U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 10, 2003

Tom Glissmeyer

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Tom Glissmeyer to the media center. Tom is a 16-year-old qualifier from Colorado. Tom, maybe you can start us off about by walking go us through local and sectional qualifying, where that happened and what your experiences were there.

TOM GLISSMEYER: Well, my local qualifier was at Buffalo Run, which is a course east of Denver. I shot 68. And the sectional was at Columbine Country Club last Monday. And it started out with a triple bogey on the first hole, but somewhere along the line made ten more birdies and here I am.

RAND JERRIS: Your final score for that round was --

TOM GLISSMEYER: 72-69.

RAND JERRIS: I understand that you're friends with Derek Tolin, and we had Derek here in the media center with us last year. Have you talked to him and did he have any advice on how to handle the U.S. Open?

TOM GLISSMEYER: Derek is a great guy, and we're good friends. He was actually the first person I talked to Tuesday morning. He said to just try to keep focused on the golf, and you're there to play golf. And it's kind of hard when you see Tiger and Ernie walking down the other fairway. The natural tendency is to be to stop and watch them. But he said to focus on the golf and just enjoy every minute.

Q. You just talked about trying to put aside all the people who are out here, but Ernie just sat in the chair before you, Tiger has been sitting there, Phil sat there. Is it overwhelming right now but you'll have a good chance to get accustomed to that come Thursday?

TOM GLISSMEYER: Well, it's definitely a little overwhelming. I'm really just thrilled to be here, I mean just -- to be in the presence of all these great players is just -- it's really an honor. I can't -- I really am having a great time and just taking it all in.

Q. Do you sense that any or all of them know you? Do they say, hey kid? Have you talked to them at all?

TOM GLISSMEYER: I've talked to a few. They don't -- I'm sure they all don't know me. My guess is the most I've heard is some 16-year-old kid's here. But the ones that I've met have been just really great. And they really treated me well. Everyone has just been fantastic this week.

Q. Can you recall being placed in the same position that you're going to be in on Thursday? In other words, where were you when probably something as big as this happened to you, playing with the two golfers that you're going to be competing with come Thursday?

TOM GLISSMEYER: I can't think of anything that's as big as Thursday morning. I have played in -- last summer I played in the U.S. Junior Amateur, and that was really -- I mean, my junior resume certainly isn't one that would -- you'd find me here. I haven't won everything, but I've played in a lot of tournaments that I've placed in the top five a lot. Probably in my last four or five years I've played a hundred tournaments, and the top five I would guess 75 percent of the time. This is not going to be one of the top-5's; I'm pretty sure that that's out of the question. But I've played in a few big AJGA tournaments, and that's the U.S. Junior Am, and this is by far the biggest, greatest experience that I've had yet.

Q. Have you at all sought out any players to ask advice or have any come up to you and given you advice for this week?

TOM GLISSMEYER: I haven't sought out any players looking for advice. Today I had the chance to play with Michael Campbell and he -- I asked him how do you deal with all the autograph signing. I think the most important thing that he told me today was just go out and care but don't care. You can't beat yourself up over a swing that wasn't perfect. And you've just got to go just hit the ball, and hit it hard. That's the best advice I've gotten is not to -- just pretend it's a practice round.

Q. Obviously you've seen Tiger and Ernie and all those guys that are huge stars to you. What is it like for you being a star for all these kids, all these people three times, four times your age out here, asking for your autographs and taking pictures with you?

TOM GLISSMEYER: I've loved every minute of it. I'm really just having a blast. It's awesome. I'm so at a loss for words, I can't really describe the feeling. It's just fantastic.

Q. Tom, how have your practice rounds gone, and what do you feel like the biggest challenge is going to be for you out on the golf course?

TOM GLISSMEYER: Well, the last two days, if you put those together, I would have missed the cut, definitely. But I think the biggest challenge for me is going to be hitting it in the fairway. My tendency is to kind of spray the driver a little bit, and that isn't going to help out here. But everything else, going into the greens I think I've handled pretty well. But I think the big key is going to be to keep it in the short grass.

Q. What do you drive better, a car or a golf ball?

TOM GLISSMEYER: (Pause). A car (laughter).

Q. For some of us in this room Tiger Woods is almost a kid. For you he's almost an old man. Can you talk a little about what someone your age -- what it was like growing up looking up to him, the standard he set for golfers your age?

TOM GLISSMEYER: You know, it really -- Tiger is -- he was good from the beginning. I've really used him as a model to sort of base what tournaments I play, because ten years ago he was playing in the U.S. Junior Am. He won that three years. And then he played in a lot of AJGA -- so did all those guys. And it's really helpful to sort of use their careers as almost a model to follow that. And for me it's been a great help to kind of just see how things progress.

Q. How long have you lived in Colorado Springs, first, and also could you talk about -- your bio says you like science a lot. Talk about yourself as a student away from the golf course.

TOM GLISSMEYER: I've lived in the Springs since I was two. School, I take school seriously. I know that if my arm were to fall off, I have to have something to fall back on. I have a -- this last semester I had a 4.3 GPA. I was in an advanced math class and honors English. I've had straight A's in high school. I think I had three B's since fourth grade. It's easy in Colorado to separate the golf and the school because half the time during the school year you can't even play golf. I definitely think school is very important.

Q. A lot of these guys have coaches, caddies, friends, the whole entourage. How many people are in your entourage? And also you said you're good friends with Derek. Did he try to qualify and how close did he come in trying to get in?

TOM GLISSMEYER: He shot 74 in the local qualifier. There was a playoff at 69. One of my good friends is right down here, he shot 69 and was in that playoff. And I would guess 10, 15 family, friends coming out, probably somewhere in there.

Q. Were you always a golfer? Did you start off playing golf or were you interested in other sports and when did you take up the game? Second question, who will be caddying for you this week?

TOM GLISSMEYER: Chris Wilkins, the assistant pro at the country club in Colorado, he's going to be on the bag this week. And I started playing golf when I was six. I've played just about everything you can imagine, basketball, baseball, tennis, hockey. And I really started giving all that up probably in the 7th grade, when I was 11, 12, to focus on golf. I still love watching -- I think the only two channels I watch are ESPN and The Golf Channel. So I still love all sports.

Q. You sound like a very goal-oriented person. What is success to you this week?

TOM GLISSMEYER: I think just being here is a success for me. I'm not going to base how I play -- I'm not going to determine if it was a successful week or not based on how I play. But I'm going to -- I would like to play well. I think that if I keep it in the fairway, I will. My goal this week is just to take everything in and enjoy it to the fullest.

Q. What would you like to get most out of this experience?

TOM GLISSMEYER: You know, I'm just going to take this experience and I'll be able to apply it to the rest of my tournaments the rest of my life, how to handle the pressure and the stress on the course and off the course. I think it will help me most in every other tournament that I'm going to play because this is -- there isn't anything bigger. So to -- it will be a good way to -- it will be a good model to handle pressure in all my other tournaments. I can kind of refer back to the U.S. Open to help me get through any pressure-filled situations that might come up in the future. So I'm just going to -- I'm just going to take everything in and just enjoy the rest of the week.

RAND JERRIS: Thanks very much for your time. Wish you lots of luck this week.

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