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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2006

Kenneth Ferrie

MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

RAND JERRIS: We now welcome Kenneth Ferrie to the interview area. Kenneth with a round of 70, even par today, stands at 141, plus 1 for the championship. Kenneth, this is your first United States Open experience. Talk about your expectations coming into the week and how the course has been playing the first two days.

KENNETH FERRIE: Coming in, I mean, like you said, that was my first U.S. Open and obviously the horror stories of Shinnecock and Bethpage, watching them on TV, didn't know what to expect and what it was going to be. So I didn't really have any goals coming here. It was kind of come here and just to see what it was all about, basically. Get some valuable experience. Obviously I've arrived, practiced the first three days and pleasantly surprised. I think the golf course is very, very good. It's very, very hard but very, very fair.

The graduated rough, I'm a huge fan. I think if you miss a fairway by two or three yards you deserve some sort of chance to get near a green, whereas if you're hitting it 20 yards off line, you deserve to be punished, and I think that me personally, and quite a lot of the other guys I've spoke to, the same thinking as I am, that they're huge fans of the course setup and the way the course is set up.

RAND JERRIS: For the record, can you walk us through the birdies and bogeys on your card?

KENNETH FERRIE: Birdie at the 1st was driver, 6 iron to a kick in. It was literally I wasn't sure, two, three inches.

Birdie at the 7th, pulled a 9 iron slightly right down the flag and actually got a little hop left into the fringe and I chipped in, which was nice.

9, driver, 9 iron to about a foot, eight foot, knocked that one in.

11 was another Rescue club and an 8 iron to about eight foot and holed that one, as well.

The two doubles were just bad tee shots. 14, it's a tough tee shot in out of the left with that bunker, and it's just right on the limit to be able to fly it, so I'm trying to hit it just right of the bunker and the wind got it, tried to lay it up just short of the bunker and it literally went into the thick cut. Tried to chip it on, caught a flier over the green, chipped it to about two, three foot, made a good shot there, I had a decent putt and it kind of snaked a little bit and it caught the edge and didn't go in.

Double at 15 was a similar sort of thing, 3 wood off the tee, in out of the left again, just left it hanging out right into the thick stuff, wedged it back into the fairway, took my medicine, hit a decent shot into the green and crept up onto the top level, down to about two foot again and just missed that one again.

The greens are, again, very, very quick, very, very crusty, especially when they're downhill. They're so hard, all the nice I rolled in a nice one on the last after having to chip out. Same thing, downhill after I sent it on his way the ball found its way.

Q. Can you give us a couple of examples of the horror stories you heard about Shinnecock and Bethpage, and what made you want to come here anyway?

KENNETH FERRIE: Hearing the horror stories, having sit and watched them on TV back home and having to come onto greens and syringe greens and water greens in between, people hitting it on the high side of the hole, putting it in the bunkers, that sort of thing. Obviously you remember the bad things, don't really remember the good things. As far as wanting to come here, I'm a young guy trying to start out on a long career hopefully. I want to play against the best players in the world. Tiger comes over to play a few times a year, but that's what all the young players that's what all the players want to do, they want to compete against Tiger and Phil and Vijay and play a proper golf course for a proper tournament. Not that we don't play proper tournaments, but the majors are special, and the U.S. Open is meant to be the ultimate test. I wanted to be tested, and I was.

Q. I don't remember if it was 14 or 15 after you missed the short putt, you showed a lot of emotion, anger. Is that the way you normally are? You tried to shove your putter I'm trying to learn about you. Do you show your emotions a lot on the Tour?

KENNETH FERRIE: If you think that was anger today, you should come follow me in a normal week (laughter). That's me on my best behavior. That's because my mom is watching at home. If I do something wrong, she'll be right on the phone with me tonight. I'm emotional, that's how I play and that's how I always am. I set very, high standards for myself, and when I don't achieve them, I get very hard on myself. Over the years I'm sure it has been one of my bad points, one of my downfalls, but at the end of the day I'm here doing what I'm doing because of how I am. I've tried to change, I've tried to calm it down, and this is where we're at. Maybe another five years' time, I might be better again.

Q. You mentioned you're a fan of the graduated rough. Given the nature of the grasses on your Open courses, is it possible to use a similar setup over there, and is there anyplace that you've played that has playing conditions of this sort?

KENNETH FERRIE: British Open I don't think it would be possible to do. Obviously the Open is played on links courses, played in our summer, as well. If the USGA have their way of setting up a golf course, the R and A have their own way. My experience is in the last few Opens, they like it dry, hard, fast. Obviously that's the way the links courses are meant to be played. I don't think it would be possible to do it on a links course.

