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THE 148TH OPEN

July 18, 2019

J.B. Holmes

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

STUART MOFFAT: I'm delighted to welcome in J.B. Holmes into the interview room. J.B. is currently leading at 5-under par.

Great to be leading after the first round. Can you give us your thoughts on that performance today.

J.B. HOLMES: I hit it great. I didn't miss too many shots. When I did I missed them in the right spot. I putted well. Stuck to our game plan and just executed about as perfectly as I could do it.

Q. What exactly was that game plan?
J.B. HOLMES: You just have to accept the conditions over here and not get too greedy and go after some pins. Try to hit it to the fat of the green, the middle of the green and hopefully make some putts.

It's a lot different than we play in the States, you're firing at flags and everything else. Here you're trying to get it in the right spot on the green and make a putt.

Q. How would you describe your season so far with a win and then I know some ups and downs? What were your expectations coming in?
J.B. HOLMES: It's been pretty rocky. I played great that one tournament, had a win. You take that away, it's probably actually been one of my worst years I've played. I've really struggled with my swing kind of after I won. At Detroit I had been working on it and it clicked in there and I started hitting it better.

I've been practicing the last couple of weeks. I've been playing great. So actually felt great coming in. Like I said, my results didn't show that. But I felt very confident coming in. I was hitting it great. Putted well. I wasn't really surprised -- I mean, I played well.

Q. You played a few holes with Rory on Tuesday. Was there anything you learned from him that you're able to take into this week?
J.B. HOLMES: No. He was hitting it great. Looked like he was playing well. We just played a round. I watched him, the strategy he hit on some holes. But nothing really I took back that was surprising or anything.

Q. A lot of the guys have really enjoyed the experience of coming over to Ireland and have immersed themselves in the culture and the town and Irish ways. Have you gotten away from the golf course? Is there anything you enjoyed through the week away from the golf?
J.B. HOLMES: We mainly just went into town to eat. The people over here have been great. I've been to Ireland a couple of times and it's always been a great experience. It's been a lot of fun. But mainly I've been on the golf course.

Q. If someone back home asked you how the weather was today, what would you tell them?
J.B. HOLMES: For an Open it was actually pretty good. It rained off and on but it wasn't -- I've played before where it was miserable. So it wasn't too bad.

There were spots where it was raining pretty good and the wind kicked up. But in general I kind of consider it an average day for an Open.

Q. Have you ever seen it change so much over one round in terms of rain, wind, brightness, calm?
J.B. HOLMES: Not in a tournament, but I actually have before, and it was actually here when I was in college. I played here, and the first hole we had short sleeves on, looks like the clouds came up, and next hole it was raining so hard we couldn't see. People were losing umbrellas, that were blowing away. Then three holes later we were taking all our rain gear off and we were hot again.

That was actually the most drastic but it was at this golf course. Our college team came over to play. Boosters took us over here, we were over to play some golf courses over here. It wasn't a tournament or anything.

Q. When was that?
J.B. HOLMES: '05, '04. '07 and '08 weren't here.

Q. No Ryder Cup this summer obviously, but since 1982 there hasn't been a clean sweep of American majors. Is there much talk amongst the Americans? And is there any element of kind of a bit of rivalry with Europe at all?
J.B. HOLMES: Okay, what's -- say it again, please.

Q. So there's not been a clean sweep of American majors since 1982. I just wonder whether that's a factor that the American golfers, even enters your mind?
J.B. HOLMES: No, we don't -- it doesn't really enter the mind. We're over here just trying to play the best we can. And the best golfer of the week wins.

I hadn't even paid attention. I know who's won the majors but hadn't comprehended they're all Americans this year.

Q. What do you think about playing in Ireland Open and other places, the difference, if you can describe a little bit?
J.B. HOLMES: I mean, every time you play in an Open it's always -- you're going to have unique conditions where it's going to be windy and more than likely rainy. You just have to accept those conditions, and the more you can do that and just try to play one shot at a time, that's really kind of the secret. And try not to get too aggressive, because it is so windy you can't always have complete control over your ball.

But it's a unique experience every time you get to come over here.

Q. Congratulations on this great round. I want to know, maybe when you were in college when you came here, you got a little debriefing, but do you comprehend and understand the history in the last 30, 40 years here, that makes this event taking place here so special?
J.B. HOLMES: No (laughter). To put it bluntly, no. Obviously I know the history of the British Open. But not the significance necessarily bringing it to Ireland. It's obviously -- it's a fantastic golf course. I think they did a smart decision bringing it over here. The people have been great.

