THE MODERATOR: Retief, real nice third round for you today at the 2025 Senior PGA Championship. How would you summarize your performance?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, the first two days I played okay, but my putter was cold, and today it was the other way around. I didn't hit the ball that well, but I made a lot of putts. If you can make putts, you can move up. I was fortunate to make good par putts on quite a few holes, especially like No. 9 I probably made a 30-footer for par.
It was nice coming in and getting a few birdies in and see where we are at the end of the day.
Q. We've gone from rainy to windy to kind of dry but with firm greens. I guess this works for you best, no?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, definitely the wind is strongest today for the week. I don't know how strong it was for the guys yesterday afternoon, but yeah, some of the greens downwind, it's becoming a little difficult to stop it.
Coming out of the rough especially, you've got pretty much no chance.
Q. If you look at the leaderboard, it really does feel like a major championship, doesn't it?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, there's quite a few major guys up there, definitely. PGA Champions. I'm looking forward to seeing where we are at the end of the day.
The par-5s, 11 and 16, are probably for the guys today birdie holes. Hopefully maybe one behind, maybe two behind. Would be nice to be there close to the lead.
Q. Assuming you're actually tied for the lead after 54 holes, how would you approach it? Would you want to put a number in your head or would you do it a different way?
RETIEF GOOSEN: No, really, tomorrow is supposed to be a little easier for us on the wind, but then again, they can toughen up the course quite a bit if they want.
I don't know. You've just got to go out there and play shot for shot and see what happens. If you make a lot of birdies, great. If you don't, well, somebody else here is going to, especially if conditions improve. I can see some guys making a few birdies today.
Q. Normally on the Champions Tour, it's more of a sprint --
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, not this week.
Q. Is that what you'll feel like tomorrow will be like?
RETIEF GOOSEN: I don't think so, no. This is not that kind of course. Depending on where they put the flags for some of the shots, you just miss it by a few yards, you can make a double quickly.
But the forecast is for a little easier playing conditions, so there will be a chance for a few more birdies.
Q. Do you feel like playing a golf course like this, like Congressional, which has got many majors, helps having that type of leaderboard where you see guys that have won majors before, kind of the best players?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, definitely. A tough golf course, all the guys that have really done it on hard golf courses really rise to the top and seem to grind it out more maybe a little bit more than certain players. I certainly grinded it out today. Especially the front nine I hit it horrible but managed to get a score on the front nine, and then the back nine I played a lot better and the score shows.
Q. Do you go to the range afterwards?
RETIEF GOOSEN: I'm not 100 percent sure yet. I might go and hit a couple. Actually I sort of found something on the back nine or I tried something different on the back nine and hit it a little better, so maybe I'll just stick with that for now and not go and mess around on the tee. The driving range is so windy, you're hitting into a 25-mile-an-hour wind, it's not really that much fun practicing anyway.
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