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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2019

Henrik Stenson

Pebble Beach, California

Q. Can you talk about what happened to the fan?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I -- it was going to be a chippy 8-iron, but it was sitting up in the first cut. And I hit one of those famous like rockets almost, it was a semi shank, it wasn't a full one. That would have been better, because then it would probably have hit the trees. But it was a nice flight out to the right, shot it forward, but they can't see anything, I can't see where it's going either, and clipped the guy right in the forehead. Luckily, I mean, you can get hit worse places. The head is never a good place to hit, but at least not the eyes or teeth or anything. So coming up there, he's flat down. He's got like half of a golf ball swelling coming out of his forehead.

But he's in good spirits because he's taking selfies of himself while he's down on the ground. I walk up to him. I said, I'm sorry. What else can you say? And he says, Can you do me one favor? Can I take a picture with you? So next thing I'm down on the ground as well, taking a picture, a selfie, laying down with him and his girlfriend.

It feels like he's had maybe one or two refreshments that might have eased the pain before the strike. I don't know if he's got a concussion. I asked for his details so I can contact him at a later date and check up on him. I might send him more than just one golf ball next time. I might send him a couple dozen or something to try to make up for my poor shot.

Q. On the round, to finish up with a birdie, coming off with a birdie feels pretty good?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, absolutely. I hit some great putts from long distance on 13, 14, 15. All three of them. Nothing would drop, and I dropped the guy on 16, and then -- you got that one? -- and then felt good to make one on the last. I felt like I was due for that, even though I made great putts early on the round to stay afloat. I had a bit of a rough start, bogeyed the second, was in trouble on the third and made a good par save there and a good birdie on 4. Then I plugged -- hit a good tee shot, but we misjudged the wind, and I plugged it in the front trap on 5, completely dead, really, and managed to get a good hack out from the plug lie to about 20, 25 feet and made that for par.

And then bogeyed the 6th. That's when the round turned around a little bit. And it was fairly steady from there onwards. I felt like I played better today than yesterday.

It's tough. I think Pebble showed a little more teeth today. Some of the longer shots into the greens is really difficult to get tight on any of those pins so you need a few longer putts to drop if you want to make up some ground. Not the easiest scoring day out there, but I'm happy with the way I did it.

Q. You can't take two guys off the leaderboard, you're only three off the lead. And anything can happen with someone coming back.
HENRIK STENSON: I'm going to go out and play a solid round again. I said earlier in the week, I don't feel like I have the game to maybe challenge for the ultimate prize here. But I had a good week last week in Canada, Top 10. And feel like I'm going to try to progress and building some confidence and momentum. And I feel like I managed to continue that this week. I'm not playing at my absolute best but there were still a lot of good things out will today and we'll take that with us for tomorrow and onwards.

Q. Looks like Gary Woodland will be in the last group tomorrow, you've been in that position. What's it been like for you and what advice would you give him?
HENRIK STENSON: I can't stand here and give Gary advice, can I? He's a good friend of mine (laughter.)

No, there's no real difference. If you're in the last couple of groups, you kind of feel a little bit extra tension. And you know what's at stake. They've still got some golf to play, so we're not sure what the standings are going to be going into the last round.

But for myself, I don't really have a problem sleeping on the lead or when I'm playing well. So I just go about my things as normal. It's about going out there and playing a solid round of golf if you want to give yourself a chance to win. And I'm sure he's both keen and very capable of doing that. It's going to be, as always, an interesting Sunday on a major championship tomorrow.

Q. G-Mac was here saying that it feels like tomorrow you have to hold on and stay close.
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I saw the stats, 22 out of the 23 winners have been top six going into the weekend or something like that. So it means that it's not easy to make up a lot of ground if you're far out. And I think the way the golf course plays, there's going to be some opportunities, but if you're coming from five, six shots back, you've got to step really carefully. You've got to take every birdie chance that's available out there. And you can't afford to make any mistakes, if you're going to make up ground.

You never know what's going to happen. And that's why it's not my job to speculate about the future. That's your job.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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