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U.S. SENIOR OPEN

July 1, 2018

Tim Petrovic

Colorado Springs, Colorado

THE MODERATOR: Tim Petrovic, second runner-up at the U.S. Open. You gave it a good run at the end, with a birdie on 18. Tell us about that.

TIM PETROVIC: We were in the middle of the fairway and I had a perfect number. And I told my caddie, I said, well -- he says knock it in. If anybody can do it, you can do it. I said I'm going to hit it a little left of the pin and it will bounce up and spin back and go right into the hole. So I got all that right except for the spin-back. It was trying to come back. And I think it was about two and a half, three feet, and that was probably the hardest putt I had all day because it was so fast. It was a left-edge putt and I barely tapped it. And luckily it caught the right corner there.

THE MODERATOR: Is there a place on the round where you're like, man, I wish I had it back?

TIM PETROVIC: 15. 15 was disappointing. And it turns out I played a real aggressive tee shot. I drove it all the way up in front of the green, had about 76 yards. And I was in the first cut just off the fairway and it was definitely a feel shot, it was a touchy shot. And I basically just went right underneath the ball. It was really wet underneath there and didn't get it all and the ball rolled all the way back off the green. So I made bogey there. So that was a little disappointing. But I was glad I finished, hit a really great drive on 17 today, hit it in the fairway, so nobody would go pick it up.

(Laughter.)

I saw that kid today, too. So, yeah, it was a good finish. I just wanted to give myself some chances coming in.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. When you birdied 18 to get to 2-under, did you think you could be in a playoff at that point?
TIM PETROVIC: Well, I knew I had a better chance if I -- to get in the playoff if I made the putt than if I didn't, for sure. But I looked at the board as we walked off. And it's funny because -- funny you say that, because as we walked in, somebody said David was in the bunker. And as we were just about to walk into the clubhouse to sign our cards, I heard this loud noise and I said, what was that noise? Then we walked in and we saw what it was. He made a great putt for par on 17. You're going to win championships, that's what you have to do, you got to make the big putt at the right time. And he did.

Q. Your second runner-up finish now in a month at a major, where are you at mentally right now after this?
TIM PETROVIC: I'm fine. I'm fine. I was pretty relaxed today, it was windy. And I was in a good place going off and basically the hardest part of the day was trying to kill time before 2:30 tee off. I think we went -- we took the paddle boats out and had breakfast and went for a run, went shopping, but I didn't have my car or my bus here so I couldn't wash the car. I probably would have done that, too.

Q. You really went for -- did you really do some of things?
TIM PETROVIC: That's all I did. I did all that this morning. Yeah. And a 10-minute nap at about noon right before I came over. I tried to take a little cat nap to recharge.

Q. How far did you run?
TIM PETROVIC: Oh, not, well -- a little less. I don't run as far at at 6,000 feet as I do at sea level. Basically that's kind of my warm-up. I probably run -- I probably ran about a half a mile, maybe a mile, just to get the body going.

Q. How pleased are you that you won't have to play a sectional qualifying for next year's Senior Open?
TIM PETROVIC: Oh, I don't? Okay, that's good. That's bonus.

Q. Top-15.
TIM PETROVIC: Yeah.

Q. And knowing that, how might you approach next year's Senior Open at Notre Dame, just with preparation knowing that you're already in the field?
TIM PETROVIC: I'm looking forward to it. I played that golf course before, and it's a real tough course. I played it about a year and a half ago, and it's going to be a real challenge for us. I think I'll take the same score right now and I'll sit in the clubhouse and wait. It's going to be fun.

Q. Take me through what it's like finishing early and then having to wait, watch Toms and Kelly go on to 18. I can't imagine you're rooting against them, but you want a playoff, right?
TIM PETROVIC: No, I actually saw Jerry make his par putt on 17. And I was just kind of rooting him on to make that and -- I didn't have to wait too long. It kind of happened. They were right behind us. So we kind of knew what was going on. And I know Jerry wished he had a better birdie putt and he probably would have made birdie. David left himself in a tough spot above the hole. But overall we don't real root against anybody, especially on this TOUR guys. We have played together for so long now and it would be real hard to root against somebody.

Q. From a media standpoint, we have certainly enjoyed you talking about your past. Some quirky stories, anything you want to leave us with?
TIM PETROVIC: No, I think I pretty much covered it all. And we'll just leave the rest, we'll put the rest in the book when it comes out in a couple years.

Q. Now that you've gone through the whole weekend, did you ever really figure out the greens here? It seemed like Toms made some long ones and nobody else really did.
TIM PETROVIC: That would be no. Definitely did not figure out the greens. They made it tough on us. They had a couple head scratchers for pins. And it was not easy from the fairway today, with the wind blowing. It was really hard to judge your distance. So I really didn't have any great looks at it. Had a few looks here and there. But they made it hard on us, I really don't like -- I did pretty good because I don't like putting on poa annua. And I don't like courses that have a lot of right-to-left holes and that's basically all we have here. So I had a pretty good week.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on a great finish. Thanks so much.

TIM PETROVIC: You got it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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