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DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN HOSTED BY THE RORY FOUNDATION

July 9, 2017

Gavin Moynihan

Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Q. You saved your best till last.
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: Yeah, obviously like you said yesterday I wasn't the happiest but I knew I was playing well. That's the key today. We felt like we weren't playing a tournament; we were talking every hole just about everything, so was very, very relaxed. I knew I was playing well. Played first few holes lovely. Didn't really make any putts and a few birdies in a row on 5, 6 and 7. Made a bogey on 8 but hit a good shot. Hit it stiff on 9.

Then two great pars on 10 and 11 and then played lovely the whole back nine. Made a few birdies, great eagle on 14 and to hold up on 17 was a joke, hold up 45, 50 feet. I hit a good drive on the last but the wind was hitting it hard on the left and chopped, got out of the bunker, and had 170 and just hit an 8-iron, held it up against the wind and to hole that putt was fantastic.

This year, actually when I've been kind of middle of the pack or towards the end of the field, in the third round I've always had a good last round. Like I shot 67 in Denmark two weeks ago, and then I had another good round in Turkey earlier in the year.

So just nothing to lose, really. Just try and go as low as you could. That's what we said when we got to start of 10, shoot 3-under on the back nine but to get a few better is a bonus. Very happy.

Q. You told us earlier in the week your aim was to better last year's Irish Open performance and you're currently in a share of sixth.
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: I only saw that on the board before I saw -- before the putt I hit on 18 for par and I had a feeling if I sneaked it in, I might sneak into the Top-10. Hopefully the weather that's forecast gets here now.

Yeah, look, that was simple goal really, not put any pressure on myself. Finished 35th or 36th last year, so that was the simple goal really.

Q. What does today and the Irish Open 2017 do for your confidence?
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: That round was big for me. I had not really had like a low round since I turned pro. I had a few 67s and 66s, so to shoot 8-under around this course -- and it wasn't easy today. Like the wind, it was a few yards short, a few tough pins, par 3 pins were quite tough today on the side where the wind was coming from.

Yeah, it's huge. The last few months I've been, as I said. It's a continuation of how I've been playing and just obviously sneak a few putts in, played the par 5s well, so just simple things like I said earlier in the week.

Q. Give us the story of your round.
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: Yeah, as I was saying earlier on, I had a bit of a bad finish last night and I was a bit annoyed. I was determined to come out today and shoot a good score to finish on. Got off to a good start, hit a lot of good shots. Didn't really hole much the first four holes. Made two great putts on 5 and 6 and a great 2-putt on 7 for birdie. Bit of a hiccup on 8. Hit a good drive, just got through into the fescue, made bogey there.

Nearly holed out on 9 with a gap wedge, went to about a foot and two great pars on 10 and 11. Had two good 6-footers for par to keep the round going. You can't really afford them.

Then hit a great shot into 12. Tough pin on the par 3 there, and held a great putt and played the two par 5s great. 13 had a 25-footer for eagle and hit it to eight feet on 14 for eagle and made that.

Then obviously held a 45-footer on 17, which was ridiculous, and then a great putt on 18 to finish it off with a par save. Overall a great day.

Q. And before the rains forecast --
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: Yeah, I thought we were going to get hit through nine maybe. I was saying to Andrew, who was caddying for me, I thought we would get nine good holes and nine in the rain. Obviously we got through great. So hopefully it comes fairly soon.

Q. How were the fans with you out there?
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: It was great. They picked up on probably the fifth, sixth and seventh, a few people started to come out and obviously made a few birdies down the back nine. The last five, six holes was class. Held a huge putt on 17, huge crowd around the green. Obviously holed a 12-footer on 18 for par. I held a 14 footer on 18 for birdie and that's the loudest roar I heard for me on the golf course and 18 probably topped it, so great day.

Q. Do you take confidence going into the rest of the season?
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: Yeah, like I'm six at the moment and Top-10 gets into next week. I don't mind where I finish. It's been a great day, to finish anywhere in the Top 15, Top-20 in The Irish Open is great. Obviously I'm playing mostly on The Challenge Tour, so does no harm for the confidence, so looking forward to the rest of the year. I've been playing well since April, so hopefully kick on from this.

Q. Going out early on this golf course, two 64s yesterday morning and you've matched that today to move yourself up to a tie for sixth?
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: The greens were much better this morning. A bit quicker, too. If you're playing well, you have ten-, 15-footers, you can have a good go at them. Held a few lovely ones on the front nine and a few lovely ones on the back nine.

I love the course. Start of the week I played on Monday with Paul McGinley. Like I've never played here before but just off the tee, it just suited my eye, and off the tee, a lot of wedges and play the par 5s well. Struggled yesterday but made up for it today.

Q. You said you weren't happy with the way your round finished yesterday, so does that focus the mind a bit on the first tee at the start of a new round?
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: I 3-putted the last two greens last night and I hit two good shots to get to where I was. Just mental errors. The goal today was to shoot in the 60s and finish as high up as I could obviously. When I got to 4- or 5-under there kind of middle of the round and made the great eagle on 14, just tried to get one more. Like the last three holes are quite tough here. Overall, very, very happy with the week. Next week would be obviously great to get into but I'm not going be too annoyed if I don't.

Q. And obviously finishing well in one of the Rolex Series events, as well, there's a certain amount of prestige attached to these events, as well. That must be pleasing.
GAVIN MOYNIHAN: To be honest, I couldn't believe I even got into this event. I was planning to take the week off this week and play the next three Challenge Tour events. I got the phone call Thursday of Denmark two weeks ago. I had written this off because I knew it was a Rolex Series event and obviously bigger invites. It's great that a few Irish guys get in which helps, Gary Hurley and Dermot Mcelroy, great to see that. It's great to play in your home open. I'm just happy to be here. I was very relaxed around the week. I was a bit nervous coming in but obviously had a good round. Just happy to be here and very relaxed to be honest.

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