U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2001

Corey Pavin

COREY PAVIN: Well, it was a lot better than yesterday. And yesterday I didn't really play too badly. I didn't make very many putts, especially coming in, missed a bunch of 4- or 5-footers for par. In some ways that was all the difference for today. I hit the ball well today. I made some nice putts. It was awfully nice to birdie 18 coming in and chip in on 18, but it was a lot of fun to shoot a good score out there and move up the leaderboard quite a bit and put myself in a good position for tomorrow to shoot a low score and see what happens.

COREY PAVIN: I double bogeyed 2, actually. I just drove it in the left rough and hit a 5-iron in the left bunker and sand wedged it out about 15 feet and ran it by about three and a half, four feet and missed it coming back. So it wasn't the best start, but I played very well after that. I kept my composure really nicely today and went out and finally got a few putts to roll in the hole and I hit some good iron shots and made some birdies. It's a tough golf course to make birdies on, and I managed to get a few today which was nice.

COREY PAVIN: Some pretty hard pins out there. Seems like every pin is on a slope, and it's just so hard to hit an iron shot where you have an easy putt for birdie. Almost every putt it seems like you have to birdie is a downhill, big breaking putt, and it's hard to make putts like that. There were a couple of pins that you could get to a little bit today but all in all it was very difficult pin placements. The course is drying up again. The greens are not as receptive as they were yesterday morning, definitely. The fairways are firm. It's going to be tough out there tomorrow, again, tougher than it was today, definitely.

COREY PAVIN: Well, I think my game has been getting better. I played well here in the past, and that's nice. I've played well at Colonial, and they're both Perry Maxwell courses. And I just like the feel of the golf course, but my game is a lot better. I've been hitting it better. My concentration was pretty good today. I was really happy about that. And you play in the U.S. Open, you better bring a good game and a lot of patience, and that's what I had today. After I made double on 2, I stayed patient and I stayed with it and brought it back.

COREY PAVIN: I'm doing new things, period. My swing has changed a bit since, gosh, since January, really. I've changed it quite a bit. I'm working really hard on that, and that's starting to pay off a little bit. I've been chipping and putting the ball really well this year, too. Those are things you need to do certainly in the U.S. Open. You just have to scrape it around sometimes and chip and putt it well. Other times you better hit some pretty crisp shots as well.

COREY PAVIN: I'm not swinging quite as upright. I'm a little more rounded, taking it back. My grip is a little bit stronger, and I'm finishing a little better down the line on my follow-throughs. I could probably talk to you for another hour about it, but that's it in a nutshell.

COREY PAVIN: As I said, the course played much harder today than it did yesterday. I think the wind is up a little bit. The course is drying out, the greens are much firmer than they were. Pin placements are tough out there. It's just a hard golf course, plain and simple.

COREY PAVIN: I think it's possible. It will be interesting to see what happens this afternoon. I was just telling my caddy, I was wondering how many guys are going to be under par at the end of today. It's playing very hard, and as the day goes on it's going to play harder and harder, because the course is going to dry up more. And that's why you see guys shooting good scores or better scores in the morning than in the afternoon, because the course is more receptive. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the day. I certainly think I have a chance, yes. I certainly have a better chance now that I shot 2-under today.

COREY PAVIN: I heard that about Shinnecock, that that course is too long for me. I don't listen to that stuff very much. The course is playing pretty fast now, which means the fairways are firm. You can do a lot of things out there. You can hit low shots and run it off the tee, you can hit high shots and try and stop the ball a little bit. It's nice to play a course that's firm, because it really let's you use your imagination out there.

COREY PAVIN: I'd rather be long and straight than short and straight. But you use what you've got, and I've got what I have, and I'm going to do the best I can. That was almost getting to Yogism there.