U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 12, 1997

Dave Schreyer

LES UNGER: Well, Dave, as an opening question before we get to some other details, I wonder if you early today had an idea that you may have shot as well today and be sitting in an interview room? Are you surprised at your performance?

DAVE SCHREYER: No. I've been playing well. I've come off a win last week on the Hooters Tour. Been playing well all year long. Had some good starts on the Nike Tour and played well. I've worked for this all year long. This was my goal, to play here and play well. Mr. McLean, Jim McLean and I made it one of our goals, and we did some drills all year long to get my driver to where I want it. And, I just seem to be peaking right now with my driver, driving extremely well, and I've been working on a 30-yard grid on my driving range back home trying to get my driving percentage at least 75 percent in the 30-yard grid, and I've been successful with that, so it's going real well right now.

LES UNGER: Any holes today that were a key to your 2-under?

DAVE SCHREYER: I guess 9, I hit a good wedge there on the first part of the day. I actually hit the ball well on the front 9 and didn't convert it on a couple 10- or 15-footers that I had, I thought I could have made. Had one bad shot on, I guess it was 7, par 3, and I hit a 6-iron. I should have hit a 7. I just eased off of it and came out of it. And making the birdie on 9 got me going. And, I hit a really good 5-iron on 10, about 8 feet right of the hole and made it. And, I knew as I played my practice rounds all week, I've hit the ball well and driven it well. And, you know, I just reverted back to all those good drives in the practice round. Every time I got on a tee shot, I thought about the drive that I hit before and just executed what I was trying to do.

LES UNGER: Questions for Dave.

Q. Is it possible to win a Hooters Tour event one week and a U.S. Open the next?

DAVE SCHREYER: Yeah, anything is possible. Didn't you know that? Well, the level of play isn't like this, but the level of play out there is very good. I don't know if any of you have ever been out there, but there's probably 20 or 30 former Tour players out there, and probably 40 or 50 Nike Tour players out there, so the level of play out there is very good, if not as good as the Nike, maybe just a slight step down from the Nike Tour. And they all push you and make you play good, play better. And, yeah, I think it's possible. I'm going to do my best to make it come true.

Q. David, what did you learn in your practice rounds this week about this course?

DAVE SCHREYER: My practice rounds, driving the golf ball straight, and it's not that you have to drive it long. You have to keep it in play, and that's one thing Mr. McLean and I have to keep -- he walked with me yesterday in the practice round and gave me some good thoughts, and Ben Theobald, as well, gave some good thoughts on how to play strategy, you know. And my biggest problem is tempo - I get fast, and just been really sticking with my routine trying to be very slow. And, I'm probably still faster than lightning, but it feels slow to me, so that's good. And, just giving myself opportunities and when I do hit it in the rough, just get it back in the fairway, don't leave it in the rough. That was my biggest goal.

Q. David, where did you win last year on the Hooters? That wasn't in the book.

DAVE SCHREYER: Last week?

Q. Last week.

DAVE SCHREYER: Over in Illinois, Bloomington, Illinois.

Q. And No. 2, where is the Killians Classic that you played earlier in the season, where is Killian?

DAVE SCHREYER: Good question.

Q. It's the second tournament of the year in the Hooters, Compact Food Stores Classic?

DAVE SCHREYER: I don't know. Is it the one I lost in the playoff?

LES UNGER: I think he finished down the line in that one.

Q. 48th?

LES UNGER: 48th in that one.

DAVE SCHREYER: Oh, yeah.

LES UNGER: That's why you don't remember it.

DAVE SCHREYER: That's why I don't remember it. We don't remember the ones we don't finish up in the top.

Q. Could you talk about when you were on the Tour and the biggest difference now and --

DAVE SCHREYER: Yeah, when I was on the Tour, I came right out of college. I got my card first time out of the qualifying school. I was shell-shocked. These guys were my idols. You know, I was 23, 24 years old on Tour, and -- did I turn this thing off -- oh, okay, and like my first tournament, I was hitting balls between Greg Norman and Tom Watson. And, I hit a ball and watched them and I was like, wow, I hit those things. And, I'm still in awe of those guys. But, I'm 30 years old now, and I've been sitting back playing in the secondary and third tours out here, and I'm ready to play at this level again. I think my game is very close, and I feel like I can compete with these guys. I see a lot of my friends that are out here playing, and I felt like I've got as much game as they got. I'm just going to go out and try to execute the next two days -- next three days, excuse me.

