	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

THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 10, 2019

Justin Rose

Jersey City, New Jersey

Q. Tough day but you must be pleased with the finish?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, the finish was everything today. I felt like the beginning part of the round, I was frustrated. I felt like I was playing well, but not really getting the score to go along with it.

Eagled the eighth hole, which I felt could start something but then threw a couple bogeys at it right after that. From that point, I was just -- decided to kind of just be patient as I could. But yeah, the finish has definitely put me back in it going into tomorrow, which is fantastic.

Q. What's the trickiest part of the wind today?
JUSTIN ROSE: It was kind of quartering a little bit. It was between west/northwest and northwest and wasn't making it's mind up. And normally when it blows this hard, it finds it's position and can normally be pretty reliable. But to have it be sort of blowing 15, 20 and moving around was really tough.

Obviously my second shot on 18, we thought it was playing straight off the left. Actually hit a really nice shot there. For no apparent reason, it landed ten, 12 short of where we thought it should. Those are sort of the situations -- and even the 17th hole, which made a great putt from over the back of the green, but I had a lob-wedge in my hand and should be an easy shot with a lob-wedge but it kind of got up in the air and kept carrying on the wind. Even if you're in position, it's not always easy to control your distance.

Q. How much firmer is it than it was the first few days?
JUSTIN ROSE: A lot firmer and a little more inconsistent, actually. Some greens were soft. Some greens were firm. The sixth hole, par 5, hit a beautiful 7-iron and landed on the front side of the green, stopped dead and 3-putted from 45, 50, 60 feet object a shot that I hit perfectly and thought would release up the green and didn't.

Second hole of the day was really crusty and crispy, which is why I got it in my head that I had to play for that release. You can see the surrounds are getting that glassy look and certainly this wind will -- if it keeps blowing overnight, will definitely suck a lot of the moisture out of the golf course. It could be a good test.

Q. If it's like this tomorrow, could someone make a run?
JUSTIN ROSE: You know, The Open Championship, I thought Sunday there could prove to create a scenario where it would be easier to come-from-behind but Shane put it away. I just never think you can predict it. I think if the leaders play well, they play well and obviously that's what you've got to do. If you are going to win a golf tournament, essentially, if you're leading or chasing, it comes down to playing great on a Sunday.

But I think the birdies are hard to find. I don't know how the pin placements look for tomorrow, but they are harder to find today than they were, so I wouldn't want to be too far back.

Q. Kept you in a good spot to make a bit of a run?
JUSTIN ROSE: 100 percent, that sort of great free-wheel zone so to speak. I don't have to go crazy tomorrow. I don't have to play reckless golf but I can play free golf and play on the front foot. I'm probably going to be three back, and I've won a few tournaments from three back, so it's definitely an opportunity for sure.

Q. Is slow play more of a problem on the PGA TOUR than The European Tour?
JUSTIN ROSE: I think they are on top of it maybe more on The European Tour. I feel like there's -- I don't quite understand, they have a monitoring process before you're on the clock, which I don't think we have on the PGA TOUR.

You know, the crowds are a lot bigger here and a lot more, you know, vocal and there's a lot more movement and distraction. I think which obviously creates the atmosphere that we want to play in front of. You can't have it both ways. You can't have it fun and rowdy out here and yet expect guys to hit shots on a clock through situations where the environment isn't ready for them to play.

Of course, listen, we can all be criticized for being too deliberate at times. On a day like today, though, it's very tough if you are on the clock because there are moments where you have to back off a golf shot because you know that if -- because we all can feel it. You stand over the ball, you feel the wind change and the decision you've just made is no longer now relevant.

So unless you back away, you're hitting -- you're guessing, and obviously we all train and practice hard enough to try not to guess on our shots.

So it's a very fine line. But if we change all the rules in golf to make it as fast as we could, I think we'll save ten minutes. It becomes kind of like traffic, like trying to drive out of New York City and be here in 20 minutes, it's perfect at 5:00 a.m. when there's 20 cars on the road. But you put a full field out there, and you're just going to run into trouble.

It's a bit of both. We are at fault, for sure, but I think also, what's the best case scenario? Ten, 15 minutes, and you know, that's the best case scenario. Is it worth it? I don't know.

Q. Speaking of traffic, have you had any traffic issues getting around?
JUSTIN ROSE: Just today, actually, funnily enough. It's been brilliant. I've been staying downtown. It's been 30 minutes either way all week and then today was an hour, actually. We caught a bit of -- I don't know if they were doing roadworks. I don't know what to do tomorrow now, ferry or car. We'll figure it out. It's been a fun week, though, for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297