U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2020

September 17, 2020

Justin Rose

Winged Foot Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Talk us through your round a bit.

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I mean, got off to a reasonable start, out there early I felt like there was an opportunity to score well. Got it to 1-under par early in my round, so felt like a smooth start. I guess 15th hole, drove it down there in the fairway, had a wedge into the green, very much a center pin, everything fed to the pin, missed it in the left bunker, made bogey.

So there were a couple of pins today, hole No. 1, drove it in the fairway again, and again, it's very much a pin that gathers to the hole. I kind of felt like I missed the balls today when I had opportunities with my iron shots and got on the wrong side of those ridges, made some sort of sloppy bogeys. And I felt like there were a couple of pin placements today that with a good iron shot, you made birdie; with a poor iron shot, you make bogey.

Felt like I drove the ball well enough to give myself an opportunity to play well today. Iron play was really what let me down. Got it as far as 5-over par. So I felt good about making a couple of birdies coming in, just with an eye into tomorrow and with an eye on the golf course not getting any easier. I knew I had to hang in there.

Q. Quite a few red numbers out there. Does that surprise you from what you saw from the course early in the week?

JUSTIN ROSE: No, it doesn't surprise me. I feel like it was great golfing conditions this morning. There's still a tiny bit of moisture in the golf course, it's receptive to good iron shots. Like I said, the pin placements I felt were generous today, a little bit Augusta-like. When you hit the right shot at the right time, it's going to move towards the pin. Obviously, I played with Rory who shot 3-under, made it look relatively easy.

Provided you did the right things at the right time, there were some birdies to be made. I kind of feel like that's the MO of this tournament. Thursday there are often scores that do get shot in the U.S. Open, like 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-under par is not unusual for a first round in the U.S. Open, and gradually the course cranks up.

This week, obviously with the weather forecast, I don't think there's much rain planned, so really it can be anything you guys want it to be.

For me, today was the day to make a score.