THE 150TH OPEN

July 15, 2022

Corey Conners

Mixed Zone

Q. That finish today was a little maybe easier on your nerves than yesterday's. Talk through the last few holes and 18.

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, there was certainly some thoughts of the positions I was in yesterday. So tried to be really free with the swings that I made and just tried to keep it steady. The wind was completely different direction. So the holes did play very different. But it was great to get one on 16, and able to get a 4 on 17. So a little better than yesterday. Yeah, just hit some better shots.

Q. I can't imagine there was many birdies on 16. I was watching that pin. Talk about yours.

COREY CONNERS: Just had really good yardage. The wind was in off the left. Felt like, if I hit my normal shot, it would draw back into the wind a little bit. It was certainly going to get hurt by the wind, but it was going to land softly. So I felt I could be fairly aggressive to that pin even though it's tucked way off to the side.

That was probably one of the better shots of the day and certainly a nice bonus to roll in that putt.

Q. The front nine sort of up and down. Was that just links golf, or did you find something in your game?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, just kind of made a few sloppy errors. Hit a poor tee shot on the 5th hole. Yeah, missed a short putt on the first hole. That wasn't my best stuff, but I was able to battle hard after that and steady the ship a little bit.

Q. Is there some stuff to work on going into the weekend?

COREY CONNERS: I think more of the same. I feel like I drove the ball really well yesterday, not quite as well today, but hit a lot of good ones coming in at the end. Feel like I'm in my irons well. It's just about getting a good plan, see what the hole locations look like tomorrow.

The plan on each hole can change depending on that, trying to set up a better angle. As far as the game, I feel pretty good about that. I certainly would like to be a little higher up on the leaderboard, but looking forward to trying to do that the next couple of days.

Q. Were you watching the leaderboard coming in?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, I saw it early on in the round, but I didn't really see too much towards the last few holes. I pretty much knew what I needed to do on the back nine. Just trying to put my foot on the gas, make some birdies, and close the gap.

Q. Did the hole positions seem extreme at any point?

COREY CONNERS: There's certainly a few that are really close to the slopes. In my preparation, having not played an Open here before, I felt like some of the pins were tucked a little more than I thought they would be in the preparation. Certainly it was very fair, but there was definitely a lot of challenging pins.

Q. No complaints?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, no complaints.

Q. They did push it. They admit it.

COREY CONNERS: It's pretty fun to be playing here, and it's pretty cool to have the challenge of tough pins being close to some crazy slopes and being on little knobs that, if you're a little short, it comes back. If you're a little long, it runs away. Fun challenge.

Q. I'm wondering, on 17, you hit a great drive today. Did you ever think about -- you're very confident with your driver. Did you ever think about how it is for maybe the other players who don't hit it like you?

COREY CONNERS: I thought about it on Monday or Tuesday when I was playing, and I thought about the hotel, wondering how many times balls had ricocheted off of that, thinking that there's a restaurant we're kind of hitting over. There's certainly some dings in the wall. So I'm sure it's been hit a few times.

I imagine it's a daunting tee shot for a lot of the amateurs that come here. I'm sure they play the forward tee, which is even closer. So the hotel's kind of right there.

Q. What's your line on that hole?

COREY CONNERS: Basically right over the emblem that says "Old Course Hotel." There's an emblem, the letters, just have it finish right over the logo.

Q. It was beautiful today.

COREY CONNERS: It was beautiful today. I'll take a couple more of those.

Q. If it was ideal, where would you want it, left side of the fairway, right side of the fairway, or right in the middle?

COREY CONNERS: I think right in the middle. With my shot shape, it's hard for me to get it into the right side of the fairway. The ball kind of runs towards the left there.

I think, to a back, left pin, I'd like to be on the left side, and sort of forces you to take it on a little bit. The right side is a little harder to get to from the left side of the fairway, I think.

Q. (Indiscernible) is it a gift?

COREY CONNERS: Breitling. I've got a partnership with them. Good stuff.