U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 12, 2003

Jay Don Blake

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Jay Don Blake to the media center. A fine round of 66, your best round in the Open since you opened with a 66 back at Oak Hill in '89. Any similarities between 89 and what you saw today.

JAY DON BLAKE: Just the same old stuff, long rough and narrow fairways, are the only similarities. I can't really explain why today shooting 4-under par, I haven't played well in a while. I worked on my game real hard, but just haven't found anything to really click. I'm not saying I'm really surprised, but it was nice to go out there and hit a lot of good shots and execute some shots that I was trying to, pull off some good shots and make a couple of putts and play solid all day long.

RAND JERRIS: Based upon what you had seen in practice rounds, did the course play as you expected it would play?

JAY DON BLAKE: Yeah, it did. I know the USGA has probably not -- has not got the golf course where they'd like it. They'd like the greens a little more firm, and I think the pace of the greens are probably not as quick as they'd like. But some of the greens, if they get it much quicker, it's going to be hard to putt on some of them, because of the undulation. But the course played pretty close to what it did in the practice rounds. Rough is, in some areas is really thick, and some you can kind of advance some shots, if you get a good break in some of the areas.

RAND JERRIS: Walk us through the birdies and bogeys on your score card, please.

JAY DON BLAKE: First birdie was on No. 2, just took a 3-wood, hit it out there and hit 8-iron probably 20 feet, just a little bit more than that, and ended up knocking that in from there. Then parred the next three holes.

No. 6, the par-5, I hit a decent drive down there, I thought I could still knock it on the green, and was trying to take a driver and buzz it up through the gap in the opening of the bunkers and play it to the right in the rough, but I actually hit a good shot about 6 feet and made birdie to go 2-under.

7, made par.

8, I hit a pretty good drive, hit 7-iron about five feet, just past the hole, and made that for birdie.

No. 9, kind of got a little too aggressive, trying to get a ball to turn around the corner, hit it in the left rough and had to chip out, made bogey on 9.

In a situation like that, lately with the confidence in my golf game, I get a little rattled, and it was nice to come back on 10 and hit a good drive and hit 5-iron in there, probably about a foot and a half, two feet at the most, and get the birdie back and get back to 3-under. I parred -- 11, I had a real good chance of making birdie there.

12, I actually got up-and-down for par on 12. Made about an 8-footer for par.

13, I hit a good shot in there about 15, 16 feet and made birdie on 13. Then played real solid the rest of the way in. Had some good chances for birdies. Hit some good putts, just didn't quite get them to fall in. And I parred the last remainder of the holes, ended up shooting 4-under.

Q. Is this the type of round that could really turn your year around and really jump start your year, it being the U.S. Open and all, or does it need to be more than one great round at the U.S. Open?

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, what we work on with our golf games and try to accomplish on the driving range and take to the golf course, we keep waiting for that one round to kind of make everything click, get a little confidence and let that kind of snowball in a good, positive attitude. I've been looking for that and waiting for that. It's nice to get a good round today. We always are hoping that that one round that happens, whether it's the U.S. Open or whatever tournament it is, is the round that's going to kind of send you in the right direction.

Q. So are you saying that your issues this year have been more confidence? Physically everything is okay?

JAY DON BLAKE: I've had some physical problems that have kind of slowed me down a little bit trying to get my golf game in good shape. I've been playing -- I played quite a bit, played kind of injured. And when you do that it's kind of hard to make a proper golf swing, and you've got something wrong with your body that won't allow you to turn a certain way or release a certain kind of -- with your hands and stuff. If you get problems with that, it makes it hard to make a good swing.

I've been playing injured and kind of developed some bad habits. And I've just slowly been trying to get healthy, get the problems kind of cured, and then work on the golf swing, try to see if you can kind of get it back and get some confidence with that. If you're not swinging well, not hitting good shots, that confidence is gone. So when you start getting your swing back in shape, hitting good shots, and you start executing some shots, if you want to hit a draw into a pin or a fade into the pin, and hit the shots and they actually work the way you've been working on them, it gives you confidence. And like I say, I hope it snowballs and continues on from here.

Q. I think it was 1989 at Oak Hill you made a serious run at winning a U.S. Open championship. What clear memories do you still have from those four days?

