PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2023

Justin Rose

Oak Hill Country Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Justin Rose joins us now at the 105th PGA Championship. Justin, an even par 70 today for you. How did it go out there?

JUSTIN ROSE: I think it went pretty well. Golf course was tough today. Obviously the wind really kicked up. I thought the setup was remarkably difficult, as well, considering the strength of the wind.

There were three or four birdie opportunities out there. I felt like there were key holes where you had to hit the fairway and give yourself a chance at some of the front pin locations, but failing that, it was kind of hanging on. The greens got crusty and they got a little bit quicker.

There's a bit of cloud cover now that might save the guys a bit this afternoon because they were getting very, very crusty out there.

Anyway, happy to finish under par. I haven't felt like -- I've kind of struggled to get the ball in play off the tee, which is obviously critical around here, so it's been a pretty good effort.

THE MODERATOR: Let's take some questions.

Q. Justin, how did you get it around? You mentioned hitting fairways, but I think you only hit two fairways today. How did you manage to get it around without hitting the fairway?

JUSTIN ROSE: Smoke and mirrors, I guess, yeah (laughing). A few fair lies in the rough, to be honest. Advancing the ball up and around the green and good short game, stayed with it. When I did catch a bad lie in the rough, took my medicine and pitched out and tried to avoid the big number. I felt like making a bogey or two around here is no big deal. The fact that I made ten birdies is remarkable considering how I've put the ball in play off the tee.

Iron play I felt was pretty good, and obviously I have made some really nice mid-range putts. There's definitely been some highlights in the game the last couple of days. Lots to look forward to and to have kind of going into the weekend, but kind of nice to know that I can maybe try and tighten a few things up as well.

Q. Your U.S. Open win you won in tough conditions in February when the weather was up there as well. There's more rain forecast this weekend. You aren't daunted by those conditions; you relish those a little bit, don't you?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think historically I've won typically on harder golf courses than not, so I think it fits my profile from that point of view. Yeah, this is right up there. This is kind of -- it feels a little bit of a hybrid kind of PGA-U.S. Open, yeah, this week.

Looking forward to the test, I think.

Q. It looks like the general opinion is that yesterday was the easiest day and it's going to get harder and harder as the days go on. What's going to happen here? What's the prediction?

JUSTIN ROSE: I thought 4-under par would be the winning score before the tournament started. I felt like there was going to be a couple of days that were pretty windy. It's very hard to hit the ball in the fairway right now. The fairways are so firm that that's what's kind of making them so hard to hit.

Holes like 17 and No. 4, I mean, I don't even really know how you hit the ball in the fairway. The setup from that point of view is difficult with the wind direction, but obviously the wind turns a different direction, and those holes play completely differently. The way it has been playing, there's a couple of tee shots that are very, very tough to get in play.

Yeah, I think you have to play, obviously take your chances. There are chances; if you do drive the ball in play, there's a few fun pins. Those are the moments in your round you have to pick up three, four birdies and then ride some of the tougher holes and tough breaks that you're going to get out there.

Q. By your standards it had been a little while since you won at Pebble Beach. How much does the fact that you won fairly recently on the Tour give you hope that you can sort of keep your name near the top of the leaderboard and continue to play four really good rounds at this place?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, just proving that you can win again, obviously. I felt like that was the biggest thing for me. Not necessarily just winning, but how I won. I felt very, very comfortable once I kind of got into that winning position, and it was kind of clear that it was going to be right now or never. I kind of really settled into it well. I feel like that was kind of the biggest learning at Pebble. Those conditions versus these conditions, I think they're completely different. This is a whole other test.

Yeah, just I've done it before, and just the fact of knowing I can do it again is important.

Q. Just as a quick follow-up, is this a golf course that you can get comfortable, or is this the kind of test where every single shot is testing you because it seems like it's much more U.S. Open-style of golf?

JUSTIN ROSE: I feel like we have two different wind directions in our rounds. Every shot has been critical. I feel like if you do start to learn a course and the wind keeps blowing from the same direction for a couple of days, you do start to get a little bit more comfortable, but I feel like I haven't quite settled into that.

I think there's going to be a bit of rain, like you were saying, tomorrow. I think that's going to throw off the comfort level again.

This is just going to be four days of kind of getting the most out of each day.