U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 12, 2003

Brett Quigley

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to be joined in the interview area by Brett Quigley. Brett, a very fine round today, 5-under par, 65. Is there anything you saw in the golf course or in your game the last few days that would prepare things.

BRETT QUIGLEY: The start of the week, I didn't get here until Tuesday because we played Capital Open, and we were late. I didn't have a lot of time to think about the golf. And so I started off watching Brian 5-under through 4, I was watching golf. I've seen some of the best golf I've ever seen the first stretch of holes to start the U.S. Open. And all of a sudden I birdied 6 and I was 3-under.

The biggest thing is I didn't have much expectations for myself today, and just watched some great golf, and that kind of carried me home.

RAND JERRIS: Take a moment and walk us through the birdies and bogeys, please.

BRETT QUIGLEY: I drove it in the bunker on 1. That's the thing, it's hard, with the wind blowing two different directions, Tuesday and Wednesday. The bunkers are in great places, because you never know -- there's a lot of them that are in play, I drove it in the bunker on 1 and had to lay it up and knocked it 20 feet and made the putt. That was a nice way to start. I felt like I had a good feel for the greens.

As you can see I didn't hit very many fairways, and that's pretty typical of all my rounds.

Nice birdie on 4, probably a 60-foot-er there.

Got it up-and-down from the bunker on 6, left bunker there. 6 is a tough hole. I hit 2-iron, 2-iron in the left bunker there.

7, just a pitiful shot, hit it straight right, kind of in between clubs. And went swimming with the ball there. And fortunately made bogey.

Bogeyed 10, and that kind of -- that really upset me, because I felt like I played a good round and all of a sudden it's close to slipping away. And I made a good par on 11, got it up-and-down from like 70 yards, and just started on a run, where I hit it close on 12. I had about a 10-footer.

13, it was two inches.

14, about six feet.

Nice putt on 15, about 8 feet for par.

Hit it three feet on 16.

Two nice putts on 17 and 18.

Q. Were you saying that after you were watching what was going on in those first holes, five under through 4, you weren't thinking much about what you were doing?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I was watching. And my dad and I were talking, he's caddying for me. I said this is the greatest start in U.S. Open history. I said this has got to be the best ever. And it was -- we were watching, we were fans in the beginning. It was impressive.

Q. And it inspired you?

BRETT QUIGLEY: It inspired me and it didn't -- it kind of got my mind off of my game and just let me play. And this week I took the attitude that I'm not going to try to be precise. I think in the past I've gotten caught up, it's a U.S. Open, you've got to hit fairways, you've got to hit greens, you've got to do this and this and this. And my game is I don't hit it very straight, but I can move it out there pretty good, and I make a lot of birdies and a lot of bogeys. And today was a pretty good indication of that.

Q. Can you talk about how you got to the University of South Carolina and what your experience was like there?

BRETT QUIGLEY: The coach was a good recruiter. It was Steve Liebler. And Steve played the Tour. He was a great recruiter. It was a big adjustment for me. But Steve taught me a lot about the game and a lot about myself. And I probably wouldn't be on Tour without him today.

Q. Did you play three years?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I graduated in four years.

Q. Was it a no-brainer, your dad was going to caddy? Did you think about not using him as a caddy this week, and secondly, how important was it for you guys to be out there and take a lot of pressure off by being able to goof around and do things that fathers and sons can do in a tournament?

BRETT QUIGLEY: It was never really -- I don't even know where to start about my father. I had another caddy for two and a half years, and we were going a little stale, and I asked my dad to caddy Colonial. And he caddied Colonial, FBR classic. And here he got me through the Open qualifier. I like having him on the bag, because it keeps me loose. We talk to each other and were wondering if anyone is watching this, if we got any TV time today. So we had fun.

Q. You told us, A, I don't hit many fairways, which is typical of my game, and I don't hit it straight, which is typical of my game. You're leading the U.S. Open in the first round. Can you put two and two together and make four for us there?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Take a look at the stats. I hit 57 percent of the fairways. I normally get up to about 66, maybe. So maybe one more fairway. That's just -- it's typical of my game.

Q. Is the U.S. Open --

BRETT QUIGLEY: In the past I think I've gotten caught up in saying you have to hit it in the fairway, the rough is so long and the greens are so firm. I was watching Golf Channel the past week, and they showed a bunch of old Opens, and seeing where guys hit it and seeing a lot of guys hit bad shots. It freed me up. I said I don't have to be perfect, I don't have to hit 18 fairways and 18 greens, just go play my game, and hopefully the birdies will oughtweigh the bogeys.

