	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 27, 2019

Tony Soerries

Notre Dame, Indiana

Q. How do you feel you played?
TONY SOERRIES: I limped home. Disappointing. I just finished really kind of mis-hit it all the way around. My main goal, I just wanted to give a good account of myself and play the way I know I can play. I can play better than I did. I'm disappointed right now, but appreciate all the support. So many people came out today. It was awesome. Lots of well wishes. I wish I would have played better for them.

Q. How nice was it to have a return to normalcy once you get to the 10th tee?
TONY SOERRIES: Yeah, that was the plan, but it was hard, and I was successful for a while. I kind of went in and out of it, but you know, I just didn't have my game. I was just a little bit off, and the USGA, the way they do it, as they should, they penalize mediocre shots or poor shots, and I hit quite a few of those today. 76, sounds better than it is. Par-70, that's good. So, anyway, I'll do better tomorrow hopefully.

Q. You talked about the poor shots, but you had three or four putts that had those fallen, you're looking at maybe a 1 or a 2 instead of --
TONY SOERRIES: Yeah, early on a couple of those things could have fallen, might have been even par, maybe 1-under there early, get some momentum, could have changed. Would have, should have, could have. I did have funny incident on 7, my 16th hole, with the insert and my putter coming loose, and that second putt, it just didn't even come off, so I missed that one. And then it came off entirely. So I played the last two without that. But it's okay, it didn't real a affect me.

Q. Is that what you're talking to the official about?
TONY SOERRIES: I just wanted to make sure I wasn't breaking the rules with that thing out and I could still putt with it without being disqualified.

Q. What club did you use?
TONY SOERRIES: I used the putter, just without the insert. But I didn't know if it was going to be stick to the -- when I hit it, I didn't know how it was going to react, so it was a little bit of a leap of faith there.

Q. How was the course playing today?
TONY SOERRIES: The course is great. The superintendant has done a great job. I know they've had a ton of rain up here, had some last night. It was a little wet in some places, but the greens are perfect, the fairways are perfect, the rough is doable but penalizing, too. Fantastic golf course. Great test.

Q. What has this whole week been like for you, being a South Bend native, Clay High School grad, to sort of come back to your hometown and play in a major championship?
TONY SOERRIES: I've been floating on air since Sunday when I got in. Been overwhelmed. I tried to respond a little bit to some of the texts and good wishes that I've gotten. I've done a poor job. It's been a full-time job really since I've been here. You know, just -- I've had a great week. Regardless of the scores, it's been a great week.

Q. Do you know how many people have been out here that you know of?
TONY SOERRIES: Boy, that I personally have seen, and I tried to keep my blinders on a little bit, there's probably 50 that I know, and there's probably more when you throw in my caddie, people that know my caddie and know my wife from being here. There's probably a lot more than that.

Q. Have you gotten a chance to spend any time with them this week, or has it all just been, as you said, blinders on, focusing?
TONY SOERRIES: I spent time with my family and in-laws. No friends. They kind of just came out today and yesterday, and I was kind of staying in my little bubble. But I will tonight. We're going to have a little get-together over at the hotel and welcome friends and family, and there will be a big to-do. I've got a late tee time tomorrow, so it should be fun.

Q. Still weird when somebody is yelling "Go Clay" as you're going to one of the greens there?
TONY SOERRIES: I thought it was pretty good. It was a little unusual when you went to high school 35 years ago. You don't hear that very often anymore. But that was really cool.

Q. Did you get a good night's sleep last night, or what was it like last night and waking up this morning knowing you're coming over here to play?
TONY SOERRIES: I slept fine. I don't have any trouble sleeping. I do wake up tight. I'm getting ready to go get my back worked on a little bit. That just kind of happens with old age and playing 18 holes of golf for me, I get tight as the round goes. But I slept fine.

Q. When you woke up this morning, did you feel like this was going to be a normal day of golf, or you knew it was going to be different?
TONY SOERRIES: Oh, I knew it was going to be different. As I said earlier in the week, everything about this tournament is intimidating. For a guy that works just behind a desk all day, you get here and go in the locker room, you're on the putting green, you're on the driving range, it's nerve-racking.

Just being around these great players -- I knew it was going to be different. I was hoping it was a little bit better. I hit some good shots. I'm going to focus on those. But it was definitely a different round of golf for sure.

Q. How many times during the round did you relax?
TONY SOERRIES: It's funny you say that, I kind of felt good actually on 10, I hit a really good tee shot, and kind of felt like things were kind of coming around a little bit, and I kind of looked around and said, wow, this is really fun. I thought if I could get my contact and everything going the way I know I can do it, I might be able to finish up with a pretty good score. Unfortunately I went the other way. But I did, yeah, it was a great day.

Q. With the heat, did that affect you at all, or how have you been able to sort of deal with that?
TONY SOERRIES: You know, I live in the oven of Houston, Texas, so this really wasn't bad for me. It's still hot. I sweat a lot, but that's what I do. Heat was no factor for me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297