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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2019

Justin Rose

Pebble Beach, California

Q. I know you wanted to hoist the silver. But you were in it all four days. Talk about the tournament?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, obviously I worked really hard to be in this situation with my game this week. Obviously didn't quite have it early, but did a brilliant job of hanging around. Today I came out feeling really good. Swung it much better my first six, seven holes, felt like I was looking for birdies out there.

A lot of guys were getting out to a good start. So I had a positive mindset there, about moving forward in the tournament and making some birdies. But I made two good saves -- three saves: 9, 10, 11. I was right in the tournament. And then just kept missing in the wrong spot.

And the putter wasn't quite as warm today as it was yesterday. Took a bit of a day off. But I felt like I had to have a day where I pieced everything together to win. It was close. But coming in, once momentum leaves you a little bit, it just becomes hard to grind it out.

Q. What can you say about Gary?
JUSTIN ROSE: He stayed calm all day. He looks calm all the time. You never know what is going on. He was unflappable and great finish on 18.

Q. You've been through a lot of these close calls in majors. How much does it hurt when you don't close it?
JUSTIN ROSE: Today it doesn't hurt. You reflect and go how can I get better? There's no point in letting it hurt too much. It hurts if you lose at the death and you make a mistake. Like the way it happened for me today, it's like, yeah, I'm more proud of the fact I even gave myself a chance. I didn't have my "A" game this week. And to contend in a major with no game, really, I take the positive from that, rather than -- sure, I came out and responded early with a couple of good swings, 1 made birdie, felt really good, drove it great down the middle of 2.

I felt good within myself in the situation, just you need to be really on point. And just gave a couple of cheap bogeys away early on the back nine.

Q. The second shot on 2 you said you were feeling great. Can you lose that confidence right away after that?
JUSTIN ROSE: Not really. I piped it off 3, had a great chance there. Great shot into that next par-3, the 5th, two great swings into 6. I felt like I responded there. But I had a hard time this week. Anytime I had to take a little bit off a shot, I was struggling. In between 7- and 8-iron, I was trying to hit like a spinny sort of holding 7.

That's when you know you're on your game. When you have those half shots, that's when you're playing great. When it's a flat-out 8-iron, most guys can get it going in the right direction. But to win these type of tournaments, you need to hit the right shot at the right time.

Q. Two more majors left, but obviously this year there's one more and it's Portrush (indiscernible)?
JUSTIN ROSE: I'm getting closer for sure, and I'm getting hungrier, and I'm determined. So I feel good about preparing for that one now. And in these situations you definitely enjoy them and want more of them. Today there's a couple still things to be learned from. I felt like -- I had a hard time, my focus out there was -- I didn't click in -- around the turn there, I was fighting it a little bit.

So -- but then once the momentum had completely left me, I had to rebuild and reset over the last few holes, and I started to really narrow my focus again, pick better targets. So that's a lesson. You can't get sloppy out there. It shows up in these big events if that happens down the stretch.

Q. It looked like you had a grimace on your face, the grind was visible. When you try to find your game in that kind of situation, how stressful is that?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it's difficult, you know? But I was enjoying the grind. That's what I love about it. I'm a back-against-the-wall player sometimes. I love that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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