U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 4, 2026

George McNeill

Scioto Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You're in third place going into championship Sunday. Maybe start with the front side; take us through that front, that eagle especially. Tell us how that front side felt for you.

GEORGE McNEILL: I felt fine. Kind of going through, I birdied 2, making some good pars, hitting good shots, hitting it kind of where I was supposed to and trying to make a putt here or there.

The eagle, I hit it in the first cut of rough or just outside the first cut of rough, but I had a good lie in the right rough on No. 6 and just had a big jumper lie, so I had 255 to the pin. I hit 5-iron out of there, but I knew it was going to come out hot.

Ran it up there about eight or ten feet and made the putt. That was a definite bonus.

Made a poor swing off of 8. Kind of hit a pull hook into a tree, dropped down, laid it up pretty close to where I wanted and then three-putted it and missed a short one. Really screwed that whole hole up, from the tee shot on.

But birdied 9, so it was nice to come back from that.

Then just really didn't do anything on the back. Kind of got fooled by the wind on a couple holes hitting second shots.

Tee shots were for the most part fine off the tee, but second shots got fooled by the wind. Made one bogey, and just really kind of ho-hum around the back nine.

Obviously playing with Padraig and Stewart, they make a bunch of birdies and they both played well. Obviously I think I'll have to do that tomorrow in order to have a chance if those guys keep playing that way.

Q. Did the golf course play differently today?

GEORGE McNEILL: It played a little -- well, I think it played the same. I think guys were just getting more used to it after the first couple days. Yeah, we're starting to kind of figure out where to hit it, where not to hit it. When you play a course that's not necessarily new but it's obviously been redone and there's a bunch of nuances /ARPBL the greens and stuff like that, there's still maybe a little bit hesitant day one and two, and then once you kind of get in a flow and you know where stuff is and you feel a little bit more confident about it, you can play a little bit more aggressive, and I think that's obviously what happened with those guys.

I played pretty much the same as I did the first two days. I just made less putts today.

Q. Looking like similar pairings tomorrow; you'll probably be in that last group again. You've won three times on the PGA TOUR --

GEORGE McNEILL: Twice. Well, if you count Q-school I've won three times. That was a hard one. That was six days.

Q. How do you lean on that experience coming into the final round?

GEORGE McNEILL: It's been so long. The last win was 2012, so 14 years. That's a long time. Playing on the Champions Tour, I played in a couple final groups this year; played fairly well so far this year. Maybe I'll just try and revert back to that.

It's golf; it helps that I know these guys, and it's comfortable and not foreign playing with guys you don't know. Sometimes that's bad also because you almost get too comfortable. If you're playing with guys you don't know, you don't really have too much to talk about, and you just kind of do your own thing, which is kind of what I've done all year. I just put my head down and go.

Maybe I'll try and take a little more of that approach tomorrow. But we'll see. Again, it's golf. We're all out here trying to do the same thing.