Quotes of the Week: June 15, 2014

It tests your patience. Everyone says ‘Do you look forward to it?’ No one looks forward to a beating, and it seems like that’s what we get every year – on the challenge a U.S. Open setup presents (Getty Images)

We don’t think it’s going to be an issue this week. We don’t have any bunkers outside the rope lines, so we won’t have spectators walking through them. We feel good about the situation. – the USGA executive director on the organization’s confidence that there won’t be any difficulty telling a bunker from a waste area, as there was at Whistling Straits in the 2010 PGA Championship (Getty Images)

When I saw it, I was pretty annoyed. I think it’s very cheeky of the USGA to do what they’ve done. I don’t think it’s fair to the three of us. It’s a mockery, to be honest. – on being grouped with fellow 200-plus-pounders Kevin Stadler and Brendon de Jonge (Getty Images)

I was actually pretty amused by it. I wasn’t offended at all. – on his first-round ‘heavyweights’ grouping with Shane Lowry and Kevin Stadler (Getty Images)

I don’t care. It’s not like I … pretend that I’m not a fat-ass. - on his first-round ‘heavyweights’ grouping with Shane Lowry and Brendon de Jonge (Getty Images)

He asked me ‘How the hell can you shoot 63 and then 78?’ – on Jack Nicklaus asking him about his back-to-back rounds at the Memorial (Getty Images)

It’s going to be something of a learning experience for me, but hopefully it all works out. – on his plan to caddie for Lydia Ko in the U.S. Women’s Open (Getty Images)

The golf course is better than me right now. – after a first-round 76 (Getty Images)

I’ll continue to say I haven’t done anything wrong. I do have a lot to say and I will say it at the right time. – after The New York Times reported that an FBI agent has informed Mickelson that the government has no plans to criminally charge him in its insider-trading investigation (Getty Images)

It’s cool to be in the position I’m in to wear some attire like he used to wear, to give tribute to him. – on wearing plus-fours in the first round as a tribute to the late Payne Stewart (Getty Images)

I just felt like from off the green I was a little more comfortable with it. You can have so many putts from off the green around here. There was no other reason other than that, for those kind of putt-chips that you have. – on switching back to his belly putter, which he had abandoned in his previous tournament (Getty Images)

I did bring it with me, but it’s been stuck in the trunk learning its lesson. – on his old putter, which he replaced for the U.S. Open (Getty Images)

The one thing you never hear at this golf course is ‘Hey, nice bounce!’ (Getty Images)

The U.S. Open is the only event where Phil in my opinion has ever succumbed to the pressure. Six times in his career he’s been within two shots of the lead going into the final round. And in those six rounds he’s averaged 73, and has never broken 70… But time and time again – and usually late in those final rounds when he’s had a chance to win – he’s made big numbers. – on Phil Mickelson

I heard he played the No. 3 course. Is that true? It’s unbelievable what he’s done. – on Martin Kaymer’s record 65-65 start (Getty Images)

I played Congressional and I thought, ‘How can you shoot that low?’ And that’s probably what a lot of other people think about me right now, - on matching Rory McIlroy’s feat, in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, of building a six-shot lead after 36 holes (Getty Images)

The hole looks like a thimble to me right now. – after taking 34 putts in a second-round 73 (Getty Images)

If someone had told me that I was going to be standing here 1 under par after 36 holes at the start of the week, I would have taken it. I would have said, ‘Perfect, let me play the weekend and see what happens.’ But what Martin has done over the first couple of days has made 1 under par look pretty average (Getty Images)

You can’t imagine yourself doing something as colossally stupid as that, but I did. I won’t forgive myself very soon after this. – the caddie for Hunter Mahan on failing to notice that Mahan was playing a shot with the ball of his playing partner, Jamie Donaldson (Getty Images)

It’s not easy to play with Keegan; I must admit that. – on playing with the notoriously fidgety and slow Keegan Bradley (Getty Images)

It was a golf course with 18 of the toughest pins I’ve ever seen. It was probably the hardest setup I’ve ever experienced in a major championship. – after the third round, where Perry shot 4-over 74 (Getty Images)

Some of the pins look like they’re about to fall off the greens. – after a third-round 71 (Getty Images)

It’s all loose. How should I know what’s not loose? – asking USGA president Tom O’Toole about a 6-inch pile of pine straw his tee shot wound up in on the fourth hole on Saturday (Getty Images)

I think that my attitude suits a U.S. Open-style course because I don’t ever give up. – the two-time heart transplant recipient on being five strokes behind Kaymer going into the final round (Getty Images)

No knickers for tomorrow. Just straight up orange. – on his clothing plans for the final round (Getty Images)

If I play well [on Sunday], if I hit it better and make some putts, I think I can shoot 4 or 5 under par, end around even, finish second again. (Getty Images)

You can’t get by with scraping it around and I didn’t have it this week. – after finishing at 7 over par, 16 shots behind Open champion Martin Kaymer (Getty Images)

Oh my God, I can’t even think now. – after Ernie Els said hello to her on the Pinehurst No. 2 range on Sunday (Getty Images)

Obviously, if you limit the mistakes, you might end up a couple under par for the week … but to do what he’s doing, I think it’s nearly more impressive than what I did at Congressional. – comparing his and Kaymer’s eight-shot Open victory margins (Getty Images)

It was certainly fun to finish that way and in a way honor Payne Stewart,” Rose said. “He was always one of my favorite golfers. – after imitating the pose that Stewart made famous at Pinehurst in 1999 when he won the U.S. Open (Getty Images)

We’ve almost a German Grand Slam – almost. I hope it will make Bernhard proud. I’m sure it will make all of Germany proud. – noting that between his U.S. Open and PGA Championship wins and Bernhard Langer’s Masters wins, German golfers lack only a British Open title (Getty Images)