U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 9, 2014

Curtis Strange

BETH MAJOR: Welcome the 2014 U.S. Open Championship at the Pinehurst Resort and Country Club. It's a pleasure to welcome you all to North Carolina and the Village of Pinehurst for the 114th U.S. Open Championship. Speaking of North Carolina and Pinehurst, we're very pleased to welcome twotime U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange this afternoon. Curtis, who played on the 1974 NCAA champion team at Wake Forest, is the last back-to-back winner of the Open, capturing the titles in 1988 and 1989. Curtis is no stranger to Pinehurst. He won the 1975 North and South Amateur here and qualified for the PGA TOUR on the No. 2 course. He also played in the 1999 U.S. Open, and he will be with us throughout the week as part of ESPN's championship coverage team. Thank you for being here. It's a pleasure to have you. Given your experience here at Pinehurst, can you talk about being here this week and what it means to bring the championship back to Pinehurst.

CURTIS STRANGE: We used to play the Pinehurst Intercollegiate here, for three years when I was at Wake. Jay Haas went off the first hole the second round, and some naked guy ran across the fairway buck naked. And they caught him. I don't know if that was a good or bad thing for us. You never know what's going to happen at Pinehurst. I was here two weeks ago and played the course and I love this place as much as home. It's a place where, if I had two rounds of golf left in my life, I'd come here to play, just because of the village and the atmosphere and the golf course. It's spectacular. If you haven't been out there yet, it's going to be pretty cool. It really is. It's much different than I anticipated, just the rough area. I'd seen the rough a year ago, but there's a lot of other growth that I didn't anticipate that's going to be very penal. And it's going to play like rough. It's just going to look different and be a little different type of rough, it's going to be very penal, I think. But the rest of the golf course looks fantastic. I don't remember exactly how it used to be back in the '70s when I first started coming here, but it was unkept, it was whatever happens in the Sandhills of North Carolina. And but this is very dramatic and it's really going to be a factor during the week. Really be a factor.

Q. Would you be able to say a few words on what it means to you to see Webb Simpson after the success he had, obviously he won this event and Bill Haas, will the Wake guys get together, will you share anything with them?
CURTIS STRANGE: They have too much on their plate than to talk with me this week. They know I follow them very closely. We at Wake have a bond that is always there. Former players and current players. Webb has done extremely well, and so has Bill. I think Bill is one of those players that could certainly very well pop up on the leaderboard. He did at the Masters. He's come into the prime of his socalled career, the prime of it, which is early 30s on, got all the experience in the world, got a tremendous golf game. Been a little bit of an underachiever in Majors so far. But with his talent, you certainly expect him to break out of that at any Major. And Webb, I guess almost with Webb's age in a couple three or four, five weeks ago, he hadn't played real well. And that happens. But the U.S. Open can turn somebody on, it's a special event.

Q. Why do you think it has been so long since we have had back-to-back in winners in the U.S. Open, as much talent as is out there, what other factors factor into that?
CURTIS STRANGE: Gosh, I don't know. Jack did. TW, Arnie, Trevino, Hale, all the grand Open champions, I don't know. You can go the obvious reasons, it's a year removed, a different golf course. The talent level has always been deep. You have to be at the right time at the right time. Be fortunate. You can play well and still lose. I don't know. And then in recent years Tiger, of course. In 2000, what he did there, and didn't win back-to-back after that. I don't know, I think the longer it goes the more fortunate I realize I was. I'd say you can play well and still not win, and I was a bit fortunate the second time, with Tom Kite not playing well on Sunday. I don't know, you know, the longer it goes I'm not a Miami dolphin type person, I'm not rooting against him. I'm not drinking champagne Sunday night. But and I've also said, if Justin would happen to do it this year, that would be the first phone call. That would be fantastic. I can't answer. You know as well as I do, it's a tough game and a lot of moving parts, on the toughest test we have in golf, outside The Open Championship.

