THE 149TH OPEN

July 15, 2021

Marcus Kinhault

Mixed Zone

OLIVIA McMILLAN: Marcus, thank you for joining us. 69 to open The Open Championship. Talk to us about your round.

MARCUS KINHAULT: Yeah, got off to a good start. Birdied the first. Had a bad three-hole stretch 7 to 9, three bogeys, so made the turn in 2-over. Didn't feel that good, but had a strong finish.

Played pretty well overall today, so I'm happy.

Q. That's good. As you said, you had a tough stretch there. How do you mentally refresh? What do you say to yourself after a row of golf like that?

MARCUS KINHAULT: I was -- I don't know, me and my caddie had a good chat after nine holes and all it was, it was few couple bad swings and that cost me some bogeys, and that was all.

I felt good, so just tried to be patient, as always. It's not easy, but I think I did that pretty well today. I'm happy with the way I finished here.

Q. Just reflecting on this finish, three birdies in the final five holes, really nice stretch of golf. Has to give you a lot of confidence.

MARCUS KINHAULT: Yeah, of course. I mean, I guess when you -- after playing 13, you're playing pretty much downwind, and 14 is a really good chance today, so took advantage of that one.

Then, yeah, two more on the way in, which was sort of a bonus. I hit some good shots, so I think I deserved to make those birdies. So, yeah.

Q. If you had to pick one stand-out hole in the last closing holes, which hole would you pick and can you talk us through that hole?

MARCUS KINHAULT: Sorry, stand-out hole?

Q. Yeah, of your closing holes, which hole stands out the most as a highlight of the day?

MARCUS KINHAULT: In my round? Yeah, so, yeah, on 15 I hit it to, yeah, like -- I hit a really good 8-iron to tap-in birdie. I guess that's one of the tougher holes out here, so that was a big bonus for sure.