U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 13, 1996

Woody Austin

WOODY AUSTIN: No, I played pretty much -- almost a flawless round of golf today. Put the ball right where I had to put it all day.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, it was pretty much a bunch of boring pars to start with. I probably had a 12-footer on the first hole, 4-footer on the second hole; probably missed another 5-footer on 6. 15-footer on 7 and just made a whole bunch of pars, was playing perfect, hitting every fairway; every green. I got to 8 and it was the first green. But I missed it right where I had to, about a foot short of green. So I either could putt it or chip it up to the hole and I chipped it to about a foot. So I didn't have any problems there. And then number 9 was playing pretty difficult where they had the pin, and I probably took one less club to make sure that I didn't put it in too much trouble. I hit it right short, same as 8; right short of the green, right just barely to where I could just chip it right up the hill. That was probably the best putt I made all day. Made a 5-footer for par there, which kept my round going. 2-putt par 10 on 10. And ten pars in a row that weren't really too spectacular or difficult. I got to number 11 and I hit it about four feet below the hole, and I made my first birdie. I played 12 pretty much perfect, hit a really good drive --

WOODY AUSTIN: I hit an 8-iron to about, 3, 4, feet short of the hole, perfect little uphill putt; so it wasn't a difficult putt. 12: Long drive, 243 to the front. 3-wood and it just clipped the tree and it came up just short of the green, short of the bunker. And I had perfect little uphill lie; chipped it up there about six to eight feet short of the hole and perfect right up the hill again and knocked that in. And I got up on 13, the par 3, hit a 6-iron in there about five, six feet left of the hole; perfect shot, pin-high, didn't have a hard putt and just knocked it in; made three birdies in a row. I was off and running. Then I played pretty good from there on in.

WOODY AUSTIN: My only saves at the end were -- I had a couple of tricky 2-putts on 16 and 17. I hit a great 3-iron into 17, but I hit it to the right which was above the flag, and I was feeling pretty good and I tried to make it, and I ran it a good ten feet by and made it coming back. So that was probably my biggest save of the day.

WOODY AUSTIN: 17. I missed the fairway on 18, but had a good enough lie to knock it between the two bunkers and I knocked it on the green about 45 feet and almost made it.

WOODY AUSTIN: I was pretty nervous, like anybody is going to be playing their first Open, but I just felt as though I have been playing so good for the last month and a half, two months. As far as from tee-to-green, I have been playing very well from tee-to-green. I haven't been making a lot of putts, but I have been playing a perfect U.S. Open style of golf. I am hitting a lot of fairways, hitting a lot of greens, putting the ball where I want to put it. So I just thought if I kept on playing that same style of golf, that in a U.S. Open even par is a great score, so I felt pretty comfortable about shooting even par the way I've been playing.

WOODY AUSTIN: That is true. I don't really know why or the correlation except the fact that the Buick was pretty rainy and wet the first couple of days as well, and when you are playing as well as I have been playing as far as hitting the ball and it becomes target golf -- well, I am going to land it in the fairway and I am going to land it on the green. Now, if the conditions were firm and fast, they might not stay in the fairway. They might not stay on the green, but the way the conditions are today, I am hitting it to where I want to hit it; so it is going to stay where I hit it, and I took advantage.

WOODY AUSTIN: I'd say so. I mean, I know if I would have given up a long time ago, which I could have done a long time ago, I wouldn't be here; so I felt as though I have paid my dues. I mean, I have felt as though back in college I was just as good as a Lee Janzen or a Davis Love, and I proved it in my college record. But they're being touted as the greatest young players so many years ago when I wasn't even playing. So if they're being called the next great players and I know that I could compete with them in college, then I felt as though I can compete with them out here. I just needed to be given my chance, and I just had to work a little bit harder to get here.

WOODY AUSTIN: I don't think I can improve. I really played almost as well as I could play. I missed two fairways. I guess I could not miss a fairway, but that is, you know -- it is kind of hard not to miss a fairway when they're only 30 yards wide. And I could hit every green, but other than that, I put the ball exactly where I had to put it. So I don't think I could play from a technical standpoint any better. I never had a downhill chip; I never had a downhill bunker shot; I never had a bunker shot at all or a chip except from right in the fringe just short of the green. So I always had the ball where I had to have it.

