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THE 145TH OPEN

July 15, 2016

Zach Johnson

Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland

Q. Thoughts on the day out there?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, you know, all in all I really had a great opportunity today to put a nice low number up. I feel like I gave a few back there at the end. I actually hit a good tee shot on 15 and still made a bogey. You know, at 16th I am essentially trying to make a four, and I barely make a five. And 18 was bad, too. Sour there, sour endings as far as where I put myself there. I mean, I was in between clubs and probably hit the wrong club.

But there are certainly some positives. I feel like the best thing going for me right now is I haven't played my best yet and I can still go out and do that this weekend.

Q. Do you embrace these kind of conditions (inaudible)?
ZACH JOHNSON: Where did I learn?

Q. Yeah.
ZACH JOHNSON: Well, I would assume it's probably two-fold. Where I grew up it's not exactly ideal a lot of the time. The college golf I played, some of the amateur golf I played was not exactly ideal conditions. Then without question I've learned to appreciate it and respect and embrace it just by playing in multiple Opens. I don't know if I'm a mudder, per se, but it's kind of the mentality you have to have over here, just go out there and mud it.

Q. Is that (inaudible) as much as technique?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure, I was saying back there, I feel like I'm in good position and good control of my golf game for the most part. But I think I'm in really good control of my emotions and certainly the mentality you've got to have to navigate a test like this.

Q. Is it trying to retain it now, is that bringing some pressures?
ZACH JOHNSON: No, it's irrelevant. I really haven't, I've got to be honest with you. I guess that's probably a good thing. It's not like it's going to make it any easier or any harder. I've got to go compete. So every year, every week, every day is a different story, and today was a tough one.

Q. You haven't played 18 well?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I putted well, I just scored it bad.

Q. Nothing to that?
ZACH JOHNSON: No, no, I mean, I hit a bad tee shot yesterday and still almost made a 4, and today I hit two good shots, mis-clubbed and three-putted from 50 feet. Nothing more than that.

Q. There were a fair amount of good scores today in these conditions.
ZACH JOHNSON: If you teed off especially early, if you teed off in that 6:30 to 9:00 range, you had two and a half hours at least, almost three and a half hours almost uninterrupted, so I could see it. We were talking about that. If you teed off really early today you had an opportunity. And we still had an opportunity considering that our first, I don't know what it was, six? The first four or five holes was pretty benign. We had a couple holes that were tough and then it slowed down again. But it felt like there were five, six holes where it was just trying to keep one foot in front of the other and staying vertical. But that's what you expect. It was just when that wind picks up, it's hard. When the wind picks up with rain, it's even more difficult.

Q. The quality of your game right now, would you say it's right there?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, it's right there. I've just got to finish it up. If I'm going to grade it right now, it's probably a B, B-plus at best.

Q. You're not searching for anything?
ZACH JOHNSON: I'm not searching for anything right now, no. Yeah, in that regard, that's a good point. There's nothing to search for. You may start searching if you hit a few errant shots and you're like, what happened there? But I mean, it's going to happen.

Q. Is it fair to say you carry a lot of optimism?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, absolutely. I still feel like my best game is in front of me. I feel confident in the sense that I'm doing the right things.

Q. Talk about an approach shot that was affected by the bad weather.
ZACH JOHNSON: An approach shot?

Q. Yeah.
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah, right, right. Or the other way around, right? Well, I mean, the 9th hole. Yesterday I hit 3-iron, 8-iron. In between an 8 and 9, I punched an 8. Today I hit a 3-wood and didn't hit a very good 5-wood and ran it on the green. That's a little bit different.

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