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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 17, 2012Michael ThompsonSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA Q. What can you take from this? Granted, you're disappointed, you would have like to have seen them come back, but you take a lot of positives, yeah? MICHAEL THOMPSON: Yeah. It's a great week. I hit a lot of great shots, I hit a lot of bad shots. It's a typical golf tournament. I'm going to focus on the first and last rounds. Those are the rounds where I played, stuck to my game plan, believed in what I could do, and I went out and did it. If I do that every day, I'm going to be pretty darn good. And in terms of the whole week and the experience, I had 23 family members and friends here, staying on Lombard Street, getting to play my second favorite golf course of all time, I mean you couldn't have asked for a better week. Q. The middle rounds were the ones that sort of got you off course a little bit, but you closed strong, you were within sight of the top. Did you harbor any thought that maybe I could, you could make the rest of the journey? MICHAEL THOMPSON: Not until the last few holes today. I knew I had a game plan to just go out and give myself chances, coming down the stretch, I hit a great shot on 16. 17, I hit a great shot as well, just didn't convert the birdie. But I knew, I knew if I went out and played my game, as Coach Sewell at Alabama says, play Michael Thompson golf, you're going to be near the top. The one thing I tried to do this weekend was not look at any leaderboards. And if I did happen to glance at one, my caddie always said just have fuzzy eyes, just kind of let it blur out. Because that's information that I don't need to know. It's a U.S. Open and anything can happen. If I go out and play my game I'm going I'm going to be right there and that's exactly what happened. Q. Did you get anymore aggressive today? Did you think there was a chance that you may get back to the top? MICHAEL THOMPSON: No, I was just, I just played confident. When I'm at my best, when I'm, when I trust in my abilities and trust where I'm hitting the ball, then I can be aggressive. And I hit a lot of fairways today, compared to Friday and Saturday, and that allowed me to be more aggressive, because you can get spin on the ball and you can fly it almost to the pin when you have a wedge or a 9‑iron in your hand. And that's, that was the big difference, is that I just, I put myself in position to be aggressive. Whereas, Friday and Saturday, I didn't. Q. Graeme was just saying that you learn a ton from seconds and thirds. And Jim was saying that, his words were like the taste of honey kind of thing. It's tough when you're that close and you don't make it. But on the other hand, you learn a lot yourself and a lot about self belief. Just talk about what you have learned from this experience. MICHAEL THOMPSON: I agree with Graeme in that coming up short is a really bitter taste in your mouth, but at the same time, being in contention and having a chance to win is what we are out here playing for. And that's why we love the game is we love to compete and we love to be in that spotlight and have a chance. And the things that I can learn from this week are just, one, learning to play with the lead, after any round, I have to figure out how to go out the next day and stick to my game plan and not get so consumed with everything that's going on. The media, my friends, having 50 texted messages waiting on my phone when I get done. That's all new to me. And also, I took a lot away today based on how I performed today and the way I carried myself today. I felt like I never gave up. I was committed to every shot, and that's one of my biggest goals. And golf is so mental that it's really the hardest thing to do. It's, we all have talent out here. We all have the golf swings that will put the ball where we want it. It's a matter of believing in your self and trusting in what you can do and what you're working on then. And if I can do that every day, I'm going to be a great player. I'm going to be a Ryder Cup player, I'm going to win tournaments, I'm going to do everything I want to do and dream of. And so I'm going to take away the, one, playing with the lead and, two, is just sticking to my game plan. Sticking to my process and believing in myself. Q. How important is it to keep it fun? MICHAEL THOMPSON: It's probably the most important thing. I've talked to so many pros out here who literally treat the game or treat playing on the PGA TOUR as a job. And when I talk to them it doesn't look, golf doesn't look like a whole lot of fun to them. And for me, fun's been the most important thing. That's why I've succeeded the way I have. My parents made it for me, they made sure that when I got home from a tournament that, they would ask me, did you enjoy yourself? Did you have fun today? And my answer was always yes. Didn't matter whether it was a bad day or not. And so for me, that's what I need to focus on. If I make it fun, then it will allow me to go out and be a competitor and want to go win tournaments. Rather than playing for a paycheck. The paycheck is just a nice bonus. I get to play golf for a living. How many people get to say that? FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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