THE 152ND OPEN

July 19, 2024

Daniel Hillier

Mixed Zone

Q. How do you feel? You come out here today, what were your feelings ahead of that?

DANIEL HILLIER: Honestly, after that 1st hole, I was thinking it was going to be another one of those majors. Yeah, Henry told me after the 1st hole, it's still doable, Mate. Keep your head down.

Sure enough started playing pretty good golf soon after. Yeah, just pretty proud of the way that I fought the whole day really.

Q. This is the thing. Your last two Open appearances. As you know, didn't make the cut, but this time it looks like you're just about to do it.

DANIEL HILLIER: Yeah, I think it's trust. Like I said, it's probably the most will power I've had on a golf course in a long time. Yeah, it was a nice to put up a good fight there.

Obviously keep an eye on the leaderboard to make sure I'm still in the right spot, but, yeah, happy days.

Q. Do you want to talk about that eagle as well near the end, on the back nine? What that happened straight away, did you almost believe this could happen this time making the cut?

DANIEL HILLIER: The tee shot was a big moment really. I knew, if I could give that away, I had a good chance of making 3. I hadn't really been hitting the driver well all day. That was one of the ones I had to step up to the plate.

Yeah, thankfully hit a good one down there. Only had a gap wedge into the green, which makes that hole a little bit easier. Yeah, managed to roll in a nice putt, probably one of the only putts I rolled in all day.

Q. How have you found Royal Troon? This is your third Open appearance. How have you found it compared to the other two?

DANIEL HILLIER: It's a beast, especially in conditions like these. It's firm. It's fiery. Can only imagine it's going to get more so over the weekend.

But I've loved every minute of it. That's what The Open Championship is meant to be like. It's still fair. You get rewarded for hitting good golf shots and get punished for hitting bad ones. Yeah, really enjoying it.

Q. Looking ahead a couple of weeks to Paris. How much are you looking forward to that and representing New Zealand?

DANIEL HILLIER: Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be an amazing experience. Mixing it with some of New Zealand's best athletes is pretty awesome. Being able to represent your country is always an honour. Pretty stoked I get to do it at the Olympics. Yeah, starting to play some pretty good golf now. Hopefully I can carry that over in a few weeks time.

Q. Alongside Foxy, of course, what's he like as a friend and a competitor and how much can you help each other?

DANIEL HILLIER: Yeah, he's been awesome. Ever since he came out here my first year on DP World Tour, he was having practise rounds with me, we're having dinners, and I've been picking his brain. He's been a big help, more just a comforting face than anything else as well.

It's nice to have a Kiwi so far away from home. I haven't seen much of him this year, but it's pretty cool I got to rub shoulders with him again these last couple of weeks.

Q. Finally, Sunday, 18th green, Le Golf National, gold medal goes around your neck, where would you rank that in terms of career achievements?

DANIEL HILLIER: It would by far right at the top. Like I said, representing your country is amazing, and doing that at the Olympics is basically the pinnacle of that. Yeah, there's obviously a lot of guys that are pretty hungry to get a medal for their country. Yeah, I'm obviously going to have to play some seriously good golf to do it.

Yeah, I feel like my game is slowly trending in the right direction. So hopefully I can give it a good shot.