THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2022

John Gough

Quick Quotes

Q. So job done for you; into the last 64 and ties.

JOHN GOUGH: Yeah, the first half of the job. Of course, there's still a very big job to do but it's always nice to be comfortably in after your second round. Yeah, delighted.

Q. Given yesterday, you had to battle for that score yesterday. Was it sightly easier today?

JOHN GOUGH: Yeah, for sure it was definitely a lot easier today. I hit it a lot better. Around Lytham, you can hit good shots and get penalised or can be really badly. I was struggling there yesterday a little bit. But I battled hard and knew if I kept it in sub-3-over par, I'd still be in with a good shout because I know this place and I know that you can get a score going.

Today was a bit of cruise control, really. Just hitting really, keeping it as close to the fairway as possible and a few putts dropped in, which is always nice.

Q. Perfect conditions.

JOHN GOUGH: Absolutely. It doesn't get better than this in links golf.

Q. We know you know Lytham fairly well. Do you take heart from your performances there?

JOHN GOUGH: Obviously it's something in the back of your mind but at the same time it's a completely different golf tournament. So it's really back to square one tomorrow. Doesn't matter who you play against, what they have done, what I have done. It's all on the day.

So I just like to stay in that mentality heading into it rather than feeling I'm up one already before I even start. So yeah, it's just same again. Same as the other match-play tournaments I've played over the last year. If I can just keep drilling way at them and not make many mistakes, grind my opponent down hopefully.

Q. Totally obvious question, but the Lytham Trophy is stroke play, and tomorrow you're playing that course in match play. What's the difference in strategy for playing it in match play?

JOHN GOUGH: You know, I don't think there is that much of a difference. I think no matter what way you play that golf course, it's a grind no matter what. I was saying to my parents after my round yesterday, it was like when you go over par, you can't chase a score or anything. It's just patience and hole a few putts. That's the main thing.

Q. Stay out of bunkers?

JOHN GOUGH: Absolutely, yeah. I hit my first shot yesterday, I managed to do it pretty good.

Q. And there's bit of a carrot end of this competition at the end of the week, do you start dreaming that far? I asked the same question of Mark Power, and he said it is kind of difficult to keep out of your mind. Is it?

JOHN GOUGH: Yeah, I think it's something you don't think about when you're playing but after you get back to the house and after you have hopefully won your matches, it definitely is in the back of your head, yeah.

Q. Looking at this list of winners here and what they have gone to achieve, opens, and playing in the biggest stages in golf, it's not much bigger than St Andrews for the 150th.

JOHN GOUGH: That's pretty much what dreams are made of, isn't it, Home of Golf for 150th Open. That would be insane.

Q. What's the key to Lytham? Is driving the key thing?

JOHN GOUGH: If you can keep the ball in the fairways, even if you're further back than your opponent, it's automatically putting pressure on for them. I don't think you can have a mind blank on any tee shot, really, around there, even the par 3s to be honest because there's run-offs in all of them. It's just staying focused. It's going to be an absolute driving range, absolutely driving range 36 holes around that place on Sunday. But you know, it's got to be done, and if you want to win, you've got to do it.