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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2018

Will Grimmer

Southampton, New York

Q. Here we are again. Halfway home, in good shape still as low Amateur.
WILL GRIMMER: Another solid day out there today. The weather was totally different than what we were expecting. I don't even have any rain gloves in the bag. We're kind of freaking out mid-round. It was spitting kind of sideways for probably about three or four holes, like 4 through 7. So just tried to stay patient.

I laid up on 14 again, even though I didn't make par. Made a great birdie on 15. Then just really tried to play steady on the back nine and made a lot of good pars. Ball striking overall was solid. When it wasn't, I feel like I hit some great wedge shots and made some great putts and kind of kept the momentum of the round going again.

It's nice to post 5-over and be in good shape.

Q. Composure carries two elements here. One, the fact that it's the U.S. Open, high pressure and a tough course. You walk out here and, like you said, it's spitting sideways, it's just gloomy, it looks awful. You don't have rain gear to handle it. How do you keep yourself in the road when things sort of stack up like that?
WILL GRIMMER: Yeah, just have to take it one shot at a time. Michael did a good job of -- my caddie -- keeping me in the moment and not getting ahead of ourselves.

I think the biggest thing for me is I have avoided all doubles and triples. I have yet to post anything higher than a bogey on any hole. I have been very accepting of the fact that when I'm in trouble, just to get out. I know that I'm hitting it well, playing well enough to where I'm going to give myself a handful of good looks for birdie and have a chance to score. So if we do have a couple of rough holes, let's minimize it to bogeys and just move on from there.

Q. Pretty much sounds like what you likely did today to keep yourself in good shape. Were those the keys to your round today?
WILL GRIMMER: Yeah. Like on 14, I was 260, coming back in the wind, it was spitting rain, it would have been really easy to try to hit a 3-wood and try to finesse it through the fescue and the bunkers and try to get it up there close to the green, but I knew that a miss there would probably lead to a 6 or 7. So I just took a 3-iron and gave a wedge to about 15 feet. I missed the putt, but...

Then a real turning point in the round was 15. Didn't hit a good drive. I probably hit it 230 coming into the wind. I had to hit 3-iron into that green and hit it to about 20 feet and rolled it in for birdie, which was huge. I was thinking 3 on that hole when you are hitting into that hole on that tiny green. So that was huge.

Then just from there on, hit a lot of good shots. Like I said, whenever I missed the green on holes like 17 and 2, made a phenomenal up-and-down on 2 from about 45 yards short in the front bunker. So just hit great wedges and made some great putts and just scrambled really well and kept myself in it.

Q. Looking forward to the weekend. What's the strategy? At least no more rain, we don't think. It's you and the course. How do you approach it?
WILL GRIMMER: Going into this week, my goal was to make the cut and the play all four days. Now I have, so I'm going to get to play the full tournament. Now is a totally different experience. I have played in a U.S. Open before, but I was completely out of contention and I didn't make the cut. My tournament was done by Friday. So it's going to have a totally different feeling playing in the biggest tournament in the country, the U.S. Open, Saturday and Sunday. The crowds are going to be bigger. The pins are going to be tougher, the greens are going to be firmer and faster. It's going to be a totally different ball game.

Just try to prepare as best we can for what's coming tomorrow and I think to have the same just mindset and approach that I have the last two days. Don't deviate because it's Saturday or Sunday at a U.S. Open.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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