U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2026

June 19, 2026

Sam Stevens

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Flash Interview

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Sam Stevens, 1-under 69. Sam, just talk us through the round out there today. Pretty solid golf.

SAM STEVENS: Yeah, I made a nice putt at the first, and then I had a couple of three-putts on the front nine, which was a bummer, because you know, you feel like you're kind of giving them away with the three-putts out there.

Overall I felt like I hit it pretty good. Hit my irons good out there again today. Yeah, made the turn and made a really good birdie at 11 and 12. Made a nice putt on 12.

Then after that I kind of -- wasn't that I hit it bad, but I just felt like I had 40 feet for birdie on every hole. You are just kind of lagging. It gets kind of windy out there. Two-putts weren't bad on a lot of those.

THE MODERATOR: Actually four for four in made cuts now at the U.S. Open. What about this championship test is in your DNA and your pedigree?

SAM STEVENS: I think I do pretty well with when the setup is difficult. Generally a lot of my good finishes on tour have been at tougher setups.

Yeah, I don't get so bothered by bogeys when there's not a ton of birdies being made, and it seems like a lot of weeks on tour, you know, it's 20-, 25-under. When I get to a course where I feel like -- well, this week, I mean, it might get to 10, I guess, but 10-under or less I feel like is going to win, I feel like I have a good chance.

THE MODERATOR: You're top-5 in a major championship going into the weekend; what's the mindset when you show up tomorrow?

SAM STEVENS: Yeah, I don't think it will change too much. Like I said, I've been hitting it well this week, and I've been making the putts, which is nice. So if I can just keep doing that, yeah, we'll see. I might be really nervous when I wake up tomorrow. I might feel completely normal. I guess we'll take that when it comes.

Q. You said you had a birdie on 11 earlier. I'm just curious if you could rank the areas to miss on that hole. If you were to miss the green, where would you want to miss?

SAM STEVENS: Well, you wouldn't want to miss left, especially with the wind the way it was today. It was kind of off the left. So if you hit it long left, you're chipping straight downwind, and you can chip it straight into the front right bunker if you're not careful.

So, yeah, you definitely don't want to go long left, and I about went long left. When it was in the air, I was not super confident that it was going to be on the green, but it hung up there, and I made the putt.

But you can get it up-and-down from that front right bunker, but it's a tricky shot, too, because you got to give it a lot of gas to get it all the away way to the pin. If you get too far on the other side of the pin, it's rolling off the other side. There's not a whole lot of great misses, but long left is definitely want the right one.

Q. Then I was just curious to ask you, you talked yesterday about a little bit about your shift in mindset and attitude over this portion of your career. I'm curious to ask about the process of changing your competitive attitude. How do you do that?

SAM STEVENS: I'd say generally I've had a pretty good attitude over the last -- I guess this is my fourth year on tour. That's been a strength of mine.

But, yeah, just I had mentioned yesterday maybe over the last month or so, I've just been a little worn down, played a lot kind of throughout the beginning of the year. I think that I just wasn't paying enough attention to kind of how my attitude had been sliding a little bit.

I talk with my caddie, talk with my dad and my wife. They're, like, hey, you got to chill out. It's just golf. So it's a pretty simple fix. Just a little bit of perspective can change a lot of things. We're pretty lucky to be out here playing golf for a living.

I try to enjoy it this week. Obviously I've played well, so it's easier to have a good attitude when you're playing well. But hopefully regardless of how the next couple of days go, I can keep that attitude the same.

Q. Do you remember where that was maybe when you had that attitude or talk with your caddie and your family? Do you remember, was it a specific tournament?

SAM STEVENS: Yeah, so, like, over the last four weeks, I think starting at Truist, I had a terrible attitude at Truist. Then I think PGA was the following week, and it was just kind of the same kind of stuff. Just getting real down and kind of being a curmudgeon when I don't need to be. I'm only 29, so I probably don't need to be bitter about things quite yet.

Yeah, I mean, I think just the conversations happen kind of week in and week out over the last month or so. Then I've had some good talks with my wife over the last week. I was at home last week during the Canadian Open and just kind of trying to relax a little bit and trying to, again, just have a little bit better perspective than I have been.

Q. You mentioned your putting. Is there something about these greens that you like? Do you have to putt them defensively, or because they've slowed them down a little bit, maybe you can be a little bit more aggressive than you would have thought?

SAM STEVENS: Yeah, definitely the speed that they're at you can be a little more aggressive, although I came up short a lot today. You know, a lot of the putts that are up the hill are pretty slow. You know, if they're up the hill and into the wind, you got to really hit them.

But, yeah, I feel like I've putted pretty well on poa annua. I played well at Torrey Pines. I grew up at Wichita Country Club. They had poa annua greens. I feel pretty comfortable with maybe balls bouncing a little bit.

Yeah, I've rolled the ball well. I've had fairly decent touch, which is nice. A few of them dropped in, and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully it continues.