U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2020

September 20, 2020

Matthew Wolff

Winged Foot Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Matthew Wolff, 5-over 75. Matt, every player stood in here and just kind of said what Bryson's doing, no one thought could be done. You take one guy out, and look where you are. What positives do you take out of this week?

MATTHEW WOLFF: A bunch of positives. I think -- I mean, you can't take Bryson out because obviously he won, but shooting even par for four rounds at Winged Foot is pretty exceptional. I think the last couple U.S. Opens that they've had here, I think 5 or so over has won.

I played really tough all week. I battled hard. Things just didn't go my way. But first U.S. Open, second place is something to be proud of and hold your head up high for.

I'm just excited to learn from this experience, and it's definitely not the last time that I'm going to be in this spot.

Q. You've been in contention before. I'm wondering if this one felt at all different being a Major? Were you more nervous, or was it kind of the same thing as it's been before?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Not really. I really didn't feel that nervous out there. Maybe at the start I did, but at the start I played pretty well. I don't think it was nerves that were holding me back. I just think it wasn't meant to be.

It's the U.S. Open. There's a lot of breaks out there that probably could have -- a foot or a couple inches more, and I have a different lie, or it stays up on a ridge or things like that, are three, four shots. If I'm that much closer to Bryson coming down the stretch, I'm sure he feels a little bit more pressure.

He played really well. I was just told that there's a lot of people in here saying what he's doing is pretty exceptional. To watch it firsthand, I have to agree. I feel like I played really well, and that's the difference out here between 4 over and 4 under is just those little tiny breaks that I didn't get.

Q. Matthew, you said you hope to learn from this experience. I know it's early after you just got done, but can you talk about a couple things you might have just taken out of it already in regards to what happened today?

MATTHEW WOLFF: I think just being in a Major is a lot different. This is my second U.S. Open, and the only Major I played in the PGA last season. It's a lot different. The PGA was set up pretty tough, but double digits under par won that week, and there were a lot more people under par.

The U.S. Open is just -- I mean, it's a whole different story. I think the firmness of the greens and the rough length and just the course in general, it was -- Winged Foot is an unbelievable test and an unbelievable golf course, but it was miles, miles harder than Harding Park, and it definitely showed it, not only today, but throughout the week.

Even when the weather was good, the scores were still high. I think the biggest thing I'm going to take from it is just I have to stay really patient because there's a lot of times out there that I kind of hung my head, and that could have been the difference between two, three shots.

Then at the end of the week, like I said, if I'm two, three shots closer to Bryson coming down the stretch, it's just a different story. It's the longest week of golf that I've ever played, and something that I'm going to know for the future, and next time I play, I'll just know that it's going to be a really long week and a marathon, and I just have to keep my head high.

Q. You mentioned that some bad breaks, like the lip out on 4, didn't bounce left on 12. Did you feel like you played like ten shots worse than yesterday, or was it just really margins that --

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, I didn't. I felt like my ball striking was really good. There was a couple shots, a couple 3 woods that I hit that were really uncharacteristic. I probably was just standing a little too far away from the ball, and those were pretty bad, but, yeah, not ten shots worse.

I think -- I mean, I'm not looking to have a consensus of I got bad breaks out there, but I definitely can say that it just wasn't meant to be. There was a lot of times out there that Bryson's ball kicked straight left on 12, and I landed it literally in the exact same spot, and it stayed in the rough, just little things like that. Like you said, the lip out on 4.

I feel like I hit really good drives all week on No. 5, and not one of them hit the fairway. You know, it's the U.S. Open, little things like that. As much as I want to say it's the U.S. Open, I feel like some breaks should have went my way. They didn't, and it is what it is.

I'm only going to learn from it, and I know I'm only going to be better.

Q. After you both eagled 9, obviously, it was -- it seemed like game on. Is there one thing that happened on the back side, either something he did or something that happened to you that you felt like was really where things started to kind of fall apart?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Was it the break on 10 when I was standing in the bunker or like the not left bounce on 12, and then the second shot that got pin high on 12 and then spun back down the slope? I mean, it's just bad breaks. Like I said, you can't do anything about it, and it just wasn't meant to be.