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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 17, 2011

Yong-Eun Yang

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

Y.E. YANG: I didn't know that I was six strokes behind, so thanks for reminding me. I think that would be a good experience to bring up a point if I did come into that situation again, probably remind myself tomorrow morning again about that. It's definitely a pleasant memory, so I think it'll only do me more help than harm if I remember that going into tomorrow's game.

Q. Comment on Rory's play. Were you able to watch this morning, and how much of an effect did that have on your game?
Y.E. YANG: I did watch a little bit. I just saw that it was just a daunting task. If it was a stroke or two strokes or three strokes ahead, then maybe it would have added a lot more pressure for me to try and get close to him or at least not lengthen or widen the gap. But it being such a big gap in the first place, I just didn't really mind what Rory ended up with. I didn't even know his score when I teed off. So I just played my game. It actually enabled me to concentrate on my own game, so secretly I'm very happy that I had another under par round.

Q. Did you have a score in mind, getting within a certain amount of strokes of the lead, or did you just play?
Y.E. YANG: No target whatsoever. I just saw that it was like maybe seven to nine strokes ahead for Rory, maybe even ten, so I didn't really think about what Rory's game was or how I'm going to catch him. It was just me trying to duplicate and replicate what I did yesterday.

Q. Speaking of catching him, do you consider six strokes a big lead with 36 holes to play?
Y.E. YANG: I think at this point it's a little bit irrelevant.
Last year actually during the Korea Open back home, I played against Seung Noh, he was ten strokes ahead of me, and I won the Korea Open. So anything can happen in golf, really. I know it's sort of a different kind of level of golf tournament, but still, there are many amazing things that happen in golf.

Q. You seem very calm and very confident this week. Is that an accurate assessment of the way you feel in this tournament?
Y.E. YANG: Yeah, I think it's correct. I'm not overly aggressive right now. I'm not trying to get birdies in a row, I'm more trying to save par right now. And that conservative approach for the last two days has actually reaped dividends for me. So I think confident, maybe; calm, yet.

Q. How do you think the round went today for you?
Y.E. YANG: Yeah, very good. I'm so happy now.

Q. Do you have a score in mind for tomorrow since there's only two rounds left?
Y.E. YANG: I don't know what the score would be. I don't have any specific number. I do have a strategy and that's just to zone out everything around me and just play my game. I'm just going to try and block out everybody around me and every aspect around me and just imagine as if I'm just going to play -- I'm just having a practice round of my own. Hopefully that'll help out.

Q. Was the ten-stroke lead in Korea after two rounds?
Y.E. YANG: There was a ten-stroke lead after three rounds. Now, I wasn't in second, but I sort of made to the end.

Q. What did you shoot in Korea?
Y.E. YANG: 5-under.

Q. What did he shoot?
Y.E. YANG: Maybe 8-over.

Q. You said yesterday that it's very important to get yourself in a lead where you don't feel like you have to chase, and there's only one other person ahead of you, that being Rory. Do you feel right now that you're not in a chase because one person can always fall back? If you're down by say five, six strokes to ten people, it's not likely they're going to fall back, but one person can fall back. Do you feel right now like you don't have to chase?
Y.E. YANG: In a way, probably. As I said, I'm not trying to chase anyone, I'm just trying to play my game. Rory could end up having another spectacular round of whatever number under par, and I could have an over-par situation. And even if I'm in that situation, stuck in that situation midway, I'm not going to try and force myself, claw back into a position where I can chase the frontrunner. Right now I'm just going to -- as I said before, just block everything out, not imagine this is a chase or trying to get away from the third and fourth and other guys; it's just about me playing another solid round of golf tomorrow, and if it so happens to be that I'm in a position in round 4 on Sunday, then maybe I'll maybe change the tactics.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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