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THE 148TH OPEN

July 15, 2019

James Sugrue

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

MODERATOR: I'm delighted to welcome the 2019 Amateur champion James Sugrue to the interview room.

After that fantastic win at Portmarnock last month, you now have the opportunity to play in The Open Championship. How excited are you to be playing in front of Irish fans?

JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it, especially to find out that I'm playing with Darren as well in the first group. Yeah, it's just a dream come true. I've watched The Open my whole life and just to get a chance to play in it is unbelievable.

MODERATOR: In terms of Portrush, how is the course looking and how do you feel about it?

JAMES SUGRUE: The course is very good. The rough is definitely up. So try and avoid the rough at all costs. Greens are lovely. Can't really say a bad thing about the course, to be honest.

Q. Look at you here, The Open. A few weeks ago you were thinking of just playing amateur golf. Can you take us through, say, the first three days, four days after that win when you left Portmarnock. What happened? Were there parties? Were there bonfires, or was it all very quiet?
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, I headed back to Mallow Golf Club where there was a big crowd of members and friends waiting there for me. We stayed there for the night. And then about two days later I headed down to my friend's house in Sneem with a couple of my friends, and we just stayed there for two nights and just had a good time, really.

There was a few pints of beer, to be fair.

Q. You've played Portrush plenty of times before. What are your thoughts on what it's like turning up this week, the differences?
JAMES SUGRUE: It's definitely playing a little bit longer. There's a few tee boxes that I hadn't even -- I didn't even know they were there before.

Other than that, it's not -- obviously like the grandstands here, there and everywhere, they are a bit different. They changed the hole off the tee and into greens and stuff. But I'm just trying to -- like, I've played here numerous times. I'm just trying to block out all those grandstands and all those people and just try and play decent golf.

Q. Will you have plenty of support coming from Cork?
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, I think there's a lot of members and friends that are coming up. So I'm expecting a big crowd, and I'm sure Darren will draw a fairly big crowd as well.

Q. You said that you have to block out all the noise and the crowd. Is that an easy thing to do?
JAMES SUGRUE: It's definitely not an easy thing to do, especially when there's people moving and shadows and things like that. But even out there today there was quite a few people out there. It's obviously not going to be anything like it will be on Thursday and Friday.

It is a bit handy for lines and certain things, like there's cameras there that are good lines or like right edge of a stand and things like that. So it has its benefits, as well.

But I'm going to try and block out all those people and the stands as best I can.

Q. There is a lot of words on the sign, The Open, Proud to host The Open in Ireland. As Irish, how can you describe this? And I have another question. I would like to know why you listen to Joe Rogan?
JAMES SUGRUE: I suppose I used to watch a lot of UFC. Conor McGregor kind of got me into it. And then listening to Joe, he's an unreal athlete, and for 50 years of age, to be in the shape he's in, is just unreal. I just enjoy his podcast, really. He has interesting people come on from time to time. I just like listening to them.

Q. What would be a good week?
JAMES SUGRUE: Hopefully to make the cut, anyway. And that's the first goal. And then kind of go from there. I don't really have any number in my head, to be top-20 or top-30 or anything. I'm just going to try to make the cut first of all. And most importantly, I'm just going to try and enjoy myself and see where it takes me.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JAMES SUGRUE: Not really, to be honest. It's cool, really, to just be in the locker room and -- this little corner where it's like the champions corner. Tiger's locker is behind mine and Ernie Els is next to me. It's a bit surreal.

But yeah, it is cool to be on the range and DJ is at the other side of the range, and Marc Leishman is right next to me. It is pretty cool.

Q. Just wondering, what's the most nervous you've ever been in your entire life? Can you remember?
JAMES SUGRUE: The most nervous I've ever been? I was pretty nervous in Portmarnock at times. I was actually quite nervous hitting my first tee shot today. The grandstands just come right around you and you can almost -- like there wasn't even that many people in the grandstands, so I can only imagine what it's going to be like on Thursday.

So, yeah, probably, maybe on the last green at Portmarnock or out there today.

Q. Just as a follow-up to that, you know Darren from the foundation years ago. Just talk about going out with Darren.
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, I played with Darren in Portmarnock actually, we have this champions weekend thing. If you win a boys tournament, you go to Portmarnock for the weekend, and Darren will play golf with you.

I played nine holes with him. He's unbelievable. I've never seen anyone to be able to hit a driver off the deck like he does. You tell him what shot to hit and he can hit it. He's unbelievable. He's one of the best ball-strikers out there. I can't wait to play with him.

Q. Is it quite a good thing to be out so early and not have to wait around all day?
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, I'm probably not going to enjoy setting the alarm for 4 o'clock in the morning. But I am going to enjoy it when I get out there. I'm going to be the first on the greens. First on the range. Everything is going to be just pure.

So, yeah, it definitely is a benefit to be out first.

Q. Does the game feel in good shape this week?
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, feels pretty solid. Hit it nice on the range. Hit it okay on the course. So I'm just looking forward to hopefully a good week and some solid golf.

Q. Do you think your game will be raised by playing with Darren?
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, I think so. I don't think Darren is -- he's pretty laid back. And I won't be -- hopefully I won't be too intimidated by him, anyway. So, yeah, hopefully we can just kind of feed off each other and play some decent golf.

Q. You said you're a UFC fan. Have you ever tried it out?
JAMES SUGRUE: No, not yet anyway. I don't think any of my coaches would approve of that.

Q. And obviously you said you're a fan of Conor McGregor. Have you ever met him?
JAMES SUGRUE: No, I've never met him. Hopefully in the future, I wouldn't say no.

Q. You've kind of left us in suspense. How did you hit your first tee shot? Where did you hit your first tee shot? Out of bounds?
JAMES SUGRUE: No, not out of bounds; almost. You do not want to hit it right on 1. The rough is up to your knee and you have to hack it out sideways.

Q. A better tee shot on Thursday morning?
JAMES SUGRUE: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, hopefully, anyway. That's the plan.

Q. Did you make par?
JAMES SUGRUE: I didn't even hack it out because I was in the physio this morning. I said I better, just to be sure, to be sure I didn't hack it out on the very first hole.

Q. How has life changed in general since that fateful week in Portmarnock?
JAMES SUGRUE: Obviously getting a lot of attention from everyone, really. Getting messages from like even Tommy Fleetwood's caddie. He came over to us when we were in Walker Cup training. He texted me saying said if I wanted to have a game with Tommy here he could organize it. Lots of people being really nice. Some lovely texts and messages and well wishes.

Q. Lots of attention and lots of meetings?
JAMES SUGRUE: There's been quite a few meetings and people just media stuff. It has been fairly hectic. It's not a bad complaint I have.

Q. Are you carrying an injury from Sweden?
JAMES SUGRUE: Actually, no, just kind of got -- just my lower back got a little bit tight. And I was at the physio this morning.

And I actually got a bite in Sweden, as well, and the doctor was there, and he had a look at it. He said it's infected. And also it's actually very sore, to be honest, on my right calf. It's inflamed. It's probably about maybe four inches in radius. It's after kind of expanding out, it's kind of quite red. So I'm on two sets of antibiotics, and hopefully it will be okay by Thursday.

Q. Have you taken Tommy up on the offer of practicing with him?
JAMES SUGRUE: Not yet. Obviously today I was just -- I only planned on playing nine holes. And tomorrow I think I'm going to play with Shane. So maybe on Wednesday. It's a possibility.

MODERATOR: Best of luck this week, James.

JAMES SUGRUE: Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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