Month: July 2021

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European Challenge Tour

Manley triumphs in Austria to secure third Challenge Tour title

Stuart Manly wins the Challenge Tours Euram Bank Open. (Photo: Getty Images)

Stuart Manley claimed his third Challenge Tour title in dramatic fashion after recording a birdie on the last hole to secure a one-stroke victory at the Euram Bank Open.

The Welshman had three holes to play this morning after the third round was suspended on Saturday night due to thunderstorms and heavy rain and trailed 54-hole leader Matias Honkala by one stroke.

After playing his first nine holes in level par after two birdies and a double bogey, he made his move at the turn after posting four consecutive birdies from the tenth hole. Tied for the lead with Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson on the par three 18th tee, he fired his tee shot to 15 feet and rolled the putt in for an 18 under par total and his third victory on the Challenge Tour.

The 42-year-old, who last won on the Challenge Tour in June 2018 at the Hauts de France Golf Open is delighted to be back in the winners’ circle once again.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “It’s been a tricky year with an injury just before South Africa, I almost thought the season was going to be over and to be here now with the winner’s trophy is amazing.

“I could feel the adrenaline pumping (on the 18th). I chose a six iron, I had 200 yards – a six iron doesn’t quite go 200 yards – but I thought just hit it firm and hit it harder, the adrenaline will take over. It landed right by the pin and went about 15 feet past, so it was a great opportunity. I knocked it in and I’m over the moon.”

Manley who has played at Golfclub Adamstal many times admits that it is suited to his game but says that he had to be patient throughout in order to have the outcome that he did.

“I had to have patience and really good management on my game,” said Manley. “I didn’t hit it amazing, but I hit it pretty solid. I made a lot of putts, my chipping was spot on, everything was pretty good I didn’t hit in trouble all week, so just the patience and short game was really good.

“The golf course is amazing, probably the most scenic golf course I’ve ever played and the condition it was in today after we had all that rain yesterday was amazing, so yeah I really like the golf course.”

“It is tough, physically more than anything, I got off the golf course just before nine o’clock and then you’re trying to find a restaurant to eat and then you need your sleep and your rest but then you have to be back at the golf club for about six this morning..”

Ferguson recorded his fourth top-four finish of the season with his runner-up result, matching his performance at this event in 2019.

In a share of third on 16 under par were South African Oliver Bekker, ranked fifth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, and Honkala.

Hinrich Arkenau of Germany finished fifth on 15 under, with Chase Hanna and Federico Maccario sharing sixth place after rounds of 66.

With his victory, Manley jumps to 20th place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings after his third event of the season. Spain’s Santiago Tarrio still leads on 110,993 points, with Frenchman Julien Brun and German Marcel Siem occupying second and third place, respectively.

The Road to Mallorca continues next week in Italy, with the Italian Challenge at Margara Golf Club, from July 22-25.

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Highlights Tours

Louis Oosthuizen: “You can’t be thinking about bad rounds when you start the next one. You’ve got to shake that off quickly”

Louis Oosthuizen during his first round of the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

MIKE WOODCOCK: We’d like to welcome clubhouse leader and former Open Champion, Louis Oosthuizen into the interview room. Louis, great round of 64 today, 6-under par. You got into a great rhythm there in seemed, obviously played very well. What are your thoughts on today’s round?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, probably in my mind the perfect round I could have played. I didn’t make many mistakes. When I had good opportunities for birdie, I made the putts. So yeah, just a very good solid round.

Q. Since you won The Open in 2010 you’ve had a remarkable record of nearly winning other majors. Except when a person like me mentioned it, does that play on your mind at all?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: It gives me confidence going into majors knowing that I’m still competing in them and I’ve still got chances of winning. But yeah, once the week starts, I need to get that out of my mind and just focus on every round and every shot.

But it definitely puts me in a better frame of mind going into the week.

Q. Given that, how long does it take you to get past a near miss like you had at the PGA a couple months ago?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, it depends if you lost it or someone else beat you. I think in both of those I was beaten by better golf at the end there. It takes a little while, but it’s sort of — you have to get over it quickly, otherwise it’s going to hold you back to perform again.

But yeah, I tried to take a few days and just try and forget about it and see if I can get myself ready for the next one.

Q. You’ve got an uncanny ability to bounce back, whether it’s bouncing back from a bogey with a birdie afterwards or whether it’s bouncing back from a tough loss at a tournament with another excellent showing and another run at the title. What do you feel is the secret to your resiliency and your ability to not let those prior things frustrate you?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I don’t know. No, I don’t know. I feel if you do the work that you feel you should have done to get ready for a tournament and you left everything sort of out on the course, then there’s not much more that you can do.

I always try and — I do get upset on shots if I hit bad shots and things like that, but I try and always be at the best mindset for the next golf shot and the next tournament or the next round.

I try and not think too much of mistakes that you make on the golf course. I try and focus on every time hitting the best shot that I can hit, and I feel that’s the only way you can sort of go forward in this game.

Louis Oosthuizen is questioned on the strategy of the course and how his experienced caddie can be beneficial.

Q. Just wondering, can you talk a little bit about the strategy of playing this golf course? Obviously there’s quite a lot of strategy involved in playing it well, and the role your caddie is playing in formulating that strategy, being the experienced man there in Colin Byrne.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I think number one, on this golf course it’s hit the fairway. You’re not going to be able to do much from the rough here or the fairway bunkers. Coming into this week driving the ball good is key. If you aren’t comfortable with a driver around this golf course, then don’t be scared laying further back, as long as you can get in the fairway.

Colin has been great on the bag. He’s got so much experience and helps me to be focused on what I want to do and take the shot on, the shot that I see.

I think out here in windy conditions like this, you need to be — you need to go on what you feel the whole time. It is difficult for the caddie to see what you think you want to do, so it’s great that he gives me a lot of confidence in trying to play the shot I want to play.

Q. I know it’s a tough start there, but you had seven straight pars to begin your round. How were you feeling at that point standing on the eighth tee and did you feel like there was any chance you were going to shoot 64?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, seven pars, I think I probably would have taken seven pars again. I’ve learnt over the years playing major championships that patience is the key thing, and even if you make bogeys, know that a lot of people are going to make bogeys.

I was just very patient. I was trying to just hit my shots and didn’t really hit anything close enough to make birdies those first few holes, and then all of a sudden just made two good putts on 8 and 9 and got the ball rolling. It happened quickly, but you still need to put yourself in those positions, and I felt definitely the last 10, 11 holes I gave myself a lot of opportunities.

