	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE 147TH OPEN

July 19, 2018

Justin Thomas

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

JUSTIN THOMAS: Obviously, very firm and fast. The first 12, 13 holes were -- 14 holes. Yeah, probably the first 12 or 13 holes were very benign, not much wind. Just as the day obviously goes on and on, the course gets firmer and faster, so had to adjust with that.

In terms of myself, I played fairly well, hit a lot of greens, which was good. You know, I felt like this last seven holes, I could have played a lot better. I could have scored better than I did, but I hung in there.

Q. Is that a hybrid you hit on 18?
JUSTIN THOMAS: That was a 3 wood, yeah.

Q. So about 400 yards. It ended up in the crosswalk or something. What was that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it was just a crosswalk, and I was trying to decide if I wanted to take the leave. When you drop it, it's pretty much going to end up where it is. I could drop it, and it would roll and I end up in a sand divot. Next thing you know, who knows? But it was sitting good enough where I felt I could just play it.

Q. How many drivers did you use today? Was that kind of what you were planning on at the start of the week, or did the wind kind of change?
JUSTIN THOMAS: No, the wind's been very similar to what it's been all week. I probably hit -- I don't know. I probably hit six or seven, something like that. Six maybe.

When I first got here, I thought I'd hit a lot more irons, and that was the plan. But there's not very much rough. Obviously, the bunkers are still in play, and if you hit it there, it's very penal. A half a shot to a shot penalty. But I kind of my thinking is then, if I hit it in one, I just kind of wedge it out or hit it out, and I have 60, 70 yards in sometimes.

But there's times and pin positions that change that game plan. But today with it being like this out, we figured let's just kind of send it around here.

Q. Talk about the house, the vibe with you guys in there.
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's fun. We've done it -- kids joined the crew this year. This is the third year that we've done it. It's always enjoyable. You get guys all different tee times, all different conditions. And the odds are going to be pretty strong of one of us at least having a chance to win hopefully a couple. But it's always good fun, you know.

The last couple years -- last year we were pretty close to the beach. So we'd go hang out at the beach some afternoons. And two years ago we had an unbelievable backyard that we were playing backyard baseball in. This year we had some soccer goals we're going to see. Who knows if we end up doing something, but we don't want to hurt ourselves. Just been enjoying each other's company.

Q. Did you get one by Dufner?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I didn't kick. I didn't want to hurt myself. Either hurt my foot or my body. I had fun watching.

Q. We heard Duff is probably good enough to make the U.S. men's team at goalie.
JUSTIN THOMAS: As a U.S. citizen, I hope he does not make our team, but he's a pretty good backyard goalie.

Q. Were you one of those kids that used to wake up at 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. to watch this tournament?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I wouldn't necessarily set an alarm or anything, but I remember as a kid, when I was 11 or 12 years old, with my little cousin when it was so fun to play video games all night, when he would go to bed, I would continue to stay up and watch The Open. I specifically remember that a number of times.

It's just so much fun to watch this tournament. It's even more fun to play in it. It's just cool because usually you have to wait until the end of the day to watch the tournament.

Q. Did you ever play hooky from school to watch a round on the first day or Friday?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Of a regular tournament or this tournament?

Q. This tournament.
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's July. I don't have school in July.

Q. It's been a long day. Did you always love links golf? Or did you have to get used to it?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I've always loved links golf. It's very, very intelligent. ** it was insane. It was just completely bizarre, and I never played anything like it. I guess you could say I've maybe used a little bit of that for the week. It's hard to get used to how far the ball goes at times.

Q. What was the most creative shot you hit today?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Today? I mean, I was fortunate to where I hit a lot of good shots, but that wasn't creative. That was just it. I hit it straight. I didn't really have -- I actually hit a really, really good chip on 16. I just kind of pulled -- didn't really cut. Kind of started where I wanted to. Just kind of cut and rolled way down in the fescue. I probably had 40 yards to the hole, and it kind of had some grass behind it, so I took an 8 iron and just kind of chop it and landed this far in front of me and let it roll up the hill and hit it to 10, 12 feet. That was a really, really good shot. I would put that at a one in 20 or 25 to get up and down, and I just missed the 12 footer.

Q. When every shot requires that much more thought, is it that much more emotionally draining?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not necessarily. It can be, if you're not playing well. But a day like today, I was lucky enough where I hit it in spots where I didn't have a lot of it. I was playing the angles well, and I just was -- if I was in a spot where I couldn't get close to the hole, I just hit to the middle of the green and moved on kind of thing.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297