WOODY AUSTIN: I mean, it's got to be easier because these greens are so severe that if they were firm and rolling, there is some shots that wouldn't have stayed on the greens. There is some putts that wouldn't have stayed around the hole; might have been some drives that wouldn't have stayed in the fairway, so from that point, it is definitely playing easier. And you have to take advantage of a golf course like this when it gives it to you, and I did today.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, it's kind of discouraging to come out of school and think that, you know, you are good enough to play and you take a shot at it and you don't make it. And all of a sudden you get hurt and you can't even play. And so you work a normal job like everybody, 8 to 5, and everyone asks you what are you doing here? What do you like to do? And you say "well, I am a professional golfer, but I am hurt." They are like "oh, yeah, sure you are. I am a professional football player, but I just work just because I want to." I mean, you get snide remarks and you get people that don't believe you, so it is kind of a motivating factor as well, so... Not to mention the fact that you go out and play with your friends and you play pretty well and they're like "well, why aren't you out there? " It is not that easy. You only get one shot a year to get your Tour card. People don't realize how hard it is to get here. If you have a stellar college career like a Phil Mickelson or like a Tiger Woods has the opportunity or a Justin Leonard where you can play so many tournaments after winning a U.S. Amateur, you might earn your way like Phil did with a victory or like Justin did playing so good in his seven or eight events. Until the Nike Tour came along -- and I graduated before Nike Tour even came out -- you only had one shot and that's it. That is a lot of pressure.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I tore the ligaments and cartilage in my left knee for the second time, and what I didn't realize was when I did it when I was a little kid, they didn't tell me the extent of the damage, so my left knee never developed. It never grew. So my left knee was eight years behind my right knee. So instead of having reconstructive surgery, I had to rehabilitate my whole leg. I had to build the strength in my knee up so that it could take playing golf or running around or doing anything, so that was the biggest thing. It wasn't like you could just go in, scope it, and go out and play golf in six weeks. I could have scoped it and gone out and played golf in six weeks and done it again because the knee wasn't strong enough to take the punishment. As far as Q school being harder than a U.S. Open, it is a lot harder to a point because like I said, Q school there are no guarantees. A U.S. Open, sure, it is difficult and whatever, but if you are out on Tour, I have got next week just as much as I have -- it may not be as important as a U.S. Open, but any victory out here is important. But if you go in Q school and you don't make it, you don't have anything else to do except play the mini-tours or if you are lucky enough to play the Nike Tour. So I'd say it's a lot harder. I'd say it is probably the hardest tournament there is.

WOODY AUSTIN: I worked for GTE Federal Credit Union in Tampa, Florida. I worked as a bank teller for seven years almost -- off and on for seven years -- from '87 to -- I worked the week before the finals of Q school in 1994. I worked that one week right before, so I had only practiced one week before.

WOODY AUSTIN: Let's see. I had about a 30-footer on 16 for birdie, and I ran it probably about four, five feet past the hole. And 17, I hit a good 3-iron to probably about 18, 20 feet right and a little bit past the hole and I -- and I ran it ten feet by.

WOODY AUSTIN: Absolutely. If you were really that good, what are you still doing here? The best thing about that was towards the end, I started to leave a lot. I became only a part-time teller. I was gone all the time, so when I'd come back, they would be like "where have you been?" I'd say "I went to the Dakotas and played for the last two months up there and played golf." And you know, some of the events I did play in -- were how would you say it -- were picked up by my local newspaper. I won the Waterloo Open. I won the second event on the Dakota Tour, so I won twice in four weeks. So it was proven that I actually could play.

WOODY AUSTIN: Just like any bank teller, just go in and get in there and take peoples' money and give it back to them. Take their checks, and you know -- I mean, it just -- it was just your basic banking job. I was there for so long, I could have moved up through the system and could have been -- I could have been a manager or bank manager, whatever. I always felt as though if I stayed at the level I was at, I could come and go as I pleased. I could make my own hours and it wouldn't be hard to go out and play golf tournaments. It worked out perfect, so at the end of my working at the credit union, I would go to Orlando Monday and Tuesday, play the Mini-Tour event, then I'd work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I'd go the next Monday, Tuesday to Orlando and come back work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So if I moved up the ladder, I would never have been able to do that.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, as far as the actual injury, I rehabed for about 18 months where I didn't touch a golf club at all. Then at the beginning of '89 I started back chipping and putting, and I really wanted to get back in the game, but I had no money. I had no sponsors. I had nothing. You have to have sponsors and money in this game to even get started because the mini-tours are a heck of a lot more expensive than out here as far as to get going because, sure, you have to spend money on the plane fares and everything out here, but an entry fee to a mini-Tour event is four, five times more. So you got to come up with some financial backing. So the fact that I won the United States Japan matches in college, I had a name in Japan, so I had these people ask me if I wanted to go back over there. And I felt as though it might be a good idea just to get away so I could practice, just so I can try and get my game back in shape because I hadn't played for two years. Well, I went over there for a year and I never got to play. I never got to -- I won their National Long Drive Contest which should have gotten me into 10 events, and I never got to play in any so that was kind of like a wasted year, year and a half I went back. I went back to the credit union, started working again, part-time working, and I started playing officially after saving enough money in 1992.

WOODY AUSTIN: I'd like to think there are a lot of hard workers out here. There really are. Unfortunately, not all of us are gifted with Greg Norman's ability or Nick Faldo's mental -- how would you say it -- his ability to stay so focused that he is almost like a statue as he goes about his business. Some of us like myself are very -- I'm very hyper. I am very active, and it is hard for me to calm down in situations like him; but if I work really hard and I bust my butt, so to speak, then I feel as though on any given day I can compete with him. I may not have the track record. I may not have the ability on a long-term basis, but I know deep in my heart that I can play with anyone on any given day.

