U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2024

Billy Andrade

Newport Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Please welcome Billy Andrade to the interview room after a 6-under 64 after the first round of the U.S. Senior Open here at Newport Country Club. Billy, could you have dreamt of a better opening round back here in Rhode Island?

BILLY ANDRADE: No. When you go into these things, you don't want to embarrass yourself. You don't want to make a lot of bogeys and fight your game and all that stuff.

No, I went out today, and I got off to a great start, birdieing 3 of the first 4 holes and had a lot of chances. Didn't make a bogey, made a couple birdies coming in.

Just a great, unbelievable, awesome day on a course that I absolutely love. I just love it here. I just love everything about it. I loved it when I was a little boy, and I love it now.

Great start, but we got 54 holes to go. We've got a lot of golf to be played, and I know that. I've got to get a good night's sleep and get up tomorrow morning and go at it again.

Happy with this day obviously, thrilled, and looking forward to tomorrow. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. When you teed off, a bunch of the earlier wave had gone fairly low this morning. Did that put a little bit of added pressure on you to kind of get that hot start? Or did you pay any attention to that?

BILLY ANDRADE: Not really. Guys were saying last night that the wind is not really going to blow that much today with this storm coming through. Then I went to valet park my car and came out, and it's just like it's been every day, it's been blowing.

You know when you -- especially us, that we played this game for such a long time, you're going to have early wave, afternoon wave, you may get some different weather and stuff, but scores were great this morning obviously. The greens were a little softer.

This afternoon it's not as easy because it's late in the day and the wind was really whipping pretty good. Maybe tomorrow we'll get lucky and it won't blow as much. But I like it blowing. It fits my game very well when conditions are like this.

Q. Billy, you mentioned birdieing 3 of the first 4 holes. How much confidence do you gain to start a round?

BILLY ANDRADE: Every time you start a round and birdie 3 of the first 4 is awesome. A lot of times we've gone the other way. Then you've got to fight and claw to get it back.

It was a really great start, and I kept it together and had a lot of chances, didn't make any bogeys, which is really, really great. Yeah, getting off to a good start is what we all want. We strive for that every time we play.

I think every golfer in the world strives to start off with birdieing 3 of the first 4. Yeah, it was a great start and off and running.

Q. You made six birdies, but was there a par that you thought saved the round?

BILLY ANDRADE: The big one was at No. 13. I missed the green to the left, and I was really hoping that the ball didn't get up into the bunker, and it didn't. So I had a pretty good angle. I hit it out to about four feet, and I had a downhiller, and I made that.

Then on the front nine, the -- I always go the other way. So it's not the 15th hole, it's the 6th hole. Yeah, the 6th hole, I hit a driver and 5-iron about 15 feet, and I knocked it about 6 feet by, and I made that coming back.

On the front nine, it was that hole, No. 6, and then on the back it was 13 that were my two really putts that kept me going, yeah.

Q. Then I noticed a couple of times the fan support around the tee boxes especially was -- what does that feel like?

BILLY ANDRADE: Yeah, it was great. We don't have -- we used to play at Pleasant Valley, and that went away. Then we played in Hartford, but that was kind of a long drive. We had our CVS tournament for 23 years, which was very special, and that was really cool, and a lots of people came out to that, which was nice.

Yeah, it was really nice support today. A lot of faces I haven't seen in a while. Some relatives I haven't even seen in a while. So it was nice to see them as well.

Yeah, I hope it continues. I don't know what the numbers are and how the USGA feels about the attendance today, but I thought it felt like a major. It felt like a real tournament. It felt the way it's supposed to feel. I thought it was a great first day.

Q. Was this your best round of the year?

BILLY ANDRADE: I shot 7-under in Des Moines a few weeks ago. I played well last week. I shot 4- or 5-under every day last week. In a U.S. Open, I shot 7-under in Dell Paso, the last round, 63. I shot 65 in Omaha in the first round. So this was -- I sandwiched them.

Q. Billy, what needs to happen tomorrow and the rest of the way here to get over the hump and possibly win this whole thing?

BILLY ANDRADE: Well, just get yourself in position. Go out tomorrow and try not to make mistakes. There's going to be shots you hit sometimes that you're not happy with, and you've got to get it up-and-down.

So continue to play the way I've been playing, and hopefully I can keep it going. Like I said yesterday in my press conference, every player in this field wants a chance with nine holes to go. That's always been my goal. You know what, I got off to a nice start, but we've got a lot of golf left.