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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 20, 2015

Colin Swatton

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON

COLIN SWATTON: That was superhuman effort.

Q. How did you shepherd him through this round?
COLIN SWATTON: It was just a matter of every time he felt like he was going to stop -- 4 was a really tough hole for him, up the hill, the elevation. 7 he really felt the pinch. And once we got to 8, I said it's all downhill from here. But he had just bits and pieces throughout the round where he felt great and then he didn't feel great, and you saw that on TV. You saw that a number of times late in the round. He was just exhausted.

Q. Was there ever a moment where will you felt like he was going to have to top and not continue? 4, what got him through that?
COLIN SWATTON: I said you've got the heart of a lion. You're going to show the world today you're going to be the greatest you can be. And I said, Let's do it. And he just put his head down and kept walking one foot in front of the other. It was pretty impressive.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: No, the score didn't change anything. He just was exhausted in the end. Back off again on 18, I saw him fumble a little bit with the ball on 18. He's just laying down. He's exhausted.

Q. Have you ever seen him this bad?
COLIN SWATTON: No, no, no. It wasn't good at Akron, but it was a different temperature, as well. It's sneaky hot here, even though it says 75, 80 degrees, it plays a lot hotter than that. The hydration was really important and keeping his food up and energy level.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: He made some really good putts from off the green. He really only made about probably three or four swings that weren't great, and you know those holes. But overall, I thought he drove it tremendous, probably the best of all three days so far. So he's just got to get some rest.

Q. He made the putt at the last?
COLIN SWATTON: I had a feeling he was going to make it. The one on 17, I thought it was the perfect putt for him, a little right-to-left and a little bit uphill. And 18 he got a little cue off Kisner's ball, so he knew where that was going.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: Every hole. Every hole. Just feeding him water and giving him food, just giving him encouragement, just trying to get him through. I said to him, I said, They're going to make a movie about that round. It was pretty impressive, it was up there with Tiger Woods playing with a broken leg at the U.S. Open. It was very impressive.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: The hardest part for him is the turning of the head every time and looking at the target, it takes a second for his eyes to just sort of steady up a little bit. So bending over, marking the ball. We spoke about whether he wanted me to do that and so he gave me a look as it: Why did you even ask me that for, he played golf.

Q. Was there a point last night or this morning (inaudible) --
COLIN SWATTON: I had my reservations, his warm-up on the range was really, really good. I didn't see anything in there other than he took a little bit longer to get through his warm-up this morning. But I didn't see anything that would say he wasn't going to at least attempt to play. And then he just gutted it out.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: I was concerned when I saw him go down. That was my biggest concern. I didn't know what had happened. We were talking about getting panned out of the bunker, I obviously thought 5 would lead at the end of the day, and it was only going to get harder. We spoke about, let's get it up and down out of the bunker and we'll be two or three behind at the end of the day. And then, boom, he was down. That initial shock, that was the hardest for me, when I saw him back with the EMTs and doctors later on I knew he was in good hands.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: I think he got diagnosed last night. From what I understand he was diagnosed with benign positional vertigo. They did what they do for that. But I guess it's one of those things, I don't know enough about it, but it's one of those things that it takes a few days to let everything settle down. And obviously they put a lot of medication in him again today, so it wasn't the greatest.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: Yeah, like I said, he did hit a lot of good shots. Like I said, he had moments where he felt really good and then he had moments where he didn't feel so good. But that was just throughout the whole round. And like I said, the score didn't reflect anything.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: No, just a hair shorter than normal, but I think that was more an energy thing. I think everything was pretty much normal. The communication between us was still there. He just did all his normal things that he would normally do.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: He just said he felt fine, felt a little dizzy, just really couldn't focus as much. As I said before, it was just the head turning that throws him off a bit. And you probably noticed that was a little bit slower and a little bit more deliberate today. Other than that, just those sorts of things.

Q. There was one point he put his hand on your shoulder.
COLIN SWATTON: What hole was that? It felt like he did it every hole.

Q. It was 7 or 8.
COLIN SWATTON: Yeah, at the top. He just said he's exhausted. He just didn't feel right. But every time he said that we just tried to focus on one more shot, one more hole.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: Just encouraged him to be positive, trying to position the least amount of stress for the round. It's hard enough to play anyway, let alone trying to position him somewhere where he's not stressing about the next shot. But just give him encouragement, make sure he's hydrated, make sure he had enough food. Just be there.

Q. How would you gauge his performance?
COLIN SWATTON: I said that was the greatest round I've ever watched. I've watched a lot of golf and to watch it live is pretty special.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLIN SWATTON: Just to settle on it, he didn't feel great over it, backed off. He reset. I think he got a bounce off at marquee tent or whatever it is. It wasn't a great lie, but we could still get the club on it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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