AFP Sport looks at the best of the players’ soundbites after the first round of the 149th Open Championship:
“For other events, you sort of drag yourself out of bed and look like the Kellogg’s man. Today actually wasn’t too bad. You’ve always got a buzz to come and play The Open.”
— Andy Sullivan reflects on being in the first group out at 0535 GMT
“To be able to be clapped on to every tee, every green, fan who knows golf, makes a big difference in this game.”
— England’s Danny Willett, a former Masters champion, on playing in front of a home crowd again
“I’ve got a bag of them at home that I might just throw in a river someday.”
— Louis Oosthuizen is glad to have finally found a putter he can rely on after experimenting with several clubs.
“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.”
— Jordan Spieth on the return of some normality at the final major of the year
“Even though I left the house with plenty of time, I needed a little bit of help from a couple of very nice English policemen on the bikes to get me here with only about 35, 40 minutes to tee off, when usually I like to be here around an hour-and-a-half before.”
— Sergio Garcia was very happy with his two-under-par round after a stressful start to the day caused by delays in the heavy traffic around the venue.
“Just three weeks in a row now playing, and then not that it was a super early tee time, but just setting an alarm, just, yeah, felt like I was half asleep until the back nine and then things started to kick off and got myself back into it.”
— France’s Benjamin Herbert shot an impressive four-under 66 for a man snoozing on the front nine.
“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks.”
— Bryson DeChambeau laments his wayward play off the tee that saw him hit just four of 14 fairways.