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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2015

Rocco Mediate

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Rocco Mediate shot a 4 under, 66 today. He's 2 under for the Championship.

ROCCO MEDIATE: What?

Q. That was considerably better. Tell us about it.
ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah, I played -- front nine, I was real clean. I missed the 8th fairway, but I hit all the greens. So I wouldn't say an easy 4 under, but I had some putts at it. I hit some balls close to the hole. The back nine, I missed a couple, but I made two beautiful par putts of, like, 15 feet on 16 and 13. That kind of kept it together. Then 18, I hit it -- 18, I'm not even mad about 18. I hit it right down the middle, left center of the fairway, but I was in -- I don't know what it was, but the ball was maybe that much under the ground. It wasn't really a divot, though. Looked like on old plug mark that dried, one of those deals. But I don't know how it could be a plug mark. The fairways aren't soft. Anyway, I tried to squeeze a 3 iron. Probably wasn't the smartest play and obviously didn't work. Then I pitched it up close and made bogey, so that's fine. I wish I had a better lie, though, could hit a much easier shot. Still 210 to the hole, but I would have been on the green, at least.

Q. This is the kid of round you needed, though? You got yourself into the lead.
ROCCO MEDIATE: You just never know. You've just got to plug along, plug along. The golf course is hard. It's going to get firmer. The greens are fantastic today, nothing wrong with them at all. They're still like pool tables, really. It was a little bit, teeny bit of wind came up. A little bit of wind here seems like a lot because it doesn't seem like the wind ever blows here. Came up a teeny bit, but not a big deal. It was just a great test. It's a U.S. Open, and it's playing just like one.

Q. How much water did you go through?
ROCCO MEDIATE: A lot. I felt pretty lousy coming in, the last couple holes. I wasn't feeling good. I still don't feel good. I drank a lot of water and drank a lot of -- my wife has the stuff, I forget what it's called, but I put it in, probably drank six of those today. So I kept going, but I just felt awful. But I got in somehow.

Q. Just a thought. Tom Watson still maintains a part of the lead.
ROCCO MEDIATE: Not surprising. No. Not surprising. I don't know what else to say about it. He's got very much control of his golf ball. I watched him play for two days. Not watched, but he's in front of us. I saw what was going on. Fairway really wasn't that much out of position.

Q. Stops amazing you after a while, doesn't he?
ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah. It's like yeah, okay. Him and Hale, same way. You're never surprised at what they do, in my opinion. They're just that good. I mean, they've been good their whole careers, and just because they're older now doesn't mean they can't play. They can really still play.

Q. What do you have to do, I don't know, a little bit better or differently?
ROCCO MEDIATE: Nothing. Just keep -- you know, I didn't drive as good in the back nine. Some of those holes, I guess, they're hard for all of us. A couple of them, I look, and I'm like I don't quite know how to play. 13, 16 -- I like what they look like, though. So it doesn't make any sense. And I missed both the ball -- yesterday, I hit the fairway on 13, but 16 I missed by a yard today, which is dead, but I got it up and down again. I just have to drive a little bit better. Just have to keep driving good, that's all, because I hit probably nine or ten fairways today, I would say, which is okay, but it needs to be more than that tomorrow and the next two days.

Q. A horse race?
ROCCO MEDIATE: Get it in the fairway or you can't do anything.

Q. It's going to be a horse race. There are a lot of guys, like 12, 13, 14 guys within three.
ROCCO MEDIATE: Yeah. It's going to be fun. It will be actually fun. It will be good to watch this. It should be exciting.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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