U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 3, 2026

Tommy Gainey

Scioto Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. One down going into round 3. How are you feeling?

TOMMY GAINEY: I hit it pretty good. I hit a couple of loose shots out there today. I had some chances to shoot a low number today. I'm talking 5-, 6-under, and I just didn't make the putts.

Any time in a U.S. Open you get a chance to take it deep, you've got to take it deep. These guys out here, they can play. They can still play no matter how old they are. It doesn't matter. These guys can still play.

So I'm a little pissed that I left so many shots out there, and instead of being tied for the lead or up two or three, I'm one back now. That's a big difference in three or four shots, especially in a U.S. Open.

Q. Was the course playing different today compared to yesterday?

TOMMY GAINEY: The greens were a little bit softer. I went out there and played, and I hit a lot of shots that I thought I expected the big bounce with the firmness that we played yesterday. Didn't get the firm bounce. A lot of them hit soft.

I looked at my caddie, Tyler, and I said, dude, what's going on here? I'm hitting these shots where I want to and they're stopping. It's like, wow, they must have put a lot of water. And I get it, because of the heat, extreme heat if you will.

But yeah, that's -- I mean, I'm sitting at 2-under par. I'm one back right now. You never know, some of these guys might go low this afternoon. It's out there.

Q. Do you think with those differences are you going to attack the course any differently on the weekend or keep the same mentality, same system?

TOMMY GAINEY: I think just got to keep hitting fairways. The biggest thing out here is you stay out of this thick rough. If you can stay out of this thick rough and keep it in the fairway and you keep giving yourself birdie putts, you have a chance to make some birdies.

But if you keep messing around with the rough it's going to bite you. It just so happened today it didn't really bite me that much because I think I made a couple bogeys today. So if I can keep it two bogeys or less going into the next two days, I feel like I'll have a chance to win.