Q. 2-under 69 today. Bronte, can you talk us through your round?
BRONTE LAW: Yeah, I had a good start. Two birdies off the bat, and then kind of stalled a little bit. Wished that I had kind of kept pressing a little bit harder. That's something that I'm working on, and I told myself that halfway through the round, and then had a good back side.
Kind of got it together, and, yeah, finished it off in a way that I'm happy with.
Q. How did the course play differently today?
BRONTE LAW: It was a little cooler. It was very hard yesterday afternoon, so figuring out yardages and stuff was a little challenging yesterday. It played I would say a little more similar to how it was playing on the practice days today, but there was some tricky pins out there where if you go chasing it and get it wrong by a couple of yards or even one yard, you are going to be doing well to make par.
Q. Bronte, the U.S. Opens always require a lot of patience. You're going to have some bogeys and things like that. To be fair, perhaps not your best virtue. How were you working at trying to remain more patient during this championship?
BRONTE LAW: Just reminding myself that I'm hitting a lot of good shots. I've been working really hard on my putting. Now those good shots I'm feeling a lot more confident and like I can hold those putts.
Before it would be, you know, incredibly frustrating because I didn't feel like I was rolling the putts as well. When you start feeling a little more confident with the putter, then one bad shot here or there, you don't feel the need to get too stressed over.
But yeah, certainly being patient out here is an absolute must, as it always is.
Q. How do you feel -- how have you gotten your mindset to play away from a lot of these hole locations, because from the fairway they look pretty accessible, but you know they aren't?
BRONTE LAW: Playing previous U.S. Opens, I think. You kind of come here with the mindset that you are going to have to have a look at the green and figure out for each pin position exactly where you want to leave yourself.
I did a good job, I think, doing that with my caddie in the practice rounds. We looked at some crazy pins and said, well, even though you've got a wedge in your hand, you've got to aim here.
I'm pleased that I stuck to the game plan in that respect and was aiming away at some relatively short shots from the pins.
It might look a little crazy on TV, but it is a necessity.
Q. Two of the most consistent rounds so far. Do you anticipate changing that game plan at all going into the weekend?
BRONTE LAW: No, absolutely not.
Q. The last time we saw you on the LPGA Tour you had to withdraw from the first round of the Cognizant Founders Cup. Heard you hit a tree root. Was that accurate?
BRONTE LAW: Yeah. Just like really my thumb was super inflamed. It just flared up. I couldn't actually finish the round. I tried five holes after, and the pain was pretty bad.
I've only ever withdrawn one time in my life and I was in hospital, so it's pretty difficult for me to pull the plug. I'm not that kind of player.
I always will battle until the end. No matter if I'm going to finish last or whatever. Yeah, that was tough for me, but I knew I had this coming up and I was going back home to see my coach, and I had to prioritize the coming events.
Obviously, with this being a major, I could have done some serious damage by carrying on. That was a tough decision, but definitely a necessary one.
Q. 2021 was kind of a difficult I would say year for you, but you did go over back to your LET roots and won out there. With it having been so long in between your wins, how much confidence did that win give you late last year kind of going spew this new season?
BRONTE LAW: Totally. Yeah, it's been tough. COVID made life tough for everyone, but I think it just -- we were so isolated as humans. Even being able to go and see my coach wasn't really allowed in the UK until very late on, so my practice was into a net sending him videos.
It's kind of difficult to improve in that situation. I know everyone went through it, but for me it was definitely difficult to be away from friends, family. I'm just a sociable person, so having things be a little more normal now is definitely something that I'm enjoying. Yeah.
Q. Obviously, went back to see your coach. After the injury and working with him, if you don't mind sharing, what were you working to kind of get ready for this week? And it's paid off so far.
BRONTE LAW: Putting. Yeah. Putting, that was it.
Q. What was the big --
BRONTE LAW: There's a lot of things, but like gaining a lot more confidence and trusting myself. Yeah, worked on a couple of things, technical things in the putting stroke that really made a big difference, but I have been grinding on that putting green.
It doesn't just happen. You have to work incredibly hard. I will do whatever it takes.
Q. I assume it was the left thumb.
BRONTE LAW: Yes.
Q. How soon after you injured it did you actually pull out of the tournament?
BRONTE LAW: I played five holes trying to, yeah, just battle through, but I hit one in the rough and then it was just too much. I couldn't -- the hand was coming off the club every time I would make contact, so it just wasn't a smart thing to do.
Unless I was in the U.S. Open doing it I could have probably tried a little bit longer, but, yeah, it was a no-brainer.
Thank you.
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