THE 149TH OPEN

July 15, 2021

Laird Shepherd

Mixed Zone

Q. First time playing in the Open; can you give us your impressions on the championship?

LAIRD SHEPHERD: I mean, obviously it's just amazing. The whole experience has been amazing the last few days. Certainly had a nice early tee time to just get up and get going.

It was just great to play with Dean and Danny this morning, and yeah, it was just great playing in front of crowds. It was amazing. The support was great.

Q. How fantastic is it for you playing at a major tournament at Royal St George's?

LAIRD SHEPHERD: I mean, it's great, yeah. My family stay about an hour and a half from here, so it's somewhere I've played quite a lot and watched Opens in the past. Obviously to be making my sort of major debut at St George's is brilliant. I love the golf course, and yeah, just very exciting to be a part of it. I just hope to extend that for as long as I can. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit better of a scoring day and try and get four rounds out of it, but it's been brilliant.

Q. You come from a family of sportspeople. They must be so proud and supportive.

LAIRD SHEPHERD: Yeah, my twin brother is a professional flight jockey. He's been doing that for about five, six years now, so he understands what sport is like at the highest level, as well. I haven't got to speak to him too much, but I know that he understands the sort of day-to-day grind of trying to make it professionally, and I hope one day I'll do that with golf.

Yeah, obviously my parents and my girlfriend's family, as well, are all just very, very supportive, and it's been great to have them here this week and share it with them.

Q. You're representing Rye Golf Club so good to put Sussex on the map in Kent.

LAIRD SHEPHERD: Absolutely, yeah.

Q. (No microphone.)

LAIRD SHEPHERD: I really didn't know how I was going to react. Obviously it's a lot of pressure and I've got really had much experience with it.

I was pretty happy with how I played the first few holes. To three-putt the second was a bit annoying, but on the whole I think I hit the ball better. It was a day when I only just sort of made myself commit to hitting the golf shots and not worrying about what was going to happen. I missed quite a short putt on 14 for birdie, which was a bit annoying.

But listen, I've enjoyed the whole day. Pretty happy with how I've played. Obviously the score is not brilliant, looking at some of the guys. I'm just going to have to buckle down and shoot a low one tomorrow.

Q. (No microphone.)

LAIRD SHEPHERD: Yeah, I'm going to go get some lunch and maybe do a little bit of practice. But game is feeling pretty good. Long game wise, maybe just a few putts and do a bit of short game. But I don't think there's really too much to be done really. It takes a lot out of you with the experience this week, and I was feeling really tired on Wednesday, yesterday afternoon. I think it's just about conserving energy, and I do plan to try and play four rounds. If I do qualify for the weekend, then I want to be fresh and ready to go for those rounds.