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THE 147TH OPEN

July 20, 2018

Matthew Southgate

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. Did you have to dig deep to pull the first nine after that?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Yeah, it took a lot. I know better than anyone how tough the closing hole is, and it's not a very comfortable place to be. Free over the front nine and start looking, and you're right on the edge, and the way the scoring is, you think a couple of birdies, I'm back thinking about the tournament. And a couple of the bogeys, you're scratching around for the cut. There's no boards out on the golf course of where the cut line is. So you start playing mind games on yourself, and then somehow you just have to sort of have a couple of deep breaths and get back to shooting the best score you can, which I did.

Q. Is that something that you do, or is that something your caddie has a word with you about? What's the key moment?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: No, there wasn't really any key moments on it. If there was a key moment, it was I went in the bunker off the 12th tee and just had to hack it out. I got it out pretty well, then I hit a great shot into about ten foot, and I saw the putt pretty straight from one side and a little bit left to right on the other side. And I started playing tricks on myself, and the old rule at Carnoustie is, if you're not sure, then just go six inches harder and hit it straight. It's very easy to let your brain start searching for breaks down there.

So I just go about with what all the better players around would do and hit the back of the hole, and I did, and holed it for a great par save. That gave me enough to think, okay, 14 is a chance. If I can pick something up somewhere else, then great. Last night, like the last seven holes, five, whatever it was, 3-under, was great. That's just what we need.

Q. (Inaudible) coming into the Saturday and Sunday?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Yes. Walking over that burn at 18 on Sunday is going to be special for me regardless of what score we're on. It's one off the bucket list for me for sure.

Q. There's so much here to contend with this week. Has it been tough to keep it under the radar a bit so to speak?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Yeah, a little bit but I think I'm pretty good at that. My family are pretty good at that, having them around. Rule number one is let's not get excited until it's worth getting excited about. I don't find it that hard to sort of stay levelheaded with where you're at and where you're going. I think it shows with the way I dug in today.

A lot of people would think, oh, no, top ten going into the second round of the championship, and now it looks like I could miss the cut with a couple of bad swings. It takes quite a strong edge really to keep picking targets, keep going with your routine, make good decisions and get your job done. I couldn't ask for anymore.

Q. So would you say you are in with a chance now?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Yeah, I have a chance, yeah. Swinging well, putting well. I like the pace of the greens. It's quite a weird one really. I've never liked putting on the greens when they're kind of slow, and they are quite slow, but I've been putting really well, which is the first time in a long time really, which is strange because I grew up putting on slow greens. You would think it would just be natural. It's definitely taken a bit of effort this week. Playing last week has definitely helped that, because they were pretty slow.

You need a hot putter if you're going to move from where I am to winning. So I've got to keep the mistakes away and keep knocking in a few nice putts.

Q. Is that where the focus is tonight?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Yeah, I'll probably have one beer with dad just because one of us has managed to make the cut in The Open at Carnoustie. There's going to be a lot of people who are happy for us. If you need -- sometimes in football you have the 12th man. If I need that out there this weekend, I've definitely got that over the rest of the field. They call it moving day tomorrow. So we'll try and make a nice big move and get in contention for Sunday.

Q. There's been quite a few things here about the future of Carnoustie and The Open, and you all have seen it this week. The thought of another Open never being at Carnoustie, what do you make of that?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: I don't believe that. I'd be very, very surprised if they didn't play another Open Championship around here. Everybody's got their opinions, but my opinion of this place, places like St Georges, without putting any other open venue down, everybody has a preference. I've been privileged to play an unbelievable Open at Troon and another unbelievable Open at Birkdale, and this is right up there with them.

So if you question to take this one off the rota, then you've got to question to take other ones off the rota. I don't think that will happen. I think certainly the people running the golf club would do whatever it takes to put the course into whatever condition it needs to be to hold The Open Championship. That's not really that hard of work out there. If you want new bunkers or to change the course a bit, you can do that in a couple of months. So I'd be very surprised if they didn't come back.

Q. This is a golfing town, isn't it? It would almost be like cutting its oxygen supply off if you didn't come back?
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Of course it would be. We come here and play in the Dunhill Links, and it's a different golf course. It is a different golf course when it's easy pin positions and stuff. I think the R&A have got very unlucky with the weather because they were never going to look to set this up the way it is. If we continue to have the weather that we had last week, we'd be seeing different scores, and you wouldn't want a lot of rough out there, and the greens would be fiery, and these greens when they're fiery are almost impossible.

So it's a bit of bad luck really with the setup for the R&A, but it's not the golf course's fault. So it would be a great shame to not come back here in the future.

Q. Final question on it, it's not even just the golf course. It's just the town. The thought of not having --
MATTHEW SOUTHGATE: Yeah, the whole -- you go all around the world and say the word "Carnoustie", and everyone thinks of golf. No one thinks of a cathedral or a church. This is what it is. This is the holy grail, as it were. This is up there with St. Andrews and the history and the club and what this golf club has achieved, the membership of this golf club has achieved winning tournaments abroad and winning big major titles and stuff. It's something somebody at this club can be proud of and certainly somebody at this club would want in abundance at an Open Championship. I wouldn't want to see it leave this golf course and leave this town.

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