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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2006

Geoff Ogilvy

MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

Q. Nice job, Geoff.

GEOFF OGILVY: Thank you.

Q. Excellent round. Does it feel like it's almost 4 or 5 below par the way this course is playing?

GEOFF OGILVY: It feels pretty good. I mean, even par never really feels like 4 or 5 under par because it's a grind, you know what I mean? But yeah, now that I'm finished and I look back and realize that I'm only 1 over par after two rounds around here, that's pretty nice playing, I think.

Q. How was the course playing today compared to yesterday?

GEOFF OGILVY: To be fair, I think at first the first few holes were probably easier than they were yesterday afternoon, then it progressively got harder. Every green you got on was a little browner than the one before and a bit faster and glassier and it starts bouncing. By the end of the day there were some pretty big bounces on the greens. I'm glad I'm finished. This afternoon it's going to be pretty hard work for them.

Q. You played very well last year at Pinehurst, and to be able to come back here and play on something as difficult as this in U.S. Open competition, how does that feel?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's nice, it's nice. I mean, this is why we play. These are the four majors, really. It's the pinnacle, it's the four best tournaments we've got in the world, so it's nice to play well in them.

I mean, you practice your whole life to be able to hang on and grind around, and you look forward to being here. So you've got to try to enjoy it while you're here. I'm trying to enjoy it. It's not the most fun in the world to be grinding away for pars and missing greens with semi easy shots and having a hard time hitting fairways, but the challenge of getting it up and down and grinding it out, that's a fun challenge when I'm able to get it done. That's how I'm looking at it, just trying to enjoy it.

Q. You have a pretty good record in majors. Any part of the learning process or something that you're taking out there?

GEOFF OGILVY: I mean, a 20 something last year at Pinehurst, I was like, I could probably do all right. Before that I didn't think I could do any good in a U.S. Open because I don't drive it very straight. I would have said it's the least likely of the four for me to do well in.

After last year, I thought, you know, there must be something in there that allows me to get there in a U.S. Open. Then I played great at St. Andrews, great at Baltusrol, and Baltusrol was similar to a U.S. Open setup. I think I get in a better frame of mind in majors than I maybe get in regular tournaments.

Q. Would you go through your birdies and bogeys starting with 11.

Finish why you do well in the majors.

GEOFF OGILVY: Because you have to be. You have to finish well, otherwise you're going home early, and you only gets four chances a year at it maybe. For some reason, I seem to handle adversity better in a major. I seem to have been, anyway. If I'm 2 over after 5 in a regular Tour event, I'm probably not the most cheerful guy in the world, but I was quite fine today. I was not stressing at all because that's kind of what you do.

I don't know, I think four times a year you've got to have your best you've got to bring your brain and your patience, and if you don't, you're not going to do any good. You've got a choice, and I'm trying to have a better one.

Q. You've come so far in the last 12 months at majors. What are the biggest differences in your game physically and mentally, would you say?

GEOFF OGILVY: Physically, I don't think there's a massive difference. I still am not the straightest hitter in the world. My short game is pretty decent. I've been getting it up and down from everywhere this week, which you have to. Your best day you're going to hit 12 greens out here probably.

I've been making a few more putts, I guess. Whenever anyone starts playing a little bit better, you've always got to look at they're probably holing one more nine footer or one more 12 footer, and that's four shots, and that's quite a lot. Mentally, every time you have a nice round in a major or a nice result, you get a bit more confident the next time you play.

Q. More mental, do you think?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, for the most part. Most guys out here can hit it and putt and chip and do everything. I guess when they start playing well, you'd have to say it's a mental thing I'd say.

Q. Would you go through your birdies and bogeys for us, please?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, I started on 10. 11, I hit a perfect tee shot and hit an atrocious 9 iron into the bunker and actually hit a good bunker shot, was right under the lip. Hit a good bunker shot just to get on the green and two putted for 5 from 25, 30 feet.

As I say, it was in a pretty bad spot in the bunker. As soon as I saw it in the bunker, I thought if I can get away with 5 here, it's pretty good. It was one of those.

14, I drove it left in the rough, maybe went for a bit too much out of the rough and I kind of scuffed it up the left rough. I hit a really good shot out of the rough, kind of like a lob shot over the bunker, but it went like this and I missed it on 14.

15, I hit 2 iron, 7 iron to tap in, to six inches maybe. It kind of fed off the slope and came down.

16, I hit 3 wood, 8 iron to eight feet short of the hole and holed a nice putt.

4th hole, I carved it way right. Again, probably went for a bit too much out of the rough and hit it left from there into the rough. Then from there I could only just lob wedge it on the green to 30 feet and two putt for par.

8, I hit a really good drive and I hit a really nice 8 iron to, I don't know, ten feet and made it.

Q. How confident are you that you can win here?

GEOFF OGILVY: Reasonably, because I can still hit the ball a lot better than I did the first two days. I've hit some pretty sad iron shots, to be honest with you, but I'm getting it up and down. I've never been in the last few groups of the U.S. Open on the weekend, so I'll tell you how I feel tomorrow, but I'm reasonably confident that I can at least keep hanging on in there.

Q. Are you surprised that the defending champ, looks like he's out of the tournament?

GEOFF OGILVY: No, you can play well here and get a few bad breaks and shoot 80 before you know it. I played with David Howell and Bo Van Pelt and did nothing wrong, and a couple holes in a row, they hit a couple bad shots and they're done for. It's pretty brutal out there. You've got to try and avoid the train wrecks. If you hit a bad shot, try and get a bogey and get away. You're only one bad swing away from a big number out there.

Q. A lot of great trains out there did wreck and you managed to keep it together and watch your name climb up the leaderboard. How did that feel?

GEOFF OGILVY: It is. 3 over after 5 or whatever I was this morning, 3 over for the tournament, not that excited about my position. But it's amazing, a birdie in a regular tournament seems to just move you forward a tiny bit. Here it seems to you seem to jump about 30 guys. It feels pretty nice to make a birdie because you get a bit of breathing room for a few more holes.

Yeah, it's nice. Look, if you had given me walking up the first fairway yesterday, my first hole, if you told me I'd be 1 over after two rounds, I'd have taken it. So I'm pretty happy with it.

Q. Is it a different player who excels in a tournament where par is a real good score as opposed to 7 under?

GEOFF OGILVY: I don't know, it's hard to say. It's a different mindset you've got to set yourself. If you get yourself in the right mindset, anyone can do it out here when it's tough. You've just got to adjust where your brain is. Normally if you're going over par on the courses that we play regularly, you're really not going very well. But you can be 4 over through nine holes here and not be in bad shape. You've just got to tell yourself, you've really got to be able to read what is a good score and not a good score.

At a regular Tour event it's hard to read what a good score is. Sometimes you shoot 4 over and there's eight guys that shot 8 under.

That's why I think it helps to watch the leaderboard, because you have two or three bogeys, and you're like, everyone else is doing this, so it's got to be pretty hard out here.

End of FastScripts.

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