U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2003

Ian Leggatt

Q. Mr. Leggatt, if you could go through your birdies and bogeys to get us started.

IAN LEGGATT: I hit a driver and a 3-wood just on the back fringe on 1 and two-putted for birdie. Second hole, drove it just in the right rough, hit a lob wedge to about two inches for birdie. On 6, drove it just in the right rough and was able to hit a 6-iron on the green about 15 feet for eagle. Next hole, hit a 6-iron over the green and didn't get it up-and-down. No. 8, drove it in the left rough, hit my second shot into the right bunker and missed about a three-footer for par. No. 10, hit a shot, landed it up on the green and spun off the green into the rough and I chipped it in for birdie there. And then 12, drove it in the left rough, wasn't able to get it on the green, pitched it up about eight feet behind the hole and wasn't able to make that for par. That's it.

Q. What was your yardage on 6?

IAN LEGGATT: I had 215 to the flag.

Q. Did you get like some kind of relief from a sprinkler head or something?

IAN LEGGATT: I was standing on a sprinkler head. I had a really good lie in the rough anyway, but where I was standing it was going to be right underneath -- right on my foot and it might have been a new sprinkler head and it was all dirt around it, so I just didn't have very good footing. I only took a drop three inches from where it was sitting so it wasn't a great advantage or anything.

Q. Any impression about the change of the conditions on the course this afternoon?

IAN LEGGATT: Yeah, the greens are getting very hard. I hit a lot of shots in there that I thought would spin more, but it's getting to the way that they probably want it to be. Obviously they didn't have any control over that the first couple days just because of the weather, but with the wind kicking up and the pins are tucked, some of them are getting close to borderline. On 16 that pin is a little bit close. It would be fine yesterday or Thursday, but now with the greens getting so hard and fast, there are some pins that are very difficult.

Q. Talk about the importance on this course of getting off to a good start like you did and how you see that playing out tomorrow in the final round, what you have to do based on what you face coming in.

IAN LEGGATT: Absolutely. It went from where you're thinking about making birdies to just trying to make pars through that sort of middle stretch that you get from 7 through 14 or so. It's definitely changing. Now the greens are getting harder. Now you're trying to hit the ball into the middle of the green and not worrying about the ball spinning back and the conditions we got the first couple days, so it's definitely turning into the U.S. Open.

Q. What do you do tomorrow on 1 through 6?

IAN LEGGATT: Well, you know, you still have to take advantage of those holes now. I think depending on pin placements -- that doesn't really matter much with two par 5s. They're both still reachable and they both give you a lot of room. The holes after that you need to take advantage of those two par 5s.

Q. A lot of players were off to hot starts early in the day. You got just one bogey. Do you feel good about how you played that?

IAN LEGGATT: I didn't drive it -- I got a little bit of a lucky break where I drove it in the rough on 11 probably 20 yards right of the fairway but I ended up in an area where the spectators had been walking and I got a decent lie and was able to get it on the green. I missed a couple of birdie putts on the back, 14 and 15, and I missed both of those. I had legitimate chances for birdies on those two holes -- 13 and 14 rather.

Q. (Inaudible).

IAN LEGGATT: A little bit. I hit good putts on those two holes, too. The greens are getting so much faster now. Now you actually have to think about what's going to happen after you hit the putt. The first two days you could be a lot more aggressive but now they're getting a lot harder, a lot faster. You've got to be more careful.

Q. The leaderboard into the final round, your thoughts about that?

IAN LEGGATT: Well, I'm still sticking to my game plan. I felt like I've been progressively getting better and better the last four or five weeks, so I'm just going to stick with my game plan the way I've been playing. I'm still playing fairly conservative for the most part, but tomorrow is a different day and now we've got a lot harder, more difficult conditions, so playing more conservative tomorrow. Not firing at flags and whatnot is probably going to be the plan.

Q. You had a good save at 9 after a couple of bogeys.

IAN LEGGATT: Absolutely. I hit a really good putt on 8, I just misread it. It broke to the right and I hit a nice bunker shot thinking I'm going to get out with a par, and then I drove it in the rough and I had to lay up. That was big. It carried the momentum going in where I felt like I hadn't given away the good stuff that I just did on the first six holes.

Q. You got it to 6 and you're sort of within sight of the lead and then you drop back a little bit. Were you aware that the field itself was dropping back with you or were you just so into your own round that you were probably a little frustrated?

IAN LEGGATT: The last I looked on the leaderboard I think I was at 5 and I think Furyk was at 10, so that was the last time I looked. I didn't really look at the leaderboard and I still don't really know what sort of position I'm in. I'm sure that the conditions are going to -- they're not allowing for birdies anymore, so the pin placements are tough. I'm sure I'm getting a little closer before they finish.

Q. (Inaudible).

IAN LEGGATT: I feel like I'm playing well enough. The first three days I've hit a lot of greens and that's kind of what you have to do, so I think it's advantageous out here for a guy -- longer players, if you're not driving it well, you get it in the rough, you're still hitting wedges out of the rough. That's a big advantage over a guy who's short and crooked where he's having to hit 6s and 7s out of the rough.

Q. Or a little Canadian?

IAN LEGGATT: That's right. The old adage, I'm the tallest midget right now. Not that Mike is a midget or anything.

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