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THE 146TH OPEN

July 22, 2017

Richard Bland

Southport, England

RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, to be fair that's probably the best I've hit it for the three days. I gave myself a lot of -- not brilliant chances, but a lot of chances. I would like to have probably holed a couple more than I did. But I'm pleased the way I played. I stuck in there.

I could have easily gone sideways after the third. But I knew I was hitting it well. So, okay, just stay patient and just try and give yourself some chances and hopefully something will come.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. I know it's there today, but Birkdale is still not easy, even in these conditions. You've only just got to get it a little bit out of shape, get it on the wrong side, par is a good score. And 62, hats off. Drug test, I think (laughter).

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: The last time I played I missed the cut. So, got my best finish last night. I'm just going to try to enjoy it. How many times has a guy like me be in the last few groups of an Open? But I've still got a job to do and I want to -- probably a chance of winning is probably very, very slim, but there's still a lot to play for. And a chance maybe if I can get a top eight, to come back and play again next year automatically. I think it's top eight get in next year. So, yeah, that's a huge bonus for me to look at.

But I've just got to go keep playing my game and see where it leads me.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: It's been great. That's something that I will remember for a long, long time, to be -- I would have loved to have got the putt on 5 to get the outright lead. But I'm not going to sort of kick myself too much for that.

But this is our biggest tournament. This is it. This is what we play for. And it's been a huge thrill. I probably wasn't loving it at 8:00 last night, but I loved every second of it today and the first day. The crowds are just unbelievable. There's so many people pulling for you out there and clapping you into every green. And tomorrow is going to be much the same. It kind of makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck, or it did mine.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: No. Yeah, it looked like -- by the sounds of it, it looked like he got off to a good start, but then it kind of went a little bit quiet. The first time I saw his board we were walking off 17, we were walking off 16, I saw he was 2-under. I assume he kind of put the brakes on a little bit.

But, no, the crowd's enjoying themselves out there. It's just great to be playing in it.

Q. (Inaudible).
RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, fine. You know, when you're raised here, probably the most respectful crowds in the world. They're having fun and that's great. But then when you're ready to play, you don't get any noises or anything like that. They're great.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: No, he's not. I don't know where he is. He sent me a few messages. But he's not around.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, my family is up here, my parents, my brother, my sister, my niece is up here and a few others. A few guys have come from my home club. I heard a few shouts of "Stoneham!" out there. You kind of don't realise that's going on. Because they won't bother you. That they've actually taken the time to come up and support. Yeah, that means an awful lot.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: Only really in the UK. They might come to maybe one abroad. But, yeah, just the UK stuff.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: Normally you can probably hear my mom. You can hear her from probably the other side of the course. It's nice for them. I don't think my mom came to the first Open. So it's nice that my brother and sister are here watching me play an Open, which is really good.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, well, when I played The Open in '98 I was working in the shop. I was an assistant in the shop. I had dreams of playing in more, and obviously when I got on Tour in '02, I had hoped there would be one before now. But, hey, you know what? I'm not going to --

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, but I've played -- I've been at sort of -- I've played enough golf and I've been in contention enough in golf tournaments to know what to do and how to handle it. It's no different. At the end of the day it's still whacking a ball around a field. I've got to try to do it in the least amount of shots as I can.

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