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, I know the memories I had were -- it's a -- U.S. Opens are always a patient type of a golf tournament, whichever course you play. I hadn't been on Tour very long, just a couple of years, and I hadn't really been in a major contention at all. I remember kind of getting a little bit anxious out there, trying to kind of make things happen instead of just stay patient, hit fairways, hit greens, and if you can make some putts -- just play some smart shots, and play good, smart shots around the golf course. And I kind of caught myself trying to do too much back then. And I kind of learned from that.

Hopefully this week we can kind of manage ourselves around a little bit and stay patient. There's times when you want to be aggressive, when you need to, and are in a good position that you can take an iron shot and be aggressive. I see no problem with my swing right now where I feel like I can't be aggressive in some shots.

Q. If you could be more specific about what injuries you had that bothered you the most and when you started feeling better?

JAY DON BLAKE: I've had some back problems for probably 12, 13 years. Probably seven or eight years ago it really was kind of a bad problem. And lately I've worked on it to where it's not as bad. And then a couple of years ago I developed an elbow problem, where I couldn't even straighten my right arm out. So hitting a shot down through the hitting area, trying to get your arms to extend, I couldn't really do that. I kind of got swinging, protecting, and didn't want to damage my arm anymore.

I had a situation where I was about going to have some surgery done and kind of get some things taken care of in there. And I got a second opinion and they decided, well, let's see how it goes, we'll do some exercises and some stretches and try to see if we can work out some of the problem, if not then we'll probably have to do some surgery. But the stuff that I worked on has actually helped and my elbow has been pretty good.

So my back and my elbow are slowly getting better, so now I can kind of hopefully work on the technique of the swing that I'd like to to make my swing better and a little more consistent.

Q. I was wondering with the lack of wind today and the rain throughout the week, did this course today play where you could play it more aggressive than in a typical U.S. Open?

JAY DON BLAKE: Yeah, I think so. There wasn't a whole lot of wind, so getting into the trees and stuff, you knew what was going to happen with your shot, you didn't have to second-guess any wind. The tee shot is kind of the same way; you can hit some shots through the chutes and get out from the trees and not know exactly which direction it's going, swirling around in the wind. But today with the wind the way it was, not much there, I think you could be pretty aggressive.

Q. First, when is the last time that you remember playing a round this well, when you consider the injuries? And you mentioned the bogey on 9. How did you put that in the back of your mind and then be able to refocus for the rest of the round?

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, as in remembering when I played from tee-to-green as well as I have, I've actually had some rounds this year that I've played well, hit a lot of good shots. My putting has been awful, so that's kind of been a hard part, and I've worked on all aspects of my game trying to get everything better. And it was just coming out today and hitting good shots and making some putts when I needed to, made it more enjoyable. And the second question --

Q. You mentioned the bogey on 9, that that previously might have kind of ruined the rest of the round. How did you get over that and refocus?

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, I just tried to kind of regroup, get back into what my game plan was, was to block out whatever negative that I've had during the round or previous and try to just be focused and execute my one shot at a time routine and not dwell on what's happened behind me. So I had to go to the next tee and try to hit a good tee shot and kind of stay focused, and just -- I played the routine at one shot at a time and got kind of a game plan on each hole. Depending on what the wind is going to do, that can change, but you've got a game plan that you set up for to play the U.S. Open, and I'll try to stick to that.

Q. I saw on your bio it said you were a drag racing fan. I wonder how you reconcile a stomp-on-it sport right now with a painstaking deliberate day like this, and wondering whether you have any association with any teams or if you've ever actually been in a car?

JAY DON BLAKE: Been in a car racing? I actually do drag race. I've got a car myself, a little hobby, I go out and mess around with it. And golf being the frustrating game it is, it's nice to go out there and just stomp on the gas and go as fast as you can down the track. I race some of the NHRA events that they have. It's a class called Supercomp, they give us an index of 8.90 seconds, you have to make your car around, a quarter mile at 8.90, at 163 miles an hour. It makes it fun. It's kind of a rush, a lot different from golf. But it's still fun. Like you say, you can get out there and just tear things apart and take some frustration of this golf game and put that behind you out in the car.

Q. What has this year been like for you as far as not being exempt? Have you played as much as you would have or has that been difficult?

JAY DON BLAKE: It's been difficult, not knowing exactly what I'm going to get in. Early in the year I played a few tournaments, and they're calling me Wednesday night, Wednesday afternoon at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, saying, hey, if you want to play, you're in, if you can get here. There's been a couple of times like that. Trying to prepare and know if you're going to play or what you're going to do has been pretty hard. This is my first year in, what, 16, 17 years that I haven't had my card. And it's been frustrating, and I don't enjoy that. That's why I've been working so hard to try to get back and regroup and get my card back and hopefully kind of continue with the good process.

