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U.S. SENIOR OPEN

June 27, 2019

Duffy Waldorf

Notre Dame, Indiana

Q. What were your thoughts on the round? It looked pretty clean overall outside of maybe one bad hole on 4.
DUFFY WALDORF: Well, it's been a good run for me the last few weeks. Last week I only had one bogey, and today felt a little bit like that. My scrambling has been good, and even last week I was hitting the ball better. It's a good combo to get quite a few birdie opportunities and get the ball up-and-down when you miss the green.

My only trouble was No. 4 when I drove it in the rough and couldn't reach the green and had to hit a 120-yard shot for my third shot. But other than that, I got the ball up-and-down nicely, and I got some bonuses out there. I holed it out of the bunker on No. 8. That was a nice bonus. And I made a long putt on No. 5.

I mean, missed a couple short putts, so it felt pretty good to get those -- the hole-out and the long birdie putt on No. 5, because both those positions I would be more than happy to make a par. So I picked up a few there, but then I played pretty solid the rest of the day, and obviously 5-under par, you're happy pretty much any time you shoot 5-under par.

Q. Mentally what's the difference between going out to set a number and having a number to chase? How different is that for you as a golfer?
DUFFY WALDORF: Well, it's a lot harder to see an 8-under there when you're having lunch or warming up because you feel like you're behind. When you go out first thing in the morning, you don't feel like you're behind. It's a big number, especially in a U.S. Open on a course I've only played twice. There's a little bit of uncertainty.

I guess the only positive is that you think, well, if 8-under -- you see 8-under, 6-under, 5-under, there must be some birdies out there, so I think the key is to be patient because all the holes aren't easy. There are some birdie holes, but you can easily get into trouble out here if you miss a fairway or miss a green.

Q. Were you surprised to see low numbers like that or was the course kind of allowing guys to find that --
DUFFY WALDORF: I thought the scores were going to be good but not this good, but then I think it also rained. I didn't expect it to rain so much last night. I think that probably had a lot to do with it. If the rain stays away, the course should firm up a little bit. But to be fair, it wasn't that firm anyway. I think the scoring is going to continue to be good unless maybe the wind picks up because the other thing was I played here on Tuesday, the wind was blowing 20 miles an hour, and that would definitely be a game changer.

Q. What were your impressions -- I know you said you've only played this now three times. What are kind of your impressions of this place, and what do you like about it?
DUFFY WALDORF: Well, I think it does have a U.S. Open style where I think the middle of the green is kind of a nice place to be. It's well-guarded. The greens -- I really like the approaches. The greens are really well-framed with bunkers. They're very inviting. They're kind of old-school with -- open and front, but the sides are nice and tight. And the fairway bunkering is also -- it's just a very nice-looking course with the bunkering and the trees and kind of the old-style greens. But the greens are I think some of the trickiest -- especially when it's playing this soft, the greens are the tricky part as far as you're not really sure where -- there's a lot of little subtle pin placements and breaks and hollows, so you're not always sure -- like you play a course a lot, you know you want to be right of the hole for the best putt. Here I think the tricky part is knowing where to leave that approach for the best putt.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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