U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 1, 2008

John Cook

FULLAUDIOINTERVIEW

JOHN COOK: Wow. That course is right on the edge. It is right on the edge. There's no doubt. I hit the ball really, really well today, really well. And just between the wind blowing and gusting and the pin placements were on a scale of 10, were 15. It just was -- it was all I could do to survive.

I mean, 6-under par to me is -- I mean, that's pretty darn good. I know Eduardo shot a nice score today, so anything under par today was just outstanding. My hat's off to them. It was very, very difficult out there today.

Q. When did you first get a sense that the pin placements were going to be just wicked?

JOHN COOK: Right at No. 1. That one was right on the edge, and just every hole was on a slant. And if you -- you know, with the wind blowing, it was hard to put the ball underneath the hole. Just sometimes you couldn't do it. It was impossible.

And you know, I had, example, on No. 8, I had a 5-footer that I didn't know how I could keep it within eight feet of the hole. And luckily, it caught the hole and slowed down and I had a four-footer.

But you couldn't put the ball underneath the hole without knocking it in the hazard. So it was hard. It was hard. It was a survival down.

Q. Were you above the hole on No. 18?

JOHN COOK: Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was no way to keep it below the hole, even from the up tee. I was literally five feet behind the hole, right dead behind it. And I was looking diagonal. I was looking this way to putt this way with a five-footer. It was close. But I'm actually semi-happy with 2-over. I hit a lot of quality shots.

Q. Was it a better ball-striking day for you today?

JOHN COOK: Just as good. I missed a couple of fairways today, but they were all good drives, and just rolled through the fairway maybe a couple times.

But other than that, my ball striking was solid and in flush, which you had to do to take advantage of the altitude. But then again, you know, the wind, you had a lot of variables in there with the wind blowing and the altitude.

And it was hard to judge how far -- how hard to hit a shot. Into the wind or down wind. It wasn't easy.

Q. Is your game -- how would you rate your game? Is it the best it's been in a long time right now?

JOHN COOK: It's better than it has been this year. I've played nicely this year, but I haven't played great. I've played nicely.

That's what I was saying yesterday, I've had a lot of top 10s, but only probably three of those I felt like I had a chance to win.

And so, it's coming around. Obviously last week I struck the ball beautifully. I really, you know, I might have fruited away some shots, but on that golf course kind of didn't do a couple of right things coming in. But I struck the ball nicely. I've hit a lot of solid shots which you have to do at altitude. If you don't hit your shot, crisply you can't take advantage of it.

So, I've done that the first two days. I'm happy with it. You know you're going to have to make a lot of 5- and 6-footers. You're just going to have to settle for second putts and I've been able to do that.

Q. Are these some of the worst pin placements you've ever seen?

JOHN COOK: Right on the edge, yeah. There was a couple that if they actually went out and looked at it, I don't know if they'd put them there. I mean, No. 9 was off the charts. There was a few. I mean, starting right at No. 1, but you know, the greens are what they are. They're slopy, and I like the greens because you don't have the big humps and bumps.

But there's just a lot of pitch to them and if they're going to keep the greens at speed, they really have to watch where they put the pins. Don't mind the pin placements if the greens are puttable, but they're getting right there.

Q. John, I don't know if you watched any of the earlier part of today's round?

JOHN COOK: I try not to. (Laughs). I did, though.

Q. They showed a lot of wildlife. I don't know. I guess you didn't see any out on the course?

JOHN COOK: No. They weren't out there when we were out there, but I know we saw a bear running through maybe 11 or somewhere around in there and some deer and a couple of foxes. You don't get that every week. (Laughs).