DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN

July 2, 2021

Richard Bland

Mount Juliet Estate

Quick Quotes

Q. You've added a round of 66 to yesterday's 69. What's been the strength of your game over these two days?

RICHARD BLAND: Probably my short game and putting. You know, whenever if I've missed a green or par 5s I've got it up there sort of roundabout, I've got it up-and-down pretty much all the time. I probably need to just tidy up a little bit like on the tee-to-green side. I'll do a little bit of work on that this afternoon and hopefully put something similar to that on the board tomorrow.

Q. Is it a different kind of pressure when you play a tournament like this with plenty of birdies on the course and you need to go out and break 70 every day?

RICHARD BLAND: No, not really. I just think what I've sort of learned over the years is if you just play your game and you play well, and if you're doing that, then you've got to set yourself up to give yourself those chances, anyway.

Of course, you read the situations out there. You might have to play a little bit more aggressive if you need to press to make the cut or you may be Sunday afternoon, that kind of thing, of course. I think certainly the first sort of two, three rounds is putting yourself in position.

So I always kind of just kind of play how I feel. If I feel like I'm swinging well and hitting good shots, I'll play aggressive. If I'm not quite feeling it, I might be just slightly more on the course's side.

Q. The Irish Open has always been one of your favorite tournaments to play. How excited to be in a position to contend over the weekend?

RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, definitely. This was almost my breakthrough tournament, how many years ago was that now.

Q. Nearly 20.

RICHARD BLAND: Probably more than that.

So yeah, it's always been very special. The crowd has always been great with me. It's great to be back playing in front of crowds again. I know I had a little bit a couple weeks ago in the U.S. Open and that felt great, but to have it in Europe, and the Irish crowds are probably some of the best in the world. It's a shame there's not more but it was nice having that support out there and looking forward to that this weekend.