LES UNGER: What's your best finish in a Tour event?

DAVE SCHREYER: I played well in Memphis in '92. I don't know what my finish was.

LES UNGER: Do you remember what the check was?

DAVE SCHREYER: It was around $10,000, so -- but I was like -- it was like ten guys tied for the one shot better than I was, and I was only maybe three or four shots out of second place. That was the year that Jay Haas won by seven. So, I think I finished 11.

Q. The book tells us you played the Tour in '92 and the tours you played. What did you do golfwise from '93 to '96?

DAVE SCHREYER: '93, I had elbow surgery. On '92, the year I was on Tour I acquired an elbow injury and then I acquired a lot of cortisone shots, and next thing you know, my arm practically fell off it was so bad. February '93, I had elbow surgery. Dr. Andrews at HealthSouth Center in Birmingham redid the joint, probably due to all the cortisone shots that -- I had achy joints, and he did kind of a radical surgery, and I came back 100 percent. I'm in the weight room four, five days out of the week lifting and trying to stay healthy, and I'm slight of build to begin with. So, doing that, you know --

Q. After the surgery, when did you start hitting balls and playing golf and --

DAVE SCHREYER: I got back to playing in September of that year. Didn't go full throttle until the next year, so.....

Q. What kind of events did you play when you were you on the Nike or --

DAVE SCHREYER: South Africa. I played the South African PGA Tour '94, '95, and played the Hooters Tour and Nike Tour in spots when I could get in.

Q. Dave, yesterday when you were talking about your confidence and you said you didn't have to raise your game to another level, that you were at the right level, were you trying to talk yourself into that at that time or did you really believe that? Are you surprised at all that you would play this well?

DAVE SCHREYER: No. One thing Mr. McLean told me yesterday that helped me out was he said the game that I had last week, that I won with last week, he says, "You don't have to up your level of play." He said, Take that game out here. That's going to play well here. It may not win, but it's going to play well. You don't have to get better when you get out here. You just have to maintain the level of play that you have. And, I shot 15-under on a good golf course, and it might have been shorter, but the rough was just as high last week where I was at, and the fairways were smaller. And the greens were smaller. And, I thought about that and I said, you know, every Tour event I ever went to, I tried to play better than I am. And, you don't have to do that. You know, I went out and I took the game that I had and I went out and played today and I played well. And, I could have been about three shots better if I would have holed a couple of putts. I 3-putted the last hole, and I missed three putts, you know, 10, 15 feet. So, you know, I think I can play at this level, and your confidence is what gets you there. So, my confidence is real good right now.

Q. Are you aware of the history of guys who sort of come out of nowhere in the Open and --

DAVE SCHREYER: No.

Q. -- and have done pretty well or, I mean, when you qualified you were just thinking about your game, you weren't thinking about what's happened here and -- you know, that you could be one of those guys?

DAVE SCHREYER: Yeah, I guess I could be. I don't know any cases of anybody coming out of nowhere and playing great. I'm sure there have been. You know, I can't be out there, and I mean, I can't -- what do I want to say? -- I can't control anybody else but myself, and all I can do is step up and hit one shot at a time and play, and that's what I'm doing. You know, hopefully, I'll be able to calm the butterflies and do that. I was successful with that today, and hopefully tomorrow, I'll do the same.

Q. Your schedule the rest of the year?

DAVE SCHREYER: Depends on how I play this week. Right now, I'm -- they have a bonus race on the Hooters Tour that I'm right up at the top. And he schedules it to where if you don't play a heck of a lot out there, you're not going to have a chance to win that money. It pays a lot of money for that. We play this game for money, so, you know, especially where I'm at right now.

If I can get on tour out here and playing out here, you know, then playing it for the pride and the wanting to win, you know, thing comes around. But, you know, I'm trying to pay my bills, so --

Q. Dave, congratulations on your play.

DAVE SCHREYER: Thank you.

Q. What do you hear from your sister Cindy on the LPGA Tour? Is she younger or older than you?

DAVE SCHREYER: Four years older than me.

