U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 28, 2005

Dick Mast

RAND JERRIS: We're now joined by Dick Mast, Dick with an opening round of 3 under par 68 today.

Maybe you could just us off with some general comments about the course conditions out there this morning.

DICK MAST: Not a typical U.S. Open, very soft. This golf course was built, what, 100 years ago? So the greens are really designed for about an 8 on the stimp, and it's going to get a lot tougher, I'm sure, as the week goes on, but I think they'll still be soft tomorrow. So it enabled you to throw some shots in there and hold the greens and not be as respectful as you need to be with some of these pin placements.

RAND JERRIS: How has your game been in the weeks leading up to the championship? Did you see this coming? Had you been playing particularly well?

DICK MAST: Well, I'm a conditional member, so I haven't played that much this year, but I had played mostly in the last six weeks. So competitively I'm sharp mentally. I had a little bit of swing problems the past couple weeks compared to about six weeks ago, so I've been working with Jim Suttie, Dr. Suttie from Chicago, and he flew in and we worked yesterday late, so that helped.

RAND JERRIS: Would you just take a moment for the record and walk us through the birdies and bogeys on your card.

DICK MAST: Fortunately the birdies came first, both par 5s on the front. How detailed do you want to be on this?

I hit a good tee shot on 5, first par 5, hit a strong 3 wood right up in front, putted with a 3 wood from just off the green and hit it up there about two feet and tapped it in. Even the two , three footers are not tap ins because of the undulation in these greens. They're very severe so you have to pay attention and hit it the right speed.

Next hole I hit a good tee shot no, I didn't, either. I pulled it in the left rough, had to lay up, hit it in the right rough, was very fortunate with a good lie, and because of the softness of the greens I got away with it, and that's what's going to happen today. You'll see some good scores I think because you can get away with things you won't in the future here. I hit a 9 iron into the green, it was soft enough that it held, and I made a 15 foot putt.

Next hole I hit another poor tee shot left, laid up in the bunker, hit it out about 15 feet and two putted.

Par 3, I hit an 8 iron in about six feet, left edge, made it.

No. 9, hit another poor tee shot in the rough. Where did I hit this? I can't remember the hole. Oh, I had a good layup, had a 60 yard shot, green was so soft I left it short and made bogey from 15 feet.

No. 10, par 5, I hit a good tee shot but just hung up in the edge of the rough on the right side, decided to lay up, hit a wedge in about eight feet, had about a foot of break and made it.

Then my next birdie came on 17. I hit it pretty good on the back side. I had some good chances, 13, 14, 15, 16 had all good chances, didn't quite get it in hitting good putts, but the greens are tough.

17, I hit a good 3 wood, wedge from 80 yards to about five feet, made that.

Then 18, I hit it down the right side, made a good guess out of the rough and hit it in there about five feet and disappointingly hit a good putt but didn't make it. Again, they are not gimmes from that length because you have to play a good two ball break and you have to get the speed just right, a lot of factors in the putting.

Q. How good a score is a 68 out here? Do you think there will be a lot of people that go under that today?

DICK MAST: Well, I'd take three of those and watch. Yeah, there could be a low score. If somebody drives the ball well, the course is there, but even then, you could hit the ball 10, 15 feet all day long, and if you don't have the speed down putting is going to be as usual in a U.S. Open, putting is going to be the final factor in the top 20 guys that are hitting the ball well.

Q. After all the years you've played, is coming back to Ohio still do anything for you when you get to play a tournament in this state?

DICK MAST: It's always special. It's like playing your home court in basketball. There's home course advantage, you get people pulling for you, praying for you, and that makes a difference. The biggest gallery of the year with all my family.

Q. How big?

DICK MAST: I've got about 10, 12 down here.

Q. All from Friendly or Bluffton?

DICK MAST: Yes. Lima.

Q. Which members of your family are still there? Is this brothers and sisters?

DICK MAST: I've got two sisters and a brother that live up here, Eaton and Lima.

Q. And how long have you been living in Florida?

DICK MAST: Well, my father built a golf course in Bluffton when I was five years old, and we sold that in 1967, so that was junior year of high school I moved to Florida. But I came back for a couple years and worked at Lost Creek Country Club in Lima for my dad, and in and out of Lima a few times.

Q. What was the name of the golf course that your father built?

DICK MAST: Bluffton Golf Course. I think it's still there. One of the finest golf courses of its kind (laughter). I built the 3rd green when I was 13 years old, so it looks similar to a couple of these out here. All of them are flat except that one.

Q. And you've lived a couple different places in Florida, have you not?

DICK MAST: Yes, we moved to St. Petersburg, I finished high school there, junior college, turned pro, and moved back to Lima for a while. Then been in Orlando, Florida, since 1980.

Q. You mentioned you've been conditional this year. I guess just how tough is that or how much pressure do you feel to perform every time out because of that status?

DICK MAST: Well, pressure is all a matter of perspective, and I became a Christian in 1975 so that helps that. I lean on the Lord for that kind of stuff, but it's still real. What was that question again?

Q. Just the conditional status, how important is it or the pressure that you feel to play well when you do get the chance to play out here.

DICK MAST: It's difficult. I injured myself in '03 and played most of the year hurt thinking I was going to recover and did not. I took two months off and came out and played the first three events in '04 and got hurt again, so I quit playing. So I had to go back to the Tour school and I started playing in the fall, and I finished 12th, that's conditional, which means you come it's very complicated, but it comes after Tour school, so I've gotten in about six tournaments maybe on that, maybe five, off of that number.

So you get the Monday spot. Mondays used to be four spots, now they've cut it to two. So I'm averaging about 68 or 69 on Monday and missing, so that gets very frustrating. But I've been alternate status for most of my career, so you get toughened to it.

RAND JERRIS: What was the nature of the injury in 2003?

DICK MAST: It was a hip flexor in my left hip, which was self induced. I did a drill that was designed for ten minutes and I did it for three days straight hitting big buckets of balls.

Q. Did we establish where you qualified, in what city, for this tournament?

DICK MAST: Yes, I played in the Ford Senior in Detroit, Michigan, and Franklin, Michigan, is right there, and that's where I went through, Franklin Country Club, really nice old golf course, beautiful, old, tiny golf course, small greens.

Q. And what did you shoot there?

DICK MAST: 70.

Q. Were you the medalist?

DICK MAST: No, there were three spots. I can't remember who the other two were that were low. I got the third spot.

Q. Do you remember how many players were in the field?

DICK MAST: There were 12 out of the Ford Senior, so there were 12 good players there and many other good players. Michigan is a strong section, so about 90, I believe. It's hard to make the qualifying fair all over the country to say this gets three, this gets five, this gets two. It's tough.

RAND JERRIS: Well, Dick, thanks very much for your time. Congratulations on your fine play.

DICK MAST: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.