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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


June 16, 2006


David Duval


MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

Q. You had fun with the crowd, didn't you, today?

DAVID DUVAL: They really seemed behind me. You know, I've always enjoyed playing up in this area. I've only missed the Westchester event when I've had to miss it. You know, I think they get to see me a lot, and they know I'm coming back and playing well, and they're pulling for me.

Q. Tell us about your birdies. What did you hit in on 1, 3, 12 and 16?

DAVID DUVAL: I hit on 1, a 7 iron in.

On 3, I hit a 5 iron on the green.

12, I just hit it up in front of the green in two and pitched on.

Then 16, I hit a 7 iron out of the rough up there.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID DUVAL: I know, I've never led anybody to believe otherwise. If it's not my favorite, it's tied for my favorite event of the year with the Open Championship. I think especially in the last couple years, the golf courses have been set up just how they should be and have been fair and just, extremely hard.

Q. There was a nine stroke discrepancy between yesterday and today. What was working for you today and didn't work yesterday?

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I made some putts and hit the ball just a little bit better.

Q. The state of your game, even though the scores aren't always there, have you been feeling the last few months or several months

DAVID DUVAL: I guess you haven't been listening. I've been saying that for I don't know how long and nobody wants to seem to listen. I'm playing well. I'll say it again, I'm playing very well. I made some putts today a couple times when I needed to to keep my round going. I did it, and the little things added up a little bit better today than they have the past six months of this year so far.

Q. You're pretty confident over the ball, and after you stroked it on the par putts on 4, 5 and 9, are you feeling a lot better on the greens?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I felt better today than yesterday. I struggled getting comfortable yesterday. Today I felt a lot more comfortable over the ball. I felt like I was aiming the ball a lot better than I did yesterday.

Q. Talk about the 6th hole.

DAVID DUVAL: My third shot?

Q. Yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: I didn't have an out. I felt like I had to play right of the hole and try to get it on the green over there. If I'm aiming at the flag area or even left and it grabs the hosel, go right over the green in the hazard and I'd really have a problem. The mistake there wasn't any of the shots I played, any of the six shots I played. Well, I guess it was the first shot was the mistake I made, and it wasn't so much because it was a bad shot; you have those. It was not even close to the right club. I'm hitting the ball on a string and there's no reason I shouldn't hit it right on the front of the green or in the left bunker or something. It's only 300 yards, 310 yards to the front. Anywhere up around there I can get it on the green.

Q. Can we get your thoughts on how Monty has played?

DAVID DUVAL: He's played beautiful the last couple days. He's hitting the ball solid, he's putted well, a little bit of scrambling here and there like you'll always have in a U.S. Open. Again, managing the game and taking aim when he could and playing away when he couldn't.

Q. Just your thoughts on making the cut in a major and being here on the weekend.

DAVID DUVAL: I guess that's the difference between you and me; I don't think that way. I'm not thinking along those lines of whether I've done it recently or not. It's a matter of confidence and how I'm playing and my results haven't been nearly what I thought they should be this year up to this point, and I just look forward to a really good second half of the year.

Q. Is your confidence growing month by month or week by week or even day by day?

DAVID DUVAL: All those. I felt like I played pretty well at Augusta overall. I had a big test ahead of me for the last 16 holes of that tournament, I guess holes 20 through 36 for me. I guess that's where some of the hardships of how I've played the last few years, that's where the importance of little things like that come into play. I know I'm playing well and I certainly am not going to pack it in, but at that point I've got no chance of making the cut.

But I'm not going to quit. I'm going to keep playing and building on it.

Q. The British Open returns to Royal Liverpool for the first time in a long time, but it's a course that's very similar to Royal Lytham in its bunkering and accuracy requirements. Are you going to do anything like go over a couple weeks early to warm up?

DAVID DUVAL: No.

Q. Are you familiar with Royal Liverpool?

DAVID DUVAL: Never been there. I'll be there Monday.

Q. How does it feel to be in contention again?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know what, it feels wonderful. Simple things like last week, I'm scratching my head. I felt like after two days I should be in contention and I don't even get to play on the weekend. I hit the ball well enough to be doing that, but the little things, unless you're out following and seeing an entire round of golf. You see the scores when you get done and you don't know what happened. It's those little things that need to add up in a round of golf that haven't for me.

Like I said, I felt great last week, hit the ball well. I could have hit a few more greens, but I really struggled with those real soft poa annua greens with the amount I spin the ball. It was hard to get to the flags. I felt great coming here. I was prepared and ready to play.

End of FastScripts.
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