U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 29, 2023

Brad Lanning

SentryWorld

Quick Quotes

Q. Brad, talk about the difference between the back nine and the front nine.

BRAD LANNING: The biggest difference this morning is that we actually are playing in a golf tournament today. I was a little nervous. I think the front nine is harder. It's more challenging, and I didn't play well. I didn't hit it well.

On the back I hit a really good drive off 10, and that just kind of gave me a little momentum. I tried to up my pace a little bit and walk a little faster and just try to put some positive energy to it.

Then I ended up making birdie on 10 there, and then I just kept thinking the whole back nine, I feel like there's some birdie holes on the back.

Could have been even better. There's always a few putts out there that -- you know. If I could have played on the back like I did on the front, it would have been, like I hoped, pretty good. It's a really hard golf course, challenging.

Q. All that being said, even with maybe not your best day, you still had the support of fans on the back nine. Saw you walking off 18 in a conversation with someone. Everyone on the ropes knows that you're a local guy. What does that feel like playing here?

BRAD LANNING: It's great. It's our home. We're 40 minutes away, played this course a lot. I am comfortable here, and I think that helped me on the back because I've played here quite a bit without all these tents and everything and the high rough.

I feel like, hey, I can play if I hit the shots because I've seen the golf course before. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. If I can get some momentum and get a few putts going, maybe hopefully I'll make the cut.

Q. Do you think you'll feel a lot more comfortable on the 1st tee tomorrow?

BRAD LANNING: I think so, yeah. I hope so. I hope so. Just go play golf.

Being local and having played here with it not being a U.S. Senior Open, I feel like that's what I'm going to try to do tomorrow. I just need to go play golf and just not think too much.

Q. Were there situations on that first nine that were unlike -- very much unlike what you've ever seen on this course?

BRAD LANNING: No, I just -- you know, I try to hit cuts on all my tee shots. When I play bad, the ball just doesn't cut. I'm getting older and not in the same shape -- the club just kind of flips and the ball goes left. The ball will fade, and that's what started fading on the back, and I got the ball on the fairway.

It was a little easier on the back. I made one bogey on the par-5, and this guy laid it up in the hay and I took full swing. Didn't really move it, and I didn't get it up and down.

It's a U.S. Senior Open. It's a good test.

Q. Were you in the left rough a lot on the front then?

BRAD LANNING: I don't think -- I did not hit a fairway until No. 8, and I hit 3-wood off the tee there and finally hit a decent tee shot there.

Otherwise, every other hole I was left.

5, I was in the lake left.

Q. The pin locations are obviously going to be different tomorrow. Does not hitting a lot of fairways on the front nine make you think, I know what I'm doing here; this is what I'm going to switch up on the front tomorrow?

BRAD LANNING: Yeah, so the guys that are going to play well are able to put it in the fairway, and then you can get a good lie in the rough. There are some spots there with the rough going in the right direction, you can get some playable lies where you're going to be able to go towards the green.

A lot of those lies, you can't go at the green. You've just got to hack it out and try to get up and down with a wedge.

Q. You'll be on the front nine, the front side for your start tomorrow; the better nine for you to start tomorrow.

BRAD LANNING: Yeah, the same nine, the back nine. I'm going to try to feel that energy and do the same thing I did today on the back nine.