U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 12, 2003

Tom Gillis

Q. Congratulations, good start.

TOM GILLIS: Thanks. I played pretty solid all day, a little bit of a disappointment on the last hole. I had a good drive and then I had an actually pretty easy pitch shot or flop, whatever you want to call it. It was probably too good a lie. I was surprised you could see the whole ball. I'm happy and just continuing the good play from last week and trying to continue it.

Q. You had momentum, didn't you?

TOM GILLIS: I finished 7th there at the Capital Open. I don't know what's changed in the last week or so, I just started swinging the club better and I just said to myself I can't lose this week. One of my best friends is getting married Saturday night and I'm in the wedding, and I said if things don't work out then I go home and spend time with him, which would be a great time. If it doesn't I'm at the U.S. Open.

Q. Is it a good day to score here with the conditions?

TOM GILLIS: I think so. I said to the guys on the first tee, let's make some birdies and they looked at me funny. Today is going to be the day because if it starts firming up and if the sun gets out it's going to be a different golf course.

Q. I talked to you at Q-school and you considered giving up the game.

TOM GILLIS: I just had been chasing the dream for 13 years and then played the mini tours for seven and I played in Europe for five years and that was getting old going back and forth. I just wasn't going to go back to Europe and I really wasn't going to go back and play the mini tours. I went to school and that was pretty much it. I was very prepared possibly to go into another line of work, whatever it be. It's just amazing where I am now. I'm not surprised that I'm here because I always thought I had a lot of game and a lot of talent, but it was close. Who knows, I could be selling cars right now.

Q. Looks like you made the right choice.

TOM GILLIS: As of right now, yeah, I'd say so. This game is crazy. A year from now I could be saying I'm so sick and tired of this game, who knows. I'm just going to enjoy it while I'm playing good and try to ride it out.

Q. What was the toughest hole out there?

TOM GILLIS: Well, my ninth hole was today for me. Gosh, I don't know. That fifth hole down the hill is a good hole because it's got a false front. That's a great golf hole. I've got to be careful how I say it. I don't see it playing as hard as it could play right now with the wind laying down. If you're driving the ball well you can take dead aim at it.

Q. What did we miss?

TOM GILLIS: You'd have to ask those guys.

Q. What about your performance last week do you feel was a continuation -- (inaudible)?

TOM GILLIS: I was looking to make a little statement on tour here sooner or later just to prove to myself I could play out there. You know, I played well all week last week from tee to green. There was never really any doubt or lack of trust in myself, and the only thing I was a bit concerned about yesterday was my preparation because we got in here late Monday and it was a quick turnaround before we started again. I talked to a friend of mine last night, Dr. Patrick Cohen. He says you've got to look at it this way, you made a quick turnaround, use it as an advantage, you're not sitting around playing five practice rounds. He's got a great point. I'm reading too much into this. I'm just going to play like I did last week.

Q. You played five years in Europe?

TOM GILLIS: Yeah.

Q. Did you play any other foreign tours?

TOM GILLIS: I played in South Africa in '95 and '96 a little bit but I never really had full status like I did in Europe those years.

Q. How do your frequent flyer miles total up?

TOM GILLIS: Close to a million, 950,000 or something like that.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM GILLIS: Well, I used to play in South Africa down there in Sun City. I remember one day we were playing on Sunday and it was a Dimension Data tournament and we were going down the fairways and there was three or four packs of monkeys walking out in front of you. It was a little bit eerie. So many interesting things happened to me in the five years I was over there. I cannot think of one. That's how many things have happened. We went to so many places in so many different countries, there was always something really neat, especially in the countries like Qatar and Dubai. Just the life was really different.

Q. How about the stretch from your eighth hole through eight and nine?

TOM GILLIS: You mean 17 all the way through? Yeah, nothing was much happening. I hit it close on 16 and missed again and I was really frustrated. I said to my caddie, Kyle, I don't want to go through another week of missing 12-footers because we did that so much last week. We feel like we could have won the tournament last week. I was frustrated when I went up on 17 tee. Then we hit 3 wood about three feet, made that, and then a total change. I said let's get some momentum, made a putt, knocked it in on 1 and two putted and hit it 12 or 15 feet on 2 and made it. Other than that, I just kind of -- that seems to be how it's been working the last ten days or so. They come in stretches and when they come, they come sometimes two, three, four in a row.

