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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 16, 2013Justin RoseARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA Q. Philadelphia obviously has a pretty special place for you, you won the AT&T National, now you've got your first Major? JUSTIN ROSE: It's unbelievable. The Philly crowd remembered that. I felt like I had a lot of goodwill the whole week. There was a lot of Go Justins! Congratulations! This is your town! Repeat! I tried to feed off that energy as best I can. Obviously Phil Mickelson is a crowd favorite, very popular with everybody. But definitely I felt very, very supported by the crowd for sure. Q. You said the other day that you really felt like you had‑‑ all the components were coming together and it was your time to start winning Majors. Now you've got one. How does it feel? JUSTIN ROSE: It feels fantastic. I committed myself to the process this week. I committed myself to putting a strategy in place that I hoped would work in five to ten years in delivering Major championships. And I tried to strike on that feeling the first week out, first time I tried and tested it to come out with the silver. And it feels absolutely amazing. Going forward gives me a lot of confidence. I don't know if it takes pressure off, but it's a moment where you can look back and think childhood dreams have come true. Q. (Inaudible.) JUSTIN ROSE: Yes, the look up to the heavens was absolutely for my dad. Father's Day was not lost on me today. You don't have opportunities to really dedicate a win to someone you love. And today was about him and being Father's Day. I felt thatit was just‑‑ I got a beautiful text that said go out and be the man your dad taught you to be and be the man that your kids can be proud and look up to. That's how I tried to carry myself out there. My dad was the inspiration the whole day. I was trying to keep it together, obviously, because I didn't want to be premature. Phil had two holes to play. But that was my time, the clouds had parted, it was kind of ironic. It was just a beautiful evening. And the way it worked out, I felt like I needed to do that. Q. The course is obviously very, very difficult. With so many ups and downs, how do you keep it together as a player throughout the 18 holes? JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, this golf course, I found that was the toughest thing. Because you could make birdies, you could get ahead of the card, around the middle of the course you could be 1‑ or 2‑under. No round was safe until you played 18 holes. I think we learned that yesterday, the way I finished. I finished bogey, bogey. Schwartzel bogey, bogey. Luke bogey, double bogey. Hunter, bogey, bogey. Today I was aware of leaderboards. I wasn't really watching them, but I caught a glimpse of him being there. This course needs to shake out and you kind of need to sort of not get ahead of yourself, absolutely. Q. Charl said yesterday that getting the Major Championship just made him all the more hungrier to get another one? JUSTIN ROSE: This is an amazing feeling. It's the golf that makes the silverware and the history books are phenomenal, but it's about learning about yourself and how you can handle it. And you wonder if you can handle it. And then when you realize you can, you want to experience that feeling again and again and again. So the record books and the trophies, that's all fantastic, but it's almost that feeling of testing yourself and coming out on top is incredible. Q. Question from the media center was asked: The up‑and‑downs of the leaderboard, one person leads for a few holes and another person will lead for a few holes. How nerve‑wracking was that? JUSTIN ROSE: I was aware Phil hold an eagle on No. 10. As I three‑putted 11, I felt that was a huge momentum shift. But I kept trying to commit to golf shots. That's all I can do. You can't worry about what Phil is doing or what other guys are doing. Fortunately I came back on birdie, birdie on top of his eagle. I felt like I got my momentum back on the stretch of 14 to 18. I felt like it gave me a little bit of wiggle room coming down the stretch, which I think everybody needed on this golf course. Q. Jones won the Grand Slam; Hogan's 1‑iron shot. What does that mean? JUSTIN ROSE: That's phenomenal. This place is entrenched in history. I thought Phil was pitching on 18. I didn't want to jinx myself. But I was taking a look in the clubhouse, and obviously the Hogan 1‑iron, that's an image all of us have grown up seeing. And I walked over the hill, when I hit my tee shot and walked over the hill, and I saw my ball in the upslope in the middle of the green, waiting to be hit. And that image is kind of hard not to escape, that this was my turn to kind of have that iconic moment, I guess, for me. And I hit a good 4‑iron, I felt I did it justice. It crawled through the back edge. I took the gamble with the 3‑wood. I wanted to treat it like a putt shot. And I was happy to make 4 and get out of there. Q. (Inaudible.) JUSTIN ROSE: Absolutely. Tony Jacklin was a pioneer. Golf has become a lot more global, there's more international players playing over here, so to see us players come through and win championships. Jacklin did it maybe when it was out of the norm. And we certainly grew up dreaming about emulate go him. Q. Given your success, would you like to come back here? JUSTIN ROSE: Absolutely. There was talk of 62 earlier in the week and 4‑under par winning this golf tournament. I thought 6‑under par would maybe be the winning total. It surprised everybody. This course held up amazingly well. It's been an intriguing course to play. I fell in love with it last week when I came here. I came here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, almost two weeks ago now. I saw the place without anybody out here. And I think that was a big part of my week, to fall in love with a girl named Merion, I just didn't know her last name. Q. Were you surprised that this was the Major that you got first? JUSTIN ROSE: Just to answer that, I came here No.1 in total driving on the PGA Tour. And last year I led greens in regulation. Ball‑striking wise I felt like the U.S. Open was beginning to play into being one of the Majors I felt comfortable with. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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