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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 16, 2015

Robert Streb

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. We'll make a start. I'd like to welcome Robert Streb to the interview room. This is your debut appearance in The Open and you got off to a great start, seven birdies today, just one dropped shot. Can you talk us through your round and how you feel about making that start.

ROBERT STREB: Yeah, I had that wind helping off the right on the way out, so that's nice for a right-handed golfer. But tried to take advantage of the holes on the way out, made some good putts. One little hiccup on 10, but other than that, I played pretty solid.

Q. What's your history with links golf and your history with this course here?
ROBERT STREB: None. Never been over here. Felt like I was starting in a pretty good place at St. Andrews, but never done much with links golf. Luckily you can miss a lot of shots to the left out here. It's been really cool. Really enjoyed everything about it.

Q. How low do you think the course could play? Could it go even lower than what you shot today?
ROBERT STREB: Yeah, I think Dustin and Jordan are off to a pretty good start. I had a couple other chances, and if you're hitting it well and rolling it, you can get after it. But I think the biggest thing is trying to stay out of those bunkers.

Q. What were your expectations for the week coming into this tournament?
ROBERT STREB: Not much at all. I was just trying to learn what I could, get caught up on the time. I felt like I've been playing well, but over here the golf is a little bit different, and we still have a lot of golf left, and I think some weather is supposed to blow in if I'm not mistaken.

Q. Just for the benefit of the British audience who might not be aware, I understand the previous tournament you lost the use of your putter and you had to use a wedge. Could you just sort of recount that experience?
ROBERT STREB: Yeah. I meant to land it next to the bag, it hit the bag and broke. I had nine holes left and didn't have a whole lot of choice. I tried to putt with the wedge on the way in, just doing my best to hit the middle of the ball and made a lot more putts than I thought I would and just about won the tournament.

Q. Obviously a lot of focus on Jordan and what he's been doing. As somebody who's in his general age vicinity, are you pretty inspired by that, or what do you make of it?
ROBERT STREB: It's really good. I think I'm probably an old man compared to him. He's doing great things. He's playing great. Obviously you want to try to beat him, but he's been pretty phenomenal lately.

Q. Have you played with him?
ROBERT STREB: Not recently.

Q. Is there anything over here that you've particularly taken to, just generally about sort of the way of life over here and how different is it to anything you've experienced before?
ROBERT STREB: It's pretty cold for July. But it's nice being able to kind of walk everywhere, see the town, go in the pub and having a beer and some fish and chips and such has been really cool.

Q. The scores on the incoming nine are significantly higher than the outgoing nine. Is that just a reflection of wind conditions, and what holes on that incoming nine was the wind particularly an issue?
ROBERT STREB: Yeah, maybe a little bit. There's some pretty long, tough holes there coming in. Obviously the Road Hole is a pretty good one. They've got the pin right behind the bunker. I'm trying to think which ones. 13 is a pretty good one coming in. Par-5, 14th, that's a pretty tough drive I feel like. If you go left those bunkers are going to catch the ball. If you go right, obviously the wall is right there. And then 17 is a pretty tough hole with that pin. It's very hard to get to.

Q. Given your lack of links experience, how do you explain your great opening round? Did you do your homework? Did you study the place or what?
ROBERT STREB: I tried my best, tried to get as much information as I could. Played a practice round with Tom Watson on Tuesday. He was pretty helpful. He's obviously had a great track record over here. I think the only British Open my caddie has been at is this one, so kind of had that good fortune, and just doing my best to pick some good lines and see what we can do.

Q. Talking about Tom Watson, can you tell us anything specific that he said to you in terms of advice, and was it a coincidence that you played with him or was that something that you pre-arranged?
ROBERT STREB: I tried to pre-arrange it last week. Luckily he was nice enough to play. I live in Kansas City, and he obviously lives there, as well, but I knew this week would be very busy for him. He has a lot going on. But probably the best thing I got was try not to hit it too far into the green on 17. Just try to get it up there on top and take your two putts and leave.

Q. We're expecting the weather to change dramatically overnight. How tough do you think it'll be out there tomorrow?
ROBERT STREB: I'm sure it won't be very easy (smiling). I haven't had the pleasure of playing this place in real heavy wind yet, but I'm sure it will be a treat, and it'll be entirely different for me tomorrow.

Q. Who's your crew out here with you this week? Do you have family and friends, and what's been something that maybe you saw on a menu or something and kind of smiled and took a little adjustment?
ROBERT STREB: I'm trying to think. We went to dinner the other night at the Dolls House and I'm not sure I knew what anything was exactly. I was reading through it, I was like I think I know what that is but I'm not entirely sure. Everything has been a little bit different. I haven't had a meat pie yet. My caddie has been on my case about that. But my wife is here. We left our little one home with her parents for the week, and my parents ended up making the trip and a couple other friends.

Q. This has been a breakthrough season for you. You've made gradual progress in recent years, but this has been a breakthrough season. Can you explain that? Did you change something in particular?
ROBERT STREB: No, just been trying to refine what I do. It's a little bit of a learning curve for me, but this year has been -- for the most part been really, really good. You know, the majors have been a little different. I never played in one until this year. You got to knock them all out, which is really cool. They're a little bit different animal than just a regular Tour event. Just trying to figure out what works for me and trying to go about things so I can play my best.

Q. Can you tell us what the pick of (inaudible) and also the hiccup, what happened at 10?
ROBERT STREB: Bladed my lob wedge from the middle of the fairway. Hit it all the way to the back of the green, and I couldn't tell you how far it was, but it was a long way. Just didn't -- hit a great first putt, and it was a pretty poor mistake, and my tee ball was perfect.

Q. Can you tell us the best birdie you had?
ROBERT STREB: What club I had?

Q. No, which hole you had your best birdie on today.
ROBERT STREB: Actually my two-putt on 17 was probably my best. I was kind of on the front left there, made a really good second putt and was just happy to make a 4 and leave.

Q. Could you talk about your comfort level? I know sometimes on these courses for the Americans, it can be a bit intimidating. What was your comfort level today and at what point did you realise things were working for you today?
ROBERT STREB: I felt like when I made a few putts early, things were going pretty good on the way out. 10 obviously bothered me a little bit, but I felt like my game was going good. I was hitting most of my lines on my tee balls, which was a big help, and the ones I missed didn't get me in too much trouble. Everything was kind of going my way today I felt like.

Q. (Inaudible.)
ROBERT STREB: I wouldn't say I'm overly comfortable. Still don't know what to expect when the wind changes around things. But just going to try to do my best and see how I do.

THE MODERATOR: Robert, thank you for joining us. Best of luck for the rest of the week.
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