THE 149TH OPEN

July 18, 2021

Marcus Armitage

Mixed Zone

Q. Marcus, thank you so much for joining us. Just a thought on the round and how you sum it up today.

MARCUS ARMITAGE: Yeah, I mean, pretty well. A couple under through the round and then I started to hit it a little bit -- I hit in the rough on 10, and it started to derail a little bit from there on for a little bit.

Took a wrong shot on 14 off the tee. I didn't have a clear picture. I made a poor bogey down there, and then a sloppy bogey on 17, so I shot level par.

It's been a great week in all. I got some great experience. I'll be glad to have this week off, and then we'll move on.

Q. You just mentioned how much you've enjoyed it. Just talk to us about being there for all four days and the crowds and the whole atmosphere.

MARCUS ARMITAGE: Yeah, I mean, it's magic. Major golf at the weekend, everything that you'd expect. I'll trade you that first major weekend that I've had this week and I'll take it on to future tournaments.

Yeah, I mean, I just really enjoyed it. There's nothing like The Open, and playing at the weekend is everything you imagined. As a kid growing up, it's everything you dream of.

I'd like to finish a little better next time, but we'll keep learning and keep moving forward.

Q. You mentioned there about keep learning. Are you somebody that sort of reflects on each event and says, okay, I'll probably need to improve on this, or do you already know the areas again where you feel you need to improve?

MARCUS ARMITAGE: I'm brutal on myself. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I think that's what drives me and keeps me working. I will learn a lot of lessons from this when I sit down next week and think of what I can do better. It will just instill a little bit more belief in me.

I'm a fast learner, but it takes me time to get into a comfortable position in these bigger events and bigger tournaments in the world. Some people take to it straightaway, like your Rorys and the big boys, but it's taken me a bit longer.

I'm slowly getting the gist of it, and hopefully I can break through next year with something bigger or even back into this year.

Q. Your career is obviously moving in the right direction given the success you've had on the TOUR.

MARCUS ARMITAGE: Yeah, I can pick and choose now where I play. You pick the big ones and focus your practice and your preparation around them and just keep moving forward and learning.

When you compete, it feels, like I have this week at the Open, it just gives you belief that you belong and comfort going forward, like Wentworth on the European Tour and other places like that.

Q. Where are you playing next? Do you know?

MARCUS ARMITAGE: Yeah, Northern Ireland in the mixed event. That's the week after next. I'll be flying out there on Tuesday. So I'm going to play that and then play Fairmont and St Andrews and then down to the London Club for that tournament and then another week off.

Then there's quite a good run of events and finishing with week three being Wentworth.

So I'm excited for a week off. I am actually. I'm charging my phone tonight. When it runs out of batteries tomorrow, I ain't charging it for another week. So I'm totally going into no media, no phone calls, no text messages. It's just going to be me and my dogs and Lucy back at home relaxing and just doing what we want to do.