U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 9, 2021

Billy Andrade

Omaha Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Billy, after 36 holes, you're even par. Tell me how you feel about where you're at right now.

BILLY ANDRADE: Well, not great. Obviously, after a great round yesterday, to come out today and shoot 75 is not what I wanted to do, but it's very difficult conditions, I thought, this morning. I think our wave got -- we had difficult conditions yesterday afternoon, the wind blew, and then it blew pretty hard this morning. I thought the golf course played very, very tricky with the wind today, this morning.

I really didn't play that bad. A couple putts for pars that lipped out instead of lipped in would have been nice. I played 16 pretty sloppy and made a 7. You know, I didn't hit a bad drive there. It was just a little right and a little high. I've never played that up tee, and I didn't really think about the tree as much as I probably should have because I hit the tree and ended up in the rough with a terrible lie. I gouged it out of there and tried to get a 7-iron up into the bunker, and that thing went dead left. I didn't really hit a bad shot on 16 to make a 7. I'm just disappointed because I bogeyed the last hole from the middle of the fairway. I birdied 17 to get back to 1-under.

I fought my ass off today, and it was not easy. I wasn't nervous. I wasn't getting in my own way. A couple bogeys that I made on the front were almost a three-putt. Another was the 7-iron on the 4th hole from the middle of the fairway that just trickled over the green into the high stuff and didn't get that up and down. Overall, I didn't really play that poorly, but disappointed with shooting 75 for sure.

Q. Heard a lot of talk about those three long par-4s in the middle of the course, 8, 10, and 12. Anything stick out to you about them?

BILLY ANDRADE: They're brutal. You've got to hit it in the fairway, obviously, off the tee there, on all three of them. 12, we haven't played the back tee, which is nice. We played the up tee there, and that's a hard -- I think it's an easier -- I think -- honestly, I think the way the wind's blowing down on 12, I think 12 is an easier hole from the back tee because you don't -- from the up tee it's -- half the fairway kicks left, and I've missed it in the left rough hitting in the middle of the fairway both days. I had a wedge and a 9-iron in there. Didn't play that long, but you have to hit that fairway.

I think 8 -- yeah, 8's just long. Today didn't play hard. Played the up tee there as well. But what made 8 hard was the hole location, which was back left. It's hard to get it close because you can't miss that green to the left. I hit it on the green safely to the right but also 40 feet away, and I hit a pretty good putt, and it ended up going low, and all of a sudden I had four or five feet coming back, versus it looked like it was going to be a tap-in. Next thing you know, I got five feet coming back, and I lipped out and made bogey.

This is the way it is. This is is the U.S. Open. It's supposed to be hard. Some days the game's easy and some days the game's hard. You've just got to keep at it. I'm still in it, and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Q. How much did the early wind affect keeping the ball on track?

BILLY ANDRADE: Oh, yeah, it was brutal. It was blowing -- it was healthy. It was not easy. Then it got swirly. You didn't know -- No. 10, we're getting ready to hit our shot, and it felt like it was into the wind. So I hit a 6-iron, and I hit it over the green. It hit pin high, but you can't do that; it's going to go over.

Number 11, it's not a hard hole. It's a pretty short, benign little hole down the hill. That played havoc with our group. Two of us missed it way right. Tanigawa missed it long left. It's not a long hole, but with the wind swirling and you don't know which way it's going, it played -- I thought it played very hard.

Q. Is it getting firmer?

BILLY ANDRADE: Not really. I think it's kind of the same. I didn't see that.

Q. How about your overall position? I know you're not dissatisfied with today, but still by the end of the day, could still be three or four out of the lead.

BILLY ANDRADE: Sure. Like I said, I'm disappointed in the score. I felt like I played better than 75, and I'm still in it. So just go prepare for tomorrow and go out and hit some drives in the fairway and see if we can make a few birdies.

I felt like today I putted as good as I did yesterday, just didn't make as many as I wanted.