U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2014

Henrik Stenson

HENRIK STENSON: I don't know why, but here I am. Fire away.

Q. Top-5 finishing, best ever at a U.S. Open, a lot of positives you can take out of this?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I think so. Of course, it's a little -- I dropped a couple of bad shots or soft bogeys, especially the one on 13. Should have had a good birdie chance and walked away with a bogey on that one. I drove it over the green and then putted it off and made a bit of a clumsy 5 there. But it was still -- on the other end, I had a lovely 8-iron and a good putt and 17 and birdied that one. At the end of the day, I started the day fourth, I didn't have my best day by any means and I finished fourth. A big difference in being one shot worse. So it was nice birdie to get one back in the end, and I'm quite pleased with that. I didn't play my best over the weekend and to still finish fourth, then I guess we will take some positives out of that have.

Q. You keep finishing close, do you feel that you're getting even closer?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I got some good finishes in the big events and never mind this week, it was just one player on the field and it was not much to do with -- it was nothing to do, I didn't have the game to even try to charge. Halfway through the round, it didn't feel like there was any point in trying. But then, of course, I wasn't trying to make a couple of bogeys either. But again, I'm up there, you always learn something, and I know I can play good at the Majors.

Q. You had a birdie on the second to last hole coming in, does that make you feel a little bit better?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, looking at the result or the leaderboard, it was like four guys on 1-over and I just bogeyed 16 to go to 2-over. I was 4-over for the day. So of course, it gave some comfort making birdie on 17 and getting it back and being in that position of tied fourth, rather than tied eighth or ninth or whatever. So, yeah, got some points, got some experience, good week.

Q. The conditions out there, can you speak to how impressive Martin's performance has been?
HENRIK STENSON: He kind of killed the event in the first two days. He went out and shot two 65s and left everyone in the dust. And then it was more a question of if he would keep it under control and not drop too many in the next. It was really yesterday that was the important day, that he didn't let anybody too close. And he held everyone off and then went out and played a solid round today. I think he felt that there was probably less pressure today than it was yesterday, I would imagine, at least after a decent start, you know. So very impressive and very deserving champion.

Q. Erik Compton, I'm sure you're aware of his story?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, yeah. He had great day. I was very happy for Erik to make that up-and-down. It was 155 feet, it came up on the board, it's probably the nastiest distance for anyone to have on a bunker shot. It's right in between. He played a lovely shot there on the last and made the putt to be tied second at the U.S. Open. So very pleased for him and he played good.

Q. Tied for fourth and yet I hear a lot of -- at least I'm interpreting it as a bit of a disappointment.
HENRIK STENSON: Not so much with the finish, more with the way I played. I know I can play a lot better than I did yesterday and today. But more so today, I guess, score-wise, but it's tough out there. I'm not the only one who dropped shots. We know that much. Looking at the leaderboard, it's just getting less and less red on there, so you know it's playing tricky. I was a bit flat on the back nine, I didn't have much to give and I wasn't playing great. So it was more about hanging on. If you would have asked me, offered me 1-over on the back nine and walk in, I probably would have taken it, because I was running out of steam.

Q. You've done so well in the Majors. I mean, are you getting -- is there also a sense that, look, I'm getting tired of being close, I really want to win?
HENRIK STENSON: No, I don't think so. I haven't really been that close that many times. I've had some good finishes, but I've always felt like I've been a little bit further behind. I haven't been in the mix that many times, like at St. Andrews when Louis won by quite a few. I was tied third at that one. One of the best chances I had was probably the PGA in 2008, when I finished tied fourth, where I think I started the last day with three or four other guys like one shot off the lead or something. So I haven't been very, very close that many times, but I've had some good finishes. And the more times you're up there, you get experience and you learn something every time and sooner or later I'm sure I'll get my chance.

Q. Is there one part of your game you were struggling with or you would want to improve on?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, both yes on the ball striking. I'm still hitting a lot of greens, but the good shots over the week have been pretty good, but the bad ones have been a little bit too bad and. Especially today, there were a couple of bad iron shots that turns into straightaway bogeys more or less. So that's a little disappointing. Then I haven't been putting great either. It's been very average on the greens. I made a couple of nice ones, but I missed some good chances as well. And today I missed a couple of good short par putts. So, yeah, it's kind of weird, you know, I feel like I played very average in a sense and still finished fourth. So we take positives, there's some negatives, and we come back and try again.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports