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THE 147TH OPEN

July 21, 2018

Tom Lewis

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. That must be something you dreamed about?
TOM LEWIS: That was obviously too much.

Q. Good round.
TOM LEWIS: Yeah, it was a good round.

Q. How would you sum it up?
TOM LEWIS: Obviously, it's playing very simple out there. It's not easy as Carnoustie. There's not a lot of wind at all. The rain softened the ground a lot overnight. So you can land it a bit further up the greens. It does play with you because sometimes I hit a good shot into the 10th and left myself a very tricky shot and chip over the corner of the bunker whereas yesterday that probably wasn't able to stop it.

It's a lot to take into account, but in all honesty, I played great out there. To shoot 3-under out there, I'm really happy.

Q. How much confidence does that give you going into the final round?
TOM LEWIS: I had a couple of good opportunities out there that I missed at 17 and 18, but I finished better than I did yesterday, and I saved a lot of shots as well. I holed a lot of good putts. I think 3-under is a fair score, and if I go out and shoot an even better score tomorrow, you never know.

Q. What's it like playing in front of the big galleries?
TOM LEWIS: It's been awesome. It's great to play with Sam today. The crowds were all on his side, and they were very friendly with me. It was great. It would be nice to get another good draw tomorrow and see a lot of people out there.

Q. Playing with Sam today must have brought back memories for you all.
TOM LEWIS: Yes, it's ironic, isn't it? He played great. He's rolling the ball really well and really aggressive on the putts, and it was good to see because sometimes you get a bit of tension. That's what I did out there. So he seems to be holding up well. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes out and shoots another good score tomorrow.

Q. Did you talk about 2011, talk about your amateur?
TOM LEWIS: I said that on the first. He didn't catch his tee shot, and he said, "At least it's going forward." I said, when I first teed up with Tom, I normally line the ball up, and I couldn't get the ball on the tee. I was aiming so far right, I thought I'd just leave it there. To go out there in the home crowd and do what he did, I think that's great.

Q. Did he have many questions for you?
TOM LEWIS: No, you know what, he was very pleasant. He got on with his thing. He was a quick player. We just had a good round. We had a good amount of respect for each other. It was pretty much --

Q. You've been in his shoes. You know the opportunities that lie ahead for the silver medal winner, but you also know a bit of the pitfalls as well. If you had any advice for them, what would it be?
TOM LEWIS: Don't do what I did. But I don't think -- I think it's different now from when I turned pro. I think the fields are stronger. I think you've just got to carry on doing what you're doing. Don't try and improve too quickly. Don't try and listen to too many people. If he sticks to doing what he's doing, he's obviously going to turn into a good player.

Q. These are things that you draw on. "Don't do what I do" (inaudible).
TOM LEWIS: Whenever you're sort of aspiring to be good and you get a lot of success early, it's easy to lose your way. You lose your sort of confidence, and your confidence is a huge thing. In amateur golf, when you start winning, your confidence is high. Then, obviously, when you come out, it's the pro golfers who don't win as much. It's not as easy.

Q. It must be difficult because the expectations suddenly go through the roof, not just your own expectations, but other people as well. How did you get up against that?
TOM LEWIS: It's hard. Everyone's against you. They want to see you do well, but there's a lot of people who don't. They like seeing people struggle. You listen to the news nowadays, normally it's just negative news because it's interesting. I try to stay away from it because I know how it can affect your mind.

Q. You've got a lot of invitations out of it as well. It's almost like a head start, but as the rest of the head start can sometimes be a false start. It propels you to --
TOM LEWIS: No, I think you need to have as many starts as possible. If you take advantage like I did, he'll be fine.

Q. Do you see a good future for him?
TOM LEWIS: Yeah, he'll be good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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