U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2005

Jason Gore

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Jason Gore back to the interview room. Jason had a 2 over par 72 today. He is at even par 210 for the Championship. Jason, you'll be playing in the final group of the U.S. Open tomorrow afternoon. Some general thoughts on how that feels.

JASON GORE: It feels pretty good. My tee time has moved back ten minutes, but that's really what I'm trying to take it as, just trying to be patient and hopefully sleep in tomorrow and see what happens.

RAND JERRIS: For the record, could you walk us through the birdies and bogeys on your card.

JASON GORE: I three putted No. 1 to make my first bogey.

On No. 5, I hit 9 iron from 181 out of the right rough, basically had a pretty good lie in the right rough and had eight feet and made it.

Bogeyed No. 11, missed a four footer there.

And then my debacle on 14, which I drove it well right and chipped out and hit a very poor 8 iron there to the right of the green and really couldn't do much after that, just knocked it up on the green and two putted.

Then hit driver and had 106 yards into 18 and hit sand wedge in there about 18 feet, made it.

Q. You mentioned filling up your car with gas. If you could tell us what kind of vehicle you drive. And then also, you mentioned if you win the $1.1 million tomorrow, will that surpass your career earnings?

JASON GORE: It's a courtesy car, a Buick LaCrosse courtesy car. And yes (laughter).

Q. What do you think, the way you played today, what kind of a score or anyone have gotten on a normal course, whether it's Nationwide or any standard Tour course?

JASON GORE: Who knows? You know, probably 4 , 5 , 6 under par maybe. That's how hard this golf course is. There's just no margin for error. There's margin for error, but it's all what's the word I'm looking for? It's all subjective.

Q. You've gone through the birdies and bogeys, but the pars were almost like as fascinating in some cases. I gather that wasn't your game plan?

JASON GORE: No, that wasn't my game plan. I missed a couple shots in the wrong spots, and sometimes you just have to do that. You have to make the putts that keep your round going, and I did that.

Q. Not as a professional, as a kid, what's the worst case of nerves you can ever recall having going into a round?

JASON GORE: I would probably have to say Walker Cup. I went in before I teed up, they said, "Now representing the United States of America, Jason Gore," and I don't think I took a breath for about six minutes, and I tried to tee my ball up and the ball fell off (laughing). I was 23 years old and I'm trying to be a little calmer now. We'll find out tomorrow. We'll see what happens when I tee it up tomorrow.

Q. It's going to be an interesting parallel between you, the kid who emotes openly when he's on the golf course and talks with people, versus Goosen, who's pretty much ice water defined. I wonder what you make of that dynamic and whether you've had any interaction or even spoken with him before.

JASON GORE: Nothing more than just mutual locker room, "hi, how are you." K.J. Choi is a pretty quiet guy, too. This is the Open, not many people feel like talking.

Q. And you don't speak Korean?

JASON GORE: K.J. speaks a little bitter than we think. I've played with him a few times before, and he's always been quite the gentleman. We all have a job to do. My caddie talks enough for both of us.

Q. You got great response when you started the day. Did that even pick up momentum as you went through?

JASON GORE: These fans today were amazing. They were supportive, and it was awesome. It made it a lot easier to deal with what I was going through. We were all freaking out. You just try to keep it in perspective and know that people have your back, no matter what you do. It's really cool. Sometimes you just you just want to put a show on. It's a lot of fun.

Q. Have you gotten any phone calls from agents or anybody, and have you Googled yourself in the last day?

JASON GORE: No, I haven't. Sunday night I probably will, but we don't have a computer. It got stolen, too. I've had an agent since I turned pro. Ralph Cross has been awesome. He's been kind of like a dad.

Q. Is his phone blowing up?

JASON GORE: I don't know. He won't even answer my phone call right now (laughter).

Q. Given Retief's success in this tournament and the fact that he's won two Opens, is this his tournament to lose?

JASON GORE: Retief is a world class player. He's an incredible player. He's cold as ice. I would say that's a tough question to answer, but he does have the lead. So you can take that for what it is.

There's a lot of guys that really don't have much to lose, including me. Retief is a wonderfully gifted player and an ice water veined guy. Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll learn something.

Q. What sort of things have the fans been saying to you? You've become the fan favorite. Any memorable comments, things they've been sharing?

JASON GORE: Well, luckily I didn't get any, "Hey Al Gore" things, there were a couple of them, but just yelling "Go Jason," and "we've got you," and "go give it to 'em." It's been cool.

Q. What was the single most memorable moment from today? What are you going to remember tonight when you go to bed?

JASON GORE: Making that putt on 18. That was pretty nice. I guess I pointed it in, a la Tiger at the PGA a couple years back, and I went over to my caddie, and I said, "Did I just point at that thing?" He said, "Yeah, you did." I said, "Gosh, I'm a cheeseball." I'll probably go home and watch that thing tonight and go, "Oh, geez." I'm not really a fist pumper. So be it.

Q. Has your wife bought new clothes yet or is she waiting to see the size of the check Sunday?

JASON GORE: She bought new clothes. I'm so lucky. I way out married myself, I way over married. She's great.

Q. Your wardrobe changed considerably since the Richmond tournament. What happened to those peach pants?

JASON GORE: I don't know what you're talking about (laughter). Unfortunately I'm being told what to wear this week. Nike has given some outfits to me. They've got the whole new line coming out, so I hope you guys like it. They just didn't want people to wear the same shirt the same day. It makes it a little easier to wake up in the morning and know what you're going to wear besides peach pants.

Q. You said you were one of the people who doesn't have a lot to lose here. Do you think I know you're going to be nervous, but do you think having to play tomorrow against the "just happy to be here" kind of attitude?

JASON GORE: Not really. I expected to come into this tournament and play well. Maybe this is a little out of the run, but I expected to come here and play well. I think I'll be just fine, just take it for what it is, and knowing that these emotions and feelings and nerves are going to come into play and just take them for what they are and just move them aside and try to hit a good golf shot.

Q. Talk about the swing. I guess there were a couple of two shot swings early in the round and then later you caught up. Can you talk about how it is to just hang in there when you fall behind and then not try to do too much and then later on when you're in the lead you were in the lead for that one hole, and how was that? How do you handle that after the double bogey?

JASON GORE: I was trying not to watch what was going on on the leaderboard. You can hear roars, but I had a couple great roars for par putts that I made. You're trying not to pay attention to what's going on and just try to do what you're doing because you lose concentration out here and all of a sudden it's going to come up and kick you in a spot you don't want to be kicked, just try to be patient with that.

RAND JERRIS: Congratulations on your fine play today. We wish you luck tomorrow.

JASON GORE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.