U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 19, 1998

Jeff Maggert

JEFF MAGGERT: I have played the last few years in the Opens. The style of golf that we play at the U.S. Open suits my game very well. When I am on my game and playing well, I have a lot of confidence when I play here in the U.S. Open.

JEFF MAGGERT: Yeah, you know, it has been a long time since last year at Congressional. It was a lot of emotions. I can remember back on Sunday afternoon at Congressional; I took a lot away from that tournament. I have learned a lot. And I am looking forward to getting myself in a position like that again, and, hopefully, I can better my performance than what I did last year.

JEFF MAGGERT: Very much so. I mean, I pretty much figured the course was going to play like this. It played tough in 1987. Just the nature of the course and the way the USGA sets it up, you know, I just figure that if I can shoot under par for four days here, I am going to be right there near the lead. One of my goals coming in for the week was try to shoot each round under par. Obviously, that is a tough goal. But, first two days I have played very well. I managed to do that. So I feel like I need to shoot under par on the weekend to have a chance to win. I am certainly playing well enough to do that.

JEFF MAGGERT: I played very consistent today. I got off to a good start. I birdied the first hole. Bogeyed 5. Drove it in the rough there. Then, I came back with two nice birdies on 6 and 7. 6 was a pretty long putt, about 18, 20 feet down the hill. So that was a nice putt to make. 7, very close putt, about two feet. 9, I hit probably one of my more errant shots of the day, had an 8-iron to the green there and didn't hit a very good shot and missed the green. And didn't get it up-and-down. Made bogey there. Then I hit kind of a bad shot on 15, I pulled it a little bit in the bunker, didn't get it up-and-down. Then I made a nice putt on 16 to make birdie there. And, made a nice putt on 17 to save par. That was -- the putts on 16 and 17 are, you know -- I thought that was the key to my day. That was the difference between kind of a mediocre score and a good score.

JEFF MAGGERT: 16 was about 15 feet, I guess, and on 17, it was about 10 or 12 feet.

JEFF MAGGERT: I always thought my game was -- has been good for the Open. Certainly since I have been a pro, but I think you learn it is the patience that you have to learn to play the Open well. I think that is what I have done well the last four, five years. And, this is not a golf tournament where you are going to go out and expect to shoot 65s and 64s. And. You know, you can't get upset by making a few bogeys and, you know, you can play all day and be 1- or 2-over and, in most tournaments, you would start to get very frustrated with that. I have learned that you can play the first 12, 13 holes 1- or 2-over in the Open. Then all of a sudden you can have a good finish and turn what seems like kind of a lousy day into a great day. You just have to be really patient in this tournament. I am going to make bogeys. I am going to make more bogeys on the weekend, but I am also going to make more birdies. I just have to keep that frame of mind and keep playing well, and hopefully, I will make more birdies than I do bogeys.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, you know, I might have said that at the time, but when you have time to reflect on everything, there is a lot worse things that can happen to you in life than having a chance to win the Open and blowing it. There is millions of people that have played this game that dream about being in that position, and I am not going to hold my head down because I failed. It was a great learning experience, and I had a great time last year. It was disappointing at the end, but that is golf. Golf can be disappointing at times and it can be -- it can give you the greatest feeling ever at times. I am just going to keep plugging away and, you know, I am going to have my share of good times, and I am going to have my share of bad times.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, you know, you play so hard your whole career and you dream about it when you are kid -- about, you know, sitting there and making a putt to win the U.S. Open or hitting a shot to a green. I can -- I can't count how many times when I was 11, 12, 13 years old and in the summertime pretending in my mind that I am holing a putt to win The Masters or the U.S. Open. To sit there and live through that dream, it is a neat feeling. No one likes to fail at whatever they do. But the good thing about this game is that the next morning when you wake up, you get to go to the golf course and tee it backup, and you are even par just like everyone else. I have always tried to have that attitude about my game. I realize that some things are not going to happen the way I want them to, and -- but if I keep trying hard enough, there are going to be some things that happen that are very good to me.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, I don't think they actually picked it up. It kind of kicked-off the hill and they put their hand up to kind of -- to protect themselves, and it was probably a good break that I was playing well and there was actually people out watching me play (laughter) because, you know, if there hadn't been a row of gallery there -- there was probably three or four deep in the gallery there -- and, you know, obviously, the gallery had stopped the ball maybe from going down another 15 or 20 feet. Other than getting a pretty good lie, I didn't really have much of a shot to the pin from where I was. I still had to kind of chip it back to the middle of the green and 2-putted for a bogey. But, you know, there is a lot of gallery here, and if you do hit an errant shot, you are bound to hit somebody.

