Q. You frequently have such an advantage off the tee with your distance; do you find yourself having to fight ego very often as far as club selection pulling the driver out?
TRIP KUEHNE: Not really. There's a couple holes that test me out here like that. The two holes are 14 and 17. 17, I can't hit a driver because I hit a driver solid I'm over the green. And on number 14, I basically made a decision there, it's 294 to the front of that bunker, that's on the left. If I hit a solid drive I can fly the bunker and if I get it far enough right I could knock it on the green. You just got to play the hand that's dealt you. I've been driving the ball extremely well. I drove the ball well again today and I'm going to continue to hit driver because if I can consistently be past, in the fairway, a guy that I'm playing, 30 or 50 yards, the more holes we play, the better chance I'm going to have. And it's just that simple. These greens will get extremely hard and fast and they're difficult to putt. And if I'm going in there with a 9-iron or an 8-iron and they're going in there with a 5- or a 6-iron, over time, I'm going to beat them. It's just a matter of whether it's going to be in 18 holes or whether it's going to take longer, maybe 36 holes. I just got to keep doing what I'm doing. And if I continue to drive the ball the way I'm driving it I'll hit driver on basically every hole.
Q. Is that what you were able to do at 1? Did you try to fly it all the way back and bring it back?
TRIP KUEHNE: I had a 9-iron and hit it like a foot to the right, took one hop and stopped. It was six inches. So it's a big advantage. And in my last few USGA and match play events the round that's killed me is -- and this is not looking past my opponent tomorrow, but I know in the back of my mind the round that's killed me in USGA events is the second round of the 36 hole day. Because the greens get a little bit harder and a little bit faster and I usually can control my distance with my ball pretty well. And I find myself hitting where I want to hit, but the greens being so firm and fast I have a lot of 40 and 50 footers and that's not my strongest suit. So I know what I got to do, only thing I can concentrate on is, tomorrow morning I got to figure out when my match is, but get ready, get prepared to play whomever I play and knock the ball in the fairway on the first hole. That's all I can control from here until tomorrow. And that's all what I'm going to be thinking about. I'm going to go home relax, take a dip in my host family's pool and kickback, pat myself on the back and say, "Job well done today, let's forget about it and go tomorrow."
Q. Is it better even to have to put yourself through such a tough test the first day?
TRIP KUEHNE: I contend in order to win a match play championship or anything, whether it be college basketball or the U.S. Amateur or the Mid Amateur you're going to have rounds where you're going to get tested. And I had a round where I was tested today, I was tested to the max. I'll be able to draw on this later in the week or tomorrow, if I have a tough match, I'll be able to draw on what happened today. Also, I also contend that you have to get past one of your bad rounds. Over the course of qualifying for the U.S. Amateur you play 36 holes, the stroke play to get here is another 36 holes, I believe I counted the other day when we were talking it was 11 rounds in order to make it to the finals and win the championship. And at some point in those 11 rounds you're going to more than likely have a bad round. Hopefully when you're having your bad round your opponent isn't playing that well either and you can somehow gut it out for a win. And that's the way it is. '94 gave me experience and I have some experience over these guys and that's about it. When you step on the first tee. I'm 31 years old, I have a wife and kid at home, golf isn't near as important to me as it is those guys and I have been in this situation before and playing against a guy that they all know. So if I continue what I'm doing, play like I did today I think I'll be around for awhile.
Q. I think you have been to this course probably more than most of the guys that are competing this week. You also played at Olympia Fields, could you kind of just quick compare, contrast between the two.
TRIP KUEHNE: I don't mean this in any way, any harm to a member of the Field's Club, but because the people at Pittsburgh have kind of embraced me, it's been nice to see.
Q. Olympia Fields, I'm sorry.
TRIP KUEHNE: Olympia Fields, oh. Not really any comparison. This course is six or seven shots harder. That Olympia Fields could be overpowered. The greens weren't quite as fast and they were, the last day there was, there couldn't have been a sterner test of golf than Olympia Fields was on Sunday. The pin placements were brutal, the greens got to where they needed to be, because it was firm and fast. And if Oakmont Country Club ever gets firm and fast, the scores will be through the roof. Prior to this week the first time I ever played it, I probably played the course 25 times, Oakmont is a single hardest golf course I ever played in my entire life. There's many courses you go and you can step on a par-5 or a par-4 and know there's no possible way you can make a bogey. You can bogey every single hole out here and you can have a five-footer for birdie and make a bogey. But every single hole is demanding, almost every par-4 is 380 yards or 480 yards. You have to drive the ball in the fairway and you have to get the ball in the right spot on the green. And it penalizes bad shots. You look at the scorecard and you say, well 15 or 14 and 17 are easy holes. Well, there's a fellow that's a pretty damn good player named Danny Green who wishes he could play those two holes over again. He made a 7 and a 8 on holes that don't even measure 700 yards probably combined. That's the beauty of this course. It tests every facet of your game. It tests your patience, it tests your driving ability, it tests your long iron ability, it tests mid irons, wedges, short irons, chipping, putting, bunker play. It's the ultimate test of golf. And it's going to be an incredible venue for the 2007 U.S. Open. But I just hope that Craig's peers here at the USGA don't make it just ridiculously difficult. I know the members are concerned how their course stacks up, how does their course stack up, we need to make it harder, we need to make it harder. All you have to do is, you got 312 of the finest amateurs in the world playing this golf course and one person broke par, I think three people shot even par. That's a pretty good indication of where the golf course is. And that was with some rain on Saturday two days before the qualifying so the course wasn't set up exactly how the USGA wanted it to. I know they're talking about making a couple changes and they're going to make it even more difficult, which is hard to believe because I don't know how you can make a course that that's this hard harder. Long answer for a question, but it's an incredible golf course.
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