The Loop
What they said Thursday at the U.S. Open
A look at some of the quotes following the opening round at Congressional:
"I think 10 is maybe the only slightly unfair hole, here, at Congressional. ... I think the rest of them are what they are. You play well and you get rewarded." -- Graeme McDowell
"Out here, you went out with the mindset of, you know, I know it might sound quite negative, but not to make doubles. You can deal with bogeys out here, but a double is quite hard to take. Anytime I hit it out of position on the tee, on the fairway, I left myself a number, try to leave 10, 15 feet for par and hole it from there. If you're leaving yourself 10, 15 feet for par, it takes double out of play, really." -- Shane Lowry
"With the rain, yeah, they were a little softer, but it's Thursday. They've got plenty of time to dry them out." -- Chez Reavie
"Yeah, it was -- well, you kind of think -- you reckon we start out the day at No. 10, but I've been thinking about 10 for three days, knowing that I was off at 7:44 the first day. It didn't help that it was raining. ... It is a tough start, and I'll be happy to not have to do it again." * -- Padraig Harrington*
"Yeah, the greens were receptive. They were still pretty firm, but the ball would stop. And, you know, with just a little bit of moisture in the grass makes a huge difference on a course like this. We had a little rain in the morning and it delayed the drying out process until probably about now. And if the wind keeps up we had it about as good as it's going to get." -- Stewart Cink
"I don't think they're going to get my surname right. I like being out here, I enjoy it. And I'm just trying to get the game sharp so I can be on the leaderboard more." -- Louis Oosthuizen
"Yeah, I think there's no doubt this week was a week I've been looking forward to for many reasons. Of course I was excited to come here, but I was also excited to maybe close a chapter that was the last 12 months and try and start talking about the future rather than talking about the past. I feel like I've spent the last three months talking about Pebble and defending my Open title, and so somehow coming here this week, I really felt that I had already sort of did all the talking and I was ready to move forward." -- Graeme McDowell
"There are a hundred guys out here every week that can come out and win every week. I don't mind sneaking up in there." -- Ryan Palmer
"Well, I want to make sure that I don't come across wrong. This course out there, it is brutal, right? It is the toughest test in golf. There's no question about it. And over the course of four days, you'll see that it will play as such, I think." -- Alexandre Rocha
-- Compiled by Alex Myers
Follow on Twitter: @AlexMyers