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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 21, 2015

Geoff Ogilvy

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON

Q. Can you talk about the conditions today compared to the other three, did it feel more scorable to you?
GEOFF OGILVY: To me it felt a bit more doable, I guess. But I hit a lot of good shots. Sometimes it's hard to get a measure of that because I had lucky ones that ran off the banks and came back to the hole. It's definitely set up that -- it changes so much from morning to afternoon, it's really hard to tell. I played quite late yesterday and it felt really, really hard. It might have been a bit like this yesterday morning, does that make sense? But it's pretty doable. 16 is an interesting tee. 12, the is up a little bit and the pin is in the bowl. There's still a lot of tough pins out there, a lot of back pins, but they're pins that you can hit it close if you use the slopes right and you hit the right shots. 9, 10, 11 really tough holes, but they're all holes that you can get them to come back off the hills. 15, the tee is up, you can make a birdie on it, if you hit a wedge there. 17, it's kind of a birdie pin for 17, and 18 is on, for sure. I don't know, it never really happens, but I've got a feeling one or two of the leaders might go even or 1-under or something today. As I said, this course you can see it get drier in front of you. But, yeah, as I said, it's hard to measure when you hit good shots and you feel like you've kind of got the best out of your round how hard it is. But there's obviously three or four or five good scores out there this morning. I think the leaders might have a better time of it this afternoon than they did yesterday.

Q. What do you think of the venue as a U.S. Open venue?
GEOFF OGILVY: The course is definitely a tough enough test. Logistically it seems to have its issues. But I didn't have to follow me, you know what I mean? Which apparently is quite difficult. But we don't play -- well, apart from Pebble and Torrey, it's an equal setting, it's pretty stunning. I've never -- I didn't expect it to be this beautiful here, I guess. Maybe I was expecting it to rain and be cold like everyone says Seattle rains all the time. I had a good time. As I said, logistically it seems to have its problems, but as far as the holes and the golf it asks you to play, I think I told someone earlier in the week, whoever wins is going to be a quality player. You have to move the ball both ways, you have to use your brain which is a rare thing in modern golf and something we're not very good at, I don't think. It's going to be a class act of a player who wins, and really that's all you want. Sometimes in U.S. Opens it feels like that might not be the case, and this one I think the guy who plays the best is going to win, I think. There's a lot of talk about the greens and stuff like that, but forever great putters have putted well on bad greens, forever. So I think great putters don't like putting on greens that are bumpy, but they usually putt quite well. I think people who are struggling with their putting really have trouble on the bad greens and good putters just get on with it. I think there's a lot about it that makes it a really good venue.

Q. Do you think the greens have been fair?
GEOFF OGILVY: It's pretty fair. There's some pretty questionable surfaces, for sure. I don't understand agronomy at all. The whole course is the fine fescue and there seems to be no poa at all in the fairways, but it's all in the greens. So obviously, something goes on with however they treat the greens. If people bring it in on their feet, you'd think it would get on the fairways, as well. It's interesting. I'm sure if they had their time again, they'd go back four or five years and put some sort of bent into the mix and try to do something a little bit different. But I think they were hoping for that perfect fescue surface. The 13th green, the 7th green, they're emaculate, they're great to putt on. It's one of the best surfaces to putt on. But they're the new ones that haven't been infested with different sort of grasses. I'm sure they're not excited with how it ended up. There are definitely issues. But I think good putters putt well on bumpy greens. It's not what you want to a national championship, but I don't think it will affect the tournament.

Q. About 7 and 13, some people have talked about 12. What did you think of 12 out there?
GEOFF OGILVY: 12 is pretty bad. It's obviously -- it's probably in the shade a lot and it's probably in a great setting for poa to thrive when you get in the shade and it stays a bit more moist. As I said I'm not an agronomist, but they obviously thought a year out that they'd be fine, and they've ended up not being so. The trouble is some greens like 12, there's so few places you can putt pins, but there's only two or three spots that are flat enough to put a pin. So all the traffic is in one area. When the greens are struggling, it just wears them out a little bit, I guess. As I said, everyone is talking about it during the week, and there's some players that have made some comments, but I think we're a little bet precious, sometimes, pros. I think it's actually -- it's not what we wanted, but it's still fine. We would like them better, but if you hit good putts for 72 holes you're probably going to hole a few, you know what I mean.

