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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

June 16, 2017

William McGirt

Erin, Wisconsin

Q. Did it feel more like a U.S. Open today?
WILLIAM McGIRT: Started out, first hole had extra trickle they didn't have yesterday. I thought I left a couple of them short, and they still trickled out four or five past the hole. It definitely felt more like a U.S. Open.

Q. When you see a round like yesterday, everybody going low, do you almost brace for the next round?
WILLIAM McGIRT: Yeah, we knew it was coming today. That was no secret.

Q. You're obviously under par. Today has got to feel pretty good.
WILLIAM McGIRT: Under par at the U.S. Open is good any day, isn't it? Who was the last that had a 4-under par round and lost? It is what it is.

It's not an easy golf course, by any stretch. It's kind of tricky. It seemed to bounce around a bunch in the middle of the round. It's mostly out of the west, but it bounced back between northwest and southwest, at 15 -- we thought -- everything was showing into, off the right. As soon as I hit it, bam, it goes the other way.

Overall pretty happy. I didn't have my best today, but to get in under par around this golf course is pretty good.

Q. Everyone said this was a bomber's golf course, but you kind of proved that's not the case.
WILLIAM McGIRT: It helps, let's put it that way. It would be nice if I could play from where Keegan drove for two days. It doesn't scare me to have to hit three or four irons. It's not that big a deal. There's a couple of holes out here that are a little over the top, but that's the way it is.

Q. What's the biggest difference you've found between today's setup and yesterday's?
WILLIAM McGIRT: Well, the greens were definitely faster today, and the pins were definitely on more slope today than yesterday. The first five or six holes were pretty dicey with the speed and the hole location.

Keegan hit a dead wedge on 1, it landed five or six feet right of the hole. It didn't spin, hit and spot, and the next thing you know it trickled five or six feet left of the hole. I could understand if it was spinning, but it wasn't spinning. It had stopped and it was kind of turned over. I would say it was a little envy on that pin. That pin was -- his ball barely got to the hole and then rolled directly right off of it two and a half feet away. There were a couple that were a little questionable.

Q. At what point did you realize, as you're out there, that the greens weren't or aren't as receptive as they were yesterday?
WILLIAM McGIRT: It's not that they weren't as receptive, it's just they had so much more pace to it. And the holes were much more sloped. Yesterday, especially in the afternoon they were definitely slower. First thing this morning, fresh cut, hang on for your life.

Q. Were any of the holes a reaction to some of the scoring we saw yesterday? That's a question.
WILLIAM McGIRT: (No response.)

Q. (Inaudible) coming into today, what did you expect?
WILLIAM McGIRT: I think it's going to continue to dry out more. The golf course was playing a little bit faster each day. I think the greens are going to get faster and the hole locations aren't going to get easier.

I think yesterday was about as easy as you're ever going to have it at a U.S. Open. I just hope that with the wind direction they use their head in setting up the tees. There's a couple of them -- No. 3 today was a driver and a 2-iron from 212, middle of the fairway. You started hitting 2-irons on some of these holes, the greens aren't designed for it. They're not designed for 4-irons, much less 2-irons.

The thing is you can't run balls up. It's open in front, but the approaches are soft. And they're all like this (indicating), the balls don't roll. That's what makes it tricky when you have to fly it on there and then the greens run away from you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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