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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2014

George Coetzee

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND

MIKE WOODCOCK: We're delighted to welcome George Coetzee to the interview room. George, you came to The Open Qualifying Series in February. I believe today is your birthday, and you've come in with an excellent round at 5-under par, one of the leaders in the second round of The Open Championship. You must be very pleased with the way things are going.

GEORGE COETZEE: Yes, this is probably definitely my favorite major. It's always going to be my birthday week. It's nice to play well, obviously, in a very prestigious event. And to have my birthday coincide with it is also nice.

Q. You had two 69s in the first two rounds at Royal St. Georges. Did you figure prominently in the top of the leaderboard there?
GEORGE COETZEE: I think it was two after the pace at best. I think I was third. It was during the rounds. But I remembered that today. I was like at one stage -- that was my first ever major, and at one stage of my career I averaged 69s for majors (laughing).

Q. Secondly, you started very early this morning. What time did you actually have to get up to get to the golf course?
GEORGE COETZEE: I tried to leave a little bit late. I like to get my sleep in. But I think we woke up at five past five. Left the hotel at 5:30. Got here at 5:45.

Q. At what point did you look at the leaderboard and see you're tied for the lead at The Open Championship. Was that a factor for you? It's kind of hard to miss the scoreboards around here.
GEORGE COETZEE: I think it's obvious I looked at it as soon as I was at the top (laughing), because I made two birdies right after that. But it was quite a good feeling to look at my name and be at the top of the leaderboard. Yeah, obviously 6-under was a hell of a score yesterday. And I didn't think it was doable today to get to that number, but, yeah, when I made birdie on, what was it, the par 3, 13. Yeah, when I made birdie on 13, I was like, well, all right, now I'm pretty close. I think I'm the top 10, and then the next one and the next one and realized quite quickly.

Q. Have you got any friends or family over here that you can celebrate with tonight?
GEORGE COETZEE: Yes, I got my girlfriend and mother. I flew them in Wednesday night and got here yesterday morning, just in time for the first round. But it's nice to share the birthday, and obviously I played good golf for them.

Q. You'll celebrate tonight and maybe have some drinks?
GEORGE COETZEE: Yeah, a couple of Cokes.

Q. Before you had the first putt on 16, there was a long delay, what was going on there?
GEORGE COETZEE: Yeah, I was playing with Charley Hoffman and he hit it behind one of those electronic scoreboards. So he had to take a drop, and obviously it's difficult to get the yardage. But, yeah, I rushed the first putt a bit. I didn't think it was going to be that quick past the first hole, but I wouldn't blame anything.

Q. That's when you clearly saw your name was on top. Did that break your concentration?
GEORGE COETZEE: No, I saw that on the previous hole. But, no, I mean you obviously know you're in contention, and your score shouldn't affect the way you play. But obviously maybe a little bit of nerves on the second putt. But I'm not too disappointed, those things kind of happen when you're leading and when you're missing a cut.

Q. How do you assess the conditions today compared to yesterday?
GEORGE COETZEE: Well, I think yesterday morning was awesome and the afternoon was maybe a little windy. But I think this morning was quite bad. The wind blew. But obviously all the holes weren't playing like into the wind. So they weren't playing super long. You just had to kind of manufacture your shape for the crosswind.

Q. As well as securing your place here, how big was that win in the Joburg Open in terms of confidence after near misses previously?
GEORGE COETZEE: Really big. I can't imagine -- well, I can imagine trying to win a major as your first event. It's nice to take the pressure away from yourself, knowing that you've been there and done it, maybe just not at this stage.

Q. You just said it was pretty windy out there, particularly when you started. Did you notice it dropping at all as the morning has gone on. Do you feel that you've had the worst of the draw today?
GEORGE COETZEE: Well, before yesterday's round we knew that it was going to be a little windy in the afternoon, and it looked like it was going to be pretty miserable this morning. So when I played yesterday, I thought to myself you probably need a couple of birdies just to try to make the cut the next day, if the wind is going to blow. Yeah, we'll see how the day pans out. If the wind drops down, obviously I think we might have had the rough side.

Q. George, Louis said he grew up playing links golf, did you play as much links golf?
GEORGE COETZEE: Where did he play links golf? That's not a links golf course. No, not really. As a junior I wasn't very good at the coast, because Pretoria is I think 4,600 feet above sea level and it's more parklands golf courses. Up until the age 16 I never broke 80 at the coast. Never mind playing in links, I couldn't understand why the ball was going so short. But as the years went on I tried to kind of teach myself how to play at the coast, and one of my Sunshine Tours wins was on a links golf course. I enjoy playing links golf. There's a lot more imagination and you can putt from anywhere.

Q. Are you someone who's confident and happy playing different sort of shots in these kind of winds and sort of moving and shaping the ball different way?
GEORGE COETZEE: Yeah, I actually realized a couple of weeks ago I was playing a tournament where the wind blew a bit. I keep standing on the range hitting normal shots, and I get on the golf course and I never hit one regular stop shot. Everything was kind of chipping around, shaping against the wind or ride the wind. So I enjoy it. It's more fun. Obviously you can't control your score there as well as you would in a parklands golf course. But I just think it's a lot more fun and you get to use your imagination a bit more.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Thank you very much. Well played today and best of luck the rest of the week.

GEORGE COETZEE: Thanks you very much.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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