U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 1996

Randy Leen

RANDY LEEN: 11.

RANDY LEEN: I mean, I wasn't even expected to get to the weekend. I was just thrilled to death just to be here. Then after Friday's round, when I realized I made it to the weekend, it just kind of put the icing on the cake. I mean, it is just an honor just to even get here. I was very lucky to get here, and you know, I am just happy about the whole thing, so....

RANDY LEEN: I played with Steve Elkington and Philip Walton the first two days. They were great. Both of those guys are real super nice guys. That helped me out a lot because they kept me relaxed and focused. It was neat. We had like three holes left and Steve told me, he said, you know -- just he kind of helped me through the whole thing. He told me "birdie here; a couple pars coming down the stretch; you should be in here." He kind of kept my head on straight and just helped me out through the whole thing.

RANDY LEEN: You know, Tiger is a great player, you know. I might beat him this tournament, but what I have done is nothing compared to what he has done. He is just an unbelievable player. I don't think any amateur golfer has ever accomplished what he has done. I may have beaten him, but I don't think his A-game was on this week. You know, he comes in here with so much pressure on him. I mean, I come in here with absolutely none. I can just, you know, go out and have a good time. That is what I did. It makes it a lot easier when you can just go out and have fun than when you got probably more gallery in the whole tournament following you, so.....

RANDY LEEN: I ended up finishing fourth, I believe. I had played with him in the Western-Am the previous summer in the-- like the third and fourth round. And you know, after the first time I played with him, my brother caddied for me, and it was just amazing. Some of the shots he hit was just unbelievable for someone his age, you know, my age, you know, to be able to hit those shots and put them off with consistency is just unbelievable. When I played with him in Stanford, I knew I had to shoot under par. And I hadn't been in that situation as much as he has, and he has been there so many times that he knows how to handle that a lot better than I do. But after this, hopefully this will help me to be able to handle it a little better.

RANDY LEEN: A little of both. Sometimes he would tell me what he wanted me to hit and sometimes I'd tell him what I wanted to hit. Usually I'd just go ahead and hit what I want to hit. If I wanted to hit -- no matter what I hit, right before I set up, he says, that is the perfect club. I think that is the most important thing the caddy needs to do is reassure the player that that is the right club. A couple of times he'd take the club out of my hands; he says, this, you know, this is what I want you to hit and that is what I'd hit. I think that is why I avoided a lot of big numbers. Only had one double bogey all week, which is pretty good on this golf course. But you know, I just think that -- you know, we really just got along and we have a great friendship, and it really just carried on through the tournament.

RANDY LEEN: Yeah, I mean, before I came in here, you know, I always thought of myself as a good ball striker, but after playing with some of these guys, they are human, they make mistakes, too. I make a lot of mistakes - probably a lot more than they do. But you know, just to play with them, like Steve Elkington who has got the best swing -- voted the best swing on Tour, and to see him, he hit a few bad shots that you don't think, you know, that Steve Elkington would hit. Just to see that, I realized that nobody is perfect, nobody is going to hit every shot perfect. You got to learn how to handle it when you do hit a bad shot; you got to regroup and come back after.

RANDY LEEN: Curtis, he is a really nice guy, super nice. You know, to play with him, he won back-to-back Opens, you know, it could be real easy for him to kind of shun me out; not really pay attention to me, but he was outward. He came up to me and started conversation right away. We talked the whole way around. We talked about college golf. We talked about him taking vacations, and you know, just all different kinds of stuff. Just the kind of stuff you talk about with your buddies, so it was really nice.

RANDY LEEN: Well, I got the State Amateur in a couple of weeks; then I am playing in the Western Amateur, U.S. Amateur. I was going to have to qualify for that. I guess this puts me in the amateur without qualifying, so -- but I am really just going to spend a lot of the summer practicing and working on my game.

RANDY LEEN: Yeah, the first day, you know, really, I just wanted to go out and break 80 and not embarrass myself. I think once I got over the hump of not embarrassing myself and I went out and I played okay for the first Open, you know, with all those people, I thought I did really well. Each day it just got easier and easier. I still got the jitters everyday, but, you know, you just get used to the people out there and they were all pulling for me and I think that helped out a lot. So....

RANDY LEEN: You know, I think every part of my game really could improve. I think the most important thing out here that makes the difference between an amateur and a pro is the short game. You know, because those -- I mean, I have played with, you know, all kinds of amateurs and I have seen -- and all those guys can hit the ball with a lot of these guys, it is just the difference of their short game. My short game, you know, I think it could use a lot of work, but I just think my overall game can get better and mentally I think I can get tougher. And you know, having a coach -- my coach caddy for me and him playing this before, I think I learned a ton about -- just about -- there is so much more than just the swing and techniques in golf, it is unbelievable. He really taught me a lot this week about being patient and when to go for flags and when not to and I think that is going to help out a lot.

RANDY LEEN: Ohio.

RANDY LEEN: You know, I just got to take every tournament, you know, like I would before. I am still going to be nervous. I will be nervous even if it's, you know, just playing with my friends out at the golf course, I will still be -- I don't think this is -- I mean, this is going to help, but I think I will still look at every tournament I play in as you know, as the most important thing I am doing, so.....

RANDY LEEN: I had one practice round and then the second day I hit my first tee shot and they called us back in because of the rain, so....

RANDY LEEN: It is probably the most difficult course I have ever played. We played -- the course we played for the NCAAs, I think that helped me out a lot preparing for it because that course was -- the roughs were long; the greens were running like 12 on the stimpmeter, you know, but this course, I played it -- it is the toughest -- I mean, it is one of the toughest, if not the toughest course that I have ever played.

RANDY LEEN: Yeah, that is true. I really worked hard this winter. I am going to try start getting back into it this summer. I was working out and running, and I did, I came back out this spring season and I gained probably 20, 25 yards, and you know, it helped me -- because I have kind of -- I used to have kind of a loose swing and I think it can be a lot stronger at the top and I think it just helped out overall just being in good shape.

RANDY LEEN: I really wasn't even thinking about it, honestly. Like I said before, I am just thrilled to even be here and you know, to be able to play with Curtis Strange and you know, honestly, I thought Tiger, as good a player as he is, I thought he would shoot something unbelievable today. I don't know what he shot, but you know, I really wasn't too concerned about it. Yeah, it would be another bonus, but I really just wanted to go out and just work on handling the pressure and handling myself, and you know, keep my composure and just turn in whatever I could.

RANDY LEEN: Thanks a lot.