U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 13, 2002

Billy Mayfair

RAND JERRIS: We're now joined by Billy Mayfair. Congratulations on your fine round today.

BILLY MAYFAIR: Thank you very much. It was a nice day out there. I hit every fairway out there, and hit a lot of greens; my only bogey was a 3-putt on 16. I made a nice birdie on No. 4 and No. 18 closing the day. Overall, I'm happy with the day.

RAND JERRIS: Were the playing conditions what you expected, much like what you saw in the practice rounds?

BILLY MAYFAIR: No, not really. I think the practice rounds, it was even harder out there. You had the wind blowing and the sun out a lot more. I think the showers yesterday didn't change the golf course a lot, but made it softer, and with the cloud cover all day today, it didn't get any harder or faster. The wind blew today a little bit, but not as hard as it can, or it can here. So, overall, I think the scoring conditions were really good.

RAND JERRIS: Did you have a particular score in mind, target for yourself when you came out today?

BILLY MAYFAIR: No. Like I said, I really hadn't been playing all that great coming into this week; I'd been making a lot of cuts on the PGA TOUR, but no high finishes. I only got one Top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR. I love the U.S. Open, I love golf courses where you have to make a lot of pars. Pars are good scores, and this is definitely a great golf course for that. But my biggest key today, like I said, again, was I hit every fairway out there. At least I was in the first cut in every hole. You keep the ball in play out here, and you're going to give yourself a good chance to score.

Q. I think hitting every fairway is pretty remarkable. I don't know how many other people would do that today. Have you been driving it that well or is there something special about today?

BILLY MAYFAIR: I haven't been driving it really bad. I don't know what my fairway stats are right now, but I feel very comfortable with my driver going into the week and all that, but I definitely hit it much better today than I have. I don't know if it just was my timing was better or what it was. But I definitely drove the ball better than I definitely did last week at Westchester.

RAND JERRIS: Were you hitting driver off most of the tees?

BILLY MAYFAIR: Most of the tees I did, yeah. Basically, on 18 was a good example. It was left-to-right, and on the widest part of the fairway is a 3-wood, but I've been driving so well, I hit driver anyway, and got it down in the neck and hit a 9-iron in there for 10 feet and made birdie. So since I was driving it well, I just kept hitting it.

Q. We're all talking about a score for Sunday, do you want to give a guesstimate on what you think is going to happen if the weather conditions remain about the same?

BILLY MAYFAIR: If they stay like they are now, and we don't get as much wind and a lot of cloud cover, I think under par will win. But, again, if the sun comes out and the wind starts blowing, even par, maybe over par could even win this golf tournament. I think the wind will be more of a factor than anything else. I think we're supposed to get some rain tomorrow a little bit and pretty much good for the rest of the weekend. But I still think the most important thing is how hard the wind is going to blow to see what the final score will be. But it won't be very many under par.

Q. Sort of in line with the last question, but there's maybe three or four names with minus signs in front of their scores on a day that everybody is saying is probably as easy as this course will play. What does that mean, possibly, for the rest of the week?

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, it means it could get very difficult and tough out there. Again, it makes me happy that I've got one round in, then, with some red numbers, that's for sure. I definitely would agree with what they say. I think today was probably the best scoring conditions we've seen since Monday here, that's for sure. If the wind does come up and the course dries up, you may not see any red numbers at all.

Q. Given what you guys are used to, week-in and week-out on the Tour, is it hard to get into the mindset that par is a good score, and to be patient and wait for your birdie opportunities?

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, it's something I think you have to learn when you're out here, and especially when you get to the Majors, you know that Augusta is a little bit that way. But when you get to the U.S. opens and the British Opens, you better know that par is a good score. You've got to get it in the short grass and on the green; if you make one or two birdies a round, that's really good. I think to answer your question, I think that more comes with the experience of playing in Opens more than anything else.

Q. Are the crowds out here typical golf crowds or a little more a New York issue?

BILLY MAYFAIR: I think the crowds out here have been wonderful. We had someone throw a golf ball at us on the 16th fairway, which I don't think was very nice. Unfortunately -- everyone sees that. But I think, overall, the crowds are wonderful, very supportive, very golf-oriented, very knowledgeable of the game of golf. I hadn't played at Westchester last week for 10 years, I went back and played last week, and I was surprised not at how nice the people were, but how golf-knowledgeable they were. I think the crowds have been wonderful.

Q. If you didn't hit it into the rough, I guess it wouldn't be a fair question to ask you about the rough today, but maybe you practiced in the rough or earlier in the week, can you give us an idea of what the rough means and what it might mean in the conditions this weekend?

BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, Phil Mickelson and I came last Wednesday and played a practice round in the afternoon after the Pro Am. The one thing with Phil, because he hits further than I do, I noticed if he missed a fairway and I missed a fairway, no matter how long you were off the tee -- you can usually get it somewhere up on the green, and that's not the case here. If Phil misses a fairway, and I miss a fairway, we're going to be in the same layup area to hit the green. A long hitter has an advantage if they can knock it in the fairway, but if not, they may not have an advantage like some places.

I think Tiger, when he won at Pebble Beach, there were a few times he missed the fairway, but he was so far up, it didn't matter, but you can't do that here at Bethpage, no chance.

RAND JERRIS: Could you run us through your club selection?

BILLY MAYFAIR: The par-5 was the fourth hole. I hit a good drive off the tee, a 4-wood down the side, 35 yards from the green and hit a chip shot up there about 15 feet from the hole and made that for birdie.

On 16, I hit a 4-iron in for about 186 yards, about 35 feet from the hole, and unfortunately, 3-putted from there.

On 18, I hit a good drive off the tee, 9-iron in for about 133 yards and made about a 15-footer. Just the type of round you love to play at the U.S. Open. A lot of pars and few mistakes.

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