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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2015

Matt Kuchar

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON

MATT KUCHAR: Really good. I can remember telling some of the guys I played practice rounds with, that you've got to stay patient out here. You can play good golf and make a stretch of bogeys, where you think you hit good shots and putts and you walk away with three straight bogeys. I was out there thinking, man, I haven't made a bogey in a while today and on the 5th hole made my first bogey. I played good, steady, solid golf. I was really pleased. Even coming in I had some sessions with Chris O'Connell and knew things were going well. I had a good feeling coming into the practice rounds. I was in pretty good control. This golf course, however, you just don't really know how you'll fare at a U.S. Open, particularly a U.S. Open on this particular golf course. You can play really good golf and walk off with three or four straight bogeys in a row. Fortunately, today I didn't have too many struggles for par. I had a lot of birdie attempts, a lot of easy par saves. It was just a steady round.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATT KUCHAR: I thought it was great. I think the USGA typically has a formula where they start out and it's quite playable Thursday, Friday. And I think we'll see it teeter on the edge come Saturday, Sunday. I think we've seen the formula. I think they've got it down pretty well at this point.

Q. Is it the start you were hoping for?
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, I can't hope for a much better start than this.

Q. Were you surprised with the setup?
MATT KUCHAR: I played Sunday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon was about as firm as I've seen a golf course. I was pleasantly surprised Monday to see it soften back up. And today was quite playable. Long irons were tough to hold on greens, mid-irons you could hold. A handful of really hard holes, handful of holes that you try to be a little more aggressive on. So it was a really, really good set up.

Q. Because of the setup and the way of the golf course architectural design, so forth, luck may play a slightly bigger factor?
MATT KUCHAR: I think the guy that hits more quality shots is going to be more rewarded. Certainly anywhere you go you're going to have some lucky breaks. I think there's lucky breaks and then there's course knowledge and then there's kind of some creativity and all sorts of things involved here.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATT KUCHAR: Hard to say, there's great energy. Certainly you know it by the crowds. You know it by the fans. But there's still something about a U.S. Open that you're always a little nervous on the course. You know that things can get away quickly if you're not dialed in just right. If you're not hitting crisp, good quality shots they're going to go in places that you don't want to be. So that part I certainly knew I was at a U.S. Open.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, yeah.

Q. Obviously this course is only eight years old, has never hosted an event. Can you talk about the unknown of this course coming in. I have yet to talk to a player who has complained about it. Do you think this has been pleasant for you?
MATT KUCHAR: I think everybody is having fun playing it. It's got its challenges, but it's so unique and different. I think everybody likes coming to a new venue. Veterans don't have any advantage over the rookies here. We're all playing a brand-new course. We've all got the same learning curve to figure it out. And it's certainly fun because of all the different options you're playing with.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATT KUCHAR: Maybe slightly.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATT KUCHAR: That's certainly part of the niches of the golf course here. And we've had three or four practice rounds, I have to say, there are a few holes where you just don't see a lot of people. I think I made a 20-footer on the 8th hole and could hardly hear any claps. It was one of those times where there just weren't a whole lot of people around that 8th green.

Q. Given the quirkiness about this course going in, was there anything surprising today or do you think because of all the practice you've had here there weren't that many surprises by now?
MATT KUCHAR: No surprises, I did enjoy what they did with the setup, a handful of the par-3s, and my numbers, I'm sorry, are off on, but we played a couple of the par-3s up at tee boxes that I wasn't quite ready for, but I thought it was great. They had some more difficult challenging pin locations, but put tee boxes up. I think it's fun what they do with moving around the tee boxes, instead of playing the course basically from the same tee every day. I think it's great that they rotate it around and give you a lot of variety.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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