U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2001

Stewart Cink

STEWART CINK: Okay. Well, it was a pretty difficult golf course that we saw today. The moisture that fell from the sky about two days ago was gone somewhere. I don't know where it went. But the course is firm and fast again and the greens were getting pretty dicey. And I learned on the first hole that the greens were going to be pretty tough by bouncing my ball about 40 feet passed the flag with a 9-iron into the first cut of rough and made a bogey there. I missed the fairway on 2 and made kind of a pretty ordinary attempt to get out of the trees and left it in the right rough about 50 yards short of the green, and then made a pretty bad pitch and 3-putted from about 50 feet to go 3-over for the day. So that was a whole lot of bad stuff on the first two holes, especially in a major. But then I told myself it wasn't over, and I should right the ship and keep on pressing, because I was 3-over at one point on the first round, too, and I ended up shooting 1-under. I was able to draw off that a little bit. And then I had a string of good holes starting on No. 4. I hit a sand wedge into 4 about ten feet and made that, and that really got me calmed down, and I knew that I had a good feeling regardless of the start. Then 5 I hit the fairway and laid up and played it pretty well and made an 8-footer there for birdie. I hit an 8-iron on 6 about three feet and made that. Hit a 9-iron on 7 about three feet and made that. And played pretty steady the rest of the way. I made a good save for par on 11, about a 12-footer, and then up-and-down from the front of the green on 13 for birdie. And really played 15 well. 15 was one of my highlights today. I hit a really good second shot in there, that's a tough hole, about 6, 7 feet above the hole and made that downhill putt, and that was a great way to cap off a good round. And then 17 and 18 I just played pretty solidly, and was lucky to have a good chance of recovery on 18 out of the rough and ended up with a 2-putt par there. I'm pretty pleased with the way I played.

STEWART CINK: 15 I hit a 6-iron in there from the fairway.

STEWART CINK: Well, it's been a long time since Rocco must have played with me, I guess. Three or four years ago I would say that's true. Either that or maybe he's getting old and maybe doesn't have a very good memory (laughter.) I'd say three or four years ago that was true, and described my game. In the last couple of years something has happened to my game and I've been more of an erratic driver and more of a go-for-broke style player. So I think this tournament suits not only the person who hits it down the sprinkler heads, and also a guy that has guts and can save pars from a lot of places and doesn't give up very easily. And I think that typifies my game now more than being a straight, accurate player, middle-of-the-green type guy. I think I've learned, after playing with guys like Rocco and veteran players on the Tour, that just because you may have your imperfect game one day, that you can still score good. And so that's one thing that's helped me this week.

STEWART CINK: Well, it's not that I have this special ability to do that, it's -- I just don't ever give up. And I never will ever let myself get down because of a couple of bad holes. I just don't think it's fair to myself to do that. I've worked hard enough to get here that I don't believe that I'd be doing myself justice to pack it in after two holes, being 3-over par. I know that there's probably guys that started at 3-over par today on the first two holes, other than myself, that probably didn't finish with a low score. It's just -- it's so easy on this course to get discouraged. And the way they set the golf courses up at every Open it's the same way. But I was just -- I told myself to hang in there and to keep on doing what I've been doing. And good shots are rewarded here. Even though a lot of players are saying it's a gnarly course, and I heard "twisted metal" mentioned about the way the rough is, it's -- good shots are still rewarded.

STEWART CINK: Well, whenever I play in golf, whether I'm tied for the lead or whether I'm tied for 50th, I'm not thinking who I'm going up against, but more of what I'm going up against. And that's perfectly the case right here. I'm going up against Southern Hills, No. 1 through 18. I don't really care who else is out there playing and trying to win or trying to beat me, because I know they're playing against the golf course, too. They don't care who it is. If I go into tomorrow or into one of the holes tomorrow thinking about who is around me, then I think that's taking my focus off of when where it needs to be. So I'll just keep focusing on the golf course, and trying to play every shot, just like my gameplan has dictated so far. And that's what I did at Hilton Head, too, by the way. I don't think about the other players, I just play the course. I think everybody is the same way.

STEWART CINK: Well, I think that playing on the Tour you have to be aggressive, because the players are so good. And the field never has a bad day on Tour. And that's kind of taught me to be aggressive and to go after certain pins I may not otherwise go after. But I wouldn't say that I've changed my -- I've changed my game to suit that, it's just that I realized that, hey, I can hit the ball pretty accurately with my irons. I can hit the ball pretty accurately off the tee, why not attack some of the flags occasionally. Instead of hitting it at the center, just for the sake of hitting at the center. I have enough confidence in my abilities to go ahead and aim for some of those. I think that's very important. You can't win tournaments very often by going just down the middle of the green every time. And this one is probably maybe one of two or three exceptions during the year. And my gameplan here definitely includes a lot of shots like that. But I wouldn't say that I've just started aiming in places that I think are reckless.

STEWART CINK: Well, I don't think you can, because he's shown that he can really do some dramatic things on the golf course. And nine shots is a lot of ground to make up on a course like this, especially when the leaderboard is so tightly packed. I would say if there was only two or three guys between him and the leader and he was nine shots back, that would make it a lot different. I know he's going to go to sleep thinking he's going to come out and shoot a low round and have a chance to win. And he may do it. He may. But it's a long way to come back from on a course like this.

STEWART CINK: I'd like to one to be the one what wins the U.S. Open. I don't care about any streaks. If I win this tournament tomorrow, I'll have satisfied my goal this week, and I'll have satisfied a goal that's been out there for me in my whole career. I don't think many players are thinking about any streaks right now.

STEWART CINK: It's hard to say -- it's hard for me to answer that question. I don't know how guys' mindset works when they're around Tiger if he's near the lead. But it's possible that we might see players feel a little bit more like they all have a chance, I don't know. I know if Tiger is near the lead, then a lot of people are expecting him to win. I don't mean a lot of us players, I mean a lot of you all and a lot of people watching in the crowds, they just expect him to win. It's almost like he's got that karma on his side. I've seen players that -- seems like players make mistakes, when Tiger is near the lead. I can't say if that's because of some mental activity that's going on or if it's just coincidental. It's hard to answer that question.