U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 17, 2004

David Roesch

MODERATOR: Joining us now is Mr. Roesch at 2 under for the championship.

Q. You were pretty emotional when you qualified. When was it like when you realized you were leading the U.S. Open?

DAVID ROESCH: Actually I was more emotional when I qualified for the Open just for the fact that I hadn't been playing that well, and now I get to go play in the U.S. Open. I think when I first left St. Louis there and realized I had qualified, I pretty much was breaking down into tears for about an hour or so.

This is something different. I don't know if it's hit me yet, so I don't know if I want to wake up or not.

Q. Where does this rank on your thrill list?

DAVID ROESCH: This is about as high as it gets. The only other thing I've really done is won a Hooters event, a couple amateur events in Wisconsin. I don't even know if I'm still leading the Open, am I? Well, I'm just happy to be in at 2 under.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID ROESCH: Actually, I mean, I was saying on 11 there I hit the pin and somebody said I got robbed, said it should have gone in the hole. Maybe I should be one better now, I don't know. There I hit a great shot and the next hole a really great putt, and I think the par 4 then, I was in a difficulty actually in the fairway, just tried to make sure I got it on the green and put a good stroke on it and made that putt.

Then I birdied 15 to get it to 4. Actually 16 I had probably 242 to the front and we were actually trying to hit it in the left bunker, then we would have had more room hitting a bunker shot, and I kind of mis-hit it and little bit and hit it in the right bunker. I had a chance to get it to 5-under if I hit it in the left bunker.

I hit a good shot on 17 and three-putted there. It did like a 360 and came back at me.

I played well. I drove the ball well and putted well, and I'm just extremely excited right now.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID ROESCH: You know what, on the first tee, I mean, I haven't felt like that in a long time where you're standing on the tee and the hands are getting -- you get a little shake in there. Probably guys don't get them out here, but you get the first tee jitters. It's a little more than anticipated, but I hit it right down the middle, it was a great tee shot. I got a little bit of jitters coming in there when I looked at the leaderboard and saw my name up there, even though I was at 2-under, but I looked over there, and yeah, some emotions started to come in and I kind of calmed myself down and took some deep breaths. I said we've got to putt, let's try to hit a good putt and go from there. That's the biggest thing for me. I have to control my emotions. Most of these guys are used to this.

Q. What other careers were you anticipating pursuing?

DAVID ROESCH: Well, it's funny, I worked for Taylor Made this winter down in port St. Louis they have the winter tournament series for the club pros. I was actually running a launch monitors and building drivers for the club pros for the month of January. I have friends at Taylor Made and I was actually thinking about going to work for the company or getting a job as an assistant.

Q. What changed your mind?

DAVID ROESCH: Well, when my wife and I, we got married last year, and we talked about it, and I didn't play that well last year, and it was a tough decision for us, should we play one more year, give it another shot or just pursue other avenues, other careers, and we came down to it, we sat down and said let's play another year.

This was actually going to be my last year playing if I didn't move up. Granted, this probably changes some things. If I can shoot 2 under the first round of the U.S. Open, I don't think it's a fluke. It's not like I was holing wedge shots or anything. I drove the ball straight and that's normally what I do, and I made some nice putts. Best field in the world and probably one of the touch he's courses in the world and I played well. This definitely changes things.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID ROESCH: Terrible. Is that a good one word answer? I've actually played well, but I just haven't scored well, and you know in golf it's all about at the end of the day you add up the score. I'm playing with a lot of guys and hitting better shots or hitting just as good and they're shoot willing 68 and 69 and I'm shooting 72 and 74. Finishing 30th on the Hooters Tour, that's not going to cut it, at least not for me. That was just a frustrating part. I wasn't putting well and then you get frustrated and down on your trying and trying to deal with the failures. I feel like I work harder than a lot of guys out there and I wasn't seeing the results, so I'm seeing them now, though, so hopefully I can keep it going.

Q. (Inaudible).

DAVID ROESCH: I don't know what to say because I don't want to get in trouble here. We were on the clock in the beginning, and then we went off the clock and they put us back on the clock -- I've got to figure this out. We were on hole par 4 -- boy, you would think I'd know. We were on No. 4, and I was in between clubs there, and I hit and the guy comes up to me and said you've got a bad time. The next one is a shot. I don't know what to say and what's going on, I'm just like, you know, I'm playing to play well. I'm a no-name here, I'm trying to do well and here comes this guy and tells me I've got a bad time. We get to the next tee and stand there. You tell me what's going on.

I was mad. I would have been fine if we got to the next tee and we were still behind, but we got to the tee and we stand there for five minutes and that guy runs and hides. I don't know if I'm going to get in trouble for this, but that's nonsense. I'm going to tell you right now. If we would have still been behind on the next tee, that's fine, okay, so I had a bad time, but we get to the next tee and stand there.

How could we still be on the clock then? So I did get rattled there. I left that putt about seven feet short, and I'm like, I'm not letting this guy get to me, and then I made the putt: I don't know how that works, I've never been out there. If it was Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson and that would have happened, no way. I'm just trying to do well.

So I take a couple of extra seconds on one shot and the guy comes over and tells me one more and I get a stroke? I don't know, I'm going to talk to somebody at the USGA just to voice my concern. I mean, nothing is going to change. That guy should have looked ahead and said they're waiting in the 5th fairway. When these guys get there they're going to be waiting on the tee. Should we have still been on the clock? I don't know what the official rules are.

Q. You had a break when you hit the tree?

DAVID ROESCH: Yeah, that's such a tough green to hit. I was thinking about just running something on the green. I kind of pulled a little bit, hit the tree and kicked out, and what a great break and I took advantage of it. I hit the chip to about eight feet and made it. That was a great break.

Q. Did you miss qualifying for a Nationwide event just before the U.S. Open?

DAVID ROESCH: Yeah, in Chicago. I did it on Monday in Chicago, got done at 6:00 o'clock, drove to St. Louis, got in there at like 11:30, got up at 5:00 and did the 36-hole qualifier and made it. You could say I was a little tired at the end of the day.

I did the Nationwide qualifier in Chicago, missed it, then drove to St. Louis and did this.

End of FastScripts.