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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


June 16, 2006


Arron Oberholser


MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Evening.

Q. This has been a difficult course. You played it beautifully?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Thank you. I struggled a little bit yesterday with the iron play, and today on the range, my coach and I, who's here with me, we figured out something last night, and I though it wasn't going to click right other way. I decided to try to implement it today. I trusted it and I -- more importantly, they're going where I was looking. I wasn't flushing them every time, but they were going where I was looking, which is good.

Q. You played Pinehurst so well last year (inaudible). What does this tell you about yourself?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I'm a grinder. I mean there's no quit in me. There's no quit in my game. I grew up in a an area where this golf course is very common in San Francisco, bumpy poa annua. It's old hat for me, to be very honest. The greens condition, obviously the shape of the shots you have to hit off the tee are very similar. U.S. Open traditionally tracks my eye very well because of what I grew up on, Olympic Club, Merced, all those places where I played with members that I knew growing up.

Q. (Inaudible) did with the iron, what was the adjustment?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I just got more round instead of up and down with my golf swing. I just decided to flat -- tried to flat -- I'm not a very flat swinger as it, but I just tried to flatten it out.

Q. (Inaudible)?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Hitting it straighter and taking a little bit of spin off.

Q. (Inaudible)?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Yeah, I was a little miffed that I missed 18 fairway because I had been driving it so well. I think I might have gotten a little quick with the swing on 18. The swing feels good. It still feels like a little bit of patch work. I don't mean to that I put anything like -- I did it with my C-game out there. That's not the case. So no, I had, going in to today, the target was where I was looking.

Q. You also took six putts less today than you did yesterday. Did you change anything?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: No.

Q. Positioning, it was just your irons were more the thing?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I just think I trusted my lines better today. You know, I just -- I just went with it. I said, "To heck with it. I'm just going to go out and play. It's either going to go or it's not."

Q. Obviously you can't bring a C-game to a U.S. Open. The A-game, it has to be there, right?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: To have a chance to contend and win, you've got to bring the best you've got for another 36 holes. Hopefully I can continue to look and hit the ball where I'm looking. If I'm hitting where I'm looking, it's scoreable as long as you hit it under the hole.

Q. Do you think you have the mental maturity and obviously the skill in your game that you really need to win a major championship?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I think I have the game to win a major championship, but it takes more than a good golf game to win. You have to have the breaks at the right time. There's only four of them in a year and you just have to have everything clicking, I think, because you're right. No ones going to win a major championship with a C-game.

Q. How do you feel now after yesterday's round?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: No different. I'm taking it one day at a time and I'm just trying to play one shot at a time. I hate the cliche, and I know you guys do, too, but it's the honest to God's truth.

Q. You look at the leaderboard, you see quite a few Europeans up there. I think it's an eclectic leaderboard in terms of the type of players.

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I think you get that at a U.S. Open sometimes. It's not all about a power game. This golf course requires a finesse game. I don't think -- no one is going to overpower this golf course; no one is going to hit half the fairways every round and shoot 5- or 6-under par. It's just not going to happen out here. You're better off leaving the driver off and hitting 3-wood off the tee, mid irons into the greens as use it as you need it.

Q. (Inaudible)?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Myself, guys like David Toms, we're, all us guys, -- I can't speak for them. I like a golf course that's firm and fast that requires some accuracy off the tee.

Q. Special place, of course, but there's been a lot of complaints about it being lengthened, especially one like this. Would you say hats off to USGA for setting up a course like this (inaudible)?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Graeme's not short, that's for sure. But, yeah, you know, I think, you know, this is only my second open and from what I can see, last year was beautifully set up, perfect for the type of course it was. The USGA did a great job this year. You know, there's some burnt areas on the greens right now in certain areas, but I don't know what their plan is as far as watering. It's going to be warm over the weekend. I would imagine that they -- I would think they don't want to get like another Shinnecock, have another Shinnecock, so I'm hoping they learned from that and will take the necessary precautions to avoid that.

Q. Feeling good going into tomorrow?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: Sure. You either bring it or you don't, man. It's that simple.

Q. Take us through the three birdies.

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I don't even -- oh, 7, I hit an 8-iron to about six feet and made it.

11, I hit 5-wood, 9-iron to about, I don't know, eight feet above the hole and made it.

On 14, I hit driver, 8-iron to about six feet below the hole and made that.

And then 18, just missed the fairway by a hair. That's all that really matters out here, and then actually drew -- had the best lie in the rough, that jumped on me over the green, hit a good lob, wedge, or what I thought was going to be good and missed about an 18-footer for par.

End of FastScripts.
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