U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2002

Tom Meeks

RAND JERRIS: We're joined by Tom Meeks, Senior Director of Rules and Competitions for the USGA.

Q. There was a number of players talking about the 10th and 12th holes and whether the tee boxes should have been moved up, because a lot of guys were not even hitting the ball in the fairway; can you address that?

TOM MEEKS: Well, I've heard that. We knew all along that 12 was going to be a tough driving hole. I even had one of our members of our Rules and Competitions staff sit out there and watch tee shots pretty much all day Monday and trying to determine whether we needed to adjust the tee marker.

Actually, the marker on 12 is in the middle of the teeing ground, but yesterday I think we were a yard and a half behind the plate, and today we were right on the plate. It's a tough hole and if the wind's against you or hurting you on your tee shot maybe from left-to-right it is a tough hole. How do you set a hole up for that like a U.S. Open? Do you want 10 percent of the field to be able to knock it over the bunker, 50 percent, 90 percent? I don't know what that number is; I don't think anybody does. We really thought that probably 60, 70 plus percent would be able to knock it over the cross-bunkers and at least reach the fairway.

I was talking with Fred Ridley a little bit this evening about 10. It's a new tee. We had several players hitting balls from back there, and we thought most of the players in this Championship would be able to reach that fairway. Now, this has been such a long day, I've been out here since ten till 5:00. You can see all the clothes I have on; I froze to death today. I don't know how the wind was blowing today, and apparently it was against them on 10. It had to be -- if you say a lot of players say they didn't reach the fairway, I have to think the wind was against them.

Maybe a lesson for us. Those of you in the room that know the USGA, when we determine we're going to play a hole from a certain area, we're going to play within five yards of that post, it's either plus-or-minus five yards of the post.

And the only time I ever recall us ever varying from that was in 1977 at Southern Hills when we had a tee for 18 right beside the 8th green with a left-side hole location, I think maybe the first day, a lot of the tee shots on the par-3 8th were coming close to hitting players on the 18. So they decided on day 2, 3 and 4, they decided they'd move the hole across the creek. That's the only time we've ever varied from that philosophy.

I think that it would be hard to try to get a weather forecast, and then let's say that we knew, for example, that there was going to be wind and/or rain all day. We're not going to move all the tees up 10 or 15 yards. We're going to continue to play from within that five yard plus-or-minus area of the post. That's the way we set it up, and we can't let the elements dictate to us where we're going to put the tee.

I know the PGA TOUR oftentimes will go forward on tees when they get a weather forecast that calls for a lot of rain or a lot of wind. We don't do that. Now, I'm not saying that we're right and the PGA TOUR is wrong, but that's our philosophy, and that's theirs. I've heard that several of the players were upset with our setup today for that reason, but ladies and gentlemen, we've never done that. I hope we never do. Because we set the golf course up for a U.S. Open the way we thought it should be played to test the best players in the world.

And obviously this is a very tough day on everybody. I mean, the players, tough on them. Tough on spectators. Tough on our officials. Tough on the maintenance crew, who, by the way, did a magnificent job today keeping the course playable. I thought we were going to have so much casual water up on the greens that we would have to stop. The two times it did, and that was on the 17th and 18th green, we had squeegee crews working between two groups, and we were fortunate to get this round in. And that's a tribute to a lot of people.

And my hat's off for the players, to go 18 holes. This was a tough day for everybody. We tried to do our best in our job, and I think the players were out there grinding; I know they were. I know there were some scores that were very unhappy scores for certain players, and yet I know there's a few that had some good scores.

Q. Sergio was talking about the effect of the rain, and he said that he felt play should have been delayed 45 minutes, and then he also suggested that had Tiger Woods been on the course, it would have been delayed.

TOM MEEKS: Well, I can assure you, that's not true. From the very get-go, I was here from ten until 5:00; it started raining on the way out here, and it let up just a little bit a couple of times, rained pretty hard on occasions. We were monitoring the weather. And every time I asked for an update, I was hoping for a more optimistic one than the one I got. I don't even know what it is tomorrow. I'm almost afraid to ask.

But I can assure you, we did everything we could to stay on schedule. I don't think -- if you want to say that certain players were out there under unfair conditions, then I think you have to say they were all out there under unfair conditions.

In our opinion, if the golf course is playable, and ladies and gentlemen, by that, we mean if the greens are playable, then we can play. I understand there was a creek going across the 18th, I never saw it. Once you get on the other side of the road here, it's almost impossible to get back. We had people monitoring the water there on 18 and our rules rover said, "Tom, there's places for the players to go to take relief if they hit it into the water." That's what we needed was somewhere for them to go to get relief; that's fair.

As far as the greens are concerned, I think the maintenance crew did a magnificent job keeping the greens playable, and ladies and gentlemen, we kept playing. And it was tough.

