THE 152ND OPEN

July 18, 2024

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Mixed Zone

Q. Matt, you must be delighted. What were the highlights today?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Good solid start. I played solid overall. Just getting in and scoring under-par is always a highlight.

Q. Were you watching before you went out to get some sort of read on the conditions?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, definitely always like to watch The Open. Coverage is normally fantastic. You get a good idea of how it's playing too.

Yeah, I felt like that definitely helped me out there before I went out. Yeah, it was a good round.

Q. How challenging did you find some of the conditions?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Front nine was tough. The front nine was tough. A lot of wind off the right. It's hard to control your ball. Didn't feel you could start it far right enough to keep it in the fairway.

On the whole, I felt the back nine with that wind switch -- and the wind did die down a little bit for our back nine. So it felt a little bit easier.

Q. A little bit of help with the weather coming in?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Definitely.

Q. Do you feel in shape to challenge again for this?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, hopefully, hopefully. It's a long week. You've got to slowly build your way into the tournament. Not play my way out of it today is the most important thing. Can't win on a Thursday, as everyone knows. So hopefully build off this round and progress.

Q. I know you're here focusing on yourself, but I was chatting to Joe Dean, who's back here and was telling us he'd been an delivery driver to pay for his travel. How excited are you to see a fellow player from Sheffield here?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, delighted. I grew up playing golf with Joe. Played Sheffield stuff, Yorkshire stuff. We know each other really well.

He told me the other day when I saw him in the players lounge that he didn't think I'd remember what he looked like. No, I'm so happy for Joe. He's had a great season so far, and hopefully he can keep building on it.