U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 1, 2023

Alex Cejka

SentryWorld

Quick Quotes

Q. Four birdies, one bogey today. What was working well for you out there?

ALEX CEJKA: I drove it well, and I hit a lot of fairways. That's the key here. Didn't particularly hit it close, just tried to two-putt. At venues like this, you're trying to make pars. If you hole one on the par-5s, you have a chance to make a birdie. I did that; I was patient enough. I just hit a lot of good tee shots.

I want to say I had good chances but not kick-ins. They were like 15-, 20- footers. It's not easy to make those here.

I was patient, and then I made a good birdie on the par-5 on the 10th, good birdie on I think 13, and I three-putted unfortunately 15. That was a bummer; I missed a little short one.

But I kind of played -- I want to say smart. I know everybody is trying to hit fairways, trying to hit middle of the greens. It's not smart, but it's -- today it paid off. I feel a little bit better. I was a little bit sick the last two days. It's not an excuse, but today I felt more energy.

I was just patient and never looked at the leaderboard. I'm just playing my game, and we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Q. You've really been steady throughout this, had a great day today. With a course like this, is that the key? Is it just patience?

ALEX CEJKA: I think it's patience for everybody. There's only four guys under par, so it shows you it's a beast. Even if they move a couple tees up and we have kind of great weather, you've just got to make good shots. You've got to think about. You've got to execute well, too. Everybody has a strategy, but if you don't execute your strategy, then you're screwed anyway.

Sometimes you've got to -- today I hit it twice in the rough and got a little bit a good lie. Not a lie where you can hack it out 30 yards. I was able to advance it down there.

It's all about luck, playing good, making some putts, making crucial up-and-downs when you need it. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

I might be too far back. Those two guys up there, Langer and Stricker, they're just tough to beat. They play their spiel tomorrow, they don't get nervous, they're probably going to shoot 1-, 2-under. It's going to take a really good one tomorrow.

But you never know. In this game, you never know.

I'm just happy to be here playing four rounds. I'm going to try my best tomorrow.

Q. You've won senior majors before. You know what it takes. What is it going to take tomorrow to catch those guys?

ALEX CEJKA: You mean score-wise?

Q. Just overall and your mental state.

ALEX CEJKA: All those guys up there, from Langer, Stricker, Kelley, Goosen, they're all experienced enough. It's not like we have somebody who just Monday qualified. So that's a little bit different scenario. They're all experienced. They're all playing great golf at the moment the last couple weeks.

Maybe one will have a bad day, maybe two, but out of those four, five guys, all five have a bad day, it's very unlikely.

Q. Scoring-wise you'll probably need another one of these?

ALEX CEJKA: For sure. I think maybe 4 or 5 is -- I don't even know. Maybe 7 is going to win it. It all depends on the weather. 7 is going to win it maybe.