HERO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 28, 2023

Richard Bland

Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Two scores shooting 67, 10-under for the tournament, you managed to finish up your round obviously early this morning, no rain, that's good news, isn't it. Tell us a little bit more about what it was like out there today?

RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, a lot easier. The ball wasn't going too far this morning. So that was kind of one of the sort of things you just had to kind of be wary of as it warmed up, ball was traveling a little further, so yeah, I got caught out a couple of times early. Hit like what I thought was a good shot and came up, it was 20 yards' difference what it should do.

But yeah, it's just nice to play sun on your back which we're used to in Dubai. I think coming off top 10 last week, first tournament out two, months, it's good to kind of feel like you don't have to really work on too much and it just about just kind of sharpening your game, getting match fit as I sort of call it, and that's just playing tournament rounds. So it's nice I'm not searching for anything and try and off the vibe of last year, really.

Q. Speaking of being match fit, one dropped shot in two rounds, what do you credit that to?

RICHARD BLAND: Just kind of not doing an awful lot wrong. Every part of my game is in pretty good shape. Yeah, the only dropped shot was at 6 this morning where I kind of second hole of the day and misjudged the temperature and chipped to three feet and missed. So other than that, it's been pretty stress-free which is kind of nice.