Q. Have you ever played a course or a tournament with similar conditions in terms of setup?

KENNETH FERRIE: Not with the graduated rough obviously. I think Firestone last year, you could compare Firestone similar to this without the graduated rough, but that was a good, hard test, as well. Apart from that, in Europe I heard something the other day about the amount of money it's cost to get this golf course in the shape it is. I don't think it would be possible to have golf courses every week like this. Winged Foot is a brilliant golf course, and because it's an exclusive course they have the ability to close the course quite early and spend the time getting it exactly how they want it, whereas most golf courses we play in Europe have paying members, and I don't think the members would be too happy if they couldn't get on the golf course a couple months before a tournament.

Q. You're smiling pretty well now. You had the lead and you were right there. What are you feeling right now?

KENNETH FERRIE: Obviously I'm still a little bit disappointed with what happened. I would like to have come in and been sitting here at 3 under par and shot 4 under for the day, best round of the whatever. That's obviously what I wanted to do. But in the big scheme of things, I shot 70. If you get rid of those two doubles, I've had a great round of golf. I'm not going to sit here and dwell on two bad shots that not two bad shots, they really weren't good, but they weren't double bad. Rather than the two tee shots, it's the two putts that I missed. I knock those two in and I shoot 68.

I'm happy with my position. It's the old cliche in any golf tournament, you can't win it on the first two or three days but you can lose it. I'm in a position that I haven't been in before but a position I'm looking forward to, to seeing how I react to.

Q. You kind of had a look on your face after the birdie on 11 that suggested I can't quite believe I'm two shots clear of the field in a U.S. Open. Would that be a fair description?

KENNETH FERRIE: No, it was more along the lines of I can't believe that putt at 11 actually went in (laughter). I hit a really good putt on the top side and it was the line I wanted and it broke really, really late. That's more what it was. I mean, it's a U.S. Open, it's a huge tournament, and I don't need to tell anybody what this tournament is about. It's another golf tournament, it just so happens it's a major. That's the way it is. I didn't really feel any more pressure out there today than I did when I won The K Club or when I was leading the did you know hill or when I won in Spain for the first time. Pressure is pressure. Obviously there are grander scales, but I'm a lot further along now than I was two or three years ago, and I've been in this position a few times now. Obviously not on this grand a scale, but I'm just trying to keep doing what I do.

Q. Two quick questions: I know a lot of European players don't like to hear the question, but is it your desire to play over here on a more full time basis, and the second question is can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What are your likes outside of golf? What do you like to do when you're not playing the game?

KENNETH FERRIE: Obviously I think it would be everybody's everybody who's serious about that wants to be serious about being classed as a superstar of golf has to come to play in America. Like I said, I don't want to say anything bad about the European Tour or anything like that. The European Tour is a fabulous Tour to play on. I think playing both sides as a lot of the guys, Padraig has done the last couple years, that's where everybody would like to be.

I enjoy coming to America and playing, but I also enjoy playing in Europe. I love Europe for the fact that you see so many different cultures and every week is completely different. Whereas over here, it's kind of it's the same country every week. That's kind of a stupid thing to say, but you know what I mean.

About me, outside of golf or just a brief history?

Q. What do you like to do.

KENNETH FERRIE: I started playing golf when I was seven. My brother came in from school one day and said he wanted to play, so him and my dad took up golf. I tagged along a few months later after they got serious about it, gradually worked my way through from boys, youth, won the British Boys in '86, played the Walker Cup, turned pro in '99, couple of wins in 2000 and 2001, first win on the European Tour in 2003 in Tenerife Spanish Open, won The K Club last year, the European Open, and that's kind of where I am now.

Two years in college over here, junior college in Midland, Texas, which kind of holds us in good stead playing here. It's a bit of a culture shock to a lot of people when they come over here. I feel as though I can deal with it a little bit better with having two years of college over here.

Q. Just a follow up on what you were saying before about how you desire to compete against Tiger, what were your thoughts when you heard that he was 12 over par and probably going to miss the cut here?

KENNETH FERRIE: I think most people are probably shocked. I was very fortunate to play with Tiger in the third round of the HSBC tournament in China, Shanghai. I was fortunate to play with Tiger in Shanghai, and it's like nothing I've seen before. He is a phenom, a great player. Like I said, more shocked like a lot of people, I was quite curious to see after the layoff he's had, what would happen. And it obviously wasn't meant to be his week. I'm quite surprised, but that's the nature of golf.

Q. This is your first U.S. Open. Have you played anything else in the U.S. beyond Midland College and so forth?

KENNETH FERRIE: I played the two WGCs last year, played at Firestone and Harding Park, so this is kind of the third event. Not three bad tournaments to start with I'd say. From now on it's probably going to go downhill (laughter).

RAND JERRIS: Kenneth, congratulations on your fine play, and thank you for your time.

End of FastScripts.

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