U.S. ADAPTIVE OPEN

July 12, 2023

Conor Stone

Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6)

Quick Quotes

Q. I know it was a bit of a tough day today, but walk us through the round and how you were feeling throughout.

CONOR STONE: Yeah, I actually felt okay. I wasn't hitting the ball too well starting off, but made a nice birdie on the first and nice birdie on the second; hit a poor shot on the third.

My third shot was off the back of the green, and the putter was just racing. Me chipping really let me down today. It was all going fine. I was 3-under after eight holes, and got to the ninth hole.

You know, I had the yips at the start of the year, and all of a sudden they came back with my wedges and I chunked two shots in a row. I hit one over the back there and walked off with a triple out of nowhere.

I guess that's what -- I'm a Saturday morning golfer, I'm not a full time golfer, and stuff like that shows up under pressure, I guess.

I'm still happy. I don't mind losing. That doesn't bother me. I'm more just disappointed that I had the yips, and it's frustrating. I'll go play golf once a week. For a guy who plays once a week to come second in a championship like this, it's not bad.

Look, if I was fortunate enough to play golf every day, I probably would have won it, but I don't, so...

Q. Would you say the course was a little tougher today?

CONOR STONE: Yeah, the course was tougher. It was firmer. Chipping around the greens, you know, that grass, it's real grainy type of grass. It's real easy just to fluff a chip. Really coarse and stiff today and just caught me a few times. A few tough chips here and there.

Look, it's over. It's golf. That's what happens.

Q. What's next for you as you head back home? I know you've got your day job, but golfing-wise, is there anything on the horizon?

CONOR STONE: This is probably it to be fair. I don't have the money to keep doing this anymore. So I said last night, if I didn't win tonight -- I have one more event, the European Championships next week, and I'll probably call it a day I would say.

I just can't afford to keep doing this. I am fortunate to have one sponsor who has helped me out, but it's not enough to cover a whole year, and what my sponsor does is fantastic, but you need five or six sponsors to actually do this for a living. I can't do it anymore. Not that I'm old, but I just have other things to put first, as well. I had fun the last year. Yeah, time to go back and focus on my job, I think.

Q. Big picture, being here last year, this year, what do you think this championship does for the adaptive golf community?

CONOR STONE: Yeah, I think it's great. It gives players something to aspire and practice the -- gives you a reason to practice and a reason to keep grinding. To win something like this is obviously amazing and would be life changing. Kipp is obviously a deserved champion and is World No. 1. He's the best in the world by a country mile. There's nobody that is anywhere as good as him.

This will only push his resume onwards and upwards, and someone like Kipp deserves it. If we keep having champions like Kipp going forward, we'll be in a good place, I think.

Q. Does that leave you a sense of at least accomplishment or fulfillment that you hung with him for almost three full days?

CONOR STONE: Yeah, of course it does. It really does. I'm proud of myself that I managed to even just lose to Kipp by one shot because he's a machine. Back home in Europe you see him walking away -- he's like the Tiger Woods of disabled golf in Europe. He just runs away with tournaments. It was nice to keep up with him. I don't think he had his best stuff this week, either, so if he had played better, I think he could have won it by a long way. But at the same time, if I played as good as I should have played, I could have been six, seven, eight shots better. That's golf.