THE SENIOR OPEN PRESENTED BY ROLEX

July 27, 2023

Alex Cejka

Royal Porthcawl Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. First round here at the Senior Open, a 68, clean card and so far the only one in the clubhouse. How did you find it out there today?

ALEX CEJKA: I played well. I hit a lot of good tee shots. Played kind of smart. Tried to avoid the bunkers. Tried to avoid the high stuff and hit a lot of good shots. It's not easy. We were maybe a little bit lucky with the weather. The morning wave, it was a little bit raining, a little bit more wind I think.

But we kind of had a really nice day. It was blowing but nobody likes to play in the rain. So it's been good.

Q. As you say, arguably the morning guys might have had a slightly tougher round, but it was by far from smooth sailing. It's a very easy course for the numbers to get away from you, isn't it?

ALEX CEJKA: Yeah, one loose shot, and you can easily make triple. I mean, I hit one, actually one bad drive on 18. I was in the rough but it was a horrible lie. And that was just not even in the high stuff. That was in the rough.

So I really played well. Really didn't make as many stupid mistakes, and that's the key. I mean, we all have a strategy but you've got to still pull it off. If you don't pull it off, so it doesn't matter how good your strategy is, and course management and everything.

But today I played well. I'm really proud I hung in there. It was windy. I had to punch a lot of balls. You know, playing all these years in America in good weather, you don't necessarily punch balls under the wind. But it's different golf over here, and I love it.

Q. Last week might have had most if not all of the rain behind us, but we have got at least 25- to 30-mile-an-hour winds coming our way the rest of the week. Do you relish those kind of opportunities?

ALEX CEJKA: You know, I'd rather play in sunshine and perfect conditions. But you know, I've got to take it -- we all have to take it the way it comes. Wind is maybe not such a big factor than rain and wind combination, like I've heard it was a couple years ago. So that was probably brutal.

You know, we are all great players and we all know how to hit low balls. You just have to hit it good off the tee. That's the key here.