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THE 147TH OPEN

July 20, 2018

Danny Willett

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. Danny, you rescued yourself there after an awkward middle.
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah. Tricky little couple of hours, obviously, there with the weather and stuff. Golf course is playing really different. Very tricky to get your eyes into where you've got to pitch it in comparison. Some of the tees, kind of three, four clubs different to what they were yesterday, which is a strange concept when you don't want to go into the fairway bunkers. Clubbing up is a sneaky one to commit your golf shots.

So I made a few nice moves. Silly double on 12, but actually it's a pretty good shot. Hit a big old tee shot and ended up in the one bunker you don't want to be in the golf course. Finished off with a 3.

We were moving pretty well. You have to tell yourself that. It's not easy when you've got all your range to find your arms are a bit wet making the moves you're trying to make. We got lucky and the weather settled down the last couple of hours, hour and a half, and we were able to go out and make some nice moves and capitalise on pretty simple conditions over the last hour.

Q. They call tomorrow moving day, Danny. Is that how you look at it?
DANNY WILLETT: It definitely is now. We're going to be five or six behind unless someone does something very stupid. It's one of those, even though it's as easy as it probably will be now this afternoon if the weather don't come back in -- it's softer than it has been, the wind's not as bad. Some of the flags that looked pretty tight when it was bare and baked out and windy will somewhat seem easier. It will be interesting to see where the leaders are at. Yeah, definitely, a handful of shots and nine to play, as we all know, is enough.

Definitely, we're in a nice position now to where we can hopefully go and attack the golf course a little bit over the weekend and see what we can do, but it's lovely to be here for the weekend.

Q. Looks like it's going to bunch up, isn't it? Is it still within your grasp, isn't it?
DANNY WILLETT: Again, you get the world's best players at a golf tournament, and when the rain comes in, as annoying as the rain is to play in, it makes such a big impact on how guys can get to flags. You can have the easiest golf course in the world, and you get it firm and fast, and it's tough. You get the hardest golf course in the world, as we've seen countless times, if it's wet, it just makes it that much more gettable. So this afternoon, I'm pretty sure you'll see some good scores. Hopefully, we don't get that far back.

Q. Did you think it was a real disadvantage to go late early?
DANNY WILLETT: I actually think the guys around Westy and Rory's tee time probably had the worst of the draw. You've actually seen some really good scores from that side. Yes, the weather's been -- yeah, the rain was tricky and stuff, but it wasn't pumping the wind, which is a nice thing, which is probably why the rain stayed round longer than what it was forecast to because it wasn't as windy as what it said. Yes, I think, if the weather stays like this, obviously, the guys who teed off 3:00-ish onwards today have got a nice little touch.

It's not as extreme as what you get in an Open. I'd say that.

Q. You said it's three or four clubs' difference off the tee. How is that? Because the air was thick, and the ball wasn't carrying. The fairways are slower.
DANNY WILLETT: We hit 5 iron off the tee yesterday we hit 2 iron. We still had a little bit in the tank with 2 iron. It's just a strange concept to kind of get your head around when you've played it, and obviously in practise it's been very similar wind direction and conditions since Monday. Yeah, just got to get your head round it and adapt pretty quickly out there.

Q. Finishing off, Danny, you gave yourself a chance?
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, we did. We did it really nice. After the double, we regrouped nicely and hit a good shot. Hit it pretty close to the hole on 13. Two lovely shots into 15. Nice little putt there on I said 14. (Indiscernible). Would have been nice to sneak one of them.

Q. Does it give you any confidence? You kind of played it so it goes in?
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, it's just nice to know that, when you make the correct move that I've been practising for a while. If I make the correct move, you can make the government shot. Yes, it gives you confidence in the fact that what you're doing is right. I've been kind of on that putter a while now where the better the move I make, the better the golf shot it produces. As silly and extreme as the move feels at times, I need to really keep on and try to make that move. If I'm doing all that stuff correctly, then the ball's got a better chance of going roughly where I want it to.

Q. You're well equipped for the change in weather. Tommy Fleetwood had shorts and no umbrella. You had some wet gear on.
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, the forecast has been the same all week. It said it was going to rain a little bit Friday overnight, and then obviously -- it actually said it was going to stop by 11:00, which would have been nice, but it didn't quite.

Q. We got to see the clothes anyway. Caught a few eyes, didn't it?
DANNY WILLETT: I think everyone sees the difference in -- I don't think Sam was happy with the weather because he had a full old bag to take his waterproof stuff home. Always nice to showcase the waterproof stuff to the guys.

Q. When did you start working with Foley?
DANNY WILLETT: PGA last year.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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