HORIZON IRISH OPEN

September 9, 2023

Hurly Long

The K Club, Ryder Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk us through that one?

HURLY LONG: I thought it was a solid round, nothing spectacular, but Kent the ball in play. Just pretty solid. I was happy with it overall. Nice to finish on a birdie.

Q. You came into the week, 150th in The Race to Dubai, best finish of 30th in Kenya. What's been the difference this week?

HURLY LONG: You know, when we had those four weeks off, I practiced really, really hard trying to find something, and you know, putting my mind to what had gone wrong, and I feel like, like I told you during the round, I found some things that for me personally are some keys, having a plan. I played well this year. It wasn't horrendous but it's just these guys are too good to be mediocre.

Q. You're going to play in the final round of the Irish Open alongside Rory McIlroy and one other. It will be an enormous crowd out there supporting him. Talk us through from your point of view how that might feel and how excited or anxious you are about that prospect?

HURLY LONG: I know he's going to be nervous, but it's exciting. Last year at The Belfry, I was leading after two rounds, and there were ginormous crowds out there as well. I know I can take something from that. I've got a good attitude. I know it's going to be way more difficult tomorrow than it was even today, but you can feed off of that just as well. So just looking forward to it either way.

Q. Birdie at the last, one of four on the day, 13-under. What are your takeaways from day three?

HURLY LONG: Just a solid round. I feel like I managed my ball nicely. Nothing heroic, but I think the key out here is just to strategic where you placed the ball and I did a good job of that today. Overall I'm happy with the round.

Q. That said, what have you learned form this course and the way it's played the first three days that might help you formulate a game plan for Sunday?

HURLY LONG: I felt like I found a pretty good strategy for this place and I've just stuck with it, even though the wind switched. It's not going to make a huge difference. Probably going to do the same thing tomorrow.

Q. Big spot tomorrow, chance to break through, Rory is going to be in the mix. How do you deal with the emotions of what could be right in front of you?

HURLY LONG: I think today was a good, like, ladder, getting to tomorrow. Obviously the first two round, there wasn't too many people watching my group today but there was a lot more and tomorrow there is obviously going to be a lot more. Yeah, I'm just looking forward to it. Obviously it's a big stage but it's going to be a lot of fun, I know that.