JEFF MAGGERT: I didn't see. We asked the marshal -- someone said he had picked it up. As long as -- I guess, he didn't pick it up from the ground and pick it up. It was almost like he had caught it and then kind of let go of it.

JEFF MAGGERT: If the ball is at rest and someone picks it up, then you have to drop it back where the ball was at rest or the nearest point where it was at rest. But, when a ball is in motion, when it hits someone or, for instance, in that case, you know, you have to play the ball as it lies. Rub of the green.

JEFF MAGGERT: I was pretty young and wet behind the ears, I guess. I had only been a pro about a year. There is a lot of things to learn about playing well in an Open course. It is those early times that you have to put yourself in the Open and play and more than anything. It was a mental part of my game that I didn't have twelve years ago, and that is what you learn out here on the Tour. You learn how to play well, and how to control your emotions and some players are blessed at an earlier age, but I guess I am pretty hard-headed. I have got to live through it and experience before I believe it myself.

JEFF MAGGERT: The whole course.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, I play that hole as a par 5. It is ridiculous to sit there and psych yourself up that: Hey, I am going to make four here everyday. For me, I don't feel like it is going to happen. I am going to try to hit the best drive I can and try to hit my second shot on the green with whatever club I have. If it's a 3-wood or 2-iron or 3-iron, I am going to try to hit it on the green. If I do, great. I have got a chance for maybe a 3 and 2-putt for a 4, and if I miss the green, I am going to have a difficult up-and-down to save 4. I have missed the green twice. Yesterday, I made 5, and today, I made a nice, you know, 15-, 20-footer that was a very difficult putt. It could have been 5, very easily, and if I would have hit a poor putt there, it would have been 6. I am tickled to death with making 4 there. It is like making birdie in my book. I hit 3-iron today that I think there was a little bit more wind behind us. I was surprised that I was that close to the front of the green. Yesterday I was over 200 yards. Check that.

JEFF MAGGERT: It wasn't the greatest of lies. I could see quite a bit of the ball, but there was parts of the rough around the greens, and I don't know what type of grass it is, but it is real -- it is hard to describe. It is like when you hit through it, the whole grass comes up like a big piece of sod. The club never really travels through the grass. It is like when it hits the grass, everything moves the grass and the turf and the whole thing move with the ball. Just seems it is very difficult to have the ball come out with any kind of consistency at all.

JEFF MAGGERT: I think any player when they play bad, they are embarrassed. No one likes to come out and perform badly. I was probably just as much embarrassed with my performance last year at Congressional than I was angry. When you know that you are better player than what you perform, you know, there is a lot of emotions. But, that is -- there is a lot of emotions in a round of golf and especially at the U.S. Open.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, a few years ago I used to -- you know, I had an attitude where if I just play well, you know, something maybe good is going to happen, I am going to win a major. Now I expect to win. I just don't come out here just to shoot a few good rounds and just kind of wait to see what happens. I expect to play well and I expect to win. I expect to play well this weekend and if I don't, I will be disappointed. But, I like my chances the way I am playing. I feel good about myself. I am not here to finish second. I am 34 years old. I have been on Tour for - this is my 8th year, and I am out here to win golf tournaments and that is -- that is all I can say.

JEFF MAGGERT: Not -- sometimes it is very difficult. I am very low key and -- but more than anything, I am probably too hard on myself. I know I may not show that emotion much, but I do get upset with myself when I make mental mistakes or hit shots that I know that I am, you know, that I am capable of doing much better. That has probably held me back more than anything. A lot of things in this game you have to take with a grain of salt. Sometimes I have a difficult time with that even though I control my emotions and I am not throwing clubs and slamming clubs and yelling and screaming. There are times where I had been too hard on myself and I deal with that a lot and that is one of the things that I need to get better at to perform more consistently.

JEFF MAGGERT: I do like to stumble around on the sidelines and I can't imagine the life that a Tiger Woods or someone like that has to live. I know if I win a US Open or a major championship that things will change in that regard. But that is just part of it and I will deal with that when it happens. But sometimes, know, people put you up on a pedestal just because you can hit a golf ball good or do something that other people can't, and sometimes I am comfortable in that position. There is a lot of other things that are important to me besides golf for people to say, you know, or think of you in such great ways. Just because you hit a golf ball good - it makes me uneasy.