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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2006

Padraig Harrington

MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

Q. Your thoughts going into the weekend?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Just do more of the same really. You know I think I played nicely yesterday, played it well off the tee. I hit my irons very poorly. You know, I know some combination of that will do nicely over the weekend. Hopefully, you know, who knows. If I keep driving it well, keep hitting irons nicely I might be there on Sunday.

Q. Can you acquire any additional (inaubible) course like that in this event?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I think that's one of the things at the U.S. Open, the extra -- there's a lot of extras when you turn up at at majors, but definitely the at the Open with the difficulty of the course, there's a long grind out there. You've got to be real careful to stay strong mentally.

I played the first seven holes, I played them really nicely. Probably could have holed a couple more, and then bogey, bogey. I'm going backward rather than forward. It's that type of golf course. Once you make one mistake, it's easy to keep doing it. If you're under par, it's very important you keep playing solid golf. Don't let any mistakes creep in. When you let mistakes come in, they tend to come in droves on this golf course.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: At that point, it was very important for me, about three perfect clubs. I knew I could do no damage with the club. I could hit it, it wasn't going long. It was a comfortable shot, like on 10. It was going to be tough, after making two bogeys, if I was in between clubs, so 10 was a bonus to get up there and find a shot that suits my eye.

Q. (Inaudible), that sort of tends to bunch up the players, than it would originally?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I think, you know, you're really looking at a major bunching up the pairs more than usual. You see guys getting 3- or 4-under pars out there and coming back. It's not so hard to play good golf at 3-over par, but yet it's hard to play good golf at 1-, 2-, 3-under. The leaders will always come back in the major. The other, it takes a little bit of pressure off, they go for the pins, make birdie because they're not under as much pressure.

Q. (Inaudible)?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I don't think about anything. I don't think about anybody else out there. That's it. If I make two bogeys, they should be independent events and I'll stand up at next hole and make it.

Q. Looking at the Europeans that are doing well this week, a lot of Europeans on the leaderboard. Your thoughts?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: European golf is strong, good, becoming strong again. Obviously in the '80s, early '90s, it was incredibly strong. Nick Faldo would have had a tremendous influence on Luke Donald, his sort of age group. I think it's only a matter of time before there'll be some majors won again. European golf courses are at least this tight every week, if not tighter. It's one of craziest things when you go home, the fairways we play, we play most weeks, are narrower. The Europeans are used to playing with an eye to playing very tight -- the rough is usually heavier in Europe than in the U.S.

Q. Royal Liverpool is -- it's next on the list. What can you tell us about it? Is it similar to Lytham in its bunkering and narrowness?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I've played it, but I couldn't tell you much about it, I must say. It's quite a flat golf course, like Lytham. I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about it, to be honest.

Q. Would you take two more rounds like today or do you think it's going to take more?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Two more rounds like that? Yes, I would. Can I buy them somewhere?

Q. Would you expect to see this golf course gets a whole lot tougher over the weekend?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: The fairways are firm now, that's making it tough. They can't make the greens much quicker because there is a lot of slope in the greens, and yeah, they could definitely have tougher pins than today. Yesterday were tough. I expect some of the afternoon to be really difficult, yes, more because of the pressure of the situation more than anything else.

Q. (Inaudible)?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I do like it, I'm happy.

End of FastScripts.

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