DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN

July 2, 2021

Richie Ramsay

Mount Juliet Estate

Quick Quotes

Q. Opened with a birdie and par 5s after that. Can you talk me through the round?

RICHIE RAMSAY: It was much like yesterday. It was very steady. It was nice to obviously get off with a birdie. Holed a putt from seven feet on the first and played very steady after that. Some chances from 20, 25 feet but always decent looks, and then made a really good birdie on the par 3, I hit a 5-iron in there, it was like 209 and holed about a 15-footer up the hill and very steady after that.

Felt like chance, chance, chance, and made one on the par 3. A little bit of a -- didn't get up-and-down on the short par 4. Then played good coming in but just a couple shot drifted down slopes and left me with longer putts and I made a 5-, 6-footer on 17 and had that 6-footer on the last, which that's just -- that's the difference between literally having a really good round and having -- and just feel like you've lost it.

So that was a real momentum booster obviously going to lunch. You've got the rest of the day to think about it. You make those two putts, if you walk off there, sort of chest out, striding along, and if you don't, you're kind of hunched down a bit.

But this was a nice way to finish that, and yeah, kind of enjoying being out here. It's nice to have the fans come out. I know it's limited but it feels like there's more people than it is because we're used to playing in front of nobody.

I think the venue's got a lot to do with it. The venue, there's a huge amount of space, a big thing, easy for people to watch the shots. I think the course is playing well. There's a little bit of a bounce in it. You've got to watch your angles coming into the greens because they tend to sit at an angle to you, whether it be left-to-right or right-to-left, so carries are never just one simple carry. You've always got to look at your book and make sure you're right, and you can tell just a few of the flags just started to picking up there coming down the last.

Q. You finished second here in Portstewart, so is this event, especially with fans here, as you say, do you kind of get up for this event a little bit, and obviously with next week, looking forward to next week, too?

RICHIE RAMSAY: I always think I play my best golf almost in Ireland. I won the Irish Stroke Play when I was younger. We won the Under 21 Team Championships at the island, just outside Portmarnock, and then had a chance and played great at Portstewart which the front nine there is nine of my favourite holes, or best nine-hole stretch in golf pretty much.

And then yeah, I kind of come here and I feel sort of at peace, and the fans always come out. They make the difference, I think, when you play in front of them, like we don't get to play in front of, you know, probably 70,000 to 80,000 when they are awe coming in.

I remember stopping at a petrol station once, and this little kid is like, "There's Richie Ramsay." And I'm like, how does this like -- they all know that they know the players and they know where they are from, and they know if they are a Callaway or a TaylorMade player and they know their rank and stuff like that. They love it, they absolutely love it, and the whole villages around it seem to get involved in it. It's obviously a great place to play golf.

Q. You're two strokes off the lead at the moment, so there's obviously a lot of golf ahead of you and an exciting weekend ahead of you. Does this form kind of bode well for you obviously going into kind of returning home and especially with fans next week, as well, I'm sure it's something you're really looking forward to?

RICHIE RAMSAY: Yeah, this run coming up is really important. We've got some really good tournaments, and I tend to play -- middle to end of season, I tend to play my best golf.

I struggled a little bit, probably my direction where I wanted to take my golf, where I want to take my swing and chipping; I feel like I have a good plan and I need to execute it. The first part of executing that was playing well the first two rounds and I've done that. It gives you a confidence boost sometimes when you're not playing the best, you look at the first two rounds, you look at the people playing this week and think I'm two shots off the lead and it's a really strong field.

So believe in yourself and realise that you've got the ability to compete and just go out there and do it. Yeah, it's just a nice place to play golf. We're fortunate we always come here every year.

Q. You're not in Royal St. George's, obviously a big target the next two weeks?

RICHIE RAMSAY: It's an extra thing. If I'm not in there, I hopefully will go back to Aberdeen to see the boys at the club and play up there. If I don't get in, it's going to be a good week no matter what.