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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2015

Steve Stricker

Kohler, Wisconsin, USA

Q. What did you think? You had many opportunities over seven tournament rounds at Whistling Straits to go low and you have one round that is in the 60s. Did you feel you were close today?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I felt like I should have shot a 3- or 4- under round today. I'm really had it in good shape. I was 3-under going down 15. And had just missed birdie at 14 and hit a really bad drive, pulled it left and paid for it at 15 and ended up making bogey.

Tried to rope hook a utility club in for my second shot at 16 and ended up paying the price for that too, because I missed it down left. So those two shots -- and those ended up costing me maybe even three shots. So, it's disappointing, because I hit the ball nicely today. Drove it well in the fairways and hit a lot of greens.

Just didn't capitalize on things I should have.

Q. Was today an easy day to play?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, yeah, it was. It was. It's hot, the ball's going. Not a lot of wind. Greens are soft. This is as good as you're going to get it out here.

Q. Coming down the stretch was there any hole you felt that really kind of stuck with you?
STEVE STRICKER: Well 15. When I pull hooked the driver and hit it in a little bunker that no one ever hits it in and I was up against the lip and I had a putt for par at it and didn't make it. Just those two shots really stuck out.

And then the second shot at 16. And really didn't putt like I did the first couple of days. I hit some nice putts, really never got any momentum really there on the greens either it seemed like.

I had a nice eagle opportunity at 11 that I lipped out, one that ran over the edge at 18. So the greens were a little bit, I thought a little bit more grainy today. They were wet, a little more moisture in the grass, so the ball was, the grain was kind of taking over at the end today, which it wasn't the first couple of days I thought.

Q. Do you feel you have a low round in you tomorrow and/or is that not really the mindset of where your game is at right now.
STEVE STRICKER: No, I feel like my game is in great shape. I'm excited about my game. Like I was telling my caddie there, it's been the MO this year in general is that I'm hitting the ball probably not as good, but I'm hitting the ball pretty nicely and just not getting anything out of it.

So that's been the frustrating part. That was not the case the first couple days, that was probably some of the worst couple rounds that I've hit ball striking wise and I got a lot out of it the first two days. And today was kind of back to where I hit it better and didn't take advantage of much.

Q. What is your exempt status in Majors for next year?
STEVE STRICKER: I'm not exempt for any of them, so I've got work to do if I want to get back and play in some of these. So, a real low round tomorrow to jump up into the top -- I don't even know what they take here, the top-10? Not even sure what they take to get back into the PGA. But yeah, I got work to do to get back into some of these Majors.

Q. So does that change tomorrow? It could be a worst case scenario, it could be your last one in a while, best case scenario it could be a spring board to something.
STEVE STRICKER: Very much so. Tomorrow is the last round of the year for me. I'm not playing next week and I'm not exempt for the FedExCup, so hopefully go out there and get a good one under my belt so I can enjoy the off season a little bit and -- but I'm excited, I'm excited about the way I've been hitting it this year. I really am. I feel like I got some strength back, I got some length back, I'm hitting it out there with some of these guys that are quite a bit younger and that excites me that I'm, that I still got some pop in there.

It's the little things that I'm not doing very well. And that's the lack of playing, probably, and but tomorrow should be fun and hopefully get a low one and try to post a good number tomorrow.

Q. What do you think the course will play like tomorrow?
STEVE STRICKER: I think we're supposed to have a little bit of wind tomorrow. It's played great all week long. It's a fair test. When you hit it good, you get rewarded for it. If you hit it just a little bit off sometimes you can really get penalized. There's some things around here that it doesn't sit well with a player at times, when he just misses it and he gets extremely penalized, that's tough to swallow. But you know that going in. That's a Pete Dye setup and you know you have to be at your best when you play a course like this. So, the wind can come up and it will make things more difficult, which I think I saw maybe 10 to 15 tomorrow or 10 to 20 or something like that.

Q. 25.
STEVE STRICKER: Oh, really. Well that will add another dimension to things and make it more interesting.

Q. How about the dimension of a lot of guys that are on the leaderboard that maybe haven't won Majors on this course this week, how do you see that playing out tomorrow with some guys kind of nipping at their heels that fans might recognize?
STEVE STRICKER: Right, well it's a new era in golf isn't it. We got these young guys that are up there it seems like in every Major. Justin Rose, Jason Day, Justin Johnson, who else is up there? Oh, Spieth. Tony Finau, played with him the other day. He played great.

And I was talking about how these kids come out with polished games, confidence because they've been playing at other levels and had success. So it's pretty cool to see these young players are making a statement when they get out here.

Q. It seemed like a lot of guys were loose and having fun with the fans.
STEVE STRICKER: It's great. The fans here have been wonderful and a lot of people out there. This course can hold a lot of people and they come out and support the event. It's great to see. I'm getting a tremendous amount of cheese love this week. It's fun to be out there and but they're supporting everybody. It's a great atmosphere.

Q. When you're acknowledging fans almost every shot that you take, is that a distraction or do you kind of get some energy out of that?
STEVE STRICKER: No, I'm feeling a lot of energy out of that. I'm feeling a lot of love around here. It's nice. Yeah, it's constant chatter all the way down from tee to the green and in between the green and the next tee. So, it's a lot of fun and it's something that I'm not used to, but it's also a lot of fun to play in front of.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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