Q. You said earlier in the season how you’ve been working on your putting game, that that’s something you wanted to sharpen up and obviously it’s been paying huge dividends. We’ve seen you make some insanely great putts over the past few months. I was wondering what specifically you worked on or what you did to get that game up to the level that it’s at right now.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, most of the work I’ve done was on routine, going back to a few things that I’ve done early in my career. I think the main thing is sticking to the putter — I’ve been with that putter for a long time now, and just try and — every time I go out and do a bit of work on the putting green to just do the same work and the same drills and the same things and get into a really good routine on practice and when I get on the golf course.

You know, it’s paid off for me.

Q. You had two guys that are well known playing links golf in your pairing and they didn’t really have a very good day. Does that distract in any way, shape or form from how you’re trying to get around your 18 holes?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No, it didn’t. Playing with them, I didn’t really feel like they played poorly. They just — again, around this golf course, if you’re just out of position off the tee, you’re going to find it difficult to give yourself opportunities for birdies.

I just think it’s so marginal to be good off the tee and have opportunities to try and get close to the holes for your second shots. But no, it doesn’t distract me at all.

Looking at their score afterwards, I didn’t feel like they played — I thought they both were maybe level or 1-under par, and I saw they were just over par, but I didn’t really feel like they played poorly.

Q. You mentioned that you’ve stuck with the same putter now for a while. Were you previously changing every week, and if so, what happens to the naughty putters? Where do they go?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I’ve got a bag there at home that I might just throw in a river someday.

Yeah, I went through a stage where I changed a lot of putters. Every week we were trying something. I realised quickly that there’s no way to find any consistency in putting if you do that.

Yeah, I found one that I really like the look of, and I sort of worked on it. There were tournaments where I felt my stroke wasn’t great, and I felt like I was working on a few things, and I would actually change that putter then for just on the round. I didn’t want to have any bad memories of that putter being not good on the day.

You know, going through all of that and sticking with it has really helped me a lot.

Q. Going back to when you say you take a few days off after something has gone wrong and you forget about it, what is your secret to forgetting a bad round?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I don’t know. Just forget about it. You can’t be thinking about bad rounds when you start the next one. You’ve got to shake that off quickly.

I think anyone playing professional sport can tell you that you’ve got to have a really short memory. You’ve got to just go on and work hard again and see if you can do better the next time you go out.

Q. Do you go fishing?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No, just spend time on the farm with the family, with the kids, and just get my head away from golf completely.

Q. Do you get on your tractor?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Always. I’m always on the tractor, don’t worry. I don’t need to play good or bad to be on the tractor.

Q. Do you try to remember good rounds tomorrow, or do you try to put that aside, as well?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No, good rounds you always try and remember. I mean, I think when you’re going through a spell where you want to try and figure a few things out, I would always go back and look at videos of when I played really well, look at good rounds I’ve played or when I know I’ve done good things on the golf course. That really helps you to see yourself play well again and to look at a few certain things, whether it’s a movement in your swing on something you were doing on the greens.

But I love going back and watching good rounds and just get some confidence from that.

Q. What model putter is it that you’re so in love with right now?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Man, I hope I don’t get this wrong. I think it’s the Voss — it’s the Ping. Obviously Ping, and it’s the Voss. Yeah.

Q. If you were to win a second major title, do you think that would accelerate your decision to retire and head back to the farm, or do you think it would push you to try to get a third and fourth and maybe keep playing for much longer?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No. While I’m playing, while I’m competing in the game of golf, I will be playing.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Louis, very well played today and best of luck the rest of the week.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com

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Highlights Tours

Rory Mcllory: “Yeah, it was a tricky afternoon”

Rory McIlroy during his first round of the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

Q. Rory, thanks for joining us. Birdie at the last there. You must be happy with that finish.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, really happy with that finish. Yeah, it was a tricky afternoon. The conditions got pretty rough there in the middle of the round. The wind got up and I made a few bogeys in a row, so sort of said to myself at the turn if I could get back to even par for the day I would be happy.

To birdie the last hole and get back to even par, yeah, it’s nice to finish like that. Looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.

Q. Well played. Nice birdie at the last. What was the biggest challenge out there today? The pace of the greens seemed to be something that troubled quite a few players. I know you left quite a few putts out there short today. Maybe that was something that troubled you.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, the greens have been slow. The whole transition of coming back to Europe and putting on these greens, I felt they were slow in Ireland, slow last week in Scotland, and they’re slow this week again.

It was Patrick left a lot short, so did Cam, I so did. I put extra weight in my putter this week to try to help that, to try to counteract the slow greens. My pace was a bit better than in practice. I was leaving some woefully short the last couple days.

The extra weight in the putter helped a little bit. Yeah, it’s just so hard. The wind was so strong and you get a putt that’s back into the wind, you really have to give it a belt to get it to the hole.

Q. And just the final birdie, how much does that mean to you? Obviously big difference being level par mentally to 1-over.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, more mentally than anything else. Obviously one shot closer to the lead. Yeah, just to battle back — I was 2-over through 7 after getting off to a good start. To battle back and shoot even par, play the last, whatever it is, 11 holes in 2-under, I was pretty pleased with that in those conditions.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com

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Highlights Tours

Bryson DeChambeau: “The driver sucks”

Bryson DeChambeau during his first round of the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

Q. +1 for the opening round, but you only hit four fairways from 14. Despite that obviously not looking great, you must take a lot of heart that you’re still +1 and still in with a shout despite kind of wayward drives. If you straightened those up, you certainly must think you must be contending by the end of the week.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, and that’s what I said yesterday or a couple days ago. If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks.

It’s not a good face for me and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the mis-hits. I’m living on the razor’s edge like I’ve told people for a long time. When I did get it outside of the fairway, like in the first cut and whatnot, I catch jumpers out of there and I couldn’t control my wedges.

It’s quite finicky for me because it’s a golf course that’s pretty short, and so when I hit driver and it doesn’t go in the fairway, it’s first cut or whatever, or it’s in the hay, it’s tough for me to get it out on to the green and control that.

but when it’s in the middle of the fairway like I had it on 18, I was able to hit a nice shot to 11 feet and almost made birdie. It’s kind of living on the razor’s edge, and if I can figure out how to make that driver how to go straight and figure out the jumpers out of the rough, it would be awesome. I just can’t figure it out. It’s forever.

Q. When you’re dealing with that kind of thing with the driver, are you going to be having somebody working on that now? Did you not realise that during the practice round? What’s the dynamic of that, and how difficult is that to change in mid-stream during a tournament?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I’ve realised this for years now. This has happened since 2016-17 when players stopped drawing it. There’s not very many golfers that draw it anymore. It’s not because of spin rate. Everybody thinks it’s — we’re at 2000, 1800 spin or whatever. It’s not.