Q. Did you grow up playing golf together?

DAVE SCHREYER: Oh, man, we did everything together. She was like the brother I never had. As a matter of fact, we played ball around the house. She was always the captain picking the team. She was the best at everything growing up and pushed me real hard growing up, and I owe a lot to her. She's a great player in her own right, you know, and, yeah, I'm sure I'll probably talk to her tonight.

Q. Can you talk about just how different the week was last week? I'm sure no one picked you up at the airport, you know. Any difference? Compare that, last week with this week.

DAVE SCHREYER: Well, out there, it's like -- I hate to say it, but it's kind of like third level, you know, like baseball, they're riding in the busses and all that stuff. It's very similar to that.

But, last week is probably the biggest Hooters tournament as far as people watching. We probably had a thousand people out there in the rain on Sunday where we were at in Illinois, Bloomington, El Paso Country Club. Those people were -- love that tournament, and they tromped in the rain on Sunday with me. It's, you know -- you know, I mean, these guys at -- this tournament is awesome, you know. They give you everything, and it's been a lot of fun. I'm having a blast, so, you know, just go out and hit it.

Q. How much did you win last week?

DAVE SCHREYER: 15 grand.

Q. Is that your biggest check?

DAVE SCHREYER: I've won out there five -- four times in the last two years, so, yeah, probably the load of 15 grand.

Q. What was the name of the tournament?

DAVE SCHREYER: Last week, it was the Michelob Heller Ford Classic in El Paso, Illinois. Actually, it's just outside of Bloomington.

Q. How many Opens have you tried qualifying for, have played in, and also how many times have you tried making the Tour after the surgery?

DAVE SCHREYER: Every year, actually. I've -- this is my first Open. I've actually won the first stage of the qualifier three times and have never been successful through the second one.

But, actually, low qualifier, and I'd always gone to a spot where there weren't very many spots, and you can play well, but you won't make it through because somebody else shot one shot, two shots better.

So, I went to Columbus this year where there were more spots.

Q. I see that your father played on the PGA Tour.

DAVE SCHREYER: No, he didn't. I don't know where they got that. My father did not play on the PGA Tour, no.

Q. It says it in the book.

DAVE SCHREYER: Well, I don't know where they got it.

Q. Was he an influence in you taking up the game?

DAVE SCHREYER: Oh, yeah, yeah, my father is -- he was a basketball player. He played at Kentucky. He was -- just loved the game of golf, him and my mom, and both got us -- they both got us playing me and my sister growing up and we played all sports, so both played basketball, both pretty good at basketball. Cindy was great at basketball -- golf was the one sporty had the body for. I was always athletic, but never had the body to play ball, a baseball or anything like that. Golf was the one I excelled at.

LES UNGER: Will you sleep well this evening?

DAVE SCHREYER: Oh, sure, yeah, I'm going to go out and keep playing like I am. People get nervous, I don't know what for. I'm just going to go out and play ball. Three more days, come on.

LES UNGER: I'm on your side, that's okay.

Would you give us your nonpars?

DAVE SCHREYER: This week -- today?

Q. Today.

DAVE SCHREYER: No. 7 and 18 two par 3s.

Q. How?

DAVE SCHREYER: 7, I had 162 to the hole and I hit a 6-iron which was ridiculously dumb, it was a perfect yardage for my 7-iron.

Q. So you hit it over?

DAVE SCHREYER: Actually I came out of it, I eased off of it. It's uphill a little bit and I wanted to make sure I got it to the green and ease out of it and I lost it right. I was in the lip of the bunker on the right in the high rough and then chipped it by about 10 feet, missed it.

18, I just birdied 17, and it's one of those things. The pin is in the front right or front left. And, I was just trying to hit it in the center and have about a 20-footer or so, and got a little ahead of it and squeezed it out to the right. I had about a 35-footer. I rolled it like 8 feet by or so. I missed it.

Q. Birdie on 9?

DAVE SCHREYER: Birdied at 9. Hit a perfect drive. Hit a perfect 5-iron hit, a perfect wedge at about 60 up the hill to the hole.

Q. 10, you said a 5-iron, 18 --

DAVE SCHREYER: Hit a perfect drive about 8 feet right of the hole, made it.

11, I hit a 2-iron off the tee, hit a 9-iron about 15 feet left of the flag, made it.

Q. Perfect. Thank you.

LES UNGER: Thank you good luck.

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