Q. Two questions, is there any part of you that wants to see it, as in bringing in a new member of the socalled club or is it something so exclusive you'd rather like to be remembered?
CURTIS STRANGE: No, I'm not rooting against him  what do you think? You know, when I did this, the back back up for a minute. When I did this, I didn't know Ben Hogan was the last back-to-back, because nobody expected me to do it. It hadn't been done in so long. And like I said, Jack and Tom and Lee, all the greats didn't do it, so nobody wrote about me possibly doing it. The first time I saw it written that week was Saturday morning in the paper when I had the lead. I think probably the first time was probably Friday night in the pressroom it came up. But I didn't think much of it. And then I didn't play well on Saturday, so I was 3 behind. So there wasn't anything written on Sunday morning. And I played well on Sunday and prevailed, but there wasn't a lot written that week. And then after the fact there was a lot written. Then they thought, if I could do it, it can be done a bunch in the future (laughter). You know, I don't know, so do I want to see somebody do it? Not particularly. But I'm not rooting against somebody.

Q. If Justin wins, would you expect him to say, move over Curtis?
CURTIS STRANGE: You know, I doubt it. I doubt it, seriously.

Q. Did Hogan ever call you?
CURTIS STRANGE: No, I never heard from him. Justin will hear from me, like it or not, not that he really cares. If he wins back-to-back, he doesn't care if I call or not.

Q. Curtis, you answered the Miami Dolphins question, but is the, "Move over Ben," the most famous quota attributed to you?
CURTIS STRANGE: Well, I hope not. You know, it was something that came up spur of the moment and you have to remember that I did only realize two days before that Ben, Mr. Hogan, was the last to do it. And I guess, arguably, he did it four in a row. So when I came off the green I was so full of emotion, and so full of whatever it is, and so excited. And our dear friend Bob Rosburg was the first one that grabbed me for an interview, and I was just impulsive. I just spit it out. And I hope it didn't offend anyone. But whenever you're in the same company as those players the next year I learned a whole lot more about Willie Anderson than I ever wanted to know, because of three in a row. He was a good player, strong lefthand. But, anyway, it was exciting. It was exciting. You do these things you know, it's like Justin or anybody that's ever won the National Open or The Open or the Masters or the PGA, it's a lifelong dream. The feeling is hard to put in words when you come off that last green. And when you go to the pressroom, it's exciting stuff.

Q. When you played here several weeks ago, what did it look like off the tee? What was your decisionmaking process like? How far back did you play? What was it like?
CURTIS STRANGE: I played I'll tell you exactly. My boy was playing with us and he wanted to play the tips. Well, that didn't happen. We played from where the old World Open played from. Where the North/South was played from. Where the tips used to be. And I had a good day. But it's interesting, because what Bill and Ben have done, is that, back in the old days, the fairways did meander a little bit, like this, and over the course of time the fairways have gotten to be a straight line on a lot of the par4s, so they brought back into that meandering. I say that now, because, depending on your length off the tee, you have to pick your line and hang in there. It's going to be a pretty tough golf course. I thought it would be an easier driving golf course than I found it. I thought the fairways were going to be a little wider. And it's been so dry here, they're going to play right now they're going to play firm, which makes them play tighter. It's going to be a good golf course. There's a slope to a number of these fairways, and you have to make when it meanders, I might hit it here, and Bubba Watson is going to have to hit it up in this area. It's going to be a good driving golf course. It really is. A lot of those sight lines, you don't pick up right away, because there's no definition in this grass, that under growth, they call it. I call it weeds, but they call it under growth.

Q. You mentioned Bill Haas earlier. There's other Americans that age, knocking on that door, had chances to win Majors. Are you surprised some of those guys haven't done it, or is it fair to expect that?
CURTIS STRANGE: You know, as you said, they're coming into that age where they've got the experience, they've had a couple of chances, they've won tournaments. They've won all the money they could ever spend. So now the next step is to really up the ante and win something like this. Yeah, I expect all of those guys to be in the mix this week. It's going to be hard to pick out any one player. I do like Adam Scott. I think he's probably the favorite this week. I haven't looked at the odds or anything. And Rory is playing better. Dustin Johnson has been playing well all year. Dustin Johnson has become a player of consistent good play. And that is a good sign. That's a good thing. Especially with  there's a lot of players that really could do well this week. But you're going to have to play. You're going to have to have a short game. These greens are as difficult as they come, especially when you miss them. I was reminiscing a lot two weeks ago, when you play this golf course and you look at every hole, there's not a weak hole out there, there really isn't. Every hole has its own character, and that's the beauty of the place. It's a grand design. It holds your interest, without having water and yeah, there's a couple of out of bounds that could come into play. It's just straight 18 holes of golf. That's the beauty of Pinehurst.

