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U.S. SENIOR OPEN

June 29, 2017

Paul Goydos

Peabody, Massachusetts

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome Paul Goydos into the Media Center. Paul playing in his third U.S. Senior Open, tied for sixth last year at Scioto, and today a 5 under, 65.

Started on the 10th hole. Just wondering if you can take us through your card. Started with a birdie on 12.

PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah, it was perfect conditions out there today. 12th hole, I hit a nice little 7 iron in the middle of the greens. It's kind of a middle-of-the-green golf course. You try to make putts from there. I hit a good 7 iron in there 20 feet right in the hole in the middle of the green, made it for a change.

The par 5, I hit a driver and a 3 wood near the front of the green. Hit a good little chip in there about four feet behind the hole and somehow tickled that one down the hole and in.

I birdied the next hole, hit 3 iron. All long par 3. It's around ten feet, made that for birdie. Probably the best shot I hit all day. Well, best shot I hit at that point.

Next hole, I hit a nice drive and a 9 iron to again about eight, ten feet, made that.

18, in the practice round, I couldn't figure out where that fairway is. They mow it, but my ball just wouldn't go in it. But I hit a good drive and probably hit a really good 6 iron to, I don't know, four feet behind the hole. If you're behind the hole there, you're either going to make it or putt off the green just about, it seemed like. I made it, thank God.

So I turned 5 under, which is obviously very low and, quite frankly, the way I've been playing, surprising.

And then I made some pars, got to 4, hit a good tee shot, hit an 8 iron 12 feet. I had kind of a funny putt, I thought, and didn't think I made it. I kind of Jordan Spiethed it in the last edge and, unfortunately, three-putted the last. But played pretty good all day.

THE MODERATOR: All day, what did you have working for you?

PAUL GOYDOS: I hit the fairway. I did the things you need to do to be successful in a U.S. Open type setup. Hit the ball in the fairway, I think I hit 15 greens, and I had good speed with my putter.

The greens here, two-foot putts here can break a foot. So you have to have good speed with your putter in order to kind of know where to aim and what's going on with that. Again, I thought I had really good speed with my putter. When I had a long putt, I hit it to where there was no pressure. Again, other than the last hole, really solid.

THE MODERATOR: Were you surprised with three 65s out there, that the scores are as good as they are on this course?

PAUL GOYDOS: The problem is there's an absence of conditions. There's no wind whatsoever. You had a pretty good rain event a couple nights ago. There's nothing to dry the golf course out. It was cloudy and no wind. Unfortunately, for the people who like high scores, it's just you can't do much in that situation.

Let's see how the scores are come Sunday afternoon, but it's just an absence of conditions.

THE MODERATOR: Let's open it up to questions.

Q. As somebody who's shot 59 before, what kind of thoughts are dancing in your head when you turned at 30?
PAUL GOYDOS: Well, none, other than how did I shoot 30? 30 is usually a six- or seven-hole score for me this year. So, no, I played good. Things were going well.

This golf course doesn't really lend itself, in my opinion. I think I played the nine -- the first seven holes on the back nine, probably where you'll see some good scores. You got that stretch of holes, 17, 18, and 1, 2, that's probably the meat really of the golf course, if you're starting on 10. And 7, 8, 9 are no bargains, and 5 is a hard par 3.

I was very happy just trying to hit the ball on the fairway and trying to hit the greens and see what happens. I wasn't really concerned about anything else.

Q. You're just mentioning 30 is a good score --
PAUL GOYDOS: Can you start over?

Q. I said you just mentioned 30 maybe being a score after six or seven holes. So suggesting maybe not playing the way you wanted to. How did you turn it around today? What have you done differently? What changes have you made?
PAUL GOYDOS: I think Kirk Triplett had the best line, and you have to make sure Kirk Triplett gets -- you know, I'm too inconsistent to be bad all the time.

Just I'm struggling, but I've been closer. I've had some good practice sessions the last month. I just haven't been able to get it to the golf course.

I think I made -- did I make six birdies today? I think I made six birdies last week in Madison. So I just haven't been able to do anything to shoot a score. I'm making six birdies and five pars for the tournament. That's kind of the way I played all year.

Today, I kind of hit it in the right place. Instead of missing it -- instead of having the 12-footer straight down the hill, I had the 12-footer straight up the hill. Those little things that can kind of get a round going. And I made a 20-footer on my third hole, which kind of gets you going in the right direction.

Honestly, I like the golf course. It kind of reminds me when we used to play Westchester. It's that kind of feel. I like this kind of golf. I like having 30-footers. You've got to play five feet of break, things like that. I like greens like that. It's a comfortable place to play golf.

Q. Are you the type of person that's going to think about that last hole, the three-putt, or are you going to think about the rest of the week?
PAUL GOYDOS: I think you're going to think about the last hole for a few minutes. But at some point in time, yeah, you shot the score, and you go out and try to shoot another score tomorrow and another score, hopefully, on Saturday and Sunday. It might put a little taint on my sandwich, yeah, but that's the mentality of who we are.

You go out and birdie 17 holes in a row and lip it out on the last hole, you're throwing your putter. That's just kind of who we are, unfortunately.

But at the end of the day, I would have taken a 65 and not played. And I'll get there. It just won't be until maybe 1:00 or 2:00 when I'm practicing.

Q. You talk about an absence of conditions. I mean, normally, would this week feel unlike any other of what you see all year in the Senior Open, just condition-wise?
PAUL GOYDOS: Yeah, everything's just -- it's a regular event on steroids a little bit. You've got more slope in your greens, more penalty for bad shots, more penalty for bad thought process.

On No. 10 today, I got away with a par, and I had a decent -- I didn't execute on 10, and I kind of got myself in a little bit of spot on the first hole of the day and got away with par.

That's what the USGA does. It kind of penalizes your mistakes, whether they're physical or mental. That goes back to answering your other questions. The USGA doesn't let you get ahead of yourself. If you do, they tend to destroy you. That's just kind of what they do. They do a good job.

On this golf course, the defense is second shots into the greens. That's the defense. And with enough slope around the greens, if you happen to miss a green, you're going to have a difficult little pitch.

On 1, I drove it in the rough, my only fairway missed. I missed it short of the green. Where I was, in any other golf course would have been a pretty easy up and down. Out of the rough, you try to miss it. I was actually trying to get it past the hole so I didn't have to go up over that -- Don Ross likes to raise up his greens. So this golf course is going to penalize guys who don't hit good shots.

THE MODERATOR: 5 under, 65. Paul Goydos, good opening round.

PAUL GOYDOS: Thanks.

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