U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2023

June 15, 2023

Jacob Solomon

The Los Angeles Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What's it like to see your name on the leaderboard at a U.S. Open?

JACOB SOLOMON: Yeah, obviously a dream come true for me, but I believed in myself to get to this point, and playing on the Korn Ferry Tour this year has been a step in the right direction for me.

Yeah, as a little kid, to see your name towards the top of the leaderboard in a U.S. Open, I wouldn't have believed it if you had told me when I was 15 years old that this was happening day.

It's one of the coolest days of my life, no doubt.

Q. There's a resume of yours kind of floating around online where you say your goal is to be a marketing manager. How old is that?

JACOB SOLOMON: That was from college at one point. I was a business student, and I didn't know that was going viral. That's pretty funny.

I think I changed my LinkedIn profile to say I want to be the best golfer I can be, and that's still my goal right now. Everything is good, man. Life is good.

Q. Dufner has really taken an interest in younger players. I was wondering what his influence has been on you.

JACOB SOLOMON: Yeah, Jason has been really helpful in my career. I remember freshman year of college actually he walked all 18 holes with me in a tournament we played, and he came out there. He's always been a big supporter. He's a great guy. He's fun to joke around with and we'll hit golf balls on the range for a couple hours, chat about the golf swing, and obviously he's one of the greatest Auburn players of all time. It's an honor to get to share that friendship with him.

All he told me was go play as much as you can. Play as many tournaments as you can. That's how you get experience.

When I got in this event, he texted me and said it will be a really great experience for your professional career.

Q. At what point when you were at Auburn did this become realistic to you?

JACOB SOLOMON: Yeah, I always had the dream of playing professionally, of course. My senior year I saw a lot of strides and played with Matt Wolff about five times that year when he was having a bonkers season. I got to see what really good golf was like.

Then coming out of college, I actually struggled there for a couple years playing mini-tours, Monday qualifiers. Finally got myself to the Canadian Tour.

What I like to say is everybody's timing is different. I'm not Collin Morikawa. We're the same age, and I know him very well from back in junior golf, but we've had different paths to get here. My path is just a little more rocky than most of them.

Q. How did the course play?

JACOB SOLOMON: Yeah, it was a little more gettable probably for us than it will be for others this afternoon. We had minimal wind, able to stop wedges near the hole. I hit a couple wedges that really landed and then bounced out and ripped back a little bit.

Definitely had the right tee time. I was pumped to see that I was first out. I relished that opportunity. I liked it. The liked the way it played.

Q. What kept you believing in yourself through those rocky times that you were describing?

JACOB SOLOMON: Yeah, probably just my faith. I've been working really hard on that as well as my family. My parents have been my biggest supporters my whole life.

Really it was just a difference of believing in myself. It's actually crazy how much power and influence that has when you tell yourself, I can do this.

I think those things are kind of what carried me through the tough times.

Q. What are mom and dad's names?

JACOB SOLOMON: My dad's name is Lance and my mom's name is Debbie.