WOODY AUSTIN: That was the hard part. You played Monday, Tuesday; worked through Friday. You might get to play -- and what I didn't tell anyone, it sounds like I am grandstanding or saying that I really worked really hard, but I also worked as a bartender at night. I did anything to save money, to make money. You work part-time as a bank teller, you are not going to make a whole hell of a lot of money. I bartended. I worked at Eckerd Drugs, midnight to 7:00 A.M. shift. I did everything I could to save money, and whenever I had a chance to practice, I practiced. I put up a net in my backyard. I hit balls at night. I found a lighted driving range after work. I changed clothes; I'd go straight from work to the driving range. I wouldn't get home 'til 9 o'clock. I'd hit balls. And then I started to travel and try and find the certain little small tours that I could play, just to build my confidence. I met a real good friend of mine on the mini-tour. He took me to the Dakotas for the first time which is where he grew up. That is a perfect area for me. It was 8 tournaments in a row. It was a chance to play on a weekly basis. Then I went back to work. It didn't go very well the first year. But I could steadily see improvement and then the next year, I won twice. I won Q school. I almost won the Jamaican Open. Everything built itself right to Q school; then I broke through at Q school and it all was because I started playing on a weekly basis.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I mean, it is kind of funny because when I was on the Nike Tour and I was playing on the Nike Tour, the weeks that I took off of the Nike Tour, I was still -- I was still on their payroll. If they needed me, all they did was call me up and I worked a couple of days. They were -- my understanding is they were so nice to me in allowing me to fulfill a dream; it was only right for me to pay back whatever I could. I just got a great rapport with my boss. I got a great rapport with the owner of the credit union. I worked hard when I was working full-time and I never missed days, so I felt as though I earned the right to be a part-time teller. And as a part-time teller you can almost pick out your own hours, if you have enough seniority and I built enough seniority to take those hours.

WOODY AUSTIN: Pretty close. Yeah, it is amazing to -- there was a few accounts that kind of scare you.

WOODY AUSTIN: No. I am self-taught. I have a good friend of mine his name is Neil Postlethwait who I have known for the last 20 years who has known me for the last 20 years and he is a teaching professional. If I have get out of whack or whatever, I will call him and we will talk, but I don't really have anyone that I ever worked with. I taught myself how to play and I always feel that if I am playing bad I can figure it out and if I can't, then I give him a call.

WOODY AUSTIN: No, he isn't. No relation.

WOODY AUSTIN: I would have to say the victory was a lot more than the beginning -- sure, you feel like you belong, but until you win, you don't feel as though you fit in yet. It was such a neat deal the next week to be playing at the PGA and to have some big names come up and say, "hey, congratulations;" whereas earlier in the year, you walked by them and they are like "who was that again?" So, when you win, you kind of -- you kind of raise your spirit, so to speak.

WOODY AUSTIN: I read a lot about Jack Nicklaus growing up. Read a lot -- I mean, he was always in every golf digest giving some clinic or some talk about what he did at a big event on a certain shot. I watched a lot of -- I love to watch golf. I still watch it every week that I am not playing. I like to watch the tournament that I am not even playing in, just to see what is going on. I am very inquisitive about that. But I am not a very mechanical or very technical person. I feel as though I go strictly by feel so that is very easy to teach myself when I go simply by feel. I don't go by this technique having the club here or there or whatever. I just go by if it feels like it gets where it is supposed to, that is fine with me.

WOODY AUSTIN: I never really came to close to getting in the Open. The closest I came to qualifying was a couple of years ago at Lake Nona, I qualified for the finals then I broke my finger right before the finals. That was as close as I came.

WOODY AUSTIN: No, that is not unnerving anymore at all. I feel as though after last year maybe I still might have been considered a possible fluke or he might have had his year, just might have been his time, but I think after this year, I have played pretty solid for the last couple of months and I think I have proven that I belong out here and that I am a consistent ballplayer.

WOODY AUSTIN: Actually, I played with him for the first time last year at Memorial and I played with him this year at Memorial and I ran into him at Memorial this year and I asked him if he was playing a practice round at the Open and if I could play. He said, "well, I am only playing one official practice round, I am playing with Tom Watson." Well, I have never played with Tom Watson before and I knew he was in the clubhouse. I said, "Well, do you know if you have four?" He said, "I don't think so." I went into the clubhouse. I talked to Tom, and he -- and I just moved to his neck of the woods, so I have gotten to talk to him a little bit as of late because I only live about 40 minutes from him now, and I asked him if I could play. He said, "well, how bad do you want to play?" I got down on my knees and begged to play and he said I could play.

WOODY AUSTIN: Every bit of it. It works out perfect. I don't have to set up any accounts anywhere. It goes straight to them. I trust them. I know where it is going to go. I still work there. I still bank there. I do it all.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I think when you are playing as well as I was today, that it is good planning. If I would have been hacking it out of the rough, it might have been good fortune to get it where I needed to get it. But I played from the middle of almost every fairway and the two fairways that I did miss, I knocked it on the green, so I can't say that that was, you know, I put the ball where I had to put it every time.

WOODY AUSTIN: Thank you.