U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 2006

Andy Bean

CRAIG SMITH: Andy Bean with a 64 today, low round of the championship and here he is.

Q. You started birdie, birdie and the day just got better from there?

ANDY BEAN: Well, I hit it about a foot and a half on the first hole. About two feet on the second hole. And I shook both of those in.

It really did, it was really a good day. I got out and I think any time you start off under par here then you feel like you got a little bit of a cushion, and then I birdied 5, which is a very good hole. I 3 putted 6, birdied 7 from six feet. I laid up. I had 7 iron but I was out of the rough, so I figured it was probably better not to hit it in one of those bunkers or some of that stuff.

Then I made about a 12 footer on 8 for birdie. And I knocked it over the green on 9 into the bunker and holed it. So that was a pretty good way to end that side.

10, I missed about a 15 footer.

12, I made it from four feet.

13, I missed it from 10 feet at the most.

Next hole, let's see, 13, dogleg left. Okay. I hit it about 20 feet past, 25 feet past maybe and just missed that. 2 putted for par.

14, I hit it, I don't know, 12, 15 feet. Left it short. I was going up the hill there and it was just really slow. I hit it past the hole there.

15, the par 3, I hit it maybe 15, 17 feet, straight down the hill. Thought I made it. And I was posing and it lipped out.

Then 16, I was in between clubs on 16. It's the only iron shot that I really didn't hit right where I wanted to hit it all day. I started it a little bit right and the wind was blowing it right. So I was just off the right edge of the green. 50 feet there. And I putted it up about gosh, I left it about six feet short. And I made that right in the middle.

Then 17, I drove it almost perfect. And I was right on the cut line of the fairway and the rough. And I had 240 to the hole, I chose to lay up. I figured I could get it in there pretty close. I actually did. I hit it in there probably eight feet. But ran it right over the lip. I've been rolling the ball so well I just thought it was better to make sure I had a good putt at it. Because putting a 3 wood in my hand there, I could have gone over the green and that's just not very good.

Then 18, I hit a 5 iron down the middle and I hit a wedge that just went just over the flag except it hit 30 feet, 25 feet past the pin and ended up 50 feet from the hole. But I made a good 2 putt. I almost made that. Ran it right over the lip there.

Shoot, it was just a really a it was a fun and fairly easy day. You're grinding every single shot to get it on the green and today the ball was going where I wanted it to go. That's a good thing.

Q. You got yourself back in this?

ANDY BEAN: I did. I got myself back in. And that was the whole thing. You know going out there today, and that was one reason I had some reservations there on 17. One more shot would have really helped. But if I would have got one shot worse, that would have hurt me more than gambling there a little bit.

So I figured I could pretty much make birdie if I laid up. But I didn't, I made par. Par's not a bad score.

Q. You're going to tee off earlier now than you normally would have?

ANDY BEAN: I guess we're going to. I guess we got some weather coming in tomorrow afternoon and it's smart to go ahead and let's get it. Try to get us in.

I just think that the course might be a little softer tomorrow than what I would have thought it would be on Sunday. Hopefully we don't get any rain tonight. And it firms up a little bit. Because that's a little bit more to my advantage, I think. And some of the guys that hit the ball higher. I have control over my iron shots pretty well now and making a few putts. I just need to get it in the fairways.

Q. Jim Thorpe said this morning after he finished that because of the pin placements, if the wind stayed down that a lot of people could do what he did.

ANDY BEAN: I think that there were probably there were six or seven more friendly pin placements today. But, boy, they had four or five that would bust you if you went at it and you missed it to the wrong side.

It was just if you were in the right position, which it usually is, whether it be the U.S. Open or U.S. Senior Open, when you're in the right position on the greens, you got a pretty good chance to make a birdie. But you still have to be cautious every putt you hit.

Q. I was talking to someone else who put up a big number today it's a quick start.

ANDY BEAN: I mean, I played really well, I was 3 under after five and then I drove it in the rough on six. And I couldn't be short, because the pin's right on the front right just over that drop there, the false front, really. And so I hit it and I landed it 20 feet, 30 feet on the green. And it rolled all the way to the back of the green and I left my first putt about this far coming down the hill (Indicating).

And from about three feet I left it short. Because it was going down the hill again and I'm thinking it's just going to all I got to do is just get it on line and it really just it just never got there. It went right up to the lip and I went and looked at Kevin, I said, well, I didn't expect that one.

