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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE


June 7, 2015


Justin Rose


DUBLIN, OHIO

AMANDA HERRINGTON:  Not the finish you were looking for.  Take us through the emotions and what was happening out there.
JUSTIN ROSE:  Yeah, so obviously the first couple of holes felt pretty solid.  And being a tricky day, I just wanted to keep it quite clean, so I wouldn't put myself under too much pressure.  That didn't really happen.
I bogeyed 3 and 4, which kind of felt like it really sucked momentum away.  And I missed short putts on 6 and 7, too.  So from that point I was really struggling.
The rest of the day I thought I did a very good job of fighting as hard as I could, and getting myself into the playoff.  Obviously birdying 17 and that great up‑and‑down on 18 to force the playoff I was very happy with.
When I made that putt on the first extra hole, I thought, wow, I'm going to steal this one, really.  But it wasn't to be.  I think I made too many mistakes out there.  The course was definitely tough today with the wind.  And certainly times, holes like No. 3, if you choose slightly too much of a safe lie, you run out of green quickly.  And that's the same thing that happened to me at 14.  Both of those occasions made bogey.  That's easily done around here, but it's not what you can afford to do to win a tournament.  I just felt like I didn't putt as well, didn't read the greens as well today for whatever reason.  Just missed a few too many putts.  Made the ones I had to coming down the stretch, so that gives me a lot of confidence, too.

Q.  Great third shot you hit at 18 at the end of regulation, especially after mis‑hitting your second, and having to overcome the emotional tug there of having hit somebody?
JUSTIN ROSE:  Yeah, the mis‑hit was a shank.  You can use the word, I'll use it.  The ball was below my feet, and I was trying to hit a hard 8‑iron, if anything turn it right to left, and I probably just got a little ahead of it with the ball below of my feet.  The heel came in first, unfortunately.
It's always horrible when you get up there and you realize you've hit somebody, especially on the head.  Hopefully he's doing okay.  He looked like a tough guy, so he was taking it well.
But, yeah, the up‑and‑down was obviously fantastic.  And at that point it's quite easy, you know you need to up and down, so you tend to get very focused on those shots.  And I pulled off a great shot.  And obviously it was great to give myself the opportunity in the playoff.  And I thought I may have stolen it there for a while, but David hit a great putt from probably ten feet to keep it going.

Q.  Why don't you run us through the up‑and‑down at 18 where you made that crazy putt?
JUSTIN ROSE:  My lie was pretty good over there, it was decent, anyway, long left.  And it was one of those lies where you could very easily go under the ball and leave it there.  So I tried to make a very big swing and almost hit a glancing blow that just dropped out to the front edge of the green and trickled down, but caught a little too much ball, to which someone shouted, "Great shot, you hack."  I thought, yeah, okay, that's a little harsh, but that gave me a bit more incentive to make the putt.  And obviously a big, swinging putt, that pretty much came in from the side door.
And I don't think David was probably expecting me to make that one, and then he poured a great putt in.

Q.  On the third playoff hole in the 10th after the drive went right, what was the thought process on the second shot?  Was it to try to cut it to the left or what was the thought process and maybe the execution wasn't what you wanted there?
JUSTIN ROSE:  Well, I hit pretty much as good a shot as I could hit from the lie.  I didn't have a lie where I could shape the ball very much, so I just tried to dig out a 3‑wood.  I was trying to get it in the left bunker, and I couldn't quite get enough cut on it to get it to the left bunker.  But I was pretty much aiming 80 yards left of the green.
It was a poor club off the tee, to be honest with you.  I should have hit a 3‑wood.  I talked to my caddie about hitting 3‑wood in regulation.  Actually I hit my drive behind that tree in regulation, so to do it again in the playoff, that waswhat ‑‑ I will rue that mental decision.
I've never played with David before, but what through us was he hit driver down the left, and it really didn't look like it went that far.  So we talked ourselves into the fact that the wind was more off the left.  I think the play for me off that tee was 3‑wood on 10.

Q.  Can you talk about what kind of motivation, you talked about this yesterday going into the Open.  I'm sure you're disappointed, but can you just kind of‑‑ what do you take from this?
JUSTIN ROSE:  Yeah, I take confidence, really.  I think for the most part I played well this week.  I feel like I have another gear.
Today was a day where I didn't have ‑‑ I felt pretty uncomfortable, really, from holes 3 through till‑‑ probably until I made birdie at 11.  There was a lot of fighting going on, a lot of sort of digging deep.  I didn't really feel‑‑ the first three days were just really, the weather was nice, you could hit good shots, there was not a lot of unforced errors.  And today it just felt like there were a lot of unforced errors.
7 was a tough one to swallow.  I hit two great shots in there, actually.  I knew I wanted to mis it long left of that pin, but hitting my 3‑wood left edge of the green, took a firm bounce and went down left, and then chipped and three‑putted there.  That was when I had to really fight hard the rest of the day.

Q.  You said you thought you stole one there for a minute.  When he drains that, what does that do to you mentally?  Is it hard to regroup when you think you've got it?
JUSTIN ROSE:  No, you know, obviously he had a makeable putt, in the realms of ten feet.  But it was a 50/50, if anything.  I thought that I had a good chance, a flip of a coin.
He deserves to, obviously‑‑ if he looks back, he's won this tournament, he needs to look back at that putt that kept it going on the first extra hole.  So that was a great putt to make.  To make a six‑foot putt even to win on the 10th hole was still a good putt to make.  So he did everything he needed to.

Q.  Someone yelling a hack comment, wasn't there something earlier, too?  Did someone yell while you were hitting?
JUSTIN ROSE:  Yes, on No. 14, just "get in the hole" as I'm coming down the hole with a delicate bunker shot with water behind the hole.  It couldn't be better timed.  Saying that, I had brilliant support from the crowd here this week, I really felt like they were pulling for me.  It's such a great tournament.  Those two examples are the only two for the week.  I feel grateful for the support I had out there.

Q.  You mentioned when you hit the guy on 18, what is that like when that happens and what did you say to him and what might you do for him after this?
JUSTIN ROSE:  If I had won the tournament, I would have done a lot more for him.  I mean, obviously it's always nice to just say‑‑ obviously you apologize first and foremost, especially when you hit such an errant shot like that.  He's standing there probably not expecting to be hit by a golf ball, for sure.  I thanked him for the good bounce and gave him a glove and I said, I owe you a beer, you know.

Q.  You mentioned that you'd never played with David before.  Did you know him and how impressed were you with him in the three playoff holes you played together?
JUSTIN ROSE:  I don't know him really at all, to be honest with you.  Just say "hey" in passing, that's about it.
Yeah, he seems cool, calm and collected.  He did a good job.  He kept it together well.  And like I said, he finished off some nice putts.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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