Q. You also contended in 1990 pretty late well in that last stretch. In 1988 was there a sense that week that it was your time, you talk about players coming into their own, was there a sense that week that it was your time to win?
CURTIS STRANGE: I never looked at it like that. Was it my time? No. I was playing really well. And I certainly didn't think it was my time when I put it in the bunker on the 72nd hole. I thought it was my time to maybe mess up again. But there's so many ebbs and flows in the course of one round of a U.S. Open, much less four rounds. And all you can do is each shot on each hole, take each day as it comes. You get tired of hearing that, but it's the absolute truth. If you get ahead of yourself, you're not going to do well, because there's too much out there to think about. Just keep playing, keep plugging along, and if you can play and if you're one of the better players, you certainly expect to maybe be part of the game on Sunday. You hope to be. But you still have to perform. I started playing well the first couple days. And then, as we've always seen, it kind of weeds out as the week progresses at the U.S. Open. And, thank goodness, I hung in there. But it was I was never, ever good enough to come here and say, yeah, this is my week where I'm going to play well. Anything like that, no. It builds as the week progresses on the feeling of confidence and everything, all of the above. And it happened next year, too, same thing.

Q. For our viewers who try to seize the moment through professionals like you, can you describe what it's like when that ball is on the 72nd hole and you are Open champion?
CURTIS STRANGE: I said a few minutes ago, I don't think you can ever put into words the feeling that runs through your body and what you're thinking about. It's hard. It's a lifelong goal that happens quickly. And it wasn't that week, it wasn't that day, it was 25 years of hard work on Tour, from junior golf on. It didn't happen overnight. When you go to the pressroom, to me, the first time was very emotional, because it was because you realize what you've just accomplished in a setting just like this. And I forget, who was the old USGA media guy in the past?

BETH MAJOR: Les?

CURTIS STRANGE: Anyway and you guys are so good at asking the questions to make you get emotional. But just thinking about it, the first time was something you never forget. The second time was a little different. But it's good stuff. And then you go back and you finish the press and then you go back and you have a glass of champagne with the members of the USGA and then Sarah and I went back to the Holiday Inn in Brookline, Mass, to stare at each other. What do you do now? You're kind of like the dog that caught the car. Now what the hell do you do? We had a beer, and that was it. Got up the next morning and went home. I don't know where we went. It was I'll never forget one time, I won at Honda one year, '85, I believe, and the next week was Bay Hill. And I was by myself. And I won the tournament Sunday afternoon. I did the volunteer party, had a couple of beers. The next thing you know, I'm on the road, I'm driving down the road, Interstate 95, by myself, I had nobody to share it with. It was before cell phones, too. I was just driving around. I wanted to stop at the local pub over here. But it's like, hey, you're playing the Tour, you play and you go on the next day and do it again.

Q. You were talking about back-to-back, but you were also the last guy and I think maybe the only guy to play three straight U.S. Opens under par. Which one do you think will happen again, what's the more likelihood of either one of those happening again, and kind of as an addendum to that, what was the top quality needed to win a U.S. Open when you did and has that changed?
CURTIS STRANGE: Yeah, I'm trying to remember. I saw that a couple of days ago and I really had to think. It was '87, '88, '89, is that correct?

Q. '88 through '90?
CURTIS STRANGE: Through '90? I wasn't under par in '90.

Q. Yes, 286, par72.
CURTIS STRANGE: Where? No, I wasn't under par at Medinah. No.

Q. Want me to get a book and show you?
CURTIS STRANGE: You're going to have to, because I didn't play very well at Medinah. Well, you know what (laughter). All I remember is playing like crap on Sunday, okay? All I remember is hitting a 4iron fat on the second hole.

