U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 2021

Lee Janzen

Omaha Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How do you think the course played for you today?

LEE JANZEN: I knew it was going to be a challenge. The rough is extremely penal. So you have to stay out of it. As it turns out today I missed three fairways and parred those three holes. So actually, my bogeys came from the middle of the fairway, which you really can't do when you're playing a U.S. Senior Open. So just hitting the fairways is a start, and the greens are difficult enough that you really have to be careful on getting the ball in the right spot on the green too. Sometimes having a downhill putt is not a bad deal just to be on the green because chipping is also difficult because the rough is so thick around the greens.

It's just a different mindset, where you have to be a little bit more patient and conservative so to speak. You still have to hit good shots, though, to get it to those spots. It's not like you're just aiming in the middle of the green, hoping it goes in one side of the green or the other. You still have to be on the proper side of the hole. And you really want to avoid trouble.

Q. Any game plan for tomorrow?

LEE JANZEN: Similar. I want to just avoid making the big mistake. I'm not going to hit every shot exactly the way I want to, so don't put myself in a position where I'm looking at a double or worse. Bogeys are not going to ruin you. Ten of them in a round are going to ruin you, but one or two here are not going to ruin you.

Q. As a veteran of U.S. Opens, how comparable is this course to the ones you've played?

LEE JANZEN: Well, it's pretty soft. Sunday it was dry and pretty firm, so I guess a little bit too much water in the early part of the week. I don't know if it's ever going to dry out enough. Some of these fairways have so much tilt in them that, if they were hard and fast, you might not be able to hit them. Although we played a course at Olympic Club that you couldn't hit those, and we still played there.

Q. How about your birdies on the back after you rebounded from your two bogeys?

LEE JANZEN: Just two bad shots with irons on 8 and 9. There's no excuse for making bogeys there. Then I hit a bad drive on 10, so I was looking at another one. I hit a wedge out and then hit an 85-yard sand wedge to about eight feet and made it. Those are really good to make during these -- those are just as good as making a birdie when you save par after driving it to where you're dead.

Champions Tour, we generally don't play with much rough. We're almost never laying up unless we're behind a tree. So after that, let's see 12, which is a good hole. I hit a good drive and had a nice yardage second shot, also in the left center of the fairway. That helped that I didn't have to worry about that tree that is close to the green. I hit it about four feet past the hole. My pitch mark was just in front of the hole, so I think it actually almost went in.

13, I hit good shots, didn't make it. What was my next birdie? 16. I hit a good drive and chose to lay up where that pin was, hitting it anywhere short of the green going for it, very difficult to get it up-and-down. So I thought I'd have a better chance hitting a wedge in there. I laid it up at the bottom so I could -- I didn't want to have to spin it too much with the greens being as soft as they are. So I just used -- I think a 70-yard shot or so into the wind, 67 yards is what we worked it out to. So that was perfect into the wind. So a nice little 70-yard shot, wasn't going to spin too much, and I got it in there to about three feet.

I had some nice looks today. I don't know how many greens I hit. I only missed three fairways, but I know I hit a lot of greens.

Q. It's good when you're not missing fairways.

LEE JANZEN: Yeah, that's a start.