U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 13, 1996

Lee Janzen

LEE JANZEN: Well, I had plenty of birdies, plenty of bogeys today. I birdied the second hole, I hit a driver and laid up with a 3-iron, left myself 45 yards to the pin, wedged it about eight feet. The third hole, hit a 3-iron pin high right from about 45 feet and made it; putt broke about five feet. Bogey on the fourth hole. I hit a 3-wood in the left rough, hit a sand wedge out of the fairway; sand wedge on the green and 2-putted from 20 feet. 6: I hit 2-iron in the first cut of rough on the right side, hit a 9-iron about six feet, made that for birdie. 8: I hit a good drive, hit a 4-iron right on the line on the front of the green about 25 feet short of it, 3-putted; ran it by six feet. 9th hole: I hit a 3-iron about ten feet just past the hole to the right of it a little bit, made that for birdie. The 11th: Let us see. The 12th hole I hit a driver on the first cut of the rough on the right, hit a 6-iron in the fairway. Hit a pitching wedge below the hole about 15 feet, made that. On the 13th hole I hit 6-iron, par 3, dead pin-high about eight feet left of the hole, I made that. 14th hole: I drove it right down the middle into a puddle, played it out of the puddle, which I had gotten a drop, but I hit a poor shot short of the green. I didn't have a hard pitch shot, hit it by the hole 25 feet, 2-putted for bogey. Then 17, I hit a 3-iron to the left of the green and you seen where the pin is -- it is virtually impossible -- and I 3-putted from there. The second putt come from about 30 feet. The first one was probably 50 feet or 60 feet. I didn't get much closer. And then I parred 18. I did have some saves. Number 10 I got up-and-down out of the right bunker. I hit my bunker shot to a tap-in range less than a foot. 11th hole: Hit it about four feet, missed it for birdie. 15th hole: I was in the left bunker right, also inside two feet. 18th hole: Drove it in the left rough, hit a 7-iron in the fairway; hit a sand wedge about 12 feet, made that for par.

LEE JANZEN: Where my stance was, I mean, the fairways are wet in some spots. There was no water that was visible looking and I guess that is what the ruling is that there has to be visual water around the ball. My feet, I would not have gotten a drop from my feet but I thought where the ball was, it was pretty wet. If I were lefthanded, I probably would have gotten a drop. So I thought there was enough water on the other side of the ball that you could actually say that there was enough water under the ball, too.

LEE JANZEN: I wouldn't have had to move it very far. The rules of golf are there to help you, and when you drive the ball right down the middle of the fairway, you should be rewarded. That is just my opinion.

LEE JANZEN: I hit a 4-iron; had 190 yards to the front of the green, and came about 20 yards short of the green.

LEE JANZEN: I was really surprised how great it was. The grounds crew here has just got to be incredible performing miracles to have the course dried the way it was. All the bunkers were in great shape, and I mean, you have to wonder with all that rain washing the sand away, if they can get the bunkers ready. They were very dry and in perfect condition. The greens, same speed they had been all week. They were pretty soft. The fairways were really pretty dry, only a few spots that was wet. I am sure if we don't get any rain today, tomorrow they will probably have that all worked out, too.

LEE JANZEN: I had to hit two balls out of the spinach, the big stuff, and I didn't feel anything in my wrist, but I was just advancing the ball back down the fairway too. You know, if you are hitting the ball, trying to hit a ball 200 yards out of this rough, you can hurt yourself. Even if you are healthy, you just got to take your lumps when you get in this rough and put it back into the fairway.

LEE JANZEN: Well, I guess you could describe it that way, but I don't think anybody out here feels embarrassed about making a bogey. It is the U.S. Open - you are going to make bogeys. You know going in that if you are going to have the ball on the wrong side of the hole you are going to 3-putt, you are going to miss club; you are going to hit it in the wrong spot, make bogey. You are going to drive it in the rough and make bogey. So I don't think anybody out there is going to be embarrassed.

LEE JANZEN: I think there was some really tough pins that they probably wouldn't use unless it was so wet on some slopes. Maybe they would have gone a little further away from the slopes under normal conditions, but I think as soft as it was they could do this today and I think the course will probably just play harder every day.

LEE JANZEN: I knew before I hit my tee shot that long and left of that hump was dead and I hit it there anyway. I would have been better off hitting it in the bunker short of the green. I was trying to hit the ball at the pin and hold it up against the wind. The wind is a little right-to-left. So you know, when you think of the U.S. Open you got a 3-iron in your hand, the wind is right-to-left and the pin is on the right; you are going to hit to the middle of the green and try and 2-putt it. Mark O'Meara was dead in the middle of the green and he hit a great first putt and still had to make an 8-footer for a 2-putt. Very tough pin. Probably will be a lot of bogeys on that hole. There are some pins out there you are better off shooting at the pin and missing the green on the short side than you are hitting the green. That is one of them right there.

LEE JANZEN: Well, I had an M.R.I. done last week down in New York, and they showed me that there is some cartilage worn just below the trapezoid, and your body produces liquid when you have rough spot rubbing against each other and the excess liquid caused a cyst in the bone, just a small one nothing that, I will ever have to have removed or anything. That basically happens when I take a week off or more and come back and practice real hard, it kind of bothers it and irritates it and causes some pain and inflames it. In the future, I either have to take a longer period of a break, so that it could be healed a little better, or practice a little bit more when I am home. I will ease into it.

LEE JANZEN: Left.

LEE JANZEN: Well, I'd like to see it play really fast and dry, just because it will be very hard and you know, your mental outlook is going to be more involved. It is the U.S. Open, guys are going to be uptight today anyway because they want to win so bad, and little things bother you a little bit more at a U.S. Open because you want to win it so bad, so when it is hard and fast, I think, you know, that eliminates more guys just because of that, plus it plays tougher. I'd like to see it play as tough as possible.

LEE JANZEN: Pin on 17 is the right half of the green, there is a ridge running to the green I am sure you have seen it. It is basically -- it is almost right against it, but it is just short of it. The ridge kind of flattens out at the front of the green. It is just to the right of it.

LEE JANZEN: No, towards the front. Front right. It is 11 steps on only about seven or eight.

LEE JANZEN: Yeah, Nick hit it directly by the pin just behind had a very tough downhill putt so there is no real good spot to be unless you hit it on the very front of the green which if we play another U.S. Open here again in my career I will remember that.

LEE JANZEN: No, I putted up the ridge and it came back down and it didn't get there. My choice was either hit it over the ridge and have a 20-footer downhiller for my next putt or hit it up the ridge and hope maybe to get it close and have a 30-footer uphiller for my next putt. I already pretty much assumed I was going to 3-putt. And took my lumps and I didn't try and 4-putt the hole by being a hero.

LEE JANZEN: Thank you.