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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2015

Brooks Koepka

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

BROOKS KOEPKA: So the ball was about six feet left of the hole, and marked it at the end of yesterday, came back today, put the ball back into play, and as soon as the horn went off, the ball rolled about two, three inches forward, and it was in a little bit of hole on links greens. They're not exactly the smoothest greens, but it was just oscillating. It wanted to get out of the hole that it was in, and it was trying its best, but it was just uncomfortable to see the ball wiggle that much. I've never seen a ball wiggle that much. I didn't really like it, tried to stop it, and they told me I had to play. So played on and ran it about -- the ball just trickled by the hole and ran about three, four feet by, marked it, guy we were playing with made his, and then I went to put the ball back into play, and when I did that, the ball rolled back about two, three inches, and I thought it was a bit excessive, and they told us to stop for a little bit, and we went back behind the green just to get shelter from the wind, and then finally for the third time went and put the ball back into play and then it rolled back, and that's where it ended. I said I didn't want to play anymore. I mean, if we would have kept doing that, I would have been 40 feet.

Q. At some point you got some sort of ruling to get some relief to put it on a spot where they thought it wouldn't be affected by --
BROOKS KOEPKA: 11 is the most exposed green. There's no chance -- I don't think a ball would have stayed. The guys we were playing with even backed off five, six times. I've never seen a ball move like that in winds like that. When you're on the most exposed hole like 11 and the wind is pumping there with gusts 45, if I had to guess, it's not exactly playable in my opinion.

Q. What happened when you told them that you weren't going to play?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I was told to play on. That was the first putt -- I didn't like how the ball was oscillating so much. I've never seen a ball shake like that so hard trying to get out of the little indentation it was in, and obviously you can't move it.

Q. You told them twice you weren't going to play? The second putt, too?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, after the second putt I thought it was ridiculous that the ball just kept moving, kept moving away. The three times the ball was there we were having trouble, and then finally the third time I put the ball back into play it rolled back, and I had had it at that point.

Q. They said what to you?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, we had stopped play after the second time, and once we did that -- but everybody kept playing. I was told that it was just me that was having the problems, so it is what it is.

Q. You weren't aware that they were having problems on 13?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, right when I put the ball down the third time and I said I didn't want to play they went to their radios and said that somebody else had just had a problem. I guess I was the only one on the first and second try, and by the third time Louis had some problems.

Q. What do you think would have happened if they had been on the radio and no one else had been having problems? Would they have just made you -- how would that standoff --
BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I wasn't going to play. I really wasn't. I was not happy about hitting the first putt, having to hit that from the get-go, and I don't think we should have been out in the first place. It's a little different when you're on 12, 13 coming in. There's buildings on the right that block the wind, so it's not as bad, but that's just the one hole where it's -- if it's blowing, it's really blowing.

Q. So you didn't go out on 11 before --
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, not today. We had a chance to last night but I just couldn't really read it because it was so dark and then missed a six-footer and rolled four feet by, and when I actually got to putt it it was about five feet and had to make it, and made it when I came back out to play.

Q. You've been playing here a long time. Have you ever experienced conditions like this?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No. It almost -- it's going to sound stupid, but it felt like a tropical storm growing up in Florida, like the winds like that. That's kind of how it felt. I wouldn't say a hurricane, because I think that's a bit extreme, but it resembled a tropical storm, just the wind.

Q. You guys were hanging out behind the green to get shelter, were they like, you guys need to keep playing?
BROOKS KOEPKA: They told us after I'd done it the second time and said this is ridiculous, we went back behind there, they called it in and said we had to go back out and they were trying to check it, figure out where, I guess, what was going on around the golf course, and then when finally I did it the third time, they just called it. I guess they had a good debate between the second and third time.

Q. Another rules official came out?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, we had another rules official come out to try to figure out what was going on because the ball was just not staying.

Q. Was that between the first and second putt?
BROOKS KOEPKA: That was after the first putt. When we went to mark it the second time someone came up.

Q. Sounds like you and Louis were the men of the hour. Who knows what they would have made you do if --
BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I was trying my hardest because it was -- somebody was going to have that happen to them on 11. If it wasn't us, the guys behind us were going to have that issue. It just wasn't fair I don't think. That's the only hole that I think -- obviously 13, Louis's ball blowing, but 11 was just too windy.

Q. Did anybody thank you?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, the guys behind us did because they didn't have to hit a shot.

Q. As a golfer you're sort of conditioned to embrace whatever conditions you face, so were you having this internal debate between like I've got to suck it up and deal with this and this isn't fair?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I wasn't happy that I had to hit the first putt, but you just get on with it. If you're going to sit and dwell about it, you might as well just go home. Just could have packed my bags.

Q. Do you think that cost you a shot out there?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, not guaranteed I'm going to make the six footer. You'd like to think you would, but then again, you have to play 12 in that wind, too. If I'd have made the first putt we'd have had to play 12 and would have had to wait for the group behind us. You never know what could have happened. We could have hit it in the cross bunkers the way the wind was blowing. I don't think it actually affected me. I don't think I lost a shot, fortunately, but I guess I was pretty lucky.

Q. (Inaudible) said them making us go out in that made it feel like a two-stroke penalty, can you see that?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I guess they played a couple holes, 30, 35 minutes. I only hit one putt, so if you look at it that way, it wasn't too big of a deal for me. It helped me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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