But as far as the significance for the people locally, no, I'm oblivious. I mean, I understand, but I'm sure if you lived here it would be -- but for me, I'm sorry, but I'm glad I'm here.

Q. How do you view your performance at Troon in retrospect? In one sense you sort of beat the field, Henrik and Phil were defeating the field by many shots and you ended up finishing third. Do you view that as a success?
J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, at the beginning of the week if I had known I only had to take out those two guys, I may have went there first.

That was a great week for me. And it teaches me I can come out and play. There were two guys that got really hot that week. Besides that I pretty much had beat the field. So that's definitely a boost. I learned a lot playing in that event. And you try to take that to the next one.

Q. Just a follow on, I was going to ask you something similar, but you were at Troon, people kind of forget you and the rest of the people were there. Would you like people to remember you were here?
J.B. HOLMES: If I'm holding the trophy at the end I hope so. Yeah, that would be great. So anytime you can be in the hunt at a major, it's unbelievable, and especially one with this much history. It's always special.

Q. How many rounds did you play when you came over with your college team, roughly? And were they on the Dunluce Course or were some of them on the Valley? Can you remember?
J.B. HOLMES: We just played one round here. I think it's the course that we're playing. I remember the first three or four holes. It was so long ago, I don't remember all of them.

But as a trip we were here for a week and we played five or six rounds. We played Royal County Down and a couple other courses.

Q. Would that have been your first taste of links golf?
J.B. HOLMES: Correct.

Q. Did you have any expectations of what it would look like and how much of the course did you remember except for those first three or four holes when you got back?
J.B. HOLMES: Like I said, I don't remember a whole lot. I had a couple of caddies over here. Unfortunately if you don't know where you're going at a lot of links courses, at the time most of the caddies we had weren't used to somebody hitting 315 or 320, so I got some bad lines. I think I was playing here I hit five or six shots exactly where they told me to and I lost the ball.

The score wasn't all that great. It was fun to have a team come over here and play. First taste of it was a lot of fun, it was unique.

Q. What was the most memorable of all the links you played?
J.B. HOLMES: Probably this one and Royal County Down. Just being able to come over here and see -- Royal County had a couple of pretty shots. And the drivable 4 or 5 here, that was very memorable. That's the one I remember. The caddie told me to hit 3-iron over the stone. I said, Why don't we hit it at the green? He says, Nobody hits it at the green. I was like, Okay. I hit the 3-iron through the fairway, and I said, I'm going to hit driver. And I actually hit it up on the green.

But like I say, it was really cool to come over with your friends and get to play great golf courses like this.

Q. It's only 18 holes but if somebody would have told you this morning you'd shoot a 5-under, 66, what would you have thought?
J.B. HOLMES: I'd thought it very possible. I was very confident going in. I felt like, like I said, I was hitting it really well. I felt like we had a good plan, good line on the golf course. So like I said, you don't expect to shoot that, but I'm not surprised.

Q. So much was kind of made this week about the extra pressure on Rory being a hometown guy, and trying harder can be tough. Have you ever had, in your career, a tournament where you really wanted to try harder that week and what that experience is like as a really skilled golfer?
J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, it absolutely can happen. We've had -- we played a Ryder Cup at Valhalla and I had a major PGA at Valhalla. The PGA that put more pressure because it's more of an individual event. Your family and everybody is coming in and everybody is getting tickets.

There's a lot more stuff that week already on top of a major. You end up putting more stress on yourself, not even knowing you're doing it. But when you get to come home you want to play well, you know.

So it's definitely something that can happen for sure.

Q. I don't want to get ahead of the game here, but if you were to win, would you be an eccentric and get in the harbour and swim?
J.B. HOLMES: That's too far ahead. You said you don't want to get ahead and you went all the way to the end of the tournament. It's a long ways to go before that. Long ways to go.

Q. Can I ask you again on Sunday if you win?
J.B. HOLMES: Absolutely.

Q. Have you changed anything after winning Genesis Open?
J.B. HOLMES: Did I change anything? I just started hitting it bad. I wasn't trying to, but just struggled a little bit with my swing. It's a hard game and I just couldn't get the darn ball to go in the hole.

STUART MOFFAT: Thanks for your time. Good luck for the rest of the tournament.

J.B. HOLMES: Thank you.

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