	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

U.S. SENIOR OPEN

June 29, 2017

Olin Browne

Peabody, Massachusetts

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to introduce Olin Browne. Olin, a 7 under, 63 in the first round of the 38th U.S. Senior Open Championship. Olin, the 2011 U.S. Senior Open champion, playing in his eighth U.S. Senior Open.

I have to ask, when you came to the course this afternoon, you knew there was some good scores out there, perhaps you heard that, did you have to adjust some of your expectations when you played your round this afternoon?

OLIN BROWNE: No, not really. I didn't even look at the leaderboard. I had no idea what was being shot. We watched, while I was on the putting green, a couple of guys coming up No. 18 to see what that was kind of playing like.

But it's the first round of the Senior Open. You know what you have to do out here. You know you have to hit fairways. You know you have to hit greens. I missed a fairway today, and it was on a par 5. So that was good timing for me. And when I missed the greens, I missed them on purpose. I was missing short to play up to the hole.

Managed my game well today. The result was I flinched a couple times at the right moment, and if the pin was tucked, my ball somehow ended up over there. So I made some nice birdies today. It was just a fun day to play.

THE MODERATOR: If we can go through your card. Take us through the approach shots you had in and the putts you had. We'll start with the 10th hole.

OLIN BROWNE: That was the hole that was really the wakeup call for me because I hit a perfect tee shot. It was right in the middle of the fairway. I tried to aim a little bit left of the pin there and hit a shot.

Couldn't really feel -- the wind was a little more left to right than I anticipated, and I kind of hit in a different shot that missed the green to the right, and then I drew a pretty nice lie and I happened to chip it in. So that was just a really -- you know, you're already scolding yourself for missing the first green, and to chip it in after that, it kind of got the day off to a great start. So it was a nice way to open up.

THE MODERATOR: And you ran a nice run of birdies from 12, 13, and 14.

OLIN BROWNE: Yes. You know, I hit the ball kind of close on those holes so it wasn't anything kind of silly.

On 12, I hit a shot in there about -- gosh, maybe 20 feet, pin high, just past pin high to the right, and made a good read, and it rolled in.

Then the next hole, from the middle of the fairway, I hit a really good shot with a pitching wedge about five or six feet, but I got it pin high, which means I had a lot of break.

And I was just seeing the lines nicely today, and my speed was matching up well with what I was seeing. So it seemed like almost every time I had a chance to make a putt, I did.

THE MODERATOR: And then you made another birdie on 16 at the par 4.

OLIN BROWNE: It's all running together now. 16 is -- give me the hole.

THE MODERATOR: Par 4, 389.

OLIN BROWNE: Oh, yeah, the one up the hill?

THE MODERATOR: Yes.

OLIN BROWNE: Pin was on the front right, and I hit it a little bit left off the tee, and it actually just barely stayed in the fairway. It had a great angle to the hole. I hit it in there about maybe 8 or 9 feet.

Tom Lehman was on the same line. He made his putt, and I was able to get a look at the speed there. And so I was able to make it on top of his. That was kind of nice.

Made a good par save on 18, where, again, I played short of the green purposely. If it jumps up, great; but if not, I'm putting up the hill.

My two hiccups were on 1 and 2. I made either a tactical error or a swing error or a combination of the two. I was debating whether I was going to lay up to the edge of the ridge, and I just crept over the fall line there. So I had kind of a difficult lie, and I pushed my second shot in the bunker, hit a nice bunker shot, and missed about a 6-footer.

Then on 3, the wind got my ball, and I was in the front right bunker, and it had been where somebody had already been that day. It was a little bit wavy in there, and I didn't get a great lie. I just elected to take my bogey. I popped it out of there at 30 feet.

I made a mistake there and was going to accept the 5 and move on. Then I got on a nice run where I got four in a row, and it put me back where I wanted to be.

THE MODERATOR: 3, 4, 6 and, 7 played nicely there. Take us through any of those exceptional birdies.

