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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2015

Henrik Stenson

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON

Q. Special round to shoot 5-under in a U.S. Open. How did that feel?
HENRIK STENSON: I'm very pleased with the day's work. I guess I can maybe pinpoint it down to three things. Mentally I was in a good place. I kept very level headed and focused and good patience out there, which were a few of the things I set out before the week to try and keep. It's going to remain the same for the remainder of the week. That's going to be one of the hardest things to keep going even if things aren't going your way. Today obviously it did for most of the day, so that makes it a bit easier. That's really one of the things I need to try and keep in mind for the rest of the week. This is one day out of four and we've got to keep at it if we want to be there on Sunday afternoon. Ball striking wise, I hit some real quality shots out there. I set up a lot of birdie chances. I was inside five feet for the first three holes and started off with two birdies and missed the shortest one. One from three and a half feet down the hill and almost left it short. I had it a few putts on that putting green before I went out and it was lightening down towards the holes. I thought it was going to be really slick and barely got there from three and a half feet. It kind of throws you off at times. Like I said, I followed out with two good birdies on 2 and 3. Unforced error second shot on 6 led to bogey. I was way off to the right with my drive on 7, but I managed to hit a lovely pitching wedge to about six feet and make birdie on 7. 8, I was in the hay and back and forth a little bit. So you are going to have a couple bad holes out there. All in all, I played solid. Gave myself some nice birdie chances coming in and just rolled a couple of beauties in from 14 and onwards. Pleased with the striking and putting the way I played the round.

Q. Anything out there surprise you at all?
HENRIK STENSON: I was expecting it to be a little bit more gentle today. We've got perfect conditions, just a light breeze. There were a few of the par-3s that were playing shorter. I expected it to be easier today and tighten that as we go along. The USGA can make this place as hard as they want to, especially if you get a bit of wind and start tucking those pins away and play it longer. That could be a real monster. So I think it's fairly expected. We're going to see it more and more as the week goes on.

Q. (Inaudible)?
HENRIK STENSON: The putting green all week, the one down here has been burnt. It was like a cricket pitch when we came here on Sunday. That one was definitely quicker than the greens on the course. There's a few of them that are struggling a little bit, 1 and 4 in particular are a little iffy and some other ones aren't quite good. You are going to get a little bit of a difference sometimes, but then again you got so many putts that are different anyway. You can't read much into the previous one when you're hitting the next one. You have got to treat them on your own and go with your feeling. My feel and touch was really good today. I made some great long putts and made a couple of 15, 20-footers for birdie and holed out nicely. It was a good day on the greens for me.

Q. What was your feeling about the crowds out there today?
HENRIK STENSON: It's such a big property. On that golf course as well, the crowds are going to be further away and a lot of them are going to be up in grandstands. It was good crowds out there. You are never going to get it the feeling of it being packed on every hole. It's a course where you have to watch from a bit of a distance. A pair of binoculars is not a bad thing when you're coming here to watch.

Q. (Inaudible)?
HENRIK STENSON: He's doing okay. He potentially broke his wrist yesterday there on a fall on 16. It was not good for the threesome that teed off at 1 o'clock. Gallacher's man went down and couldn't caddie today. My guy is in a cast, so it's -- it's dangerous out there. That's all I can say.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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