But all in all, the pins were maybe a little easier today. But I just think that you got to watch out where you position yourself out here. If you position yourself in the right places on this golf course, it will give you some good shots. But if you get on the wrong sides, then it's just hard to 2 putt.

Q. You had ground to make up, you had to be aggressive, but yet you had to be patient at the same time.

ANDY BEAN: That was just it. 17 I think was the one that tried my patience a little bit. And I just I did, I said I stood back in the fairway and I said, I would surely like to make a birdie or an eagle, but a par won't hurt me. And I'm wedging it really so good that I figured I was going to get it close and make it anyway. But I didn't. I misread the putt. It didn't break quite as much as I thought. So I'm very pleased.

Q. Did you have fun?

ANDY BEAN: Today, yesterday was work for me. It was a tough day, I ended up hitting my I hit my second shot on number 17, I hit it about 10 yards, I was in the right in that left rough. And it was a little tougher than I thought it was. I could have hit it out of there 150 yards, but I just didn't get down under the ball enough. I missed just misread the lie and my ball went about 10 yards. Then I laid it up again and then I missed a short putt there.

Actually, I take that back, I made a good putt, therefore, a bogey. I was about to make seven. So it maybe that's the one I was thinking about. I was thinking I was just going to make sure I got it in today and I'm in real good shape and I'll just look forward to tomorrow.

Q. Is this kind of score again tomorrow do you think or is this

ANDY BEAN: Yes. Well, you know, a lot's got to do to where the guys put the flags. Like I said, there were six or seven pins today that were relatively innocent as long as you were in the right position. But I'm sure they will get a little tougher tomorrow. They usually do.

Q. Are there some holes out here that where your decision on your approach is difficult because if you fly it to the flag sometimes it will tend to roll off and then you've also got the risk of it backing over the front too?

ANDY BEAN: Exactly. You got to figure out and know where the best place is on the green to approach that pin from. And that's why you go out here and play practice rounds and do your homework.

It is it's this golf course, you got those mounds that are in the middle of the greens and work their way through the green, and you just have to be on the right side of them where you're putting up the hill, where you're not coming over the hill. When you're coming over the hill, you're in trouble.

Q. Have you been pretty happy with how you've managed that part of this week?

ANDY BEAN: For the most part, yes. Like I said, yesterday was a little bit of a struggle and I missed some short putts, but today I putted very well. I just I could have made a couple more putts, but I made a few that maybe you don't make. But I made the short ones and that's the ones you have to make.

Q. Par's usually above the leaderboard par usually means you're moving up the leaderboard at a U.S. Open.

ANDY BEAN: Well, the last couple of days it does, because it tends to get well, it tends to get a little bit it will tend to get a bit tougher tomorrow, I'm sure. But the greens were soft. It rained. See, if it hadn't rained, then you're not those pins aren't quite as accessible as they were.

They were a little bit more defenseless there and I'm sure tomorrow they're going to kind of rethink what they did today and they're going to be a little tougher.

Q. Well, they can't control the weather though.

ANDY BEAN: No, you can't. But they will control where they put those pins. And I guarantee you some of us are going to look like fools on a couple of them. But I just hope it's not me.

Q. I just wondered if it was odd to see where par was actually going the other way.

ANDY BEAN: I'll take par today as far as with the field and I'm going to bet you it beats the field.

Q. You're probably right. You're probably still right.

ANDY BEAN: It didn't beat the leaders so far.

Q. Right. But it's

ANDY BEAN: But par's going to beat the field.

Q. I guess tomorrow you would like to have a 3 wood in your hand on 17 and have it mean something.

ANDY BEAN: I would love well, that would certainly be, I would love to be right in the same spot with it meaning something. Because then I would go for it. Because it's well, then again, if I had to go for it, then I would go for it, if I didn't, I would probably still lay up. Because, again, like I said, that hole, if you go over the green, you can make anything on it.

If you you've either got to be short in the fairway or if you miss the green. That grass is so tough on the right but you still have to be right, you can't be left because if you get a bad lie on the left side of the green, you're going to be on the right side, you're going to be down in that stuff on the right on the next shot.

So it is this is just it's going to be a patience thing tomorrow and you never know. You might have to go out and shoot 66 or 65 to win the golf tournament. But it probably won't be. I think that I don't know what they're shooting today, I'm sure they're going to be 5 or 6 under anyway.

Q. Tom is 7 right now.

ANDY BEAN: Tom is 7 right now? Well, yeah, but he would love to have it at 7 when he finished tomorrow, probably. So. It's thank you.

End of FastScripts.