HORIZON IRISH OPEN

July 2, 2022

Lucas Herbert

Mount Juliet Estate

Quick Quotes

Q. Thank you very much, Lucas. Third round 68. Won here last year. What is it about the golf course that suits your game so well?

LUCAS HERBERT: I don't know. Obviously played well here last year. Just feels like I'm carrying on sort of the good energy, good vibes from last year's performance and just remembering all the shots that I hit last year and just trying to mimic them more than anything.

So, yeah, this place has some good memories.

Q. Is there anything from the final round last year that can help you tomorrow?

LUCAS HERBERT: Definitely. I think winning last year, obviously winning Bermuda as well, I feel like I've been good at closing out tournaments of recent times, played well on Sunday. So, you know, that's going to give me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow, to know that my game is -- has the ability to stand up under the pressure.

There's obviously some other good players up there on that leaderboard that we've got to -- yeah, I got to try and beat, which is a little different from last year. The leaderboard was a little thinner at the top there, wasn't as many guys in with a chance.

But, yeah, just got to go out and shoot a low one tomorrow and play boldly.

Q. Low scores today. Given your position on the leaderboard, does that kind of also give you a little bit of confidence that you know you can be two, three, four strokes back?

LUCAS HERBERT: I guess so, yeah. Like I would imagine I'll be one or two back going into tomorrow, depending on what the guys coming in do.

But, yeah, I won -- obviously won here from in front last year, I've won tournaments from a long way back, I've won tournaments from not far back. So got the ability to sort of do it from any position.

You just got to kind of get yourself in for a look down the back nine come tomorrow, and anything can happen.

Q. Lucas, well done today. You started the day just the four back, and you narrowed that gap nicely. What was your goal at the start of the day?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I sort of felt like over the weekend I was going to need one solid round and one probably pretty low round to get this thing done.

So it looked like we were on track for the pretty low one today, and it kind of just slipped away a little bit there at the end unfortunately. But it's still a good day. Still the solid round that I needed. Obviously gives me a really good chance going into tomorrow.

That was obviously number one goal, was to give myself the best look I can going into Sunday, and we're right there with another chance again this year.

Q. It looks like a bunched leaderboard. And we know in this game anything can happen. Going into tomorrow, what's the mindset and tactics?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I mean, if I get off to a good start, put my name out there at the top of the leaderboard and I make those guys look at the score that's in front of them, and that sets them a challenge. And, you know, hopefully being defending champion, that sort of throws down the gauntlet a little bit as well.

So, yeah, just keep being annoying enough for the guys that are in the last group so that hopefully it's a bit of a problem for them.

Q. What's it like being the defending champion? And also reflecting back to last year's victory, what was key to getting the job done?

LUCAS HERBERT: I think I played incredibly well last year. My game's probably not as sharp this year, but still at a pretty high level. Last year was just -- you know, that's some of the best golf I played in my life.

So it's definitely good to sort of take that -- take those feelings from last year, remember those good shots that I hit and feel like I can recreate them as much as possible this year.

But, yeah, as far as Sunday goes, you know, it was obviously a tough day. I made some bad swings in there, got myself into some interesting positions, and still managed to hole a couple of clutch putts when I needed to. And I think, you know, if I can do that tomorrow, there's no reason why I can't win again.