OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 30, 2021

Brandon Stone

Emirates Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Can you give us an evaluation of that 66, please?

BRANDON STONE: Just solid golf all the way around to be fair. Drove the ball really nicely all day. Managed to hole some nice putts on the front nine, which always gets the adrenaline and momentum going. Felt very calm and collected all day. Hit the ball fantastically well. Felt like I was putting for birdie on almost every hole, so whenever that's the case, you're always going to figure like there's a low number in you.

Q. You've won a massive event, The Scottish Open before, and this one is super special when you look at the list of winners, Seve and Woods and Els and McIlroy in recent times. As a player, is that something you're aware of?

BRANDON STONE: Yes, of course, I think you obviously look at the previous winners but you also look at the venue. The Emirates golf course has an illustrious history on its own; the location itself is special. Doesn't matter who was playing here; when you stand up on the 8th tee box and you look at that tee shot with the skyline in the distance, it's very unique. You don't get that anywhere else in the world.

Like you say, the list of illustrious winners that has won here before is obviously incredible, but at the same time the golf course has its own history and the event itself has that prestige around it.

So you always want to be playing against the best players, but you want to be playing on the best courses and winning the best tournaments, and I've given myself the opportunity to do that tomorrow.

Q. Are you a player that reacts to what's going on around you gone the golf course or are you one of the guys that literally does your own thing one shot at a time?

BRANDON STONE: I'm definitely stuck in my own bubble, excuse the pun, if you want to call it that. The only thing that I can control out there is myself and my caddie, Teagan, does a tremendous job of keeping me level-headed and distracted from leaderboards the entire day like he did today and it was fantastic.

Overall we are going to go out there and try and hit as few of golf shots as we can, and that's enough at the end of the day, it's fantastic, but if it's not, I'll still sleep soundly on Sunday evening.