U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 1996

John Daly

JOHN DALY: Okay. It was just another round kind of like yesterday - just hit a lot of fairways, a lot of 0-irons and, you know, it is just -- the golf course is just a golf course that I can't really attack and I am -- I probably won't attack it and it is just a matter of getting the ball on the green. If you make a birdie, that is fine. If not, just try and 2-putt. I am very happy with the way I played the last two days and so... I have never been at a U.S. Open Media Center, so this is the first for me because I have never played worth a shit to get here once. It is kind of nice. (audience laughter)

JOHN DALY: (WAVES TO CAMERA)

JOHN DALY: I don't even remember. Let me see. Okay. 2: I hit a driver, 6-iron, 2-putted from about 20 feet for birdie. 4: I hit 0-iron, 8-iron; chipped to about six feet and missed it for bogey. 6: I hit a driver 60 degrees about three feet, made birdie. 7: I hit a 3-iron, 8-iron left and 3-putted from off the fringe for bogey. 10: I hit 0-iron, 8-iron to about 35 feet and made it for birdie. Let us see. 15: 0-iron, sand wedge to about twelve feet, made the putt for birdie. I think that was it. I made -- you want the bogeys, too?

JOHN DALY: 9: I hit a 5-iron, 3-putted from about 50 feet. That is it. Good enough for me. Good save on 18, 0-iron, 5-iron, about a 35 yard bunker shot to about a foot and a half.

JOHN DALY: My iron --

JOHN DALY: It is probably about 30, 35 less than my driver.

JOHN DALY: I only hit the driver three times today.

JOHN DALY: 2 and 12; then I missed it on 6.

JOHN DALY: Probably. It is tough for me because it is not like Augusta where you know you are going to hit driver after driver after driver after driver. I don't get -- if you don't hit at least seven or eight times on the golf course, I most likely am not going to hit it very good because I don't get the good rhythm, and it is very difficult. It is real easy to hit a toe-hook for a pull-hook. That is usually what happens when I only hit a driver about two, three times in a round.

JOHN DALY: Well, I think every player will agree. I think this is the hardest golf course we have played in a long, long time. It is the hardest I have ever played. It feels good. I am playing smarter. I am playing smart golf. I am hitting the 0-iron pretty solid; not real solid, but I am hitting -- hit good enough to get it in the fairway. You know, you don't have to attack a U.S. Open golf course to play very good, and plus, you know, you don't have to shoot real low numbers to be right in there. I am learning. It is just a learning process, and, you know, hopefully go out and hit a lot of fairways and greens tomorrow.

JOHN DALY: Pretty much, yeah, but the thing is the fairways aren't going to dry up, but the greens are. They dried up a lot today. They are a lot quicker today. And the thing about hitting off of a wet fairway it is going to give me an opportunity to hit a nice high shot into the green; so, yeah, I think it is a good opportunity for me. If I am going to have a chance, this would be a great week to do it.

JOHN DALY: I used to attack the ball like Tiger did. He hits everything hard. I still hit everything hard, but you know, I just learned 3-quarter shot maybe two, three years ago, didn't know -- didn't even know how to do it, and I showed that I could do it at the British. I think that is the only thing lacking in Tiger's game. If he could learn a little -- tone it down just a tad, because he hit a lot of shots just right over the flag that he had no chance of getting up and down. You know, maybe trying to work the ball a little bit more. He is just -- he plays just the way I did. It took me four years before I could learn a 3 quarter shot.

JOHN DALY: Yesterday was tough because we were out there for five and a half hours. I used to lose my patience when we were out there that long, but I hung in there and kept hitting irons off the tee. Today we had a great pace. It was 45 to 55 minutes shorter round today than it was yesterday, which that means I kind of got in a rhythm. I knew exactly what I was going to do today and it helped. But I am learning in the longer rounds, you say, hey, just wait it out. Just be patient. And especially in major championships. I am still not all the way there yet, but my patience is getting a lot better, and it is just somewhat of -- just an experience thing as time goes on.

JOHN DALY: Where the hell is he?

JOHN DALY: Oh. (LAUGHTER)

JOHN DALY: I think today 2, 6 and 12 are going to be the driver driver holes for me and that was it. Greg was happy with it. I was happy with it. Yesterday I tried to hit it on -- I think I only hit it maybe once, once or two times more. I don't remember which holes they were, but you know, I know those three holes I am going to hit driver on. Because 2 of them is a par 5, and 6 is a hole that if I just get it past the bunker, up down the left, I am going to have a shot of getting it on the green, so it is not a bad play.

JOHN DALY: Fuzzy? He plays quicker than I do so it is kind of hard -- I think just having a 0-iron has helped because it has made it a hell of a lot easier for me to decide what I am going to hit off the tee. You know, so many times I have said, "well, I am just going to hit the driver," said "the heck with it." Next thing you know, I hit a bad shot and I kind of lose my patience. But knowing exactly what to hit off tees is making it so much easier for me, so I think that is keeping my patience going, and it is just a lot easier knowing what you are going to hit off of each hole than trying to say well the 1-iron is not enough and the driver is too much.

JOHN DALY: Well, I think I have made the cut in the last three Opens and the last one I missed was at Pebble Beach. I was even par with four holes left and bogeyed the last four 4. Still I played Baltusrol. I thought I played it pretty smart. Last year at Shinnecock I played smart, so I think it is just one week out of the year. British Open is pretty much the same although you can hit it left-to-right a little bit more at the British Open. I think for some reason maybe I just concentrate better in Majors like maybe the last two, three years I have. And I think it has helped.

JOHN DALY: That is the problem. You can't. You can't attack this course. As soon as you do, you are going going to make an X. Prime example was Tiger going at the flag with that 6-iron at 16 yesterday. If he hit a little 3-quarter shot to the left of the green try and make his par, that is just wasn't a pin I wouldn't have gone at two or three years ago. You know, it is just -- you can't attack it. It is just not set up that way. It is a golf course where you just got to play "Nick Faldo golf." You just got to try hit the fairway, try and hit the greens. There is not a better player that does it than Nick Faldo.

JOHN DALY: It's got about 10 to 12 degree loft.

JOHN DALY: I have tried 2-woods. I have tried 3-woods and just, you know, I just never have been a 3-wood-guy. Just always been a long-iron player off the tees that I can't hit driver on.

JOHN DALY: Yeah, I think I am just growing up a lot, you know -- As soon as I say that, I am probably going to do something stupid tomorrow. (audience laughter) Yeah, I think so.

JOHN DALY: Thanks.