U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 13, 1997

Ernie Els

LES UNGER: Well, we have an old friend from a couple, three years ago, Ernie Els here, who shot 67 in his -- pursuing his second U.S. Open Championship. Ernie, if you don't mind reviewing the round for us briefly, and then we'll go to some questions. Give me your birdies and bogeys and saves, please.

ERNIE ELS: I birdied the third hole. I hit a driver and a 7-iron to about 8 feet and made the putt there. On 5, I made another birdie. I hit a 3-wood off the tee and hit an 8-iron to about 25 feet. I made that for a birdie. On the 6th hole, I pulled my tee shot left, got quite fortunate there, had a bit of a lie, tried to muscle a 6-iron to the green, came up just short, and I chipped it in from there, from about I would say 45 feet. Then I birdied the 9th hole, hit a driver and a 6-iron and hit a wedge from about 107 yards to 5 feet and made a putt for birdie. Then I went to the back 9, I bogeyed No. 11. I missed the fairway just to the right, pulled my second shot left of the green, chipped it on to about 10 feet, and I missed the putt there. Then I birdied 15, where I hit two drivers onto the green and 2-putted for birdie from about 18 feet. And I bogeyed 17. I missed the fairway right. I hacked it out and pitched it onto the green and 2-putted for 5.

LES UNGER: How did you spend the time during the rain delay?

ERNIE ELS: Well, we were out there in the first aid place, myself and Payne Stewart. We sat there for about 20 minutes, and then they told us to come into the clubhouse, which I was quite relieved for because I wanted to get something to eat. We had some lunch in the clubhouse, and then we went back out again. I hit some balls, and I went back out there.

LES UNGER: What hole was that on?

ERNIE ELS: We got called off on 15. I just hit my tee shot. I actually hit a good tee shot down the fairway there, and then we got called off.

LES UNGER: Did the delay have any positive or negative effect on the way you were playing?

ERNIE ELS: You know, I wasn't really quite doing anything. You know, on the back 9, I bogeyed 11 and made a couple of good pars on 13 and 14. But, you know, I don't really mind what we were going to do, come off or play on. I was just playing today.

LES UNGER: Okay. We'll take your questions.

Q. Did Daly tell you he was leaving?

ERNIE ELS: He never said anything to me. I don't know if he said anything to Payne Stewart. I don't know if it was something physically wrong with John. Might have had a bit of a back ailment or something, he could have continued, but he didn't say anything to me. He might have said something to the scorer or somebody else.

Q. Did the fact that you were just a twosome after John left and it was a little slower, the play was a little slower, I saw your group most of the back 9, did that affect you at all standing on tees waiting for second shots?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, did play a little -- I'm quite a quick player, you know. I like to get to my ball, get the yardage, check what the wind is, and then go ahead and play. The back 9, especially the back 9 today, was really slow for us, you know. Unfortunately, we were just the two of us playing the back 9. And we were playing behind Nick Faldo -- (Audience laughter.) -- and Corey Pavin and Lee Janzen, so it was kind of slow. We, you know, being a 2-ball, you're obviously going to wait for a 3-ball in front of you.

Q. What was Daly's behavior like the first two days playing with him? Did he seem composed and everything, or did anything seem like it was leading up to what he would do?

ERNIE ELS: Well, no, John, I really enjoyed playing with John Daly. You know, I've known John a long time, you know. I've known him since when he came down to South Africa before he had a Tour card or anything, so I've known John quite a long time. And, you know, obviously he's -- I don't know what he's probably going through, but, you know, to beat the disease that he has must take a lot of strength from the mind, you know. It's pretty tough for him to play golf at the moment, you know, just to, as he says, to go from day to day, not to, you know, to have a drink or whatever. So, you know, I think he's going through a tough time and, you know, hopefully he'll come back. He's got so much talent. He's won two major championships before the age of 30, you know, so that says a hell of a lot for the guy. And I'm sure if he gets through this, and he's tough, you know, he's going to come back and win golf tournaments again. But, you know, he was -- he was fine, you know, playing with. You know, he's a very quick player, so, you know, you get out of his way and let him play, you know. That's the way John is and, you know, I like him for that.

Q. Were you guys angry at all after he left without telling anybody? Did that make you, you know, angry at the back 9 at all, including the wait and everything else?

ERNIE ELS: It didn't make me angry. I mean, I'm here to -- I'm playing for myself, you know. I'm trying to do as good as I can, if I'm playing quickly or slowly, you know, I'm going to try to win the golf tournament. And I would have liked to have had John -- John's company for the last 9. But, you know, if he couldn't have made it, he couldn't play, so what the hell, you know. We went out there, myself and Payne, and we played the last 9 and, you know, we waited a little bit. But I don't think, you know, it had a great negative effect on my game.