It’s literally the physics and the way that they build heads now. It’s not the right design, unfortunately, and we’ve been trying to fix it and Cobra has been working their butt off to fix it, we just haven’t had any results yet.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com

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Highlights Tours

Dustin Johnson: “The Open…, you want to hit greens. Where you get in trouble is when you miss greens”

Dustin Johnson during his first round at the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

Q. Joined by Dustin Johnson. Dustin, how would you rate your performance today?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I thought I played very solid. Got off to a nice start. Struggled a little bit on 7, 8, and 9. Kind of gave a few shots away there. Other than that, played really well.

Didn’t get up and down on 7 and made bogey on 8 and 9 from the fairway, which you just can’t do. Other than that, I think it was a really solid day and I’m pleased with my performance.

Q. Important to build that momentum going into the latter part of The Championship?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, obviously you want to get off to a good start. The course is fairly receptive. You can drive it in the fairway and definitely make some birdies. Obviously there is a few holes where you’ll take par every single time and keep on going.

There is definitely opportunities out there, and I just need to — if I keep driving it well I’m going to play well.

Q. You had 14 greens in regulation today over the 18. How important was that for such a solid round?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, out here especially playing The Open, you want to hit greens. Where you get in trouble is when you miss greens.

So I feel like especially — it’s definitely a bit of wind out there today. It didn’t play easy, but it was scorable if you were in the fairway. That’s what I feel like I did a good job of, is hitting it in the fairway and after that hitting the greens.

Q. With the weather conditions relatively consistent over the weekend, do you feel that it suits you and maybe you have a strong chance of contending?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, if I keep playing the way I am, absolutely. I feel like obviously I want to — need to go out and shoot another solid score tomorrow. If we keep these conditions obviously the course will continue to get a little bit firmer, play a little bit more tricky.

But like I said, if you can drive it in the fairway the course — you can attack the golf course. The rough is pretty penal and obviously the bunkers are always penal.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com

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Jordan Spieth: “Golf is a game played between the ears”

Jordan Spieth during his first round of the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

MIKE WOODCOCK: We’re joined by our clubhouse leader on 5-under par after 65, former Open champion, Jordan Spieth. Good round today. You looked like you relished the return to links golf in the Open.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I mean, I’ve really loved this tournament. Played well here, whether I’ve come in in form or not, and so last year missing being able to play this tournament was certainly something that I didn’t want to do.

Now we’re back, and it feels — actually inside the ropes when we teed off on the first tee forward, it feels the most normal of any tournament I think that we’ve played thus far relative to that same tournament in previous years pre-COVID.

The fans are fantastic here. They’re just the best in golf. Very knowledgeable, and you always know where your ball is even if it’s a blind shot. It was really great to have them back and have what feels like normalcy when we teed off on the first hole.

Q. You just mentioned that you feel like you’ve been able to summon form even when you haven’t been playing well coming into Open Championships. Why do you think that is?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think it brings a lot of the feel aspect into the game. I think I shorten swings up over here and hit more punch shots and just stuff that I probably should be doing at home when I’m trying to — you get less swing-focused and more shot-focused over here because the second you take your brain off of what you’re hitting, you may not find your ball.

There’s a — instead of just a driving range shot in Palm Springs, there’s always some shot you have to play that gives you a little bit of an advantage or certain club selections based on you hit a fade or a draw; they go 15 to 20 yards different distances than between which shot you play.

I guess to sum that up, there’s a lot of external factors over here, and I think that external is where I need to be living.

Q. Have you allowed yourself to think what it will feel like to win a major championship again versus at a time it looked like the path you were going to continue on forevermore?

JORDAN SPIETH: I haven’t. To be honest, the path that I’m on and where I’ve been before in the game, I feel really good about my chances going forward, as good as they have been historically.

As far as surprised or not, I guess I feel like I’ve been trending the right way and certainly had a chance this year already at Augusta. Made some mistakes in the first round and second round that I shouldn’t have made that I very well could have won that golf tournament this year.

I like where I’m at. Again, I feel like I was progressing nicely. Took a couple steps back really on the weekend at Colonial through the U.S. Open, and I know what it was now and tried to put in some good work over the last few weeks to get back on the same and even forward it from where I was already progressing.

Q. Do you think success will feel different than it was then?

JORDAN SPIETH: I’m not sure. I would hope to answer that question for you in a few days.

Q. It doesn’t really look easy out there, but there’s a lot of good scores. What would you attribute it to, lack of wind? Is it some softness, anything?

JORDAN SPIETH: I would say if anything just a little bit of softness. I kind of got away with a couple tee shots in the first cut that maybe if it was firmer may have worked their way just into the fescue. I’m sure a lot of people it’s the same way. It’s a course where you have so much undulation in the fairways that if it gets firmer it gets very bounce dependent.

That’s what I had heard coming in, and then after playing it you can see that. But certainly the greens just being a little bit softer. The wind is up, and the pins are on knobs and crowns and they’ve done — they put a few pins in some really fun spots for us today where you could get at them in some bowls. If you hit some wedges you could feed it in. You might see some shots holed today, actually.

But that’s only a few of the holes. The rest of them, they’re on some of the more difficult locations, I think, to kind of separate the field out. If you’re really striking it well or you’re not, you end up in better positions versus not.

Q. Was your attitude about the course different than what you had heard or read?

Spieth and his attitude on the course after the first round

JORDAN SPIETH: I actually — for the most part historically I’ve come into venues I’ve never seen before in any tournament, not just an Open, and I’ve always just tried to find something I love about it.

There’s been times recently where I’ve said, Man, I just really don’t like this place. I came in here and I’ve been in a really good mood about it. My first walk around it I played 12 holes, played a loop on Sunday, and it was the opposite wind and I still — I thought, Man, this could be a really fun kind of cool, tricky track. It’s certainly odd compared to some of the other ones and some of the shots — it’s also the opposite wind, so that’s maybe not fair, not giving it enough credit, because they typically have that southern wind, I think.

But certain holes, like 6 and 16, those short par-3s become easier downwind off the right, but other holes are really challenging.

I liked it.

Q. It’s slightly strange but trivial that Brandon Grace played the first two rounds in the eventual winner’s group the last two Opens. Was there any talk about that with him, and also are you a superstitious guy in do you read anything into it?

JORDAN SPIETH: I mean, I think I have to be — how many people at the event? I have to beat 150-something players to win this tournament. I think that’s coincidence. If it happens four or five times in a row, maybe people start paying off to see who can get paired with him the first two rounds, but at two I think —

Q. What if it happened three times in a row?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think maybe. I would certainly like that. It would be a 50/50 shot then, so that would make my chances go way up versus 1 in 150.

I think that that’s maybe not extremely uncommon. I think that when you have a top 50, top 25 player in the world that Brandon Grace has been, he’s going to be in some pairings with guys who are certainly capable of winning major championships, and it just so happened it was two years in a row.

I did hear that ahead of time, though, which just made me laugh. I didn’t think much of it.