Q. What's the secret to your success in Chicago? You've qualified here twice, now you're playing well in the Open?

TOM GILLIS: I was playing there and I had I think 18 holes to go or 19 holes to go, and I just said to myself what are you holding back for? You've held back all year. What are you holding back for? That's the question I asked myself. Why don't you just once find out how good you can become just by playing more aggressive and just staying out of the way. You know, I thought I had to shoot 6 under the last round to qualify there in Chicago and I shot 4 under and made it by a couple shots. I don't know, that little talk just put me in the right frame of mind and it got me real aggressive. It really put me in a frame of mind where I wasn't afraid of much. I started out 1-under and there was a bunch of 1-unders. There was four spots there. Like I was telling Brian I just said what do I have to lose. I've got a very good friend getting married. There's going to be a lot of old golf friends there, this guy used to play the mini tour. I just said let's shoot as low as you can because you cannot lose.

Q. Do you know what you were afraid of?

TOM GILLIS: Probably the success. I would just sabotage. I don't know why. I just wasn't believing in myself, and I just said let's just cut that out, you're either going to do this the right way or get another job. I don't want to be a mediocre player. Nobody does.

Q. How many practice holes did you play?

TOM GILLIS: I played nine Tuesday and nine Wednesday.

Q. How long was it that you played over at 6?

TOM GILLIS: About 15 feet, the par 5.

Q. The money last week is the most you've made in any year in Europe?

TOM GILLIS: I made $240,000 one year in Europe, but that's the biggest check I ever had.

I turned pro in '90 and I think I only missed twice until last year, then maybe three times, I can't remember. I never made it in the final. That was the first time I had ever been in the final.

Q. What you describe as your attitude, do you think it's common for players like yourself?

TOM GILLIS: I think so. It's such a slow-moving game, it's not like you can get out on the three on two fast break and increase your defense or really D up and let's get after it and get your adrenaline going. It's a different game like that. That's the part I've always struggled with is finding that median to walk on, that fence. Finally I just got so frustrated in Chicago, I said screw it. I'm going to do it the way I want to play and I'm going to play aggressive because it's my personality and if it's not any good it's not any good. That was qualifying for this.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM GILLIS: It wasn't even much. It was like, quit holding back and find out how good you can be. It was like four or five words, not like a whole thing all the way up the fairway.

Q. How long did you find that you were always last -- when you played well as a professional how long do you find yourself in that mode?

TOM GILLIS: I think that goes back to how long you're going to let it. For me I've always had a good week and then in Europe probably had a little bit too much celebration before I ever got back in sync. You know, for some reason back then I used to think one week was all I was going to have. Like I said to a friend last night, I don't want to have one week good. These guys like Kenny Perry win two weeks in a row and they make all this money in four, five, six weeks, I thought I wasn't going able to do that, why can't I do that.

Q. (Inaudible)?

TOM GILLIS: I left there in July last year after the British Open qualifier, and my caddie said I'll see you at the Dutch Open next week, and I said I can't do it anymore. I packed up and I left. I wasn't enjoying it anymore.

Q. What about your performance last year at Bethpage?

TOM GILLIS: I think just the whole I'm in the U.S. Open thing. When I stood on the tee today it wasn't my first U.S. Open, wasn't my first major. I've made the cut and played all four days. I wasn't in all the crowds or whatever. I think Bethpage helped out a lot because there was a lot of people there. That was a big arena. I'm sure it helped to some extent.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM GILLIS: No, it was on my 18th hole in the morning round, I think.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM GILLIS: I don't know. I didn't have anything set up. I was going to start calling friends. That's why you have to have a lot of friends. I might have called Senior to see if he could put me in Golf Week.

Q. (Inaudible).

TOM GILLIS: I was 2-under and bogeyed the hole. That's what caused it. I drove it in a bunker and I said I'm sick of it.

End of FastScripts....