THE 151ST OPEN

July 20, 2023

Brian Harman

Mixed Zone

Q. Take us a little through your round. Five birdies, so what was the best part?

BRIAN HARMAN: Just kept it in play, hit a bunch of fairways, was able to get close enough. The pins are tough, so it's hard to get the ball really close to the hole. I've been putting good, so I was just trying to free it up, and I was fortunate enough to make a few.

Q. It looks like the key today was the putting, making some long putts.

BRIAN HARMAN: The key is always the putting.

Q. But on this golf course, staying away from --

BRIAN HARMAN: I had a lot of keys out here. You've got to drive it well, you've got to hit your irons really solid, and hold it against the wind. It's not just about your putter. There's no faking around this place. This is a real golf course.

Q. Very different wind when you started and when you finished.

BRIAN HARMAN: No, no, wind was out of the west/northwest pretty much all day.

Q. How many clubs?

BRIAN HARMAN: Well, it depends. It figured it to be about a 15- to 20-yard wind most of the time.

Q. How much do you enjoy playing links golf?

BRIAN HARMAN: I love playing links golf. I love coming over here. This is my first shot at The Open championship in 2014, so I have fond memories around this golf course, and I've enjoyed it so far.

Q. You're in position now for the rest of the week.

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, just right back at work tomorrow morning, try and get a good night's sleep and something agreeable to eat and get out of here.

Q. You always seem to sneak into contention. What's your secret?

BRIAN HARMAN: Golf is always frustrating because it comes and it goes, and you try and make it good at certain times for certain tournaments and it doesn't always work out that way.

I feel pretty comfortable around links golf. I think it was nice coming over and playing the Scottish Open last week; played some decent golf there. I knew that my game was at least okay, but you never know, so it was nice to get off to a good start.

Q. At Augusta you were there or thereabouts after a couple of rounds. What do you have to do differently this week?

BRIAN HARMAN: Oh, it's totally different golf. Augusta is long, a lot of forced carries, a lot of really, really iron shots and at times there's really only one way to play Augusta and it's long and as far as you can hit it and everyone is trying to land it in the same spots, where here it's a big variety. There's always a million different ways to play this course.

Q. Mindset-wise is there anything you can implement here?

BRIAN HARMAN: Not really. It's a different type of golf, but your mindset is the same.