Q. I’m curious, if I’m not mistaken, you haven’t played for a few weeks leading into this week, and you did the same thing in ’17 if I’m not mistaken. I’m wondering if there was a conscious effort to redo what you did there when you had success, and as a second question there, what were your expectations coming in, getting into the round, when you hadn’t played competitively in a few weeks.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, that was kind of my one concern I think coming in here. I felt pretty good about the work that I had done over the last say week and a half or so, but when you haven’t played for a little while, you come into a difficult track, you can have a bit of rust early, and I was a little bit concerned about that. I think midway through the front nine today kind of turning under par was just big to feel like hey, we’re in the thick of things. There’s just a little extra nerves when you’re not coming off the week before just getting started, and hit some really good shots early in the round today, which I think was important.

No, I don’t — I’ve played the week before in ’15 and then I think I was off at least two or three weeks every year since, won at Birkdale, had a chance to win playing the week before in ’15 and had a chance at Carnoustie.

It just so happens in the schedule that I end up playing a lot in the spring with Dallas and Fort Worth and now with the schedule shifted around with the PGA Championship in there. By the time the U.S. Open is done I’m pretty gassed and looking for a little break.

So I think it’s more the break before it versus the preparation for here, but I’ll certainly look into, I think, playing into The Open Championship going forward, thinking that it could be really good prep.

Q. I’m just wondering how you would compare the challenge this week with what you faced at Birkdale in 2017, and coming into the first round like before playing, was it a course that you thought suited your game?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think that — I actually talked, Cameron brought this up. Birkdale was a course that you played a lot from the air versus other Open venues. You couldn’t really bounce it up a ton there, and you really can’t bounce it up a ton here. So it has similarities on that front, where it’s more of an aerial links. You’ve got to flight the ball but you can’t really get away with kind of punching five clubs extra up the entire green. You can on some holes, but there’s bunkers that guard the fronts and there’s a lot of false fronts here.

In that sense I think there’s similarities, but I think if I had played any venue in 2017, I would have won that week. I mean, I was hitting it, at that time, the best I had maybe ever hit it in my life, and it certainly became a two-way match where there was a couple shots I hit that weren’t the best I’ve ever hit but was able to, for the week, just continue on the trends I was there.

Here I feel for the first time since then I’m at least coming in with a bit of form, a bit of confidence, and really my start lines off the tee, and I felt like I drove the ball good enough today to be able to shoot a really good score, and I’d like to improve.

Q. In the period between winning The Open and winning in Texas, your record in the majors was far from shabby. It was quite impressive in many cases. Was there ever a period where you lost a bit of faith in your golf or your self-belief?

JORDAN SPIETH: Absolutely. It’s funny you mention that, though, because I look back and I had a chance to win at least one of the majors each year when I felt like I had no idea where the ball was going, which is, I guess, could be bad and good.

But sure, yeah. Golf is a game played between the ears, right. When it’s not going great, you can certainly lose quite a bit of confidence in it, and it takes — that was the first time I’ve had to really try and build confidence back up, and it takes time. It’s a combination of obviously getting things figured out mechanically but also then putting it to the test and mentally stepping up with enough oomph to go ahead and pull off some shots, and that’s how you build the confidence is using that improvement I think physically on the course under pressure. By no means do I feel like I’m where I want to be mechanically yet, but this year has been a really, really good progression for me, and that’s all I’m trying to do is just get a little bit better each day.

Q. Do you have any recollection of 2011, Darren Clarke winning?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don’t. I don’t really have — I remember vaguely. I always watched major Sundays, but I don’t remember the golf course from that, other than a little bit of the 16th hole. But it was playing the opposite wind.

Q. A lefty/righty question. If you’re talking to a young player who’s left-handed or right-handed, do you tell them to go with that hand when they start to play golf?

JORDAN SPIETH: You know, I throw and shoot left-handed. I do a lot of things — my dad is left-handed, my brother plays golf left-handed, and I somehow hit right-handed in baseball, and golf righty. You probably have more club options right-handed, but if you like the Masters, Augusta is a nice left-handed golf course, left-hander’s golf course.

No, I think whichever one you feel like you’ve got more power with I guess is the better way to go right now, and then you build in as you get older, you build in a lot of kind of control.

Q. You were very enthusiastic about the fans. You were saying they were “fantastic.” What is the ideal fan?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I just think over here they’re very knowledgeable, so like I may have a 5-iron into a hole and 20 feet is a fantastic shot, and they just know that because they’ve seen it all day and they’re aware of how difficult shots are versus if you hit a wedge and you really had an opportunity to get one close.

I feel like the fans here are very knowledgeable about the sport, and they’re also having a great time. Really the grandstands, the amphitheater settings at this tournament is a lot of what I’m talking about. It’s just like at Augusta, it’s just a beautiful setting a lot of times, shaping a lot of the holes with people.

I think that’s kind of fun.

Q. So what’s different from America — surely they’re having fun there and they know what they’re seeing. What is the difference?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I think over here you have a lot of blind shots, and I think — and also, scores are a little higher over here. In America a lot of times if it’s not within 10 or 15 feet, everyone wants every shot to be really, really close, and so do we, but I think over here times a really good shot is one that’s just punched out of the gorse.

It’s just a different style of golf, and it’s crazy how well informed I think people are of already the style it must be because they’re playing it every day.

Yeah, our fans are great everywhere, but over here I just feel that the giant grandstands, they’re very knowledgeable of when a shot we would feel is really good and when we would be frustrated about it, I guess.

Q. Could you see out there some of the places where it could — people could come undone? It is a very tricky course, isn’t it.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think first thing I noticed when I got here was how high the rough was on the first hole, and I thought, wow, if it place starts to firm up, which it can if they want it to as the weekend approaches us, it reminded me of kind of the way Muirfield looked to start, where it was totally brown by Sunday. I thought they have that option here.

I just think with the rough up, if you’re not controlling the golf ball in this wind, keeping it maybe lower to the ground and avoiding these bunkers, you’re — when I wasn’t in the fairway — there was only one hole where I was in the fescue today. The rest I was in first cuts, and you can do just fine out of first cuts here. If you’re not in between the beacons, it’s very, very hard, and that’s not easy to do when the wind is a solid 15 to 20 and it’s a heavy wind.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com

Categories
European Tour

Matt Wallace: “I’m excited to play at Celtic Manor for the first time”

Matt Wallace preparing for the Cazoo Open

Four-time European Tour winner Matt Wallace cannot wait to tee it up at The Celtic Manor Resort for the first time when the Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale returns to The 2010 Ryder Cup venue, from July 22-25.

The Englishman will be making his third appearance on British soil in as many weeks after finishing in a share of 26th at the abrdn Scottish Open before teeing it up this week at Royal St George’s ahead of next week’s Cazoo Open.

