U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2022

June 18, 2022

Adam Hadwin

The Country Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Adam Hadwin, even par 70. Can you talk us through your round today.

ADAM HADWIN: Just kind of a scrappy round. Hit a lot of good quality golf shots. Felt like I left a couple out there early on, and then just kind of kept fighting through. Just kept hitting decent golf shot after decent golf shot. Made some nice sort of three- to six-footers on the back to kind of keep things going. Nice to get one on 17 to finish.

THE MODERATOR: How tough were the conditions out there for you today?

ADAM HADWIN: It was difficult. Certainly had to -- you've got to try to get in the right spots on these greens, and that was difficult to do today I thought.

I thought they were just a little bit firmer than we had seen previously, and so you just had to make that adjustment.

Still thought the course was very fair, but you had to golf your ball today.

Q. Adam, you had a big day on Thursday. How did the emotions differ today a little later in the tournament than they did on Thursday?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I felt pretty comfortable today. Not until sort of the last four, five holes did I really sort of start feeling any nerves out there. It was a comfortable pairing.

Given the situation, I think I did a good job of sort of not viewing where I was and just kind of keep my head down and keep plodding along and maybe peeked there probably too soon and saw that I was hanging around and doing some decent things.

So I'll go out tomorrow and just keep the head down, try not to look at any sort of leaderboards. I've done a really good job of just, again, plodding my way around the golf course.

There's been times where definitely the round could have started to slip away, but I just stayed patient, and good things have happened so far.

Q. A week ago you weren't even in this tournament. Can you talk a bit about going from there to now and what a journey it's been and how excited you were because, obviously, you're in good form?

ADAM HADWIN: Pretty crazy to think. Obviously, you never want to leave it to an alternate chance. I did think snagging the first alternate at what we consider a PGA TOUR qualifying site, I thought gave me at least a better than 50/50 chance of getting in, but you are never quite sure until you get the call.

Like I said, I was excited to get the call just because I've been playing some good golf. Muirfield Village is not an easy golf course in and of itself. St. George's last week did not play easy there for a little while as well.

I felt like I was well-prepared to come in and just kind of plod along and just shot after shot, and things have worked out so far.

Q. You haven't had a crazy success in U.S. Opens before this one. Is there something about this setup that seems to be allowing itself for different type of players to contend?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I think from a U.S. Open setup standpoint, I think this is probably one of the most if not the most favorable setup that I have seen for my game.

You look at the top two on the leaderboard at Winged Foot a couple of years ago, and it was Bryson and Matthew, and they kind of overpowered the golf course, which I can't do. I think this layout allows me to maybe play certain angles. As firm as the fairways have gotten, I can sort of run it up.

I'm certainly not going to keep up with the guys, but I'm not so far back now that I have 5-irons and 4-irons. I'm still getting 8- and 7-iron in, which allows me to compete, but again, you kind of have to plod along this place. You have to pick your moments. That definitely has at least played into my hand a little bit more this week.

Q. Did you have a sense that it was going to be that way, or was it the kind of situation where you saw the golf course in a practice round and you were, like, oh, okay, I can do this?

ADAM HADWIN: Yes and no. At the end of the day, you have to play good golf. If I played good golf at Torrey or Winged Foot I feel like I'm going to be at least competitive, but I do think that this place allows me maybe to not be perfect to be competitive, which is a good feeling to have.