Q. We're here with Conor Stone, 1-over 73 today. Can you talk us through your round out there today?
CONOR STONE: Yeah, obviously I started on the back nine today. I had -- I started off with a nice par on the 10th, my first, and had two -- a nice up-and-down on the par-3, 12th, just kind of to steady the ship. Knocked in a nice birdie putt on 13 to get the round going.
My front nine was solid. I think I had 34, 2-under, but then the wind picked up on the back nine. It's a much tougher nine than the front. Some longer shots into the par-4s, and the wind was kind of just picking up a bit.
I was just chipping away nicely, and then I made a sloppy bogey on my 17th, the 8th hole, and then I made a double out of nowhere on the 9th hole, my 18th. A wedge in from 140, and it kind of just puffed up a bit in the wind and spun back into the bunker. Whoever was in the bunker before me forgot to rake it, I think, so had a nasty lie. I left it in there and hit a half decent shot to six or seven feet and missed the putt to make a double on my last. A bit disappointing, but 67-73, if you'd told me that last year, that I'd shoot 67-73 in the first two rounds, I'd snap it off your hands.
Overall I'm happy enough.
Q. You're right at the top of the leaderboard right now. What would it mean to be crowned a USGA champion at the end of the day tomorrow?
CONOR STONE: Yeah, when I was coming over here it never even entered my mind. I know I'm good enough, I just don't play enough golf compared to what these guys do. It's obviously going to be slightly tougher for a guy like myself to go out and win it. But I am here to win, I suppose. I'm not just here to have a nice holiday.
Yeah, hopefully I think I might be tied for the lead now, so hopefully I'm there or thereabouts going into tomorrow and I can pull off another round like I did yesterday. Then hopefully walk away with it.
We'll have to wait and see, but one shot at a time and we'll see what happens.
Q. You said you don't play as much golf as some of the folks out here, but you have won significant championships in the past. How are you going to draw on some of that experience?
CONOR STONE: Yeah, I know what it's like to play under pressure. I don't mind it too much. Just starting off the first few holes is obviously the toughest, but once you get into the round it's fine. I keep going back to my caddie Glen, but he really is good. He keeps you in the moment, so that's been working well.
At the end of the day I'm here to enjoy it. There's no prize money or anything like that on the line, only glory. Glory is great. But obviously I do really want to win, and I probably will be thinking about it.
But at the end of the day it's only golf. We're all lucky to be here. We'll see what happens.
Q. You touched on wanting to win; will that change how you play tomorrow?
CONOR STONE: Yeah, it gives me more of a motivation to win, I suppose. I'm trying not to think about it too much. I won't think about it too much, either. I'm just play my round tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be with the leaders in the final group tomorrow. I think we'll always be playing one shot at a time, and it might be a bit of a dogfight. We'll see.
But obviously I do want to win. It could be life-changing. Yeah, we'll have to wait and see, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. Hopefully the weather is good, get a nice tan, and we'll see.
Q. What's the plan for tonight?
CONOR STONE: Caddie Glen is actually bringing me and the other Irish player, Aidan Grenham, out on to his boat. He has a boat on the lake. Yeah, so we're going to go out on to the lake.
Q. Do you have an extra spot?
CONOR STONE: Have to wait and see. You can ask him. But might go on to the lake, do a bit of fishing maybe, just chill out. But I do have to work, of course. I'll do a few hours' work first and then we'll head out on to the lake and grab a pizza maybe or something.
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