The World Number 60 will be making his first appearance at Celtic Manor as the event forms part of the UK Swing, which takes in successive events in Wales, Nothern Ireland, Scotland and England across July and August.

“I’m excited to play at Celtic Manor for the first time,” said Wallace. “It’ll be great to play in front of Welsh crowds; we saw how passionate they were at the Ryder Cup 11 years ago and I’m sure they’ll get behind all the British golfers playing that week.”

Also returning to Celtic Manor Resort this year is Wallace’s compatriot Sam Horsfield, who won the Celtic Classic held in Newport as part of the European Tour’s 2020 UK Swing.

Horsfield won the Celtic Classic, finishing two strokes ahead of Belgium’s Thomas Detry to claim a second European Tour title in the space of 14 days.

“To win a second title in the space of just two weeks was a fantastic feeling, especially at a venue as iconic as Celtic Manor,” said Horsfield. “Obviously I have some great memories of the course, so hopefully I can tap into those feelings and have another good week in Wales.”

Joining them in the field is 2016 Ryder Cup player Chris Wood, who grew up in Bristol, England, just 30 miles from Newport on the south side of the River Severn. The 33-year-old has enjoyed success in Wales in the past, having won the Welsh Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 2008.

“Being from Bristol, an event at Celtic Manor is as close to home as it gets,” said Wood. “I’m really looking forward to playing in front of fans and the support we’ll all receive during the week. Celtic Manor is a great venue. I was disappointed to miss the events there last year, so I’m looking forward to having the chance to go back.”

Adult tickets for Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale are priced at £19 for Wednesday’s Pro-Am day and £24 for each tournament day. Concession tickets (for 13-17 year-olds) are £10 per day, while under-13s go free.

All tickets for the Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale are subject to Welsh Government health guidelines, with a comprehensive refund policy in place should spectators be unable to attend due to on-going COVID restrictions. A full FAQ can be found here.

The only official sales channel to purchase tickets for the Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale is via the ticketing platform Eventbrite. The resale of tickets on unofficial platforms contravenes the European Tour’s ticket terms and conditions and such sales render the ticket void.

Interview transcript by European Tour Communications

Categories
Satellite Tours

Alexander Knappe: “I think I can win on this course”

Alex Knappe is looking forward to playing the Euram Bank Open Tournament at the Challenge Tour

Alexander Knappe is looking to build on the solid foundations he has put in place on the Road to Mallorca as he tees it up in the Euram Bank Open at Golf Club Adamstal this week.

The German has four top 20 finishes to his name in 2021, including a tie for sixth at the Challenge de Cádiz along with a share of eighth place at the Open de Bretagne last month.

Knappe, who won twice on the European Challenge Tour in 2016, is targeting a return to the winner’s circle for the first time in almost five years and believes this week’s venue offers him an opportunity to do so.

“I think I can win on this course,” he said. “I am just preparing well now to give myself the best shot, to maybe this time win a bigger tournament.

“I want to finish inside the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca Rankings and to do that, I want to get a win. It’s always nice to get that winning feeling, being the best and then we can take it from there, so that’s my goal, winning a tournament.”

The 32-year-old finished in a tie for third place at Golf Club Adamstal in 2020 when the Euram Bank Open was dual-ranked by the European Tour, however he is conscious of the varying obstacles he must overcome due to the courses features and also the ever-changing weather.

“It is always nice to come back to a place where I did well, and especially this place,” he said. “It’s one of my favourite places due to the scenery. Being in the mountains, it’s really calm being with nature, so I love it here, It’s great.

Knappe comments on the weather

“I looked for the forecast and it was saying it is going to be really rainy over the weekend, so maybe it’s going to play really soft, so we always have to adjust but that’s what is special about this place.

“Every day is like a new day here. In the morning it’s cold, the ball is not travelling that far and, in the afternoon, it’s flying further, because we’re high up so it’s really special.”

Joining Knappe in Ramsau this week is Road to Mallorca Number One Santiago Tarrio, who has twice tasted victory on the 2021 Road to Mallorca, along with highly ranked Scotsman Craig Howie, who occupies fifth place on the Rankings following his victory at the Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf earlier this year.

The action gets under way at 7:30am local time, with Knappe teeing it up alongside American pairing Chase Hanna and Paul Peterson at 8:10am.

Interview transcript by European Tour Communications

Categories
Highlights Tours

Jon Rahm: “The course hasn’t changed. I’ve changed quite a bit”

Jon Rahm during his practice round ahead of the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

OLIVIA McMILLAN: Jon Rahm, thank you so much for joining us today. Welcome to the 149th Open here at Royal St. George’s. Have you played the course yet? Can you give us your first impressions?

JON RAHM: I haven’t played this week yet. We came in yesterday morning and then had to get tested and wait quite a while. So I didn’t want to come in later when it was raining.

I have played here before. I think I played in 2009. The course hasn’t changed. I’ve changed quite a bit. It’ll be a different experience. We played the British Boys over here, and that was my first-ever tournament I believe in links golf, so some fond memories from the area.

I’m excited to see it this week. I’ve heard nothing but great things, and really excited.

Q. How would you sum up the week at the Scottish Open, because at times you played some fantastic golf but didn’t quite get over the line?

JON RAHM: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I managed pretty well. Thinking about it, you know, back about the tournament, there was a couple strategy mistakes that cost me a couple shots, but the main problem was on the greens. Which is expected, right? When you change from greens that are really fast going to slower greens it can be a little bit difficult and sometimes you start thinking too much instead of just acting.

Overall it was a good week. Not that I expected, but I was prepared to play a lot worse than what I did, so I’m happy that I started playing that well and got a really good form coming into this week.

Q. It seems like we see so many guys with so many swing coaches and such big teams out here. You seem to do things a little bit differently. Are you working with anyone swing-wise, and how do you go about working on stuff mechanically?

JON RAHM: Well, I have a team, as well. Just the way I think about it, you do the work at home and then when you come to a tournament it’s time to perform. If you’re searching for a swing during a major championship week, it’s usually a red flag for me. That’s just the way I choose to do things.

With that said, my swing coach, his name is Dave Phillips, TPI. He is the I been seeing for the last eight years or so. And it’s also a little bit different for me because I haven’t actively tried to change my swing in over 10 years.

I have the swing I have, and I’ve gotten more mobile and stronger in some parts of my swing so that might slightly change it, but I have certain unique parts and certain unique, let’s say, physical limitations that let me swing the way I swing, and I don’t deviate from that.

I’ve been able to slowly improve my game with what I have and learn how to hit different shots without having to change my swing keys, and I think that is one of the keys to why I’m consistent. I don’t change it. I play with what I have and try to improve from what I have.