Q. It was pretty embarrassing to hear some of the comments. Do you agree with that?
GEOFF OGILVY: I don't pay too much attention to the comments, to be fair. Look, it's frustrating to play a U.S. Open. And it's very difficult when you get someone five minutes off, they walk up here, to not be frustrated. Because it's frustrating, anyway. And if you have a couple of bad putts on the last few holes, guys are going to be a bit annoyed about it. That's probably fair enough. As I said, we're so spoiled, we get such perfect surfaces and such perfect conditions everywhere we play. We're just not used to seeing it. The average guy probably plays on surfaces like this all the time. They're probably like, these guys, what are they talking about? I'm sure the USGA would have preferred them to be better, but they did the best that they could with whatever happened. And someone is going to be holding the trophy at the end of the day, and there won't be a mention of the greens. In a week's time no one will even think about it.

Q. Before the U.S. Open (inaudible.)
GEOFF OGILVY: To this course? It will be well past my time. They've got a long time in advance, the USGA picking. I'm not sure, really. It's obviously a fantastic city. Along with New York and Chicago, it seems like one of the best sports town in the U.S., especially for like the fans. Obviously the Seahawks, they've got the best fans in football, it seems like. Rivals of the Cardinals and Arizona, we struggle to beat them. It's a great sports town. They love their sports. It's been a great venue in a lot of ways. As I said it's logistically got issues, but there's nothing that in 15 or 20 years they can work that out, I'm sure. I'm sure they'll come back, I think. I don't know when, but I'm sure they'll come back.

Q. How do you feel at 3-under today, nice score on a Sunday? Do you think this makes you feel good, you're happy with your performance today?
GEOFF OGILVY: Today? Yeah. Most of the week, yes. I was 5-over in 6 holes in the middle of the yesterday's round, and apart from that, and I kind of got a bit grumpy and flustered. The guys who were 4-under starting today had to never run like that, but probably everyone else did. It's just one of those things that happens in U.S. Opens, it was a bit annoying. I was pretty flat last night because I kind of had a chance after 36 holes and I didn't have a chance after 54. Well, no, I didn't really. But all in all, I like how I'm playing. I missed a bunch of putts on the first two days. I could have been in a lot better position. I kind of made a few today. Didn't make them all, but made a few. I played well, moved forward the right direction on Sunday. My next start is actually going to be St. Andrews which is probably my favorite place in the world to play golf, so pretty excited about that. My form seems to be getting better bit by bit. I don't go under par very often at the U.S. Open, so it's nice to do it on a Sunday.

Q. Is this your new favorite course?
GEOFF OGILVY: No, but it's -- a lot of it I really like. I like the golf that it got us to play. We play so much restrictive, narrow, soft golf that the last two years the setups have been -- setting a responsible example for how golf is supposed to be played. It's not supposed to be over watered, it's supposed to turn brown, the ball is supposed to roll when it lands. This has been a pretty extreme example, obviously, but the USGA -- it feels like through their setup at the last U.S. Opens, Mike and the USGA are trying to set an example of let's stop putting so much water on golf courses and let's let the ball roll. Showing there's more ways to make a golf course difficult, than just making it narrow and soft and small targets. This is the widest U.S. Open I've ever seen. The last two years have been the widest two U.S. Opens ever, and they've both been really, really difficult. Not my favorite course, but I like what they're doing. I like the idea behind it.

Q. You got to 2-over with most of the back nine to come, did you have a score in mind?
GEOFF OGILVY: I thought even par might have some chance today. But I three-putted 14, which it is what it is. Everyone is going to have three-putts, it was a shame. I thought even par. You never know. I thought I won't get on the plane if I finished even par. I didn't really think that, but I would have. It was just nice to make a few birdies and move the right direction and I'm going to finish today in a better position than when I started and that's the only thing you really want on a Sunday.

Q. Someone got you on the last on the second shot?
GEOFF OGILVY: It was a baby, so it's hard to get mad because it's not the baby's fault. There's like two milliseconds that any earlier that you -- I would start and later it would be too late to pull my off. But it was a massive flinch. I haven't done that in years. It was just emaculate timing. In realty, I had a decent putt at birdie and I hit a perfect putt, I don't know how it didn't go in. I still don't know how it didn't go it. It is what it is. I mean, that stuff happens.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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