THE 149TH OPEN

July 15, 2021

Brian Harman

Mixed Zone

Q. After such a fantastic start, 5-under through 8, how important was the birdie on 13 after the bogeys on 9 and 12?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, I hit a loose shot into 9. I hit a great tee ball into 9 and hit a loose 7-iron. I was disappointed to make bogey there. Then hit an okay drive on 12 that kind of got a St George's bounce into that bunker. Then I hit a fabulous shot coming into 13. I wish I could have gotten 14, but really happy.

Yeah, the birdie on 13 was really important for the round.

Q. Your stats were impressive from today. You had 10 fairways hit from 14, 15 greens in regulation. How important is that on a windy day and with a links course to kind of get a good score with those -- to take advantage of the good drives and good approaches?

BRIAN HARMAN: Well, for me it's about getting on the greens. That's been my struggle this year is trying to get the ball on to the green. I've been putting good. My short game has been great, so I've been able to hang around. But just haven't ironed it that great this year. I'm having a good year, I'm driving it well, but it was nice to hit some really good iron shots with some command. Just clean it up a little bit and I think I'll have a decent chance.

Q. Between the three of you in the group today, you were 13-under par, and there was only three holes on the course that at least one of you didn't birdie. How much fun was it playing with the other two guys when you were in such good form?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, for me it's always been hard to see putts going in over here, so to have some guys that were making some and playing well certainly helps out. It was a fun day. I was glad to see those guys play well.

Q. How important is it to get momentum with a score like that in the first round of a major?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, you don't want to be playing catch-up in majors. I've definitely gotten burnt doing it a couple times. Like this year the PGA, kind of got behind the 8-ball for the first round, and you start pressing, you start making some mistakes. Just going to try to keep going what I had going today and see what the course gives me.