Q. As someone who performed so well in links conditions, how special is it returning to the Open after it was cancelled last year, and with 32,000 people per day, biggest crowd we’ve had since golf returned, how excited are you for big crowds?

JON RAHM: Very excited. We’ve missed it. We’ve missed it. To be fair, I did not expect this tournament to be the first one we’re going to have full crowds, just because of the lockdown and limitations and all.

But excited. Especially on a course with such history as this one. It’s known to be a difficult links golf course, so I’m hoping it plays like that, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

It’s always a week I really cherish, I really enjoy. Like I said earlier, this was my first links golf experience, so it’s a little bit of nostalgia in there, too, so I’m excited about it.

Q. How different does it feel coming to a major as a major champion? Does it feel any different? And also the question about sort of joining the elite gang of people who could win the U.S. Open and The Open Championship in the same year.

JON RAHM: Yeah, I’m usually pretty good in golf history. I know Tiger has done it. Might have been maybe Ben Hogan has done it, too, and not many more. I’m assuming Jack. Jack is always in all of those lists. It would be pretty incredible to win both Opens in one year. It would be amazing.

Now, you do have a sense of — at least I did have a sense of relief after winning the first major. I felt like for the better part of five years, all I heard is major, major, major just because I was playing good golf, as if it was easy to win a major championship.

But the fact that you are expected to win one means nothing, but you’re playing good golf, so a bit of relief in that sense, but it doesn’t really change. There’s still the next one to win, so I still come with the same level of excitement obviously and willingness to win.

More focused on would be pretty incredible to be able to win The Open. Nobody after Seve has been able to do it, so to give Spain that, that would be pretty unique, as well.

Q. You mentioned your debut on links golf here. You’ve obviously had success at the Irish Open. You played well last week. Has your opinion of links golf changed since that first maybe experience?

JON RAHM: No, I’ve loved it every time. Mainly because you truly have to play your own game and learn from the golf course. You have a little bit more variety of golf. It’s the unique part about it. It’s the ever-changing, let’s say, wind, the weather conditions, the ever-changing state of the golf course.

It’s what makes it such a great week, and every time you come to the UK. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed. There’s always a little bit of luck involved in what part of the draw you are on, depending on the weather you get, and that’s part of golf.

Again, if anything, if it changes, it changes for the better. I feel like I love it more and more every time.

Rahm discusses his physical limitations

Q. You’ve talked about your physical limitations which affect your swing. I think a lot of people would like to know what they are and maybe wish they had these physical limitations.

JON RAHM: I’m going to say I’ve been pro for five years. I’ve mentioned this before. This is the first time I’m getting this question because I’m tired of hearing that the reason why I have a short swing is that I have tight hips or other things.

If you know anything about golf, that is the stupidest thing to say. So for people that don’t know, I was born with a club foot on my right leg, which means for anybody that’s sensitive about that, my right leg up to the ankle was straight, my foot was 90 degrees turned inside and basically upside down.

So when I was born, they basically relocated, pretty much broke every bone in the ankle and I was casted within 20 minutes of being born from the knee down.

I think every week I had to go back to the hospital to get recasted, so from knee down my leg didn’t grow at the same rate. So I have very limited ankle mobility in my right leg. It’s a centimeter and a half shorter, as well.

So what I mean by limitations is I didn’t take a full swing because my right ankle doesn’t have the mobility or stability to take it. So I learned at a very young age that I’m going to be more efficient at creating power and be consistent from a short swing.

If I take a full to parallel, yeah, it might create more speed, but I have no stability. My ankle just can’t take it.

Now, also, and this is where I’ve learned doing many TPI tests, my wrists don’t have much mobility this way, but I’m hypermobile this way. That’s why I also naturally turn to bow my wrist to create power in every single sport I do.

So that’s why my swing, I bow my wrist and that’s how I hit it. It’s little things that I think a lot of people can learn. Let your body dictate how you can swing. Simple as that. That’s why Dave has been such a great addition to me when I started going to TPI with the Spanish Golf Federation, because they can teach me how my body moves and what I can — not what I can or cannot do, what I’m going to be more efficient at doing.

The main thing is my right foot. It’s just that ankle does not move much.

Q. I bet you often think how efficient a short swing is.

JON RAHM: I mean, it’s efficient for me, right?

Q. Very efficient.

JON RAHM: Yeah. It’s what works for me. I think it’s the biggest lesson I can give any young player. Don’t try to copy me. Don’t try to copy any swing out there. Just swing your swing. Do what you can do. That’s the best thing for yourself.

I used to not be a good ball striker. Terrible. And slowly, once I started learning in college, I became a good ball striker. Learn from your body. Your body is going to tell you what it can and can’t do. Some things you can improve, some things you can’t. In my case, the right ankle is not going to move any more than it can right now, so that’s the beauty of that.

Q. Just wondering with the Olympics coming up, obviously a number of top players have decided not to play. You have stated that you are very thrilled to play in the Olympics. Can you say a little bit about why you chose to play in the Olympics and why you think that many people opted out of it?

JON RAHM: I mean, I can’t speak for other people, so I don’t know why they’re opting out of it. You’d have to ask them. I’m not going to speak for them.

In my case, I’ve been really fortunate enough to represent Spain at every level as an amateur since I was 13 years old. I’ve been able to win many team events representing Spain worldwide. Once you turn professional you don’t really get that chance. You get a little bit of the Ryder Cup, but it’s not the same thing as the Olympics or a World Cup maybe.

To be able to have that chance as a pro, something that up until four or five years ago was not even a possibility, to me it was something I would never doubt. You get the chance to call yourself an Olympian, which is only a very select group of people in history that can call themselves that, and if you were to get a medal, especially a gold medal, you’re even more of a select group, right? Especially in golf — I mean, last time was early in the 1900s when golf was in the Olympics, up until Justin Rose, right? In recent memory you would be the second one with a gold medal, which to me, it’s very, very enticing.

So yeah, even though I can’t go watch other sporting events and support my countrymen and my friends, we’re all going to be there, and I would say in spirit not physically. But to me it’s a great opportunity, so it would be a great, great moment for me if I could deliver a gold medal for Spain.

Q. I’m just wondering, with let’s say the physiology, do you think links courses suit your game better than let’s say parkland courses, or have you kind of got a happy medium between the two?

JON RAHM: Well, I grew up it was more parkland. I grew up on traditional golf in Spain, so I’m used to playing golf with trees in the way. That’s how I grew up.

But I think Jack Nicklaus said it best: A lot of times you hear that the course needs to adjust to your game, and I’m one of those who believes that the player needs to adjust to the golf course. So no matter what it is, I’m going to try to adjust, so you do whatever needs to be done to do that.

I like to think I’m a very complete player, that my game travels everywhere where I go. That’s probably why. That’s probably because of the mindset I have.

