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THE 147TH OPEN

July 19, 2018

Bernhard Langer

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. How did you play the last hole?
BERNHARD LANGER: Last hole I played really good. I hit a great drive. Perfect 5 iron. Landed just short of the hole, near the hole, and went over the green, down the left. Made a great putt, but two putts. Putted up to like this, so I made par.

Q. Well done.
BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, that was well done. I was proud of myself after bogeying 16 and 17.

Q. How did that happen?
BERNHARD LANGER: 16, I three-putted. 17, I hit it in the burn off the tee and made a par from there.

Q. The toughest stretch to a finish at The Open?
BERNHARD LANGER: Definitely. I think yes. It doesn't matter what the wind is at all. It's very hard.

Q. Why is it so challenging?
BERNHARD LANGER: We've talked about that a lot. 16 is, what, 250-yard par 3, raised green, pot bunkers, wind. 17 is maybe the easiest of the three, I would think, but you still got to hit two good shots. And 18 is just always hard no matter what. You got the water. You got out of bounds on two shots. You got the water on two shots, and you got bunkers to deal with and the wind and the rest of it. It's got everything.

Q. Did you have any iron shots that rolled out for long distances today?
BERNHARD LANGER: They all did. I can't think of one that stopped.

Q. How many times did you use a driver?
BERNHARD LANGER: I'm guessing probably six times, something like that. Not sure. Not the front, not on the front, on number -- not at all actually, I think. Number 10 was my first drive, but I hit it quite a bit on the back side. 10, 12, 14, 15, 18. So five times.

Q. (Inaudible).
BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, you got to play really smart and pick your lines and hope you get some good bounces. It's very, very tricky. It's so firm that you can't calculate it or can't control it. One 3 iron goes 240. The next one goes 280, and you hit the same shot. Just one landed on the downslope and one landed on the upslope. It's difficult.

And then there's -- I saw Retief Goosen play, and he drove No. 11 today. That's a 390-yard hole, 386, something like that. Drove it in the middle of the green.

Q. Did you feel here is an even playing field for you compared to the longer hitters?
BERNHARD LANGER: Maybe not even playing field because I can't do some of the things they can do, but I'd rather have it this way than really soft and really long. That's for sure.

Q. Do you remember ever seeing guys driving holes in Open Championships?
BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, St. Andrews No. 9 and No. 18 and some of the other courses too. Yeah, 12. I've done it. I mean, I've driven some of those holes. Yeah, played Royal Porthcawl four years ago, five years ago like this, in the Senior Open Championship. It was bone dry. You've got to drive it well, and you've got to keep it out of the bunker.

Q. Bernhard, is this as fast as you've seen an Open Championship golf course?
BERNHARD LANGER: Absolutely. You drop the ball, and you can hear it. It's hard to get the tee in the ground. It really is.

Q. If you compare the course when you won the Senior -- I think you won the Senior Open. How would you compare the courses?
BERNHARD LANGER: It was quite different then. It was greener and lush. We had some rain and all that stuff. So it was a little different.

Q. Was it short? Was it really that much short?
BERNHARD LANGER: It's shorter now. This is as short as you'll ever see it because you can hit a 3 iron -- I can hit a 3 iron 260 yards or sometimes more. I can't do that when it's wet.

Q. Bernhard, some 4 irons go 240, some go 280 based on the bounce. For a perfectionist like yourself, does that drive you a little crazy?
BERNHARD LANGER: I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just trying to play smart. I know I'll never be perfect. Nobody's ever been perfect. We would score 36 if we were perfect. I could reach every hole in 2, right? And no one's ever done better than 58. So we're far from perfect.

It just makes it very challenging and very interesting. Number 3, for instance, is a great example. You really often don't know what club to pull out of the bag because it just depends on the bounce.

Q. What did you hit off the tee on 3?
BERNHARD LANGER: 5 iron, and I tried to be short of the bunker, and I was 20 yards past the bunker, but I was left of it, so I was fine. But that's just -- you know.

Q. Do you have any memory of Portmarnock and Royal Dornoch in the '80s?
BERNHARD LANGER: I won on both courses. I like them both very much because they're both links courses. I've got lots of different memories from across the tracks.

Q. But the conditions as you remember them then wouldn't have been as quick as they are now?
BERNHARD LANGER: I don't remember anything like this. Maybe two other tournaments. The one I mentioned at Royal Porthcawl in the Senior Open two years ago. And St. Andrews was like this some years ago. Not '84. It was probably 2000. It was really, really fast. Fairways were moving faster than the greens. It was like this.

Q. Is it hard to get a good strike (inaudible).
BERNHARD LANGER: No, that's not the issue. It's hard to chip and pitch. But, no, you can actually get quite a bit of spin. The difficulty here, I think, for me anyways, is the greens are very slow really. I haven't putted greens like these in 30 years on tour, 20 years, 10. But that's very slow.

Q. They're doing that deliberately, obviously?
BERNHARD LANGER: I don't know.

Q. Because of possible wind.
BERNHARD LANGER: Don't ask me.

Q. Were you surprised they were so receptive?
BERNHARD LANGER: Well, they're somewhat receptive. They're not necessarily soft. They're just slow. They're actually firm and slow. So figure that one out. At least that's what I think.

Q. Are you surprised that you're doing what you're doing at this age?
BERNHARD LANGER: Well, if you'd have asked me 30 years ago, I would have had no idea what I was doing at age 60 or whatever. Yeah, it's been a wonderful run. I've played some great golf the last 10, 15 years. I wouldn't have known that I would be capable of that or that I'd be healthy enough or any of that. You just don't know what the future holds. It's been an amazing run, yes.

Q. Would you continue playing in The Open if you qualify?
BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, I think so. As long as I don't make a fool of myself. I still feel I can compete. When the time feels that I'm just out there to just show up, then that's not me.

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