Q. I think you played nine tournaments this year before you actually cashed. And given your injuries and the uncertainty of Wednesday nights, were you getting discouraged? Did you see progress? Can you characterize what that period was like for you?

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, myself with my game has been I've worked on it hard and I've felt comfortable a lot of times going out and playing and feeling like I've made some good progress, but to take it to the golf course and trust the stuff I've been working on, if you miss a couple of shots, it don't work out very well, then you've kind of lost your confidence again. I've had a hard time trusting that. That's kind of what I'm trying to continuously do is trust what I've been working on and each day I go out there I try to do the same thing, repetitive, and just kind of let the instincts kind of carry on.

Q. With the injuries, was there ever a point that you worried about your golf career might be over? Did it get to that point or were you always confident that you'd be able to find a way back?

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, with my elbow it's probably the only time I probably felt like being pretty nervous about it, didn't know if I'd be able to go without doing surgery. I've heard some good news with guys having surgery and working out, and then I've had some people that have to go back two or three times to go back over the same stuff. And that's what I was hopefully not wanting to do, because when you have the surgery on that type of stuff, a lot of guys get their shoulders, elbows, whatever, you're out six, eight months, and it's pretty much a whole year. And you have to pick when you want to do that.

At my age, it's hard to make a choice of what you really wanted to do. When they decided with the second opinion to go ahead and exercise and do some stretches and try to strengthen that area, I was all for that, instead of doing the surgery. And fortunately it's worked out to where a lot of the pain has gone away, and things have been pretty good on that aspect. So hopefully it stays away and it continues to get better.

Q. You've been out here a long time. And those of us that follow you, last year when you were hurt, there was a chance there you were going to lose your card. That was pressure. Is this pressure, leading the U.S. Open? Can you equate those two, losing your card or leading the U.S. Open, is there any pressure on you?

JAY DON BLAKE: There's definitely pressure. I haven't played very well, and my attitude going into this week, I was just happy to be here to play in the U.S. Open. You try to qualify, I hadn't played very good and you're thinking, my attitude is I won't probably even qualify. Why worry about it, go out and play halfway decent. And now I'm here. And my attitude is just go and enjoy it. I haven't played well, but I'm thinking that things are starting to click, things are starting to happen, feeling comfortable. I just said all day today, just go out and enjoy it, try to execute the shots. If you need to hit a fade off a tee, aim, line up, try to hit the fade and let it happen. If it doesn't, go hit it. Today most of the shots I tried to execute worked out well. It made it a lot more fun.

And as in the pressure compared to the Tour school, at the end of the year I had a lot of pressure. I played like 19 of the last 20 tournaments, trying to keep my card. And on one stretch I made, I don't know, like 11 cuts in a row. And I probably made maybe $60,000, $70,000. Every time I'd make a cut, I'd finish about 55th to 75th. I mean, I just couldn't get over that finishing with a couple of birdies, I'd finish with a bogey or two here and there. And if I would have finished 20th once or 25th once in that stretch, instead of making $12,000, $15,000, I could have made $40,000, $50,000. I think I missed my card by $6,000, $7,000 or something like that. So there was a lot of tense pressure coming down.

This is more enjoyable pressure than what that was. I hated coming down the stretch, trying to keep my card. This is fun, it's the U.S. Open. I hope it continues to be fun. I'm going to go out and just enjoy myself. I don't know what's going to happen for the rest of the three days, but whatever does happen I'm going to try to make the best of it and enjoy the U.S. Open.

Q. I wanted to go back to the drag racing quick. How long have you been doing that and how well have you done at that?

JAY DON BLAKE: I've probably been drag racing for about ten years now. And I've actually won a couple of the local divisional races. It's fun. It's nothing I really do serious, I just do it as a hobby, to just get away and get away from the golf. And I've always been somebody that's been into hot rod motors, whether it's a car, anything that goes fast I've always enjoyed.

Q. Do you feel like you trust the swing that was out there today and you trust this success? Because you're saying it's enjoyable, but you seem very even.

JAY DON BLAKE: Well, my attitude doesn't change, fluctuate, being really fired up or really upset. I try to keep just kind of an even temperament. So I've always been that way. So I try to stay relaxed, try to enjoy it. There's times where you get upset, but you just kind of go on and try to hit the next shot.

RAND JERRIS: Congratulations on your fine playing. Thanks for your time today.

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