Q. Ernie, the reason cited for John's withdrawal was physical and mental exhaustion. He lost 35 pounds over the last two months. Did you sense coming up 8 or 9 that he was exhausted and ready to bow out?

ERNIE ELS: Quite honestly, no. I don't know. If that's the reason, that was the reason, then I don't know. I didn't see any, you know, anything wrong with the guy. So, you know --

Q. How long did you wait on 10 before going ahead, and what was the conversation at that time?

ERNIE ELS: Well, there wasn't any conversation at the moment -- at that moment. You know, obviously we waited for John, and when we saw he didn't -- that he wasn't going to arrive, we, you know -- I asked the scorer who we were with, the USGA official if we could play. He kind of ran back to find out if he's actually coming or not because John's caddie was standing on the tee -- at the back of the tee. So, we weren't quite sure what to do, so he made sure and we went on.

Q. Getting back to golf. Where is your game, where you think it stands going into the weekend? What are your chances?

ERNIE ELS: I think my chances must be quite good now. I've really put a lot of work into my game before the tournament started on Thursday. I came out here on Sunday, played 9 holes. Played 9 holes on Monday. But, from the word "go," from Sunday, I could feel my swing was here, you know. I could really feel I'm hitting the ball where I'm wanting to hit it. I'm shaping it the way I wanted to shape it. And, it was just a matter of getting the nerves and getting everything under control to start out, because I haven't had a very good year. And, you know, to come out very positive is quite hard when you haven't played well. So, you know, I'm just -- I'm just trying to feed off the positive things from the past in U.S. Opens and I'm going to take it from there. But, I'm feeling quite good about my chances for the weekend now.

Q. How far was your drive you hit for the second shot on 15, then the second par, what did the par saves on the back do to keep your momentum going?

ERNIE ELS: Well, the second shot on 15 was 273 I had to the hole, and I took a driver there. For the par saves I made, there was a No. 12, I hit it just short of the green there. Any time you make a save on this golf course, you feel good about it, you know. The rough around the greens is really so penalizing, you know, just to get it out to within 10 feet, you're hitting a good shot. And, I think you're going to see a lot of those shots over the weekend, so to be honest with you, I didn't miss too many greens before coming to the back 9 today, so it was -- it's a good feeling to know that I made a couple of good saves, you know, take that attitude into the weekend.

Q. Ernie, you worked long and hard on certain aspects of your putting last night. Obviously it paid off.

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I would like to think so. I made some good putts today. I really hit the ball well yesterday, and I came off the golf course really feeling not good about it, you know, because I was wanting the play on 16 and I made bogey there. Then I 3-putted 18 yesterday afternoon, so I wasn't a pleased man when I walked off the green. I just felt I lost a bit of my rhythm yesterday afternoon on the greens, and I just worked on that yesterday evening.

Q. We've heard all along you have to be careful on a Open course, you have to be cautious and so forth, and you're hitting a driver off the fairway on 15. Is that a reflection of your confidence or is that a situation where it was worth the gamble?

ERNIE ELS: Well, I think both ways, you know, I think it was worth the risk to gamble. And as I say, you know, I'm hitting the ball quite solidly, so I felt good about the shot. I thought the shot was on. In the practice rounds, I -- on Sunday, in fact, I hit two drivers, hit it just short of the green, and then again the flag position today was a little easier than yesterday, you know, so I could hit it into the left bunker and still have a good chance to make up-and-down for a birdie. So I felt the shot was on.

Q. Ernie, you've won this tournament before. You know what it takes to win. Do you feel like you're in good position going into the weekend?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I would like to think so. I just answered this question just now, you know. I'm playing well. I feel I'm hitting the ball solid. Obviously you don't want to get ahead of yourself. I'm not leading the golf tournament, which might be a good thing at this stage. I think over the weekend, things start happening in the golf tournament, especially in majors, so, you know, I'll take anything under par over the weekend and go sit in the clubhouse.

Q. Ernie, three years ago when you won this tournament, everyone was talking about you being the future of golf. Now with Tiger's emergence, has that helped motivate you to maybe say, hey, there's a guy here who may be the guy to beat instead of you being the guy to beat?

ERNIE ELS: No, I can't recall that anybody called me the future of golf in 1994.

LES UNGER: Well, he probably did.

ERNIE ELS: Maybe he did. But thanks for the compliment anyway. No, I think Tiger Woods is probably our future of golf. I mean, he's 21 years old. First major as a professional, he wins The Masters, so, you know, I think his future is set in stone already. We're not -- when I came out, I was 24, a total different journey than Tiger had to win my first major. But, I've always worked hard at my game. You know, golf is a tough sport. I've had a lot of ups and I've had a couple of downs in the last couple of months. But, I've worked hard at my game, and I believe when you work hard at something, it's eventually going to turn around if you stay positive, so that's what I've been trying to do.

LES UNGER: We thank you for coming in.

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