PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 16, 2026

Justin Rose

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Justin Rose is with us at the 108th PGA Championship. Justin, a 65 for you today. What did you do well?

JUSTIN ROSE: What did I do well today? Played well. Got off to a good start, which is kind of exactly what I felt like I needed to do today. I thought it was some beautiful conditions this morning. Put the ball in play off the tee, which I wasn't able to do for the first two days.

Yeah, kind of hit some really beautiful iron shots into some pins, worked the ball nicely into right flag, left flag.

So, yeah, I was really happy with the way I kind of adjusted overnight and worked on a couple of things on the range before I went out to play today, just adjusted a couple of things. It was good to see that pay off so quickly.

Q. Justin, about 12 hours ago I wrote a story about how, since your iron change, your strokes gained approach have suffered. Today they're No. 1 in the field, three strokes gained on everybody. With something like that, is it small sample size, just a matter of time before it starts to click into gear like it did today?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I played so poorly the last few weeks that it is what it is. I'm very confident. I'm very experienced. I'm very curious. I'm very detail oriented. I won't be doing anything stupid.

I know these things are great. I've worked really hard on the process. Yeah, it was good to kind of play well today and see the evidence of that statistically, I suppose.

Yeah, if you put a poor move on it, I don't care what you're playing.

Q. Just what did you notice about the course today? There's a lot of low scores compared to the last two days. Is it markedly different? What's going on out there?

JUSTIN ROSE: Not markedly different. I think just sort of subtly different. That probably makes a big difference. I think we've seen a lot of pins on crowns and edges. The first hole, actually, the pin was way back on a crown, so I kind of felt like, oh, it's going to be much of the same kind of thing.

I felt like think the pins are just a bit more predictable. The reason, I think when the pins get off of those little knobs and crowns, they're not so much easier to get at, but they're easier to putt at.

Brian Harman in my group putted beautifully. I made some putts. I thought the pins were a little bit more easy to read. And the greens are in such good shape, so I think guys were making putts.

Although, to be honest, the last kind of hour we were on the golf course, it was started to feel tricky. The wind was picking up. It was shifting around a little bit. I don't think you're just going to see everybody run through the field and shoot 65 today. Still 5-under par is low score of the day. Obviously anyone can go and better that this afternoon, but I don't see it being a ton of guys going out and shooting low this afternoon.

Q. What was your opinion of the pins on the first two days?

JUSTIN ROSE: I had bigger problems to worry about. I was just trying to get my game going and maybe didn't notice how difficult the flags were. I kind of felt like I wasn't chasing them anyway, to be honest with you.

But there were a lot of shots, even when you were on the green from 30, 40 feet, you would be hitting putts up to those pins and like looking at it, and it was just very awkward. You would be uphill into the grain and then up onto the top, and knowing if you hit it four or five feet past, it's going to run off. So a lot of really tricky visuals, I think, with the putting the first couple of days.

You can't have it both ways, I guess. You can't have 40-yard-wide fairways and middle-of-the-green pins. So it's a little bit of a -- yeah, I've heard Scottie say it's probably the hardest set of pins he'd seen. That didn't strike me as that being the case, but yeah, when you think about it, they were incredibly challenging.

I think today being a moving day, I think -- I believe the pins have been set for four days, because there's dots out on the greens. It's not like they're making adjustments, I don't think, based upon what -- this feels like it's been pretty planned out, and you can see where the pins are going to be tomorrow by little dots out on the green. So I think there's been a strategy and a plan for the tournament.

I think the course held up incredibly well from a scoring point of view the first two days. Obviously there was some cold, breezy weather. It is warming up, and I think that makes a big difference. Suddenly the ball is going a bit further. I think players feel a little bit better in T-shirts, and the body works a bit better, people start hitting the ball a little bit further.

So all those things combined today, I think, just kind of made it a few shots easier.

Q. Going back to what you said a second ago about you don't think everyone's going to just run through and shoot 65 today on moving day. Is this setup now where you think this is going to just -- is this leaderboard anybody's ballgame right now going into the last round, including where you are at minus 2?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I'm hoping the lead doesn't stretch more than six or seven. That's kind of what I'm kind of sitting here hoping.

I think, if you don't get off to a fast start, then you're going to kind of get to, let's say, the 7th hole, 8th hole, and you're going to be like, geez, you know the easy holes are running out.

Although 13 is up today, where you can drive the green. 16 is playing really short, but very hard to hit the fairway. Other than that, there weren't that many birdie chances on the back nine. 12 is playing pretty tough. 11 is -- you've got to hit the fairway at 11, but there's some chain reaction moments out there. If you don't do the right thing -- and if you're a leader, you realize everyone is making a run, but if you don't hit the right shot at the right time, it's going to feel challenging out there.

Q. Justin, just how different do you feel now looking into the final round than maybe you did with two or three holes to play last night, or yesterday?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I was actually just joking with my caddie walking down the 7th hole. We were suddenly 1-under par for the tournament, and we were 5-over par like seven holes ago. So I said, you wouldn't have thought I'd be walking down No. 7 under par in the tournament, would you?

I realize it's such a bunched leaderboard this week. Even from Day 1, it was surprisingly bunched, obviously, with 3-under leading and even-par being like 35th or whatever it was. It kind of offered the opportunity to make a run today and get in the tournament. Whether you kind of felt like you could win it or not, two good rounds are going to go a long way this weekend even if you made the cut. So I came in with that mindset and motivation.

Yeah, we'll see how the leaderboard looks at the end of the day, but honestly, I kind of look at the round and go I feel like I wish I would have squeezed two more out of it. I always get greedy, but standing on the 14th tee, I'm thinking it to myself -- I actually didn't think this to myself at the time, but if I could go back in time and squeeze two more out of it, I'd be in an incredible spot going into tomorrow.

Q. How much of a spark did that last hole yesterday give you? Did you almost come into today thinking I've only just made this weekend, but let's go out there and really attack it?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, a bit of freedom. Obviously a bit of gratitude just to be here. Yeah, it offered me the opportunity to go and try and find something within myself and within my game today. So that was good. I relished that opportunity, yeah.