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In May 2006 you attended a dinner at the White House honoring John Howard, the prime minister of Australia. How'd you score an invite?
I was playing the Byron Nelson and I got a phone call from my office, and they said, "We've got an invitation from the White House here." It was for Tuesday night or something and at this point it's like Friday. So I'd have to fly home, have one night in Scottsdale, then fly all the way back across the country. I was like, "Aww, really?" I didn't know what the invitation was. Then I was told it was a state dinner with only about 100 people going, including the President and the Prime Minister of Australia. So I said, "Oh, I think we better go to this one." [Laughs.] It was just ridiculous. I sat at a table with the President, John Howard's wife, Rupert Murdoch, Condoleezza Rice. Why I was there was just bizarre.
Why were you there? This was before you had even won the Open.
My best guess is that the president likes to have someone nonpolitical [at his table] who he can talk with about the basketball, or something else. Someone who's not going to start asking questions about the economy and stuff. And so they must have said let's pick an Australian because of John Howard. Let's see — a golfer! Here we go!
How do you make small talk with the president?
Yeah, I don't know. The president was great. He has dinners like that every night so he's good at getting the ball rolling with people he hasn't met before. But I guess you speak second to the president; you wait for him to ask you a question. Obviously, he wanted to talk about anything but what was going on in the world.
In an interview last year you called Bush 'a bit dangerous.' Did you tell him that at dinner?
I said that before I met him. He was a much nicer guy than I expected, the kind of guy you want to have a few beers with — a really cool guy.
So you didn't tell him?
No, I didn't tell him I didn't agree with his foreign policy. I stayed away from that one. [Laughs.] What do I know, anyway? I just go by what I read in the newspapers.
PGA Tour pros are generally a conservative lot. Did your anti-Bush comments cause you any grief?
No, [the article] was printed in Ireland. Every pro has his opinions, and they're all different. Our opinions really don't mean anything because all we do is hit a golf ball around.
But you're a U.S. Open champion now. Your opinions mean more than they used to.
That's just ridiculous, because what do I know? It's silly, really. If you wanted to ask me what it feels like to hit a five-foot putt on the last hole of the U.S. Open I've probably got a valid opinion, but on anything else I don't.
But you've been dubbed as a good quote, an insightful thinker.
I don't think I have any good insights. I think I can just b.s. better than most.
Do your sponsors ever try to rein you in?
No, not really. You have to stay away from political comments, but apart from that you can say whatever you want.
Were you a good student growing up?
Not really. I didn't like school. I don't think they taught us the right stuff. I just never agreed with trigonometry or physics or any of that stuff. It's all bollocks. They should teach you financial planning or nutrition — stuff that's actually going to affect your life. My goal was just to pass, and I did.
When did you realize that golf was your calling?
Golf was always the sport that was going to win out. The appeal was that I could go out after school and play on my own; I didn't need anybody else. I played on Australian Rules football teams and cricket teams and it would frustrate me when one of my teammates would mess it up for the rest of the team — or if I messed it up. That just really annoyed me. In golf, it's your fault and your fault only.
Which brings us to your temper, and your struggle to control it. Where did that rage come from?
