PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 8, 2020

Justin Rose

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park. Pleased to be joined by Justin Rose, who posted a third round 70. He is 6-under for the championship, three shots off the lead.

Justin, kind of held serve today more than anything, but you're still there. How do you assess your play in the third round today?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, today wasn't pretty. You know, got off to a poor start, starting 5, 5, bogey-bogey. You know, dropped three shots today with a 52-degree wedge in my hand, so kind of those were the unforced errors I would like to have not had in my round, but also I fought hard. Bogey-bogey start, kind of hung in there. Wasn't looking very good walking up the 7th hole, carved it way right, was already a couple over I think for the day.

Yeah, worked hard to stay in it and obviously a legitimate chance tomorrow. Going to have that freedom to go out there and play a few groups ahead and just see if I can find my round where I can kind of get it all together. You know, I've sort of had good patches, but I haven't really had a lot confidence in the game yet this week, so I've done a great job of giving myself a look. I'm looking for that one round. I'm looking for my round of the week.

Q. What's the excitement level of putting yourself there for Sunday at a major, and what's the role of experience tomorrow?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I was trying to think about it. I mean, the last three majors I played, they seem a lifetime ago but it was Pebble Beach, I think The Open, and then here. So I've been in the last group -- I've been in the last few groups in the last three majors. You know, you have to keep knocking on the door. Like I said, if you are knocking on the door, more often than not, you do find that round that you need on a Sunday. That's when the door opens. You never quite know when that's going to happen.

Yeah, just haven't really assessed the leaderboard, but there's some guys there that haven't won a major before, so there's going to be a lot of nerves tomorrow, a lot of young guys. Listen, we all know the young guys can do it. There's obviously no -- you can't hide behind being young out here anymore on Tour. Those guys are going to go out and be hard to beat, but there's a pretty strong chasing pack. It's a very deep leaderboard and a very bunched leaderboard. I think anything from 4-under par tomorrow onwards has a chance, and there's probably 20 guys.

JOHN DEVER: The depth of the leaderboard, does that invigorate you? Is it daunting?

JUSTIN ROSE: You know someone is going to play well out of the chasing pack, so you always look at the leaders, and if they go ahead and they play great, then they are going to be hard to catch, but anyone from the 6- and 7-under-par group, one or two of those guys are going to play well tomorrow, so that means they are going to get to 10, 11, 12, so that means that you have to go out and put a round of golf together. That's all I know.

JOHN DEVER: What about the golf course, the conditions out there? The wind died down maybe in the back half of your round, or was it consistent for you?

JUSTIN ROSE: The last couple holes, very late maybe it died down, but it was kind of cool conditions, literally cool. Cool and cool. We don't get to play -- especially the summer, since the restart of golf we've played in 90-degree weather every week and this is kind of a nice change. It's very atmospheric out here with the Cypress trees and the ocean feel. I'm really enjoying the atmosphere and the conditions.

The golf course is fantastic. It's just firm enough to punish poor shots and to make sure you're in position, but it's receptive enough that good golf shots are still being rewarded. I think it's a perfect setup, and the touch of breeze that we've had has really kept the course honest.

JOHN DEVER: That's terrific. We appreciate your time all week, and best of luck tomorrow.