WARNING SHOTS HAVE BEEN FIRED QUALIFIER ROESCH DID A SLOW BURN

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. - Savoring everything about his first appearance in the US Open, Casey Bourque understood full well that he was most definitely one of the no-names who add a dash of spice to this major championship recipe.

"I mean, there aren't a whole lot of Mainers in the field," said the kid from Biddeford.

So it pleased him very much that as he scanned the entry list, he was familiar with just about everyone in the field. "Everyone but two," said Bourque. "And I got paired with them."

It felt a bit funny on the first tee, but Bourque introduced himself to both David Roesch and Charleton Dechert. They quickly discovered some denominators - like their minitour affiliations (Bourque with the Canadian Tour; Roesch on the Hooters Tour; Dechert with the Tight Lies) and their US Open debuts. That made things easier and it wasn't long before the trio felt a kinship.

And it wasn't long before the media - and US Golf Association officials - got familiar with Roesch, who birdied four of his first six holes and rode into the clubhouse at 2-under 68. Given a podium for being within two of the lead, he took off like Smarty Jones out of the gate.

"I'm a no-name here, I'm trying to do well, and here comes this guy [a rules official] and tells me I've got a bad time," said Roesch, asked about the incident that occurred on the fourth hole, his 13th. "I was mad. I don't know if I'm going to get in trouble for this, but that's nonsense. If it had been Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson and that would have happened? No way."

He had come through local qualifying, through a sectional, and he had no intention of stopping the roll he was on.

"I don't know what to say, because I don't want to get in trouble here, but you tell me what's going on," he said.

The Bourque-Roesch-Dechert group indeed had been put on the clock at the par-4 fourth and Roesch claims the warning got him rattled. He made a 7-foot putt to save par, but said he still was steamed when he went to the par-5 fifth tee and had to wait five minutes. He looked for the rules official, he said, "but that guy runs and hides."

Roesch told of his frustration a few weeks earlier, how he had almost quit the game after missing a Monday qualifier for the Nationwide Tour, only to get rejuvenated by making it through the US Open sectional qualifier. He is from Milwaukee and had seriously thought of taking a job with TaylorMade. At age 30, he felt beat up, got a kick out of running the launch monitors, and "this was actually going to be my last year playing if I didn't move up."

Around the interview area behind the ninth and 18th greens, marquee names were everywhere. David Duval and Scott Hoch, Davis Love and Lee Westwood, Jay Haas and Raymond Floyd. Reporters jockeyed for position, group interviews were breaking out everywhere, but still Roesch remained on the podium. He had the microphone, reporters had questions, so he wasn't backing away.

"This is about as high as it gets," said Roesch, finally letting go of his tirade about the rules official who had simply given his group a warning. "The only other thing I've really done is win a Hooters [Tour] event.

"I looked at the leaderboard and saw my name up there and, yeah, some emotions started to come in. The biggest thing for me? I have to control my emotions. Most of these guys are used to this."