THE 149TH OPEN

July 16, 2021

Brooks Koepka

Mixed Zone

Q. Brooks, three birdies to finish. It's always nice to come in with that run.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was nice to finish with three birdies. I think I forgot about it during the round, but very frustrated with 3 and 4.

Can't make a double bogey in a major championship, so pretty frustrated. Annoyed. You can't make those mistakes, especially when you're that far back. Getting the worst out of my round yesterday, so need a good weekend.

Q. Just a question on how you finished the round today. I suppose after that double bogey you were maybe under a little bit of pressure in terms of the score. That back nine today, especially from the tee shot on 16 and the run of birdies, really kind of set you up now to be challenging for a title push.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I don't think it was -- I don't think pressure. I mean, it's just golf. There is nothing -- you can't win it today.

So, I mean, I just felt like I had to get back in to the golf tournament. I was so mad at myself at making a mental mistake, talking Ricky into 3-wood. When you make a mental mistake and a poor swing it's going to be a disaster.

I'm okay with making bad swings, but like I said, if you're going to make a mental mistake, that's inexcusable. So got to play a clean card pretty much this weekend if I want a chance.

Q. Obviously I'll just say brilliant finish today. Does that give you momentum going into tomorrow? What will your mindset be over the weekend? Obviously four back at the moment.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, probably be five, maybe six back I'm assuming. I would like to be closer. But, yeah, I mean, I got to go out and play a good round.

I need that. Try to be within two or three of the lead going into Sunday, so I need to make a move, and got to do it tomorrow.

Q. Great round today. Just curious, we know how intense you get during the majors. Is there something you think you might look to clean up over the weekend? I think it was eight birdies today. And I have follow up after that if you can answer that.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I mean, I think the one adjustment I made from yesterday to today was the pace, putting. I think these greens are usually a little bit slower, but for some reason I thought they were even slow for links golf. Today they seemed a bit faster, and I also hit them a bit harder, so that helps. Just keep the face up on the putts, because there is a few I left short right in the heart.

Q. And my follow-up question is: We heard you hadn't picked you up a club couple weeks prior to coming in. I think most players that would probably drive them crazy and really kind of scare them. How is it that you do that? I think a lot of people would like -- are you just that comfortable in your swing and game that you really don't feel like you need to play prior, because it seems unusual?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I own my swing. I been swinging this way for maybe 20, 25 years, so two weeks of golf isn't very much in that time frame.

But, yeah, I mean, to me it's more I need a mental reset than I do a physical. I mean, I can handle the physical stuff out here. Swinging a golf club over and over again, that's easy. I pretty much got it on repeat. If you're a professional you should be able to pick it up and get right back into it.

To me, I just need a mental break from golf sometimes. I feel like especially with the majors being so close back to back, you know, probably about, what, three weeks apart, and I played right after, which was taxing enough.

So just needed a little break and get away and have some fun.