U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 30, 2026

Ryan Armour

Scioto Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back to the 46th U.S. Senior Open. We're here with Ohio's own Ryan Armour. Your first time competing in the championship. What are some of your expectations this week?

RYAN ARMOUR: Wow, expectations, I don't know. I'm going to go out and compete my heart out and see where I end up Sunday hopefully. I mean, all of us obviously want to win. I'm not the only one.

A lot of good players here, a lot of Hall of Famers. Like I said, you've got to go compete, and it starts from the first shot Thursday to the last shot Sunday.

Q. As I said, you are from Ohio. You played collegiately here in Columbus. Does this feel like a bit of a home game being back here?

RYAN ARMOUR: I love it. I know where to go. I know where to stay. I know where to eat. I haven't spent as much time here as I would have liked, but I have a family of my own with 17- and 15-year-old boys down in Jupiter.

I would like to get back more, but after I'm finished here, I'm going to go see Coach Brown, stop by his house, see him and his wife Tina.

It's stuff I don't get to do on the road very often is go see familiar faces. Just love being where I'm at.

Q. What about the legacy of this championship had your attention when you turned age eligible?

RYAN ARMOUR: Well, it's the USGA. It's our National Championship. Whether you're a junior amateur, an amateur, United States Open, and now the United States Senior Open, it's our championship.

I hope other players have said it, I think we need to give a real thanks to the members of Scioto and the board of Scioto for bringing it back here because it's a lot to ask in the Midwest to give up your course for a couple weeks in the summer.

I grew up here, and I know closing down a course is not easy on membership, especially one as influential as Scioto's is. So I just want to say thank you to them.

Q. Talking about Scioto a little more, you more than most people probably appreciate the history here.

RYAN ARMOUR: Absolutely.

Q. Can you just talk about that, with Jack and Bobby Jones.

RYAN ARMOUR: Well, Mr. Nicklaus growing up here, and Bobby Jones winning -- was it Bruce Fleisher? Is that right? Fleischer winning, Sauers winning. It's just -- I don't know what the word to describe it is, it's a special place. It is. In the history of the game, the greatest player who ever played grew up playing and practicing here.

To be in a major Metropolitan area this close to a downtown, this close to a major university, it's just a really special place.

Q. Kind of switching gears, where you're from, Silver Lake, you have an appreciation too for the history of Firestone.

RYAN ARMOUR: Absolutely.

Q. Might be the last year there.

RYAN ARMOUR: Man, I hope not.

Q. How do you feel about that?

RYAN ARMOUR: I was lucky enough, Tim Clepper at Kaulig is going to give me a sponsor invite next week to play, so that really fired me up last night. I got the word for that.

I've never played a tournament at Firestone. I was never good enough to get in the WBCs. When I got on TOUR they became more of the golf championships. When I was growing up it was the World Series of Golf.

I don't think Corey Pavin is going to remember this, but I was in 4th or 5th grade, and I was at the World Series of Golf and he gave me a bunker lesson. It's pretty cool to think that I could be playing with Corey later or paired with him. I have been paired with him on TOUR at Colonial and other places, but it's pretty cool to grow up and be at the World Series of Golf.

And then it became the WGC, and now it's the Kaulig Companies Championship.

Firestone has history, and I really hope the Akron community and northeast Ohio can come through and make sure professional golf's there.

Q. What is your history with Scioto here? You went to Ohio State, but what is your familiarity with it?

RYAN ARMOUR: Well, with the restoration or whatever we're going to call this, or reimagining, whatever we're calling it, I don't have much familiarity.

When I was in school, this was kind of a second home course. Off the tee, I have all the sight lines. I know where to hit it off the tee. The greens are vastly different. The staff at the time was so great to us at Ohio State.

So if Scarlet was really busy, we'd give a call over here, yeah, come out at 4:00; you can get 18 in. Come out at 3:30, whatever. They'd let us whip around here and play.

So I got to play with a lot of the caddies, a lot of the assistant pros at the time and the head professional at the time. So you grew an affinity for Scioto.

But going to Ohio State, we have Scarlet right down the road, and that beats your brains in too. So you don't have to go very far to play good golf around here.

Q. Do you use that as added motivation that you're back here? You talk about seeing familiar faces around town. Wanting to perform well, not only is it your first Senior Open, but a chance to do it here?

RYAN ARMOUR: I don't know if it's added motivation. I don't think you need to motivate me any more than I am. It's a little anxiety maybe. Not anxiety, anxiousness, something. It's not the right word.

But trying to get tickets for people, trying to make sure they know where to park, that kind of stuff. My wife's not here this week. She couldn't come up. She usually handles that; now I'm doing it.

But all of that is worth it because, when I was playing 30 weeks a year on TOUR I probably only saw familiar faces once or twice a year, other not that the people I met throughout tournaments, but were core. They like you because you went to Ohio State. They cheer for you because you went to Ohio State. That means something in this town.

Q. You're kind of new to this senior gig. Padraig was in here and Stewart Cink, talking about the culture shift in terms of camaraderie. Have you noticed a difference out here? The guys, it's not that they take it less serious, it's just more -- I don't know if friendly is too much, too strong. But what's the vibe you've gotten between the two tours?

RYAN ARMOUR: Well, 98 percent of us don't have a posse following us. We don't have our swing coach, our mental coach, our trainer, our dietician -- you know, where you need seven credentialed people every week. I think that allows for more camaraderie the way it used to be.

You were driving around the country, you were playing. Now, I mean, you're flying, but -- and we all know each other fairly well; some more than others. We just don't have as many people with us. So you hang with the guys more than hanging with your team.

