U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 2021

William Mitchell

Omaha Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. So a little bit of a tough start, but you rebounded well coming in that first nine.

WILLIAM MITCHELL: Yeah, 10's a pretty daunting starting hole, and I had it in the rough, made a really good par, then three-putt from the front of the green and then just a sloppy second shot on -- we got a little crossed up on the number on 12. Kind of settled into the day and hit some good quality shots. I never really hit any -- one really horrible quality golf shot today, and that was on 12.

Then made birdie on the first par-5, I guess that's 16, hit it close out of the rough, which was good, and then kind of a bonus on 18, hit a good shot, made a good putt.

Q. How far was that?

WILLIAM MITCHELL: It was probably eight feet. I kind of tugged it left in my target, and it kind of worked out. Then the front nine was kind of back and forth.

3's just hard. You're pointed 245 down the hill, and that was kind of adjusted number was a 5-wood, was a hybrid number. I kind of just came out of it, didn't get it up and down. Then the next shot got sloppy on 4, and got it in the green-side rough, and it was a brutal pin right on the spine, if you run it three feet by, it's going off the green. One of those where you take 5 and get the heck out of there.

Then I hit some good quality shots coming in, made a couple good putts coming in. 8's a bear. I got it in the rough, making 5 there. So the holes I made bogeys on, I felt like I wasn't losing a full shot. I was happy to make a 5 and go on with my day. It was really a lot of fun.

Q. Tell me about your finish, though.

WILLIAM MITCHELL: Yeah, so I liked the hole that sets up. I hit it left to right. We had a really comfortable number.

Q. What was it?

WILLIAM MITCHELL: I had 166 adjusted and kind of an uphill lie, so obviously adding loft. So that's just a stock 6 and just kind of came off hot. I was trying to keep it ten short. I didn't want to be long where Todd was. I came up, I thought I was left, and my kids who were here were like, yeah, you were this far. That's a nice little bonus. It was a nice walk today. Very exciting.

Q. Obviously, you're in the performance health business.

WILLIAM MITCHELL: Right.

Q. How does it feel to be out here with some of the folks that you work with.

WILLIAM MITCHELL: I'll tell you, it was really funny because Billy Andrade is a friend of mine. When I qualified -- I missed by one shot four times and was an alternate and never played. Billy Andrade was kind enough to call me after I made it and said let's play a practice round. He asked me who I wanted to play with, and I said, Billy, I don't care. He ended up getting Bernhard Langer to play.

Monday when I got in, it was a really lazy practice round, then you get your name announced with Billy Andrade and Bernhard Langer, and it just got really real for me. I wasn't great yesterday in my practice round. I was a little off. I played nine more holes than I wanted to. I sat down with my Coach John Tattersall, and we kind of went over the yardage book and came up with max numbers because you're just not getting it up and down from behind the green. You're not really aiming at pins.

Stewart Cink, who I trained for a long time, good friend, we went over a plan, and he said keep it simple. You're aiming away from pins. If you're in the rough, you get it out of the rough. You don't want to hit two shots in the rough back to back.

So it's different. It's a different setup. It's a different animal.

Q. You help people get ready to compete?

WILLIAM MITCHELL: I do.

Q. How did you get yourself ready to compete?

WILLIAM MITCHELL: I've been spending a lot of time in the wellness area down there, so it's nice to be treated. That was fun. I stupidly ran up the hill to prove to myself on 9 that I could do that, and I immediately regretted that. My low back's a little tight. So I'll get some treatment after I eat. It's a pretty spectacular day to have my kids here. I've got a few people that are coming out that mean everything to me. So, yeah, it was a really exciting day.