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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 29, 2011

Mark Calcavecchia

TOLEDO, OHIO

Q. Were you ready for this kind of weather?
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: No, well, yeah, you can never be ready for this. But last week I was intentionally trying to be cold because I knew I was going to be hot as hell for about a month at least. So even when I was actually cold last week and thought about putting on my sweater, I didn't. I was soaking up the nice weather.
You know, luckily it was fairly cloudy most of the time. When the sun came out, there were a few hot spots out there the last five or six holes. But the first nine we played it was pretty cloudy most of the time, so it wasn't bad. It's just humid, you know. It's hot, there is no on denying.

Q. How did you adjust to the greens today because of the weather?
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: The greens? Well, my first couple putts I left short. Then the next one if it wouldn't have hit the hole, it was going six feet by, so it took a little while. Actually this little putting green here in between the tees was faster today than it was yesterday, and sure enough, I had about a 15-footer on 10, and left it two feet short, and I'm like maybe not.
Then the next hole I had a 10-footer and left it short. So it took a few holes to kind of get the pace. But, you know, there are speeds and you can certainly make a decent amount of putts even with the slope of the greens.
These greens couldn't get super-duper fast otherwise there would be places you couldn't really put some of the pins. So they putt great.

Q. What's it say about your game that you were able to get close there and you're right back in it?
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Well, it kind of goes along with confidence. I knew I played pretty good last week for the most part. I flew here, and then I played 18 on Tuesday and hit a lot of good shots, then I just took Wednesday off. So I knew I was playing pretty good.
Although the last few days I've made a lot of putts, for sure, and I've hit a lot of good shots, but I've hit a lot of really bad ones, too. Still my driver's a little bit gone wrong still and my 3-wood.
I probably didn't hit five or six fairways today out of 15. I hit the first cut three or four times and then another two or three or four times I was just a foot off of that with a perfect lie or wedge or 9-iron in there. The places I drove it in the rough really didn't hurt me.

Q. Anything you take from last week's experience that you feel like you can use this week to get over the hump this week?
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Other than just, you know, you can't -- you can't make big, big numbers on the weekend. I did that in Alabama at Shoal Creek I made a couple of doubles on Saturday and Sunday, and last week I made a triple on Saturday and a double on Sunday. So that's pretty much -- I mean, it's not like it's rocket science or noon news. Doubles or triples are never good no matter what day you make them, but especially on the weekend of a big tournament of a major.
I didn't make any bogies today. I made a lot of great saves. My short game completely saved me today. But I made a lot of nice par putts which was nice.

Q. During your regular TOUR career where was the U.S. Open on your list of tournaments that you liked or disliked or whatever? Did you feel like you were a good open player? Did you enjoy it and how does this relate?
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: No, I was a horrible Open player. As a matter of fact, my very first U.S. Open that I played in at Shinnecock Hills in '86 was my best finish. I didn't even have a TOUR card at the time. I shot 65 on Sunday, and next thing you know I'm in the Masters the next year, and that was kind of the start, a couple months later I got my first win. So I think I finished 14th at Shinnecock that year. I've never sniffed in a U.S. Open.
Historically, because the roughs usually chip out rough and I'm not exactly Calvin Peete out there with my driver or, you know, David Toms or somebody or Fred Funk. I tend to hit it a little bit crooked, and that usually doesn't pan out well in the U.S. Open.
Though Phil's got no idea where it's going, and he's had five seconds in the U.S. Open, so I guess that disproves that theory, but I'm not Phil either.

Q. Do you feel better about The Senior Open as a place for you?
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Yeah, for sure. Again, the rough here isn't super-duper penalizing it. It may grow a little this weekend. I mean, you can catch some bad lies, but so far I've been lucky with the places I've hit it in the rough. But I've got a good grasp of what I'm doing with my swing. Certainly today I putted great, so that's good.
I like the course. I seem to be pretty relaxed. I felt great last Sunday, other than the four-putt on the 9th hole there, I really didn't come close to making a bogey. So I felt good, so hopefully -- we're only halfway, so we can go out tomorrow and shoot something in the 60's again and try to keep moving forward.

Q. You describe that you're still sorting through some things trying to find and figure out the course. That being the case minus-7 is a pretty good score.
MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Year, for sure. I mean, I know what to do out there. You know, some holes just don't look great to me. But the 9th hole for some reason, it's a cut around the tree hole, and I haven't hit that fairway yet in the practice rounds. It's just a matter of execution.
By now everybody knows what to do out there, and I'm sure most everybody has a pretty good grasp on the speed of the greens, especially the guys that are playing well. I expect them to be pretty much the same tomorrow. I guess the weather's going to be great this weekend, so it should be good. I think the scoring should still be good because the greens I just can't see them really firming up. So the scoring should still be good, I think.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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