U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2003

Allen Doyle

ALLEN DOYLE: I can remember the eagle. I remember that real well.

Q. Can you talk about that hole?

ALLEN DOYLE: I had a good start on 10. I drove it in the left rough but had a pretty good lie. I got it out in the front right fringe and chipped in. So I had a good start and then 13, the eagle hole, I hit about 239 to the hole and hit a 3-wood 15, 18 feet. Close to pin-high and I made it. So I was off to a good start.

Q. How long was the chip-in in 10?

ALLEN DOYLE: The chip-in was 50 foot or so.

Q. How difficult was the course playing today?

ALLEN DOYLE: Obviously, the greens, the first 9 this morning acted like greens -- what we normally might play and you made a nice normal ball and the ball only released a few feet. Actually though on the back nine it was starting -- we were starting to get back to where it was, but not quite, but it was just a fight out there. You get up on every tee, and you got to hit it in the fairway. If you don't, it's a struggle and if you do, it isn't easy but it's easier. So that's all you would try to do out there, that's all all of us are trying to do.

You know, but the greens were finally more playable today because of the softness. An example was on 5, I had 183, it's a right pin and I flew it right at the hole about 12 feet behind it. I had a good size ball mark and yesterday and tomorrow and Sunday it will be all over the green and I wouldn't have had that shot probably. I would have had to take it 40 feet left. You know this, morning, with the rain last night, it was nice to get out there early and play the course where you can be halfway aggressive.

Q. The middle of the front side, 3; 4; 5; 6; 7, are the toughest part of this course. You have been able to get through it even par or 1-over. Can you tell us why you have had the success you have had on it?

ALLEN DOYLE: Well, today, I didn't have that much success. I was in the left collar on 3 and ran it about six feet by it and made bogey there. And then I 3-putted 4. That's the meat of that front 9 because of the length of it.

4, today we had like 213 to the hole. You know, 5 played real long. We had 185 to the hole. You know you are playing 3 like -- you know, that greens, I even felt today that I could not go at the pin because I didn't feel it would hold, so on a hole like 3 you are playing out 40 feet left of the hole. That's the meat of the course. And then 7 in there is a real good driving hole. So you got 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; you know, you can't afford to make a mistake on any shot.

Q. Well, you talked about the greens playing a little more soft, you mentioned your first nine; by your second 9 were they starting to firm up some?

ALLEN DOYLE: Yes, they were firming up a little. They weren't firming up so that you couldn't be aggressive. I thought they scheduled up a little. The 3 from the edge on 3 and on the 3-putt on 4, you know, I actually kind went to sleep a little and didn't fear the brutal speed and I should have because it seemed like that front 9. It seemed like you could hit it about a foot to two feet harder than you could yesterday. And then I got up on those holes and I didn't fear that last 15 feet that was going -- was glassy, and going away from me and I think it was more of the speed today that back nine started to get up speedwise.

Q. Entering the weekend are you happy with your position that you are in?

ALLEN DOYLE: Yes, I don't know where I will be at the end of the day. But more than likely I will be in pretty good shape. But these are the easy days. The hard days are the weekend days so we don't get too excited. We get through the front Friday round whether it be after two days or would be today because the work starts now.

Q. Was the wind a problem?

ALLEN DOYLE: Yes, the back nine especially. You know, the last three or four holes, it got to be starting to blow close to where it was yesterday. You know, I mean, a hole like 9 you got the wind blowing pretty darn good, and you got that little tiny green that looks about this big from the fairway. You know, you don't want to miss it left. You don't want to hit it too far right and you got the wind blowing pretty good. So you know, I mean I felt like those last few holes played like yesterday. You didn't care if you didn't get in that quadrant; the pin was in as long as you got on that green where you weren't having to do, you know, the hacking stuff. So yes, I thought especially on 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, it got up too close to what it did yesterday afternoon.

Q. I know you don't want to look too far ahead but with the premium on accuracy on this course and you being one of the most accurate drivers on the TOUR, do you see this as a great opportunity for you?

ALLEN DOYLE: You know, I feel that's a strong point each week. Of course it will probably be a little stronger this week. But you know, it doesn't matter how much -- I missed three fairways today, and they were probably a combined total of a foot, you know, and I had trouble hitting the ball out like everybody else did. You notice, there were two of them I even wondered why they didn't run along the cutline and how they got in the rough, you know, by an inch, you know, where you feel that you drove the ball good. And, you know, the guy that misses the fairway by 20 yards is no worse penalized -- you know, than I did, when I missed by a half an inch. It's that penal.

You know, I don't know if it's possible to go around here without not missing a fairway. But that's almost what you feel you have to do.

Q. A lot of guys talked about playing defensively yesterday; do you feel that you had to play defensively today?

ALLEN DOYLE: No, I didn't to start off because of the softness of the green. We had a shot in 11, after I birdied 10. We had 120 yards. It was a right-left with a hole behind it. You knew you could hit that pitching wedge and if you did fly it past the hole it wasn't going to go anywhere. Whereas yesterday, if I would have hit a similar shot I came up about ten feet short of the hole today. It jumped up and spun back a little and yesterday, on that hole I hit a 9-iron. I was 134, I think. It hits about 2 paces short of pin-high and I am in the back fringe.

So you know, knowing the greens are going to be in the condition they were in, you felt like, you know, that if you hit a pretty good shot into the green that it couldn't get away from you.

End of FastScripts....