U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 30, 2023

Ernie Els

SentryWorld

Quick Quotes

Q. Here we are again. Picture of consistency.

ERNIE ELS: Today could have been low, man. I had a lot of chances. Yesterday I was a bit off my long game, but I was on today. I don't know if it's the smoke. I wear contact lenses, and I just couldn't get any of the lines properly.

The last on 18, I had a birdie putt. I thought it was going left to right and it broke left. I normally read well, so I didn't quite get the right read, so I missed quite a few putts.

And then I played 13 and 14 poorly. So I let a really good round slip away, but I'm still around.

Q. You had a good start to that back nine, birdie, birdie. You got those two bogeys and then you --

ERNIE ELS: I made a good birdie on 16, and then I * on 17 and 18. I just tried to get good numbers. Looks like I played good enough for that. Got to just hang around.

Q. It looked like that. What happened on 13 and 14?

ERNIE ELS: We were on the clock, and I just kind of rushed a little bit. Bad tee shot on both holes, which cost me.

Q. But you birdied 16. You pulled it together. As a professional player, do you even notice the flowers?

ERNIE ELS: I mean, in practice, yeah. It's beautiful there.