THE 152ND OPEN

July 18, 2024

Ewen Ferguson

Mixed Zone

Q. You're 3-over-par 74. You must have felt you've gone ten rounds with Tyson.

EWEN FERGUSON: Yeah, it was really tough. I started off so well too. It doesn't take much, and all of a sudden you're staring bogey or double bogey in the face.

I think it gave me a bit of a fright, and then a couple of shots on the 8th, I must have landed it three feet from the hole, and I'm in the bunker with hardly a shot. Punching out 20 feet and missing that, and I'm thinking when is it going to get easier, and it never does.

Even coming in at the end, left-to-right winds it's really difficult. I think I did well to hang in towards the end.

Q. How tough is this course in comparison to what it normally like on a regular day?

EWEN FERGUSON: I've not played here for a while, but when I did play here the last time, I was 18, and it was not really that difficult.

You can hit driver and bomb it into places where there's no rough really and still you're hitting wedge. But you can't now because you hit driver in there, it will make you lose your ball.

It's really difficult, also they put a lot of new tees in that are a lot further back, which makes things tougher. I never played from there before.

And really smartly placed bunkers, like on one where you can probably sneak driver down there and have a 60 degree in your hand, now you're like can't really do that. So you have it in with a 6-iron. It was really difficult.

I think Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the winds -- the prevailing wind, and then you turn up today, and I'm like, wow, I've never really played this course before. It was really difficult, but I hung in there.

Q. You look at some of the scores, Rory 7-over, and Bryson DeChambeau 5-over. This is a course if you go offline, it can really -- 3-under is not bad actually.

EWEN FERGUSON: 3-over. Hopefully 3-under tomorrow (laughter).

Yeah, it's the first round. You can easily bomb your way out of it. I'm off early tomorrow, nice dinner tonight. Hopefully wake up, glorious sunshine, flat calm, perfect greens, and everything goes my way.

Q. You have a two-ball as well tomorrow and you're first off?

EWEN FERGUSON: First out, which is great. The pace of play today was difficult, and the course was so difficult as well.

Just waiting about all day felt like -- I made a bogey, I felt like I was freezing on the tee after waiting 20 minutes and all that stuff. It's all elements of the Open Championship, isn't it? It's never easy, and no one told me it was going to be. I'm prepared to fight.