On Tuesday at Oakmont Country Club, Jason Day remarked his kids were fat, Ernie Els conceded he doesn't remember much about the O.J. Simpson car chase, and Rickie Fowler said he routinely gets messages from 70-year-olds on Snapchat. Were Wednesday's interviews just as entertaining? Here are the best quotes and soundbites from the final practice day at Oakmont:
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The best of Wednesday's U.S. Open interviews at Oakmont
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300-yard Par 3? Big Deal
"Yeah, I don't think the distance should fool too many people there this week. It's actually quite fair, that hole. There's a very large approach area to the green and a lot of room to err on the short side and be very, very playable. The green is quite big, which is nice, because it's 300 yards long, and the bunkers aren't too severe around there. So I don't anticipate there being too much -- well, anything disastrous happening on the eighth hole." -- Adam Scott
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Safety First
“This year, I've eliminated practicing out of the rough for that reason. I'd rather wait to get hurt during the tournament rather than before it.” -- Phil Mickelson
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So Much For A Plan Of Attack
"Well, it's difficult to say a strategy for this golf course because it's such a tough golf course that sometimes you hit a good shot and you end up with a bogey. So you just have to try to hit the fairways and try to hit the greens on the right side of the greens so you make it easier for yourself. That would be my strategy basically, but it's difficult to say that there is any strategy at all." -- Angel Cabrera
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Stay Off The Beach
"The fairway bunkers are almost a penalty stroke, too, because they're so deep, and the ball, you never really get that good of a lie. So I really think it's important to hit the fairways here." -- Dustin Johnson
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Mowing With The Grain
"It's continually one of those things where we are looking at it on a daily basis to say how can we get to where we want? For example, when we're mowing rough -- in fact, they're mowing rough as we speak right now -- we want the grounds staff to mow tee to green because the way it lays, the shots are played with the grain, and we feel like the player has a better opportunity of really showing his shot-making skills rather than hitting into the grain and not even being able to move a club through it." -- Mike Davis
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The Agony Of Defeat
“My career is built on failure, and that has been a motivator for me, because I think how you handle failure is a huge element to becoming successful. The 2013 U.S. Open, I think, is actually my biggest disappointment because I was playing so well. I was leading. I had an opportunity to win at the back nine where I was leading, and I lost the U.S. Open.” -- Phil Mickelson
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Spieth's Got A Believer In Scott
"I haven't heard Jordan talk about [the Masters]. I'm sure he's talked about it to you a lot, about what happened at the Masters. But good players, that's going to happen to good players because they're in that position a lot. It's very rare to see somebody win every time they're in a leading position in a major. So it's going to be one of those things. By the time Jordan's career washes up, it will be one of the few losses that he has, probably." -- Adam Scott
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Think Positive Thoughts
"I know that coming into a U.S. Open it's going to take the best of me. And I'm not in the best position to actually play right now, but I hope just not to suffer too much this week." -- Angel Cabrera
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The Theory Of Everything
“I love a quote that Stephen Hawking says, 'Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change,' and that's going to be critical here at Oakmont because, as the conditions change, the tee shots are going to change. As the fairways get firm with the contour, you're going to have to play to different parts of the fairway.” -- Phil Mickelson
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Young Man's Game
"I still feel young. I don't know. I mean, the guys out here, they keep getting younger and younger, and I keep getting older. But I still feel young." -- Dustin Johnson
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Big Brother Comes To Oakmont
“We also have basically a technology called beacon technology, which, again, if you download our app, it will have a little bit of an idea of where you might be. As an example, if you happen to be in Spectator Square and there's something going on and we have a player in our membership tent that you might want to stop in and see or visit, it will give you a text to say, hey, come on in. We know where you are. We've got a big sale on t-shirts right now for the next hour in the merchandise tent.” -- Diana Murphy
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Phil Feels Vindicated
“I’ve got to be more careful in my associations going forward and so forth. But I don't really have much more to add. I mean, I think after a multiple-year [SEC] investigation, which led to nothing, no charges or anything, I think that that kind of says enough for me." -- Phil Mickelson
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