U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2020

September 18, 2020

Troy Merritt

Winged Foot Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Did you know where you stood coming in the last couple holes as far as making the cut?

TROY MERRITT: Yep, I knew exactly where I stood. I was just trying to get it in in the fewest strokes possible, but once we got to 6-over after eight and we knew that par was going to be good enough, it was just whether or not we were going to have enough light to finish.

Q. How would you compare the pressure or the nerves of trying to make a cut with trying to win a tournament?

TROY MERRITT: I've had more opportunities to be right around that cut line than to win a tournament. It just kind of depends. Obviously you want to make every cut you play and you're going to put your 100 percent focus into every shot. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I think there's equal pressure.

Q. How much satisfaction to get through at least to the weekend in a U.S. Open?

TROY MERRITT: Yeah, pretty cool, especially here at Winged Foot. Really looking forward to it. Missed the only other time that I played the U.S. Open at Erin Hills, so yeah, just excited to get back out here fresh in the morning and to see how many pars we can make.

Q. Even to make the cut here you have to be playing well. Some places you go, the cut is, well, maybe I didn't play that great. But here you're playing well. What are you doing well?

TROY MERRITT: Just staying in the moment. I've hit some good tee shots, I've hit some poor tee shots. I've hit some good iron shots and poor iron shots and scrambled fairly nicely, and I made a couple nice putts over the last two days. Just kind of everything is a little bit hit or miss but not missing it so badly where you're going to make a big number, where obviously I have a chance to make a par, and I've made several nice saves, so hopefully a little less stress the next few days, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Q. Do you feel comfortable around here now that you've been here a few days?

TROY MERRITT: No, most of the holes dogleg right to left; I could play here all my life and still not feel comfortable. No, but it's nice to know that you can hit good quality shots and hit good putts and you can still make a couple birdies out here. It's not impossible. You know, it's tough golf, but it just kind of brings out the toughness in all the players, too.