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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 13, 2013Ian PoulterARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA Q. Great start to your round today. Birdied the first three. How were you feeling up to that point? IAN POULTER: How was I feeling up to that point? Pretty happy. Q. Was the delay‑‑ how did the delay affect you? IAN POULTER: No, you play those first three holes ‑ 11, 12 and 13 ‑ you obviously want to take advantage of them. Pitching wedge into 11, gap wedge into 12, and then pitching wedge into 13. So you would expect to have pretty good looks. I had three of them, and I took them all and hit it pretty close there. Then the rain delay. But it was a difficult hole, it was the difficult holes that were always going to play tougher on this golf course and you have to play them well. Unfortunately, 3‑putting 17 was a bit frustrating. Bogeying the last, I hit it in the bunker there, I had a good look there, a little uphill putt there, which lipped out. Then I had two really nice looks in the par‑5s, I had a great chance from eight feet on the first one. And then from the middle of the fairway, I made bogey on 5, which is a bit disappointing. I was in good position there. I made an easy 3‑putt double bogey on the following hole. So it's all about those key holes, those holes are the long ones and obviously taking advantage of the short ones like I did. Q. Is it safe to say that after shooting 3‑under to par, finishing 1‑over, not happy with yourself or are you okay considering where the lead is right now? IAN POULTER: Can I still win? Q. Yeah, yeah. IAN POULTER: I'm good. I'm going to put my feet up. Q. How difficult is that golf course and did the scores so far prove that today? IAN POULTER: I think that anybody in that commentary box has never given this golf course enough respect. They were joking around laughing at 63s and 62s and just look at the board. I mean they need to respect this golf course. It's brutal. The long holes are severely long. Yes, we're making birdies on those short holes, but look what we have to contend with out there on those long holes. It's not easy. The rough's thick and you get into some of those greens, they're still running 13, even though we have had a downpour today, it's easy to let the ball get away from you. Q. They always say this about the U.S. Open, it's a huge mental battle. And like you did today, you rattle in a few birdies but you know that you're going to take a few steps back and kind of dealing with that? IAN POULTER: Sure, start on 11, you would expect to try and take advantage, knowing when the hard holes come hopefully you can get through unscathed. And if there's a little bit of damage there, hopefully it's not too bad until you get a little respite again when those short holes come back at you. So it's disappointing after obviously being 3‑under through 3, but it's fine. It's well positioned. I'm sure there's a lot of guys that have played themselves out of this golf tournament after one round and I haven't done that. Q. How pleased are you to get your first round completed in the day? IAN POULTER: I think we're very happy people, anyone that started this morning, realizing that obviously the early tee off time turns into an all day affair. You want to get done when it's going to start raining, it's probably going to storm again very soon, I would think, and guys are going to be off the course. So it's looking like we're probably going to have a day off tomorrow, the guys that start in the morning, so after that I have to kind work out what exactly I'm going to do and how I'm going to keep myself occupied. Q. Do you enjoy 10? IAN POULTER: Yeah, I always knew this golf course was going to throw birdies at you, and I always knew this golf course was going to throw some bogeys.  And it's fun and in a kind of up‑and‑down way, because that's what it's going to be. No one is going to get around this golf course without making mistakes. You have to manage them really, really well so put yourself on the board with a good score. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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