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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE


June 1, 2017


Emiliano Grillo


Dublin, Ohio

Q. Your initial reaction to the news that Roberto de Vicenzo passed?
EMILLIANO GRILLO: It's very unfortunate. My caddie told me when we started that he heard a rumor about it. You know, I was kind of lucky enough to see him when he was alive. And he said some nice things about me when I was 14, 15 years old. It's a shame, really.

Q. There's been a lot of success in the last 10, 20 years, but is he kind of the figurehead of Argentina golf?
EMILLIANO GRILLO: Well, yes, you know, he won a major, I would say, 60 years ago. We're going there to Birkdale where he won. I would say he won a major and a half. But everyone remembers him for a mistake, not for what he did on the Open when he won.

But he marked the way for most of the guys, marked the way for me. He opened the door for Europe and over here. He was one of the icons. Like I say, he marked the way for most of the people.

Q. What's the first thing you think of when you hear the name Roberto de Vicenzo?
EMILLIANO GRILLO: The Open. Right away, one of my earliest memories is him lifting the Claret Jug when he won. But like I say, everything is on camera, everything was on TV. I've never got to see him play. He was retired. Even when I started playing, he was already retired.

Q. Did you ever get a chance to meet him? And if so, what did you take away from that meeting?
EMILLIANO GRILLO: Yeah, we met a couple of times. It's difficult. Back in the time he was probably 82 years old and I was 14, 15. But right after we met, he said some really nice things to me. I was playing good in the Argentina Open, I was leading after two days. And I think I read in the Saturday or Sunday newspaper, he was writing a column for this big newspaper back in Argentina and he wrote some very nice things about me. It's one of the things that I'll cherish forever.

Q. What do those comments mean to you now, someone that meant so much to Argentina?
EMILLIANO GRILLO: It made me kind of relieved that I could do what he did on the PGA Tour, winning The Open, almost winning the Masters, stuff like that. Somebody like him that knows or knew golf so well, it's very meaningful.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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