I do change my game quite a bit based on where I’m playing.

Q. There’s been a lot of talk since Sunday about England football team, and the word “failure” has been mentioned because they didn’t win, runners-up and so on. You have won, and you’ve also finished second. What is your view about finishing second?

JON RAHM: Well, we’re talking about very different things because in golf you’re going to lose a lot more than you win. When you’re not winning, you still need to get the positive out of it. A second place is not necessarily a bad thing. Depends on how it happens.

It’s a little different because it’s not a one-on-one competition, so I don’t think it’s fair to compare it.

Now, it’s not easy to win a Euro Cup or World Cup or anything as a team, especially when you don’t have that much time to prepare. England has such a young team. Such a young team. I feel like some of them need a little bit of time. Even if they’ve accomplished a lot with their clubs, playing together is a little bit different.

I feel like when you keep mentioning that it’s been 55 years since they’ve won anything, the amount of pressure you’re putting on 19-, 20-year olds, it’s a bit extreme, apart from what they already feel themselves. I feel for them because they played wonderful the whole tournament. They played great, and they had a really good chance to win. I just hope they can get past it soon, and two years you have a World Cup.

Like I said, it all depends. Did I have a six-shot lead and lose it or was I 10 shots back, shot 9-under and finish second? There’s a big difference; that’s the thing. It all depends. If you’re in contention and you don’t get it done, it’s not necessarily a failure. You’ve got to see what happens and you can learn from it. There’s always moments.

If somebody came in and finished with five straight birdies and they won, you don’t necessarily lose it, they won it.

It all depends on the situation and how it happened. That’s why I’m thinking and saying it’s not fair to compare it, because in golf there’s so many situations. It all depends on the scenario.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com

Categories
Highlights Tours

Bryson DeChambeau: “I’m just here to play golf and focus on that”

Bryson DeChambeau during his practice round ahead of the British Open 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

STUART MOFFATT: You’ve just come off your first practice round. I wonder how things are looking out there and what your first impressions are of Royal St. George’s.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Royal St. George’s is an amazing golf course. The weather is beautiful today. Yesterday I played a little bit with Phil and a couple others. We had a great time out there.

It’s pretty interesting. There’s a certain amount of holes that you can kind of go after it on, and there’s a couple that you can’t. If you hit it in the rough, in the hay.

Yesterday I played a little bit with Phil and a couple others. We had a great time out there. It’s pretty interesting, there was a certain amount of holes that you can kind of go after it on, and there’s a couple that you can’t. If you hit it in the rough, in the hay, it’s not easy to get out of.

I hope I can hit it far enough to where I can wedge it out still onto the green if I get good enough lies, but there’s certain lies out there it’s going to be a pitch back to the fairway, and that’s including for everybody.

If you’re hitting it 300 off the tee and it goes into the hay, it’s not easy to get to the green from there, either.

I hope that the length will be a little bit of an advantage. I just have to drive it well. That’s what I have to do this week, and the speed controlling the greens is going to be huge. If I don’t three-putt this week, I’ll have a pretty good chance going into Sunday.

Q. I don’t mean to start on a negative, but your Open record on its own suggests that figuring out links golf or an Open Championship has been tricky for you.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: For sure.

Q. Is there any reason why that seems to be the case?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know why. I played well in the Walker Cup when it was here. I had the best — I played really great golf. Maybe the conditions have been favourable when I played over in the Walker Cup, where I do pretty well with not as windy conditions and firmer ground environments.

The times I’ve played in the British Opens in the past, I think they’ve been a little wet and windy. I usually struggle on that in general.

I think that hopefully if we get a little bit of a dry week, I can get the wind under control in my brain, hopefully I can have a good week. I love links golf. I’ve shot low numbers over here before, but it’s about putting it together for four rounds and making sure my game is pretty repeatable.

The thing is you can’t miss it out here very often. If you do you’re in the hay and it’s not easy to get out of. This is the first time I’ve taken my length to links golf. We’ll see how that plays. Maybe it plays out week; maybe it doesn’t. I’ll keep trying to figure it out.

I look at Tiger and what he did back in the early 2000s, hitting 7- and 8-irons off every tee, that’s an interesting thought process that may come into play here soon, but there’s too many places out here where covering some of those bunkers is a huge advantage no matter what, so that’s kind of the game plan I’m going to take as of right now.

Q. I’m kind of curious, other the last few months we’ve watched you launch a few drives into a few crowds and you don’t seem so shout fore. Just wondering why you don’t?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I do shout fore. I don’t know what you’re talking about. There are plenty of people on the tee box that do shout fore. You’re brining up a very controversial thing, which is unfortunate, but 99 per cent of the time I do, and unfortunately people think I don’t. But that’s okay, they can say whatever they want.

Q. Obviously it’s the first time you’ve been out of the country for a while. Brooks was in here earlier saying that he continued to feel you were fair game and that he was going to take his shots. I just wonder how you feel about this row now because it seems to become a pit of a pantomime.

DeChambeau on the feud with Brooks

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: He can say whatever he wants. I think he said something back at Liberty National not upholding something. I don’t know what he’s talking about in that regard. Maybe that’s on me. Maybe I didn’t. I really don’t remember anything about that. We just had a conversation that I really don’t know what happened, because we haven’t really bantered back and forth until now, so it’s like why is that happening now.

Besides that, I’m just here to play golf and focus on that. If we want to keep bantering back and forth, obviously being respectful and keeping lines where they aren’t getting crossed, yeah, I think it’s fun and a good environment for people in golf.

Q. Is there a sort of more contrived element to this, the fact he’s offering his fans free beer if they taunt you on the course?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I don’t know. That’s, again, probably more of a PGA TOUR or I would say R&A/USGA issue than even me. I mean, I can’t do anything about that. He can do whatever he wants.

Q. Could you just give us any examples from today of sort of hitting it out of the hay, as you called it, anything in particular —

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, 15 you hit it left — I hit it left and it was in some pretty thick stuff, and I tried to get a 7-iron out of it and just didn’t — I could barely get it out. It’s pretty diabolical.

I think you’ve just got to weigh the risk-reward in those situations. If you get a good lie, I’ll be able to get it out of there up next to the green and hopefully save par. But the key is driving it in the fairway this week. No matter what, you’ve got to be in the fairway.

If I get in there more times than not into the hay, probably not going to have a good chance this week. So you’ve got to make sure the driver is well.

15 was brutal. I mean, even on 14, I just tried to chip it out of the left over in the water. It was in the thick stuff, the hay, and just chipped it out with a 58-degree back into the fairway because there’s nothing more you can do, it was such a bad lie. Good test.

