday.
LES UNGER: Anyone else? Nice going. And, we wish you good
luck the rest of the week.
STEVE STRICKER: Thank you.
End of FastScripts.....
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