home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


June 16, 2006


Graeme McDowell


MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

Q. Two for two on U.S. Open weekends on two very, very difficult courses. Do you feel good about it?

GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, I guess I feel like a U.S. Open is a golf course that sets up for me. I'm a good driver of the golf ball, I'm a pretty good iron player, especially this week, I feel like my iron play has been very strong. I've flighted it well, hit it on the correct sides of the pins all week, gave myself chances and I'm a pretty good scrambler.

I guess if I was to look at all the majors and asked myself which one would I win first, I would say U.S. Open is probably right there. I guess it doesn't surprise me that I've played well the last couple years at a U.S. Open.

Q. Is there something about this course that really suits your game?

GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, I really like the way this golf course sets up. It just fits my eye. A lot of the tee shots are right to left, which suits me. It's just a nice backdrop, tall trees. All the shots are really well framed. You've kind of got to shape your irons. It's a U.S. Open, you've got to play to the middle of the greens a little bit. But no, I liked this golf course from the second I saw it.

Q. As bogeys go, the bogey on the last was pretty important there?

GRAEME McDOWELL: It was pretty big. It was nice for momentum, nice to sleep on tonight. It's probably the worst iron shot I've hit in two days. 9 iron in my hand, to miss that pin left, obviously I realized that was not the side to miss on, and I was pretty disappointed walking down there. You know, I had a bad lie. I gave myself a chance at it and obviously I made it.

I made nice putts on three of the last four greens today, which is nice to take into the weekend.

Q. Tell us about the birdie on the 8th.

GRAEME McDOWELL: It was probably 18 feet or so. Nick was on exactly the same line as me, just outside me, and he kind of showed me the way in, so it was nice.

Q. How special is it for you to take this sort of momentum you've been building by making a cut at the U.S. Open?

GRAEME McDOWELL: It's just nice to continue my good play, really. I really went out there with the attitude today that I wanted to stick to my own game and play within my comfort zone. Just because it's a U.S. Open doesn't mean I need to tack on miracle golf shots or anything. I'm playing to play my game, hit it on the correct sides of the pin and give myself chances.

I was comfortably happy with the way I played for the first nine holes out there today. I hit the golf ball really great tee to green, gave myself a ton of chances, none of which I made unfortunately. I didn't really roll the ball that well on the first nine holes. The greens were just really difficult to putt I felt. It was nice to make a few putts coming in. The game got a little ragged on the back side, but I balanced it out with a few putts.

Q. Talk about the stretch of four holes right there at the front nine.

GRAEME McDOWELL: 1, 2, 3, 4, it's a really tough stretch of holes. It's kind of nice to get out playing the back side first. The back side is a little bit of a nice opener compared to the front. You kind of get a par 3, short par 4, par 4, par 5. You can kind of ease your way in. When you're starting on the front, you're looking at a tough driving hole, par 4, tough green. The 2nd is a really tough tee shot, tough green, and then you're looking at the 3rd which could be anywhere between 3 wood and 2 iron.

Yeah, and 4 is not much of a pushover, either. There's no doubt, the first four holes on the front side are key. If you can get through those even par, you know there's a little bit of a breather as such, 5, 6, 7, and you can make a little bit of a score.

End of FastScripts.

About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297