U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2014

Matt Kuchar

Q. You're known for your amazing mental game, but how much does it test your focus on a day as hard as today?
MATT KUCHAR: Amazing how different the course was today from yesterday. We got the rain Thursday night. The course was soft and fantastic on Friday. Amazing today, much faster, how firmer the greens got. It was really tough. You could hit a great drive, a great approach, trickle off a green and easily make a double. The pins were so tough. It was a tough test, not only skill-wise, but mentally to stay in it and not let yourself get beaten up.

Q. You assume that tomorrow will be more of the same, given the same forecast?
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, I think so. I think -- I'm guessing, looking forward to the girls, if they can just put enough water on it, I think it teeters on unplayable for the boys, for the men, at the moment, it's just kind of -- they've got it at the edge, and I'm sure they'll push the edge. Hoping a few pin placements are a little kinder tomorrow after they saw what went on today, but I'm not sure I'll get my wish.

Q. You're 7 off the lead. Stranger things have happened, you know. So going into tomorrow --
MATT KUCHAR: Stranger things have happened in normal courses. This certainly -- anything can happen on a course like this. I'm a long way back, I understand that. But certainly go out knowing that I still have a chance.

Q. The way they're going to set it up tomorrow, all week long we've been hearing that this tournament was going to be decided over par or near par. And obviously Martin has been playing a different course, but he's also coming back a little bit. Do you look at it and think tomorrow people are likely to come back?
MATT KUCHAR: You know, I think they've got to know that we're teetering on the edge, and you don't want to have a Shinnecock all over again. It's close. And hopefully -- I think the guys understand that. And I think it could easily become that again. But a great forecast. I expect conditions to be really, really challenging, more so than today. That makes birdies awfully tough. Pars are fantastic. Hard to catch up seven shots just by making a bunch of pars. But I think Martin is going to continue good golf. It's going to take a guy shooting 4- or 5-under, one of those amazing rounds to have a chance.

Q. What were some of those borderline pins that you thought were out there today?
MATT KUCHAR: 3 and -- there was a lot. There was a lot. 7. Where else do we go? There was a couple on the top of my head. 2. As hard of a hole as 2 is, I don't know that there is an easy pin now on No. 2. I can't think of a pin that would be any bit accessible. But there were several that I thought, man, it's just mean, mean, what they've done. Do your best to leave it in a place where you think you can make a four from or a par from.

Q. One of the toughest 18 pin placements that you've seen in a Major?
MATT KUCHAR: My memory is not great. I think -- it's a more normal thing to go I can't believe where they put the pins. Where you go on practice rounds and you kind of guess where you think pins will be and you kind of say, well, that's too severe, they won't put it there, and sure enough, that's where the pin is. It seems to be year after year, you should know better by now.

Q. You're at the U.S. Open last year, going into it, Merion, you were considered one of the favorites, and it didn't work out for you. Going into this year, you were right there in the top four or five maybe. Talk about how different Merion is compared to this course, and why you're playing maybe better this year at this course than --
MATT KUCHAR: I had a nice showing at Merion. I was playing well and enjoyed my run there, enjoyed the golf course. This is completely different. I certainly really enjoy this, as well. I feel like I still have a chance come Sunday. So it's an exciting place to be. But, again, my game is -- has been pretty good for a couple of years, nice to be around with some chances.

Q. Do you have a score for tomorrow?
MATT KUCHAR: No.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports