THE 149TH OPEN

July 15, 2021

Brad Kennedy

Mixed Zone

Q. How would you describe your performance today?

BRAD KENNEDY: Well, it was consistent. Just the breeze was really tricky today, and some of the flags were really tough to get to, so it was hard to try and really get yourself in close to the flags. I played really consistent throughout the day and managed to make a birdie on 14. Yeah, just stayed patient and just really tried to play a bit of British Open golf. Just center of the green and yeah, just try and make my way from there.

Q. How did you enjoy the course today? Was it a really good challenge for you?

BRAD KENNEDY: Yeah, it was. It was similar to the way we played it on Tuesday in the practice round, so I had a good idea of how to play the course. The pin positions were -- I thought were quite strong today, a lot of holes where you really had to work your ball into those sections. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it close enough to give myself enough birdies, but 1-over par today, it's something to build from.

Q. You had an impressive driving day today with 12 fairways hit out of 14. How do you feel certainly in the driving sense that helped you get the round that you got?

BRAD KENNEDY: Yeah, with the wind like it is today, it's a real key to keep it on the fairways. Yeah, I did drive it well today. I've got a new shaft in the bag that I've only been using for a couple weeks. I snapped my old one a few weeks ago in Japan. Just been working on that.

I think the key to playing well around this course especially is hitting the fairways and also staying out of the fairway traps, which I managed to do today.

Yeah, it's definitely a good step to be able to hit enough fairways to give yourself some chances.

Q. Did you learn anything from playing with Pádraig Harrington today?

BRAD KENNEDY: Got a little bit of Irish accent. No, it was nice to play with Pádraig. Never played with him before, and it was really good to play with him. He lightened the mood a couple of times, and we just had a bit of a chat about life and kids in general and about things coming up. He's looking forward to getting to the Senior Tour next year.

Yeah, definitely the way he's playing, I think all the guys in America need to watch out.

Q. Have you a lot of optimism heading into tomorrow, especially if you are hitting those drives so accurately? You kind of had tougher conditions than the morning starters because they were suggesting that the greens were a lot more receptive. It seems like the later the day went, the harder the scores were to get.

BRAD KENNEDY: Yeah, it was. I think it would be nice to have a 50/50 consistency between Thursday and Friday for both sides of tee times, so maybe we might get a little bit of calmness tomorrow, and yeah, if we're fortunate enough to get a few decent flags that we can go at, I think there's a good score out there tomorrow morning.

But again, I've just got to really try and work on staying disciplined off the tee, giving myself those chances from the tee and start to -- not so much push but just really try and shape it in and let the greens do the work.