Q. Apart from being the only venue in the south of England, is there anything else that makes this one apart from the other venues that you’ve played in in the Open?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Anything that is distinctly different is what you’re trying to — well, it’s a lot softer in the fairways this year I feel like than in other British Opens that I’ve played in. Even in Portrush when it was still raining it was still running out quite a bit from what I can remember. Maybe I’m wrong in that.

But it seems like the fairways are holding golf balls a lot better. Maybe because it’s early in the week. But that’s what I can recognise right now that’s a little bit different.

Q. It’s not really been your nature of late, but is there anyplace out there where you feel like you need to lay up or you might lay up off the tee, not hit driver?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, 14; if the wind is into me I’ll definitely be laying up there.

5, the dogleg left, hitting a 4-iron off the tee. I can’t cover the 338 number I think it is, then I’ll be laying up there, as well.

8, good example, too. I’ll try and lay up short of those right bunkers, give myself a wedge into the green.

So yeah, there’s definitely still a lot of places.

No. 3, it’s kind of over the big Himalayan — I think they call it the Himalayan bunker or something like that. I’m not sure. But hitting it over that part, I’m not going to be hitting drivers too tight up in that little corridor.

Q. I just had a question for you, some players thrive on controversy and conflict and distractions and stuff like that and can perform on from that. How would you describe yourself as handling those kind of things? Obviously Detroit, I don’t know how much that affected that week for you, but how do you describe yourself as a guy that handles those kind of outside things?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I mean, everybody is human. I’m definitely human. We all make mistakes and things happen. We have emotion. And I think that sometimes people objectify us big players at the top of the game too much and they don’t realise that we are human and we make mistakes and things happen.

Somebody that thrives in controversy, I don’t even think it’s about that. Look, I never grew up to become famous. I grew up to play golf, and that’s something that people I don’t think realise. It’s difficult to truly understand unless you’re in this environment, and sometimes you just try and make the best of situations, and they don’t necessarily look good or come out the right way.

That’s life, unfortunately. Us as professionals, we have to be on top of it all the time. Unfortunately it just doesn’t come out the right way sometimes or happen the way you want it to, and we make mistakes.

At the end of the day we have to move on and do the best we possibly can. For me, I’m somebody that doesn’t necessarily like controversy. I just like doing my own thing. Do I like showcasing something unique and different? Yeah, but I guess what comes with that is controversy, and I guess that’s something that I don’t necessarily deal the best with sometimes.

At the end of the day I try to do the best. I’m trying to become better at it.

Q. Going back to the comments about Koepka being sure that you won’t be paired together in the Ryder Cup, would you have any problem being paired with him in the Ryder Cup?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Oh, no, not at all. I think would be kind of funny actually. I think we’d do well, to be honest. It would create a little interesting vibe for the team or for the guys we’re playing against.

Q. Last week you played the match in Big Sky, Montana. That was a bit of an idiosyncratic course. Did you feel that maybe on top of the fact that it was obviously charity and a bit of fun that there was a little bit of preparation for links-type course with the hills and the hilly greens and the slopey greens?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was great preparation for links golf, but we raised a lot of money for charity. I think we delivered 6� million meals, which was amazing. So we did a lot for charity, and I think that was more of the reason why I did it and wanted to showcase myself in a unique light that people don’t usually get to see me in.

Because again, people think I’m this really hard-pressed person that demands everything out of everybody, and that’s not true. People think that’s the case, but for me I wanted to show a different side of me. I wanted people to see that there’s more to Bryson than just what meets the eye or what they think meets the eye.

Also, I would say from a slope perspective it was nice getting to see the greens and how slopey they were. That was kind of fun. I would say that the green speeds were 11 so it didn’t really relate to here, and the super huge slopes and the altitude adjustments didn’t help very much, so not much I can relate to that.

But it was certainly fun to give a lot back to charity and also just play a fun round of golf with some amazing athletes.

Q. How is it going with your caddie? And what are the unique challenges being teamed up with him for the first time at a major championship on a links course?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, it’s certainly throwing him into the deep end, like I showed on my Instagram post. He’s okay with it. He loves it. We’ve been doing really good together. It’s provided me an opportunity to be in a different state of mind with Brian. He’s a different individual and a very hard worker, somebody that I have high regard for and respect for as well as Tim.

I would say that he’s still learning the ropes a little bit, which is expected on any end when you have somebody new that’s really never caddied before, but I wanted somebody on the bag that I could trust as much as I did with Tim, and I think that’s why he fit the place so well.

It’s going to take probably a few weeks, but so far he’s done super well and I’m super proud of him for taking this role.

Q. There’s obviously a lot of talk about the funkiness of the fairways and the rough this week. You did mention the avoidance of three-putts. Is that a reference to the fact that these are quite severe greens on The Open rota?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, they’re definitely severe and you have to make sure you’re in the right areas relative to the pins. There’s a couple low areas that you can get yourself into that you’re hitting up 15 to 20 per cent slopes, and that can be quite treacherous and difficult trying to control speed.

And then having 60-, 70-, 80-footers on certain holes, for us guys over in America, we play on speeds that are around 11s and these are a little bit under that, and it makes for a little bit of a challenge that we all have to adjust to.

If I can adjust well and do the right things and control speed this week, not three-putting is going to be a huge key to winning this week.

Q. You referenced Tiger going to the irons off the tee, and you also said that the fairways are currently quite soft. If they get fiery at the weekend, is Tiger Woods’ approach something that’s in the back of your mind?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: A thousand per cent, no doubt. I think what he showcased is an awesome ability to play it on the ground, play links on the ground, which is the way it should be played I personally think, as well, albeit I do something completely different.

I have the utmost respect for that style of play. I think there’s certain advantages to hitting it long in certain places, but not everywhere. There will be certain holes where there is a lot of wind and you can’t really control the golf ball with that type of wind, where it bounces, how it bounces. So keeping it low and on the ground if it gets firm is definitely something I would utilise, yeah.

Q. You always come across as being a super confident person, but some of the criticism you get for being different, especially from Brooks, does it hurt?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Does it hurt what?

Q. Does it hurt you personally?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Well, I think it makes it emotionally a little more difficult to, I would say, resolve that because in my heart of hearts, I really think I’m a great person and a really good person to be around, a kind person to be around.

It’s sometimes difficult, but at the end of the day you can just keep doing what you’re doing, and I think that’s why for me I’ve done a lot on social media, done a lot of YouTube series to showcase myself in a different light because I want people to see that side.

I think there’s a lot of greatness to that and also humbleness to that, as well. Showcasing that I am human and I did start pretty much from nothing. My parents were nice enough to give their whole lives to help me play golf. Played at a public golf course and country club every once in a while when I got the chance, but it was humble beginnings.

I hope people can realize if you work hard enough, you can be successful in life. That’s really my goal. And yes, at times it can be difficult, but at the same point in time, I’ve just got to keep pressing forward.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com