Q. Can I just withdraw the question?
CURTIS STRANGE: What was the second part of your question?

Q. Never mind.
CURTIS STRANGE: I don't know, you just do those things. To break par at a U.S. Open, you have to play pretty well, but you don't think about it. You're trying to do the best you can. You know, there's a different regime and a different course setup now than it was back then. And I'm not saying which is better, but you had to drive the ball well back then. It was rough just off the fairway. And there was rough around all the greens. There wasn't run up, there wasn't roll off areas, anything like that, and so you had to chop it out of the rough. And the rough wasn't terrible, terrible when I played well or played well  in '89 it was tough. You had to salvage par, you had to hang in the game, and around the greens, it was tough rough. It wasn't the graduated stuff. I think it was more of a priority to drive the ball back then, more of a priority. Complete game.

Q. Do you think that's changed?
CURTIS STRANGE: I do, yeah. I really do. Not this week. This week is fairway and the penal rough. Like I said, different rough. But it has changed, yes.

Q. Given the changes to the course and given the scores that we've seen the last few years at U.S. Opens, do you have a sense of whether we'll see anybody be under par when it's all said and done or even or over par this year?
CURTIS STRANGE: First, you have to think about, there's thunderstorms predicted, popups every day, that will have some effect. If it gets a little softer. But, you know, even par has been pretty good the last two or three or four years under Mike Davis's tenure. You certainly expect it to be under even par. These are tough greens and he can put hole locations in very, very difficult spots. And I really do like 4 and 5, the change. I don't like 5 for the reason it was one of the best par4s in America. But now it's a pretty good par5, as well. And 4 is a good par5 or 4, as well. So that really doesn't change much. There's some hard holes out there. There's some hard hole locations to be had. I think it will be very tough to make birdie. Very tough. We saw that last year at Merion. I never thought even par would come close to winning Merion, but it did.

Q. What was the second course? This is the first one of the two courses you have to play, which is the other one, going back to your opening remarks?
CURTIS STRANGE: No, I'm sorry, I meant this one. If I was going to play a couple rounds. If I had a week to live, I'd come to Pinehurst and play golf. Pinehurst No. 2. I just like this whole area. Driving in a few minutes ago, it just looked so nice. It's all golf.... and croquet. I just think it's the greatest atmosphere. I really do. And, you know, starting here when I was in college and playing and playing tournaments over the years, it's been a lot of fun, a lot of memories here. But Pinehurst I just think is so unique and so interesting. And the greens have changed. Around the greens have changed a lot in the day. Back in the old days not that you really care, but the grass wasn't cut so short off the edge of the green, so a hard shot might go down to the bottom. Now, if the grass wasn't cut so short, you could pitch, chip or possibly putt. Now you're going to see a lot of putting up the hills, because it's so well manicured. That's a little of the old Pinehurst we lost. Everything will run off down to the bottom. I think we'll see a lot of putting coming back up. But other than that it's pretty much the same golf course. I don't think I played the 6th hole at 240, ever. That's a new tee in there.

Q. Talk about being in broadcasting, being in and around the game. Is it still enjoyable just to be around the game or do you get frustrated by, hey, I want to still be out there playing?
CURTIS STRANGE: You know, there was a time when I first took the TV gig back when I was in my 40s that I woke up every morning as a player and I would be almost jealous sometimes when I was out there doing TV and I'm only 42 or 3 years old and all my buddies were still playing and playing well. I got over it, but you felt like, gosh, I can still do this. But there's a reason I went to the booth. I just really enjoyed coming to we only have five events I do at ESPN, and being part of the big events that I do, it's a pleasure to still be involved in the game at the big events. And I see a lot of old friends every time we come around, old players, press and people and tournament directors. So it's really a lot of fun. So if it wasn't for this, I'd be sitting home watching like everybody else. And you're really not a part of it by doing that. I enjoy it. I really, really enjoy it. We only have five events. Again, I only do five events. So you're excited those five times. Plus, next year we lose this package, we don't do this event in the coming years, so that's disappointing.

BETH MAJOR: We're happy to have you with us this week. And very happy you joined us today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports