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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2004

Jeff Maggert

SHINNECOCK HILLS, NEW YORK

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now at the podium at 5-under par for the championship, 3-under par for today's round, Jeff Maggert.

Q. Jeff, what is it about the U.S. Open that steps it up a little for you?

JEFF MAGGERT: It's hard to say. Like I said yesterday, the strong points of my game, driving the ball in the fairway, are so important to play well at a U.S. Open type of venue. And I feel like I'm thinking my way around the golf course very well, not taking a lot of chances, taking a lot of pars and accepting par as a good score, and not being real aggressive. You shoot at some of these pins, and you don't have a good shot, you're going to pay. And I've just been a little bit more patient and accept a 15-foot birdie putt as opposed to hit it in three or four feet.

Q. Does the course take some aggression and some thought out of what you have to do?

JEFF MAGGERT: Certainly so. You're always on the defensive on this style of golf courses, and you're really just trying to -- you're thinking more one shot at a time, put the ball in the fairway, and you take what the golf course can give you. You can hit a lot of good shots, and you may not be able to shoot under par, and if you're fortunate and you get a few putts to drop, you're able to shoot a good score.

Q. You made it around under the radar. Obviously now you're going to be in one of the later groups and in the heat of things. I'm wondering how that changes things.

JEFF MAGGERT: It doesn't change much. Inside the ropes I've still got to take care of business. And obviously there's probably going to be more people out tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be fun.

The crowds on Long Island have been great. They were very supportive of my play at Bethpage, and I've had a lot of good support this week. So I expect to have a lot of fun this weekend and hopefully I can shoot some good scores.

Q. This is your third time that you've played here. What do you remember about that first time you played here?

JEFF MAGGERT: It was a tough day, and I shot 82 or 83, I can't remember the score, but you take a day like that and you just -- you put it behind you. I wasn't feeling that great, obviously, shooting that kind of a score, but when you get in the clubhouse, and you see all the other guys that struggled and shot in the 80s and high 70s, it makes you feel a little better. It was tough. First pro event, being the U.S. Open on a tough golf course under tough conditions was a good experience. I wish I could have played a little better and made the cut that year, but all in all, it was a good learning experience for me.

Q. You have Phil one stroke ahead of you -- (inaudible).

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, the U.S. Open is -- it's not like other tournaments where guys are always kind of creeping up with 63s and 64s from behind, so obviously the leaderboard is kind of shaking out a little bit today and you're getting a good look at the guys that are going to have a chance on Sunday.

I hope to just continue the way I'm playing. I'm hitting the ball extremely well, and I feel like if I can keep doing the things I'm doing, I'll have a chance to win on Sunday.

Q. Are you hoping for the wind to kick up a little bit?

JEFF MAGGERT: I would like to see a little bit more wind. But this golf course is going to play very difficult the next two days. It's going to get firmer and faster. It's not going to take much wind to make the golf course play extremely difficult. If we get even a small wind, you know, 10 to 15 miles an hour, you're not going to see a lot of scores under par this weekend.

Q. Stat-wise you're a carbon copy of yesterday, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, sort of U.S. Open boring?

JEFF MAGGERT: I guess. I hadn't -- I felt like I had a few more birdie opportunities this afternoon than I did yesterday. I just played real steady golf. I had a lot of opportunities on the back nine to maybe get a couple more birdies, but like I said, you've got to be a little bit more conservative and accept the pars and not get upset in the fact that you're not making five or six birdies a round out there.

Q. You look at 14 and 18 as really good opportunities?

JEFF MAGGERT: I hit it close on 18 and really had a lot of close putts. I had a fairly close putt from the fringe on 12.

I had about a five- or six-footer on 13.

I hit it pretty close on 14, and again on 15.

And I finally made one on 16, the par-5. So it was a very steady back nine. I kept the ball in the fairway.

The only bad tee shot was on 16, and I was fortunate it was on the cart path there and I was able to hit the ball up in front of the green and made birdie. So that was the only really bad tee shot and got a good break there.

Q. Would you go through the birdies?

JEFF MAGGERT: Birdied -- let's see, I guess 5 was my first birdie, just a two-putt from the front of the green, about -- from probably 40 or 50 feet away.

Then I bogeyed 7, a tough par-3.

And then came back with a birdie on 9. And that was kind of -- really kind of got me going for the back 9.

I just hit a good shot on the 11th hole.

Q. What did you hit in 9?

JEFF MAGGERT: 9 was a 9-iron -- no, it was a wedge, a pitching wedge to about 10 feet.

Then I birdied 11. I hit it in from about a foot and a half.

And then the birdie on 16.

Q. What did you hit in 11?

JEFF MAGGERT: 9-iron.

Q. What would it do for your career to win here?

JEFF MAGGERT: I've had a great career, I'm not complaining where I'm at at this point. Obviously I felt like I could have won a few more tournaments on the Tour and obviously a major championship. I feel like I've got seven or eight good years behind me, and if I can play like Jay Haas when I'm 50, I've got ten years in front of me.

I'm looking forward to the next few years. I don't feel like this is the downhill slide of my career. I feel like I've got a lot of good opportunities left. And hopefully I'm going to get one of those tournaments.

Q. (Inaudible).

JEFF MAGGERT: It was pretty calm today. It started to blow late in the round today, but the golf course was pretty soft with the rain that we had yesterday afternoon. Even though it wasn't much of a rain, it was enough to make the golf course play softer.

Q. (Inaudible).

JEFF MAGGERT: It seemed like it switched a little bit from the start of my round, and then on about the 10th or 11th hole it seemed to switch a little bit more. I'm not sure which direction that is, but maybe a 90-degree change in the directions.

Q. You said from the practice rounds that you felt like your game is in shape where it could handle whatever this course had. Two days through, how do you feel now?

JEFF MAGGERT: I feel very well about my game. I did hit the ball extremely well in my practice, and shooting a low round here in '95 on Sunday really kind of put me in a good frame of mind knowing that I could play golf on this golf course under tough conditions. And I really haven't had any fear of the conditions this week. If the wind blows another 15 or 20, I feel like my game is in excellent condition to handle that type of condition. Regardless of what the weather holds I'm hitting the ball extremely well, and I'll just take the weather as it comes.

End of FastScripts.

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