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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM

February 12, 2016

Justin Rose

Pebble Beach, California

Q. Another good day out there. 3-under par. Another new golf course for you. How was it?
JUSTIN ROSE: It was pretty good. I think I probably felt like I actually hit the ball even better than yesterday, but had a hard time making as many putts as I did yesterday. I think maybe the greens were pretty quick today and maybe a little bobbly. I had a hard time getting it on line.

Felt like for the most part it was a solid round. Felt comfortable, enjoyed the day, obviously it was a little colder playing early this morning than we had it yesterday and maybe a little bit more breeze. Especially starting out the round conditions felt a little more challenging.

But all in all 3-under par is okay. Keeps pace somewhat of contention. Had a good day with the partner. Justin contributed quite a few, three times at least to the card, so kept the team moving in the right direction. All in all, good day.

Q. How different were the conditions today than yesterday?
JUSTIN ROSE: It's a very different feel for sure. The ocean looked pretty angry out there today. The waves were crashing, there was some nice sets rolling through. So it was very dramatic out there. It was almost, because of the waves crashing heavily, it was creating some spray and quite an atmospheric mist over the golf course. So yeah obviously with the sun poking through as well it was a very beautiful golf course and a beautiful day to play golf.

Q. Did you play a practice round here?
JUSTIN ROSE: I did play a practice round here, yeah. Spyglass was the only one I didn't play. But I did get to see every hole. I went around in a golf cart and checked out every hole and got my sight lines and stuff. But, yeah, I played here and it's a fun golf course.

Q. How does the equation change going to Pebble?
JUSTIN ROSE: It's nice to be playing Pebble two times in a row. Kind of gets the momentum basically. You can focus on closing out the tournament now in one spot and trying to go from there. But I think tomorrow will be a fun, pretty atmospheric, busy day, playing a little bit later, probably going to have big crowds. Obviously I'm playing with some pretty big personalities, so I'm sure tomorrow's going to be a fun day and really looking forward to it. It will be my first competitive round ever at Pebble so it will be a good day.

Q. Did you ever watch the Saturday round from Pebble at home or the celebrity action?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, I watched it in the past. Obviously to do that stop on 17 and the little chat. It's in my memory for sure how it feels. But obviously looking forward to experiencing it first hand tomorrow.

Q. What was the biggest difference at Monterrey Peninsula compared to Spyglass?
JUSTIN ROSE: The greens aren't as good here. They're bouncing a little bit, but they're also really quick. So kind of quick and bouncy is -- I had a couple -- my last hole of the day I had a beautiful 6-iron in to about seven feet and had maybe a 6, 8 inch break in it. I knew I was trying to lag it and I missed low and suddenly had four feet coming back up the hill. So there was some very awkward putts out there today. But the putts are makeable, but also if you're not seeing them go in early, you start to, it's the one course that maybe gets in your head a little bit. But the greens at Spyglass and Pebble are a little firmer and they're rolling really well.

Q. With all the data and information available for the top guys now, how do you balance trusting your feel versus trying to quantify what's going on with your swing?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think that for me recently it's been actually the numbers are supporting, the numbers have been telling you everything is okay, but the feel hasn't been there. So, it's kind of interesting. So, that's why feel is the most important thing. Because you can be on plane, but out of sequence, if that makes any sense. Basically you can have your swing looking up-and-down, but if you haven't kind of got the inside working well, if you're not firing the right muscles at the right time and you're not creating resistance and power at the right point in the swing, you can have a swing that looks pretty good on camera that kind of goes off in the wrong direction. So I think that it's more the feel and the kinetics that are the most important thing.

Q. What do you think when you see Phil's name on the leaderboard. He's a guy that's had a fabulous career.
JUSTIN ROSE: He seems energized, excited, talking about the game feels easy, he's enjoying it again. So, not surprising from that point of view. He seems hungry for it, so it's great. And I overheard a conversation in the locker room he was having with some of the guys and he seems to really like this golf course. It's one of his favorites on TOUR. So when all those sort of feel good factors come into play, someone with his past can rise to the top.

Q. Is that becoming more of a factor even in your career, when you play better on the courses you know and like them the most? Probably it's always the case, but --
JUSTIN ROSE: I think you sort of get to a stage in your career where you earned the right to be a little more selective in terms of where you play and how you play and what suits you and what doesn't. So, we have all done the hard yards out here on TOUR and you work, hopefully, to get to a position where you can give your self a better chance, week in week out, by going to places you like.

So he's obviously at that stage in his career. And you look at Phil, he gives a lot of us confidence in the sense that he really has had many close calls obviously through his 20s, but really started winning his Majors in his 30s and built a Hall of Fame career and one of the greats. Obviously, if he steals a U.S. Open he goes down as in the top handful of guys ever in the game. So, and a large part of that was done in his 30s. So, it's a good story for all of us, really.

Q. Sung Kang is 11 under on this golf course today.
JUSTIN ROSE: No way. What's he for the tournament?

Q. 11.
JUSTIN ROSE: Okay.

Q. If he can birdie 18 or birdie No. 9 for a 59.
JUSTIN ROSE: 59. Yeah. I mean, the greens are great, the greens are obviously perfect.

(Laughter.)

Q. Given the conditions, would you have seen that?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, I knew that myself in this round of golf, I knew that if I saw them going in early it would be important. But I, unfortunately, got on to that wrong side where you started to maybe see the imperfection and it is all about attitude sometimes on poa annua.

But also making smart reads. I think if you try to hit the firm inside left edge putt, it doesn't take much for it to bounce off line. Your speed needs to be perfect to capture the width of the hole. And then you're going to make putts.

So obviously his speed was dead on and he's making them. There's a hole out there and you got to find it. So it is doable. And when you hear someone 11 under par, I mean, he's played some great golf, because the pins I think this year were a yard or two tighter than they have been, looking at old yardage books and pin placement sheets. So you have to play well.

Q. Do you know him at all?
JUSTIN ROSE: I don't. Is Fluff caddieing for him?

Q. Yes.
JUSTIN ROSE: Okay. I saw him on the range this morning. So Fluff must have given him some good reads.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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