Q. Is there a comfort level to come out here and say, hey, I played with this guy when I was young? Almost versus the TOUR where so many young guys, you don't really know them. How did that hit you?

RYAN ARMOUR: You know, it's funny. In my 40s I played really good golf, like 40 to 46 or 41 to 47, whatever it was. But I was always trying to push the envelope. I was trying to get bigger, faster, stronger at all times. Now I'm kind of pulling back like, hey, you know, that's what caused me to have inflammation and injuries.

So it's not that we're any less competitive or we're not as great. It's just I'm not chasing a distance element to compete, because I was always one of the shortest hitters on TOUR, and I'm not chasing that number to get -- hit it further. So I think it's allowing me to be healthier.

Q. First off, with the tournament over at Firestone that's coming to an end this year after literally 75 years of continuous play, we talked to a player earlier today, and he said the fans kind of tapered off but they still have strong sponsorship. They still have a membership that absolutely wants to do that. What would it take, do you think, to get people back there to bring Firestone back as a top level TOUR stop?

RYAN ARMOUR: Tiger. I mean, Akron got spoiled. Tiger won eight WGCs there. He walks on property, you sell 40,000 tickets. That's just the way it is.

I remember Mark Brasel down at Greensboro at the Wyndham Championship telling me when he committed in 2018 he had to print 40,000 new tickets as soon as he committed. I mean, that's what it is.

Q. You touched on this a little bit, but having Scarlet, Muirfield, and Scioto all here in Columbus, what's that like having so many top tier courses right here?

RYAN ARMOUR: It's not just them. You've got the Golf Club, Columbus Country Club, Brookside. You have so many, and I'm leaving some out.

It's really unique in one little geographic area to have so many courses where par is your friend. If you make pars, you know you're having a good day. A lot of times in professional golf we've got to make a lot of birdies. Not so much on these golf courses, especially the way they set them up.

You get some hole locations, you get some elements, you get some wind blowing -- I mean, you saw this year at Memorial, people may go out and shoot 64 or 5, but they're not going to do it twice. Par is usually your friend.

Q. You mentioned something earlier about your wife. Talk about what is it like to have a wife that is your -- that kind of backs you when you do? Because you guys are gone all the time. You have to have a special woman, right?

RYAN ARMOUR: She's amazing. What can I say? She runs the house. She takes care of the boys, makes sure everything's in line. Now she's chosen -- she just chose about eight months ago to go back and start a career, a different career, because the boys are at an age where they don't need her as much and she got bored.

The reason she's not here is she's trying to pursue a career. She's just amazing, yeah. Thank you.

Q. I'm trying to remember my question. I had a brain injury earlier this year, and it's tough to remember everything. I got it now. You talked at the very beginning about the history of this place. Have you walked through the Grill Room to take a look at that and know that this is Bobby Jones' 100th anniversary of his U.S. Open win and all that? Is that something that you'll even have a chance to do this weekend?

RYAN ARMOUR: I think I will take a chance, or take some time to do that. I didn't today because I just got on site this morning. I was up in Cleveland yesterday. I tried to get a round in today.

Tomorrow I'll have some more time because I'm only playing nine holes. I will definitely take some time. Joe Furko and everyone inside has done such an amazing job for us already. They let us kind of lounge in there if we want to.

Q. Are you happy to be 50 now?

RYAN ARMOUR: I don't know.

Q. Some guys really look forward to that. Have you enjoyed the few events you've gotten to play?

RYAN ARMOUR: Yeah, I wish I would have played a little better, but it is what it is. I got older. I really wasn't playing much at 48 and 49. So I'm excited to play. I'm ready to go. I just hope I play well.

I'm putting the effort in -- right when I turned 50, I probably was not ready. I wasn't. I was busy being a dad, and I hadn't been selfish enough with my time to put the time. I'm a guy who needs to work a lot. I have to play a lot of rounds. I have to hit a lot of golf balls. I have to chip and putt a lot.

If I don't do that -- I mean, I'm not as gifted as Freddie Couples who can tee it up once every six weeks and shoot 65. That's just not how it is. I need that time in, and now I'm able to.

Q. Leading to the question about you've always had strong opinions about what the PGA TOUR has done. Do you like the direction that Brian Rolapp has taken the TOUR? Just curious your thoughts.

RYAN ARMOUR: I'm cautiously optimistic. If they can figure out the eligibility, having 120 and then 144 playing opportunities, that's 264 playing opportunities over $4 million a week, I think that's amazing because that's more than you're getting right now.

I was always an advocate when I was on the player advisory council about playing opportunities. I think that was one of the mandates by Deane Beman that was paramount to our membership that we get as many membership -- as many members in the field as we can.

Deane would -- if someone top 10, he wouldn't take someone out of the field. He'd just add a guy to the field. He'd say, no, I'm not punishing a member because a non-member top 10'd.

So I think if he can figure out a way to get these communities to rally around all these events and the sponsorships, I think it's great for the players to have more playing opportunities because -- I mean, I don't -- I know you guys, at Memorial you host a significant event. I've never been an advocate of small, no-cut events. I'm not in favor of it at the PGA TOUR, the highest level of golf that you play. I am not in favor. I think the more, the merrier.

I think it's better for the onsite experience for the fans. It grows the game more. The kids come out all day and watch golf. That's how you grow the game. When you have this tight little TV window that you want to fit it all in, that's not growing the game. I think the more you have, if you have 144, that's a perfect number to me. You play 144, you cut the 65 and ties, and you go.