ITALIAN OPEN

September 15, 2022

Nicolai Hojgaard

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Starting your defence of the title, how do you reflect on your opening round?

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: It was a good round. We started off this morning and I thought it's going to be a tricky one. It was tricky out there but I managed to play some solid golf, really good golf the first nine holes and then lost a bit of rhythm on the back nine off the tee and put me in some are hard positions off the tee.

But most of all, it's a good start to the defence.

Q. You were going slowly on the front nine with the conditions being so different to what you practiced here. How pleasing was it to get through that and put up a great score on the front nine?

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: It was good to see. There was some really good golf. Good, slid tee shots put me in good positions, good approach shots. So it was a good start on the back nine, our front nine. Wish I had kept it going on the back. Lost a bit of rhythm and I'm trying to work on the range now to get rhythm and hopefully we keep going tomorrow.

Q. When we spoke earlier in the week, you said it did not feel any different being a defending champion, and you probably didn't know until you got on to the first tee. How did that feel?

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: It was cool. It was the first time I hear, but it's pretty cool to hear your name as defending champion.

But the work doesn't change now. You still have to go out and do what you need to do and I felt like I did it 90 per cent of the way today and just had a few tee shots that, and hopefully be flying the next few days.