THE 151ST OPEN

July 23, 2023

Laurie Canter

Mixed Zone

Q. Laurie, you must be delighted to shoot that out there.

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, I'm delighted to shoot that. I'm not a great links player, not a great wet weather player, so to shoot in the 60s, I'm delighted.

Q. You've had to dig in in all conditions and all sorts of weathers, nighttime, afternoon, rains, wind; you've had to really fight this week.

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, yeah, that's part of the game, isn't it? I think you learn and you either embrace that -- I think this year probably did a bad job of embracing it maybe and running with it.

I've really enjoyed the course. It's been fun. I like the way it's playing. Not super quick and bouncy. I properly prefer it when it's a little bit softer.

I've kind of enjoyed that. I think 17th was good fun.

Q. Birdie today?

LAURIE CANTER: Birdie today and probably the only person who thinks that hole is good fun. It's been a great week. Yeah, very, very happy.

Q. Was it the (indiscernible) that made you embrace it, because as you say, you just enjoyed it?

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, today you're just trying to survive and stay as dry as you can. I think a lot of the time you're just looking at spots to miss, places to hit it. You haven't really got control of the ball.

When you turn 10, 12, 13, 14, it's going to be interesting to see the leaders play those because they're playing very difficult, those holes.

Yeah, it's going to be good now to go and get dry and watch the leaders play those and see how they do it.

Q. The crowds are staying despite the rain and the miserable conditions.

LAURIE CANTER: The atmosphere here is amazing. I mean, I played in Birkdale four, five, six years ago, and I remember the atmosphere was sort of similarly amazing.

I've really enjoyed the atmosphere and being out there with the fans who absolutely love their golf in this part of the world.

Q. Obviously we don't know who's going to win. But if Harman does win, just a thought on him?

LAURIE CANTER: If I was him, this is just the perfect weather to have, isn't it? It's going to be really hard for anyone in that chasing pack to shoot 5-under par in this weather.

Yeah, he's probably just one of those guys who goes under the radar, but he's always knocking about, top 10, top 20. He's a fantastic player. It would be good to see another new major winner kind of adding to what we've seen a lot of good players coming through and kind of being around the game.

Q. Does it feel like there's more depth now? Obviously a lot of focus on Rory McIlroy, can he win it, Tommy Fleetwood, but it seems the depth is there.

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, I think the last two majors suggest that with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman now, absolutely. There's a lot of guys waiting to break through, and sometimes you just need a little break here or there or a good run of form at the right time and it can make all the difference.

Yeah, I think that's probably what we're going to see this week with Brian Harman. He looks absolutely in control, doesn't he.

Q. What's coming up for you now?

LAURIE CANTER: I've got a week off and then I've got a couple of tournaments in the States on the LIV Tour and then back playing the DP World Tour in August. That's my plan.

Q. I know you've been sort of standing in with Sam Horsfield on the LIV Tour. How much have you enjoyed and; learned playing with some of these big guys out there?

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, it's been sort of amazing experience for me to be honest to get a chance to do that, play with proper guys who -- it's not really a stretch to say they were kind of my heroes growing up, and now to be on a team and pick their brains every week, it's just an amazing opportunity and something I've enjoyed.