OLIN BROWNE: On 3, I hit a pitching wedge to about seven or eight feet again. It was dead pin high, so it was one of those that had a little swing to it.

4, all three of us in the group made birdie. Everybody was inside of 10 feet there. It was really nice to do that.

THE MODERATOR: 6, the par 5.

OLIN BROWNE: Oh, yeah, 6, that's the fairway that I missed, and I was in the first cut, not the primary, but there's the fringe and then the first and then the hay. It was maybe the worst lie I've ever had. And all I could do was bump it out there about 90 yards.

I had 170 or so leftover, and I hit a 6 iron to about -- oh, about 5 feet and probably played 14 or 15 inches of break on that putt and happened to make it.

The next hole was the one of the ones where I was aiming at the middle of the green and had kind of a hook lie, and the ball came off perfectly, ended up about 4 or 5 feet, and I made that one too. So it was a nice way to open up the tournament.

THE MODERATOR: A couple of nice pars to end. We've been scouring the record books. We can't find anyone who made more birdies than you in a round. It was nine today. A bunch of people have tied that, but nine birdies is pretty good in a U.S. Senior Open.

OLIN BROWNE: Especially a golf course like this, which is just magnificent. Salem is one of those kinds of courses, there's so many great courses in this area, maybe people haven't heard of it if they haven't been from this area or haven't come up here, but this is a gem of a gem.

Beautiful golf course. The membership has been so welcoming here this week. I know they're really proud of their golf course, and they should be because it's exceptional.

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

Q. Olin, how does this 7 under compare to the 7 under in the first round in 2011?
OLIN BROWNE: Well, they're both great golf courses, aren't they? Inverness is a beautiful track. You know, I made two eagles in that round. The condition of the course was -- you know, it was later in the year that year, and the weather had been brutally hot so the course was a little softer than you would have expected; certainly, I think, than the guys wanted it.

So I played beautifully that day, but, you know, I holed a wedge. It's hard to compare them. I mean, they're totally different golf courses even though Donald Ross did them both.

I would say that in both rounds I did what you're supposed to do in a U.S. Open. I hit a lot of fairways, and I hit most of the greens. And when I did miss a green, I left myself in the proper spot.

Q. Just quickly, how long was that putt, the birdie putt on the 9th hole at the end there, would you say?
OLIN BROWNE: The one that I left short?

Q. Yeah.
OLIN BROWNE: 28 or 30 feet maybe. You know, it's a little tricky. I thought it was -- I was more worried about the line than I was the speed. The last 5 or 6 feet are just a hair uphill, and it's a little bit -- it's a little subtle so I just left it a hair short. I felt like I had a good line on it. I wish I'd have hit it a little harder.

Q. Olin, you mentioned on TV you were curled up with a good book. What were you reading this morning before you came out to play?
OLIN BROWNE: I'm reading "Black Widow," Daniel Silva. I think it's the last of his that I haven't read yet. So it's a good way to get lost with all the air travel that we have.

Q. Olin, great playing.
OLIN BROWNE: Thank you.

Q. Does it seem strange to be at a U.S. Open or a USGA event where there's so many kind of green light opportunities, given just the way the course set up today?
OLIN BROWNE: It's an interesting question because my game plan today was to hit the middle of every green, and if I wasn't in the middle of every green, I wanted to be short of the green in the middle of every green.

There just happened to be a couple of places where I could take a slightly more aggressive line. And I was fat side to the hole all day long, which is -- so it worked out.

I've been struggling with that this year. So I wouldn't necessarily call them green light situations, I mean, even though there's some red numbers on the board, because if you got overly aggressive and you missed on the wrong side, you were cooked.

The one hole I really messed up, it was 10, and I happened to pitch it in. You know, that's really a shot and a half swing right there.

So, yeah, the course -- the greens were receptive and the wind was down today so the ball was going where we started it, but if you didn't hit good shots, you're going to pay a real penalty out here.

THE MODERATOR: Olin Browne, 7 under, 63. Great start. Good luck the rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297