Q. I know you can't account for playing characteristics on every hole, but I think the figure is at 7, 145 players missed the green in regulation. Are you comfortable with the notion that 145 players failed the test at 7?

TOM MEEKS: This is the first time I've heard that statistic. 145 players on No. 7 did not hit the green in two, on hole No. 7?

It's a 5-par that we were playing as a 4-par; it is a very hard hole. I'm very surprised. I'm very surprised at that statistic. Even if we had known about it this morning, as I say, we're not going to change our teeing ground philosophy. If you all want to say we're totally wrong with that philosophy, you can obviously say that.

I just don't think it's right to juggle the golf course around based on the weather. If we had gotten a call for a rainy day and moved all those tees up, sure, it might have been an equalizer for the players that played in the morning, but let's say it clears up this afternoon; now it's an advantage for the players in the afternoon. I feel like if we set it up one way, we're going -- unless there's a good reason to move it up, such as safety -- but the elements I don't believe will cause us to move it up.

I'm surprised at the statistic, yes.

Q. I think you've kind of answered this, but gut instinct, were you ever close to blowing the whistle. Was it crossing your mind, apart from the yardsticks you use to measure water on the greens and whatnot, you had water in bunkers, water in fairways, and squeegeeing tee boxes?

TOM MEEKS: The barometer there is: Are the greens playable.

Because if you have water in bunkers, there's places you can go to get relief. If you have water in fairway or rough, there's places to go for relief.

If you get a putting green that the hole is surrounded by water, now you're stuck. You can't go anywhere. That's why the squeegeeing was so important.

Yes, I really thought that at any time, and my officials were on alert the entire day, if you see casual water someplace that affects the hole on a putting green, let me know. And all of a sudden someone says "Tom, you can't believe the water close to the hole on 17." And that's the first time I heard it. Right then I did feel like we might be close to shutting it down for a while.

No sooner was that said than the squeegee crew was over cleaning it up, and all of a sudden I don't hear any more calls from that area. Close, yes. But hopeful that we wouldn't have to and glad that we were able to make it through the round.

Q. There seems to be some question over whether or not Sergio Garcia made an obscene gesture to the crowd. They were crowding some of the waggles and he got aggravated at one point. I think he was not quite clear on whether he did or did not. A, is there any sort of sanction that could be -- that would be imposed if that were to happen, are you going to bother to find out if he did, indeed, make that gesture?

TOM MEEKS: Well, that's the first time I've heard this, too. I'm getting caught up on the day. That's what I get for being out on that golf course all day freezing to death.

If we had a player that had some kind of a -- it sounds like a confrontation with the crowd a little bit, we have some excellent officials. They might call me or handle it themselves. I would personally like to see our official go over and say, could you please make sure this doesn't happen again, if, in fact, he did it. But I would also expect that official to call our person in charge of security and say, would you please get someone down here to go with the Garcia group, because there are some fans that are starting to maybe get a little bit out of hand with Sergio and in their conversation with him.

Those are things that we deal with when they come up.

Q. You talked about the philosophy of why you didn't move the tees up today on 10 and 12. I'd like to go into the philosophy in general why you require 250-yard tee shots to get into the fairways; when if they would have been 230-yard tee shots instead, 20 more yards of fairway early on, this issue would never have occurred. And as well, you would still have the same ability to hit a 3-wood from 260 or 270 to get into those greens?

TOM MEEKS: I was under the impression that everybody playing in U.S. Open Championships hits tee shots greater than 250 yards. Maybe I got some bad information. But if you're asking me, I couldn't do it, no. But --.

Q. They couldn't, either.

TOM MEEKS: I can assure you this: Every player in this field can hit a ball further than 250 yards.

Now, if the wind gets in your face and you're a 270-hitter, and maybe it's strong enough that it keeps you from doing that, sure, I see where that would be reduced. But all of these players can hit the ball 250 yards.

Q. Does that mean that the philosophy is that you need to be a longer-ball hitter in the U.S. Open?

TOM MEEKS: Let me say this: Of the statistics that I've heard, 250 yards is not a long hitter.

Do you know what the average driving distance is for the PGA TOUR?

Q. But the PGA TOUR has wider fairways, and those statistics are on four holes or two holes, that's all. They don't take all the holes.

TOM MEEKS: We're not talking width. We're talking length.

Q. Right. If you look where they measure on the PGA TOUR, they measure on wide fairways, long par 4s and par 5s, and they even measure in the rough. So that number, whatever that number is, that doesn't count in a U.S. Open with 20-yard or 30-yard wide fairways?

TOM MEEKS: I rest my case in saying that everybody in this field can hit a ball 250 yards.

RAND JERRIS: Thanks very much for your time.

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