Q. All being said today you could get away with a lot more things here than at a more typical U.S. Open venue. How did you hit it say at Bethpage or some of the other places the Open has been held as you did today, is it this course that allows you to be a little less precise?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I think the greens were a little softer than a typical Open. I can't speak about Bethpage, I wasn't there. I just think that the greens being a little softer the pins may be a little more accessible, if you hit the fairways. And certainly when I hit the fairways I took advantage of it.

Q. Could you set up your career so far? Has it met your expectations, and talk about your relationship with your uncle and how it's affected your golf game.

BRETT QUIGLEY: Underachiever. Relationship with him is great. He and my dad and I play a lot of golf together in the winter in Palm Beach. And Dana plays so much golf it's unbelievable. And he shames me into playing every day he's home. If I took two weeks off, I'd be hard-pressed to play three days, but when he's there, we're playing 36 a day by 1:00. And he loves playing that much. It's good for me to play with him a lot because it keeps me -- I guess it gives me the confidence knowing that he's done so well, and I can compete with him, that I should be able to do well out here.

Q. Obviously first day of the Open you always have a lot of people bunched together near the top. But this year it seems there's a lot of names we're not used to seeing at the top of the Open. Is this course such that this really might be a wide open tournament all four days?

BRETT QUIGLEY: The way it's looking now, yes. I can't answer that question, I don't know. I just don't know.

Q. You said you had to make a lot of adjustments going down to South Carolina. Exactly what were the toughest adjustments for you doing that?

BRETT QUIGLEY: When I was 18 I wanted to be as far away from home as possible, and South Carolina, a thousand miles, I thought that was it. I guess just being away from home that much and playing that much golf. I'd never played golf -- I played in the spring and early in the summer, and then in the winter I played soccer, played basketball, played other sports. And all of a sudden you come to college, and you have to play golf year-round. And it took me a while to get used to doing that. And certainly that was a big adjustment for me.

Q. Having to go back to Q-School last year, I know it wasn't something you looked forward to. And now you're leading the U.S. Open six months later. What is the biggest thing that's held you back as a professional?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Probably my attitude. I think I have a tendency to be too hard on myself. I said earlier watching some of the old Open tapes, just realizing that you don't have to -- for me, you don't have to play perfect to score well. And I think that when I do that well, when I'm more accepting of all my shots, I have a better chance of playing well.

Q. Your putting today was something else, and the way you just got up-and-down. Didn't look like you had a doubt that you were going to get up-and-down and miss the green. Is that the way your putting normally goes?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I'm pretty streaky, but I'd say my ability to scramble is pretty good because I hit it in wild places. So certainly I get practice doing it. I felt good with the putter. I changed putters last week, and I had two putters out yesterday because the head came loose on the one I was using, and they fixed it yesterday. I felt comfortable, felt good with the speed of the greens here this week. So I'm starting to feel good with the putter.

Q. With your dad caddying for you, I don't want to say you fight, but do you guys go back and forth a lot?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Just every hole. He wanted me to drop it on 7. And I said what do you think? He said drop it right here. And I said it's a U.S. Open, I have to go in the water. For the most part we agreed, but we can disagree, as well.

Q. Could you give us a couple of examples of the Opens you saw on The Golf Channel and ones in particular that you were inspired by?

BRETT QUIGLEY: Might have been the '80 open that Nicklaus won that Aoki was playing good. Seeing everybody hit wild shots. I saw Jay Don Blake hitting it today out of play like three times. And just realizing that leaders hit bad shots. And I don't have to be perfect. I think that's been my big hangup. And you think, oh, gosh, you get on Tour, you see all these players playing, and they hit every shot just like they want to. And certainly that's not the case.

Q. Who got the soul patch first?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I told him I'm going to have to shave mine off after this week.

Q. You casually tossed out the word underachiever. Are you comfortable with that word?

BRETT QUIGLEY: I think I'm finally realizing and taking steps to get through it. It's funny, a good friend of mine told me that about a month ago. He said what's wrong with you, you should be winning five times a year, you're a great player. He said you're an underachiever. And that was kind of a little slap in the face. But it's been good. I've played well since the last month, and maybe expecting more but taking some of the pressure off me.

RAND JERRIS: Congratulations on your fine play today. Good luck in the rest of the championship.

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