2013 U.S. Open: Preparation for Merion paying off Justin Rose

Justin Rose spoke with the media after he finished in a tie for third after two days at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. Here's the full transcript:

How important was it to get your round finished?

Yeah, that was huge. Obviously when you're playing — when you're up at the top end of the leaderboard, you know you're going to have a late tee time tomorrow. It's hard to start at 7:30 in the morning and wait until 1:00 or 2:00 to play. That lying in in the morning is going to feel very good.

How does it feel being in contention?

It's fantastic. That's the job of the first two rounds to get yourself in striking distance, and tomorrow is an important day to hang around and give yourself a chance on Sunday. You can't get ahead of yourself on the tee shot tomorrow.

This kind of golf course you don't know what to expect. There's a lot of birdies out there, a lot of pollen out there. So I don't think you're safe until you've carded your score here. You can be 4‑ or 5‑under going into the last few holes. You don't know how the round is going to pan out, so you have to stay focused.

How much did the course change today?

I don't feel like a huge change, I feel like the scoring, I feel like, has remained fairly constant both days. 67 is the low round for both days. And the cut sort of trended, based on yesterday, was going to be something like 7‑over.

What point in the round did you feel you could get the round done?

I think 14, 15. Did a little time check and felt like we had a chance.

Did you make any deal with the group in front so you hit a tee shot in the fairway so you could play it through?

No, but we had to wait until about two or three minutes on the tee. And I was getting nervous. Kuch was already hitting, we had 20 seconds before the horn rang. He just suddenly grabbed the club out and he was ready. But the official meant 20 seconds before they gave the sign, but that was definitely taking one for the team.

Phil is right up there. What about potentially being paired with him over the weekend, that would be interesting?

Yeah, I always enjoy playing Phil. He brings the energy out there. The Philly crowd has been great for me. They have been very supportive of me this week. But obviously Phil, the U.S. Open fan favorite, I think there's a lot of goodwill for him.

The Philly crowd have been great to you, (inaudible.) Do you find that?

I think there's always one smart guy out there who had a few too many drinks. But it's part of being a professional. In golf we get very, very little of that. If you're a football player or any other team sport, other sports are patriotic, fans are with their team and against the other team. So that's the way I see it.  It's part of the job.

You were saying yesterday that you looked at Adam at the Masters, and he being a contemporary of yours, and the component composition of wisdom and experience and honing your skills and you're in the prime of your career, are all these things coming together for you right now the way you're playing?

I don't know if they're coming together or not, but I feel that I'm capable of a good week and big week. And I fell like I'm capable of winning these tournaments now.  I'm not going to get ahead of myself one little bit.  I think that's part of learning your trade, not get past Friday night. It's not — deep down I believe I can.

Just being able to get through tonight and how important was it not to come back in the morning and not do it again?

That's huge. I think it could be worth shots tomorrow, there's no doubt. Being off late for my third round, so I have to come out for a 7:30 restart and kill seven or eight hours before I have to play again. It's very difficult to go back to bed and then get up and feel kind of energetic and to be able to prepare properly for my round tomorrow is huge.

Are you feeling good on this Merion golf course?

I am. I feel like my preparation that I did after coming here last week, I've got a good game plan, and it's a matter of hitting the right shots. 

Talk about how you played today.

That was good today. I felt like I got in a consistent run in the middle of the round, churning out par after par after par. And then I was giving myself chances for birdies too around the turn. Then obviously you hit the last five holes and it does begin to feel more of a grind, for sure.

And I dropped one at 15, a 3‑putt off the back edge there. But I felt like I kept the round together. Obviously we were racing against the clock a little bit to finish the round and obviously I think that's huge that we managed to get done tonight and get to sleep in in the morning, because I'm going to have a late tee time, obviously. So that's worth a shot, I hope. But you're trying to stay in your rhythm when you're trying to finish off a round quickly, but.

How difficult did the golf course play today as compared to yesterday?

Didn't see much difference, honestly. I think this course is surprising people how difficult it is. I can only hope we get some good weather now, get some good bounce on the greens, the greens will get quicker, I'm sure. There's a lot of moisture in them, but it's going to show its teeth. But I'm enjoying the fact that the course is holding up.

Adam Scott spoke out in the week about trending towards a Major. He felt he was building towards it and finally it came for him. Your career and his have mirrored each other in a little bit of a way. Do you feel you're trending toward a Major in a way?

Yeah, I seem to be a year or two behind Adam. But I don't mind that. He keeps setting the trend. He's a great player and he's found his formula for the majors. He knows how to prep for them. I think I'm still trying to find my perfect fit, but I feel like the way I prepared coming into this event, I feel very comfortable. I came here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday last week and only arrived back here Tuesday night. I felt like that, hopefully that has benefited me, I hope, on the weekend. I'll stay a little bit fresher.

You got it in just before darkness. You go birdie, birdie right out of the gate. How much did that set the tone for your round?

Came out of the gate holed two 20 footers, really got the round going and I felt like I could see birdies out there because of that. So I played solidly through the middle of my round, churned out a lot of pars. I felt like I was giving myself some birdie chances, putts didn't quite fall, but for the most part played very, very solidly through the middle of the round and obviously ended the round racing trying to beat the darkness.  Getting done is such a huge result. But in the back of your mind you don't want to start hurrying. So I was working on rhythm, but also trying to get done.

With how it's playing out there today did you find yourself playing more offense or defense or vice versa?

I think that's what is a beautiful thing about this golf course is you need to pick and choose your moments in which you attack and defend. And for the most part I kept the round pretty clean today. I made obviously a couple of bogeys, almost impossible, I think this would be one of the few courses you get a clean sheet around here. But you got moments where you got sand wedge in your hand and you do need to look at the flag stick or look at the basket, so to speak.

And obviously holes like 18, I drove it in the rough, that was my plan here at Merion. You're going to try, you are going to miss a fairway and when you do, how can you best make par, how can you best not bring double into play. So I took a shot out of the rough at 18 and it paid off hitting sand wedge close.

Now that you're on the first page of the leaderboard, and you are here at the halfway point, 36 more to go, does anything change about your mentality?

No, I good a sort of narrow focus of goals and thoughts this week and anything outside of that is just going to distract me from the task. So I'm just going to be very focused and that's all I can do really is play one shot at a time one hole at a time and not try to do anything more than that.

Philly.com has complete coverage of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club.