PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 6, 2020

Justin Rose

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 2020 championship at Harding Park. Pleased to be joined by Justin Rose.

Justin shot an opening round 66 today, which looking at it you kind of caught fire there at the end, three birdies in your last six holes, finishing with a flourish must feel pretty good.

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, definitely saw some guys taking the opportunity in morning. The golf course is playing really well. If you were good form you could make birdies but you obviously still had to hit fairways, it wasn't easy. But looking at the forecast last night, not transpiring just yet, but it looked like it was going to be windy this afternoon.

So wanted to make the most of this morning's round and get into the championship early and when I three-putted the par-3 third hole, which was my 12th hole of the day, dropped back to 1-under and I kind of made a bit of a conscious effort to regroup and get back on the front foot and have a strong finish.

I was happy to be able to birdie three of my last seven, or six, and yeah, post a great round. I think it was one of those rare day where you walk off the golf course and you got the most out of your round of golf. Nine times out of ten, we walk off slightly frustrated because we've left a few out there, but today was one of those guys day where I got all of it out.

Q. It's been brutal here for a few days, cold, and rough is up and the place is playing long. When you get an opportunity like this morning, what's the shift in mindset all of a sudden when you know it's kind of gettable?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, exactly. I think the wind couldn't quite make up its mind. Obviously likes to blow out of the west here. So until it found that westerly position, it wasn't really blowing too much.

Yeah, it was fun to see the golf course like that to be honest with you. Greens are so good in the morning, as well. I mean, they are obviously -- I would say they're mainly bent, but there's a touch of poa in them and early in the morning they roll perfectly.

Yeah, I felt like -- it's interesting because the rough is also a little thicker and damper in the mornings. I felt like early in my round, I felt like this rough is 50/50 rough. You might have a chance to get it up around the green, and each time I missed a fairway I caught a pretty bad lie. And I think that was the key to my round early is I didn't press out of those bad lies. I didn't get the 5-wood out and try to chop it up by the green. I took my medicine, laid it up in the fairway, wedged it close, made my pars that way.

I kind of felt like it was a very disciplined major championship-style round of golf early, just respecting the golf course. As well as knowing that it was gettable, I also kind of respected that you had to play smart golf, too.

Q. This stretch here right now, which hasn't been up to your standards, has it been testing your patience at all?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, for sure. Listen, it's not fun to not play great golf. I've been tweaking my swing here and there trying to make a few changes to improve.

Saw success right out of the gate, obviously after the quarantine period at home. I saw success. I had a putt to force a playoff there at Colonial. When I've played well, I get myself right up there but it hasn't been consistent enough.

I kind of built 2017, 2018 probably the better years of my career, they were built on consistency. So I'm looking for that level, but I'm seeing all aspects of my game show up at times. I drive the ball well. I can putt it well. My iron play has been much better. I've just got to put it all together one particular week.

Q. The eighth hole you birdied today. Is that the toughest golf hole out here? And what's on your shirt there?

JUSTIN ROSE: So yeah, this is get out of the gates quick, like little roadster, speed -- a guess a little bit of a California-style roadster with the palm trees. Yeah, so I was hoping it would make me get out of the gates quickly today, this shirt.

No. 8 is a golf hole if you play it in 1-over par for the four days you're picking up shots on the field. That was my attitude towards it. It was a front right pin today, which looks accessible, but I wasn't sure that front right bunker was a particularly easy miss.

Yeah, you had to really hit a great -- it was a 4-iron. Fortunately for me it was a good number. Pitched right on the front of the green. Rolled 20 feet by, and DJ gave me a great read on the putt, and it was kind of a putt that I had to make after hitting a good golf shot in there. So to walk off with a 2 there is a definitely a big bonus.

Q. As somebody who's been in pursuit of that second career major, since Merion, with regard to Brooks he's going for three PGAs in a row. If that were to be accomplished, how would you as a fellow golfer view that in terms of historic significance and as an accomplishment?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, has anyone won the same major three times in a row? I don't know, has that been done?

Q. Not in about 70 years.

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it's phenomenal. It's a hell of an achievement. He seems to have that knack for it for sure.

This time of year, even last year, I wasn't sure how he was playing, but then obviously caught fire there at Memphis, and looks like he's on that same kind of biorhythm again this year.

Yeah, listen, yeah, any major that comes along, it's tough to find. But he's obviously -- if it's the Masters, someone might be particularly suited to that golf course. But when you're winning on obviously different tracks, U.S. Opens, PGAs, you've got to kind of respect that game, and that skill set travels really well.