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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 17, 2010

Shaun Micheel

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

Q. How do you explain 22 putts today?
SHAUN MICHEEL: Is that how many I had? I hadn't really thought about it. I was really kind of disappointed with 17, but I made up for it on 18.
I probably hit -- if I had to guess, maybe six or seven greens in regulation. But, you know, with that being said, I managed myself very well. I mean, if you ask anybody that's playing, I mean underneath the hole is where you need to play, and that's what I did. I took my medicine a lot of times. And I was never really that far off the line, really.
Around the greens I've been chipping the ball extremely well. And today I could see the line. Other than that one miss step on 17, every putt that I looked at, when I put the ball down I at least felt great with my read. And my speed was good. That was important, too.

Q. Just a nice way to end a round of golf, here?
SHAUN MICHEEL: Yeah, you don't expect those. I was a little bit disappointed in where my 9-iron ended up. I left myself the exact yardage I wanted to, believe it or not. I had 125 yards to the pin, a nice 9. When I walked up there I thought issued have hit wedge.
My caddie, Stephen, said, if you had hit wedge and buried it in the lip of the bunker and you would hope you hit 9. To make a 30-footer or whatever was obviously a bonus. It was hit pretty firmly. And, you know, sometimes you have to do that on these greens.

Q. Certainly nice for spectators, what were the conditions for players out there this afternoon?
SHAUN MICHEEL: You know, the wind picked up right before I teed off or a little bit before, but nothing that I thought was going to cause any problems. I think the USGA has done a great job of setting it up. The fairways are firm. I probably only hit three or four drivers, I probably could have hit one or two less. But the conditions were, I would say, ideal, probably as good as you can get. There were some difficult pins, and on some of the tough holes, like 8, the wind was blowing the direction of the flag, and you could shape your shots in there. And again, I just plodded along. I managed myself. I hit the ball very solidly today. I was very pleased.
Every shot that I hit was solid, carried the right yardage, and I think it's easy to play this game when you know how far you're hitting the ball.

Q. You're completely healthy now after two years, you played great in Memphis last week. Some people may be surprised to see your name at the top of the leaderboard, but you're probably not?
SHAUN MICHEEL: No, I'm not. It's amazing how quickly people forget you. And I remember coming back, I spent 7 months in rehab. I rehabbed almost seven straight months. And so nine months away from the game was very difficult. I wasn't sure that I'd ever be able to move my arm again. Dr. Andrews out of Birmingham did the surgery. I've got six anchors to hold that lame rum in there, and I played the better part of a year with the injury.
And it was kind of funny, Tiger and I were out at the same time and they were making such a hubbub about Tiger coming back, and my therapists back in Memphis were saying why aren't they mentioning you? And I explained to him this is how the hierarchy works.
But it's not so bad. There are a lot of guys that came back over the years. I look at Steve Stricker, really kind of gives me a lot of encouragement. And I look at Lee Westwood, he was struggling with his game. And I think what kept me going was I didn't feel like my game had left me, it was the injury that caused my game to leave me.
And I noticed sometime after 2006 that, you know, my teacher had asked me if I was working with a new teacher or what I was doing with my golf swing, because it wasn't the same. And I go back and look at some of those things and right about the mid part of 2007 is where the injury started.
But, no, really to answer your question, I'm not surprised at all. I might have been, you know, if I hadn't had such good finishes. I've been working hard on my game and I'm finally starting to see some results. With my injury, the more I practiced the worse I got. It was frustrating, I didn't want to play. I wasn't sure that I was ever going to be able to come back. Look, I'm not back there yet, I'm still gaining.
But I think I'm starting to regain the form and the confidence that I had a couple of years ago.

Q. How are you able to concentrate on a round like this when you phone home today and find out your mom is having kind of a bad day?
SHAUN MICHEEL: Yeah, well, you know, that's a tough one, I think. She's been having a lot of bad days. You know, last week I really tried to play well for her. You know, that's the best I've ever finished, and I think I've played 16 times or so in that event.
I just -- you know, I think about her. I'm really playing for her. And it's nice to actually play for somebody else. I used to play, I think, for the fans, and I used to play for my family, and I used to play for myself.
And I finally -- it's nice to be able to really play for someone, I mean, really other than me. It's always been about me and my team and where I stood on the money list, where I stood on the FedEx Cup list. And it gets all consuming. I hate that she's going through this, and I hate it for anyone that goes through it. It's a horrible disease, cancer. And she spent -- she had a great year. She was diagnosed on the Monday after Hilton Head last year, and, you know, I've been spending a lot of time with her. I call her every day. I think there's a guilt factor, too, in me being out here playing. She wants me out here, and I think, that makes it easier on me. Moms want what's best for their kids, and I appreciate that.

Q. What kind of cancer is that?
SHAUN MICHEEL: My mom has lung cancer, small cell carcinoma. In Houston I found out that it had metastasized to her brain. A nickel-sized spot in her -- I used -- I heard the doctor, told me last week where it was. But it's the backside of her head. It's in her liver and her lungs and her spine and it's just -- it's hard to watch.
And I know that a lot of people go through it and it's encouraging to me, at least, in the fact that she wants me out here playing, and she's doing okay for right now, but I don't think she'll be here much past August.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about you've got Oakmont and Winged Foot on one end that are exceptionally difficult, and Bethpage and Olympia Fields which play under par, significantly. Where does Pebble Beach fall in the spectrum of difficulty of U.S. Open golf course, and what is it about Pebble that makes it on the hard side if that's true?
SHAUN MICHEEL: I don't know, I think each golf course presents different challenges. We were talking about you look back at some of the holes at Oakmont, the 8th hole, it's 285 yards. A lot of different angles. The fairways were probably some of the most difficult to hit of any golf course I've ever played. I was disappointed there because Cabrera birdied 18, and knocked us out at 10 or 11-over, I was disappointed not to play on the weekend.
I think the USGA has to be careful a little bit because the weather really affects the peninsula and particularly this golf course. It's hard to say, I didn't play Olympia Fields, but the rough is playable. I think with the new grooves maybe they felt like it was important to allow guys to at least make the shots because even the Tour has tried to make golf courses firm and fast, and that's what you have here.
Rocco caught a few fliers today and put himself in unmanageable conditions. You can get caught up in really the surroundings here, and I think almost to that it has a calming effect, as well. It's a beautiful place out here, and I think we're fortunate to catch the -- to catch a great week of weather.

End of FastScripts

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