THE 152ND OPEN

July 19, 2024

Billy Horschel

Mixed Zone

Q. Billy, well done. Still the halfway stage of The Open. How pleased are you with that to start?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Very pleased. Two really quality rounds of golf played and a really good position going into the weekend. I couldn't ask for anything more after the first two rounds.

Q. When you look back at your record, it's surprising here in The Open Championship. Probably not your strongest.

BILLY HORSCHEL: The record can be a little deceiving. I've been unfortunate enough to be on the bad side of some draws. Hoylake in '14.

Here in '16, I shot 4-under the first round, and then I proceeded to shoot 85, but if everyone remembers, the weather was pretty nasty. I got to No. 9, and the weather to that point was the most nastiest weather I've ever played in -- blowing 30, raining sideways. It was a brute that day.

Like I said, the record can be a little deceiving. I played Dunhill the last few years and felt better on links golf courses, and my record has been better on links golf courses, which when I come to The Open, I feel more comfortable that I have a record of quality play somewhere in links courses.

So, yeah, that can be a little deceiving, my record.

Q. Do you try to endear yourself to the English West Ham fans? Presumably, that's going down well?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Always does. Listen, whenever I come over here, the West Ham bat comes out, I love to hear "Up the Hammers" and "Come on you Irons."

Listen, I've been very fortunate enough that other supporters of other clubs have been gracious enough to be nice to me, compared to maybe how they would be to a fellow English person who was born a West Ham fan.

Q. What about the new manager?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I think Julen is going to do a good job. I'm excited. David Moyes was awesome. He took the club from one spot to another, and I think it's time to pass the torch. I think Julen is going to do a good job, and I think David has got something up his sleeve in the next couple of years. I think the maybe Scottish National job manager is going to be his.

Q. N'Golo Kante talk about joining your club?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I saw that this morning. $20 million for a 33-year-old, I don't think that's really good business, so I don't think that's going to happen.

Q. Do you have specific memories of the 85, Billy, or have you blanked it and put it down as horrific weather?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I remember I turned my hat backwards about the 14th hole because it was raining so hard. Then I got blasted on social media for having my hat backwards at The Open Championship. If I remember correctly, I think I've seen Tiger do it plenty of times.

I think Matt Fitzpatrick, I was playing Fitzy, and we both played well the first day, and then it was just carnage coming in. We were just sort of laughing on 17 tee about what was happening.

Yeah, it was -- it's unfortunate. Listen, we know what The Open Championship can be. When you have 6:30 tee times all the way to 4:30, some guys are going to get some bad side, and some guys are going to get some good side. I think early in my career I got a lot of the bad side of the draws, and I think I'm getting paid the other way now on the good side.

Q. I spoke to Matt last week, and he said he got to the 11th tee, and it was coming in sideways, rain, 40-mile-an-hour winds.

BILLY HORSCHEL: The 11th tee, I was trying to figure out back in '16, how do I put this ball where I could hit it for a second shot? All I could see was gorse left, and it was blowing so hard, all I could imagine was the ball going over into the train tracks.

I don't know where I hit it, but that was one of the toughest tee shots I ever had.

Q. You got a top 10 at the PGA. It was your first top 10 in a major in a long time. You've had some success in the majors here. You approaching them differently or just keep hammering away?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Just keep hammering away. For the longest part -- and I've talked about this. The majors mean so much to me. It's a legacy thing. You can submit your legacy in the game of golf by winning a major, by winning multiple majors. I've always felt I've had the game to play well in majors. I just had to get out of my own way.

I've always felt like I needed to be perfect. You've got to play perfect golf in majors to be able to win. I know that isn't the case, but it was just one of those things where in certain cases I'm probably a slow learner, and in the majors case I am a slow learner in learning how to approach the majors. I've done a better job the last couple years.

Even though the results haven't shown the last couple years, the way I've handled it, the way mentally I've been and just in a good frame of mind and not overly, say -- it's not stressed out, just anxiety, wanting to play well. I've done a better job of that the last couple years.

Q. With the memory that you had from last time now coming into here, how did that affect your mindset or preparation ahead of getting ready?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I shot 4-under one day, and I shot 85 the next day. Listen, it happens. You play in bad weather. You sort of throw it away. It is what it is, and you move on.

I'm a heck of a lot better player than I was in 2016, so hopefully if I was in those conditions then, I could handle it a lot better than I did then.

Q. Is there something about Troon that fits well with your game, do you think?

BILLY HORSCHEL: No. Well, I mean, listen, I've always been somewhat of a really solid ball striker for the most part, consistent, maybe not hitting it as close on a regular basis, but I hit a lot of greens. And these greens being really small plays into my part of hitting the green in regulation.

So you do that, it makes it a lot less stress just trying to grind out a par.

Q. What's different between this week and last week?

BILLY HORSCHEL: For me? Courses or how I played?

Q. Just how you played?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Not much. I played really well last week. I just didn't putt really well. I tried out a new putter. The one I've been using for the majority of this year just felt like it needed a week off.

So we tried out a new putter last week, and it looked really good for leading up until Thursday, and then it decided not to work.

But I played really well. I hit it really good last week. I've played really well a majority of this year, solid golf. Nothing special, but just solid. If I can hit the ball a little bit closer and the putter can stay hot the way it's been all year, I'll be up near -- be in more contention going forward.

Q. The old putter this week, you put it back into the bag, correct?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I'm back to the old one. We had to grip change it a couple times. It had to get fixed after Travelers.

Q. It felt slightly calmer this morning. Was that the case?

BILLY HORSCHEL: No, it was a lot calmer. Listen, I hit a 2-iron off the middle of 1 yesterday that I think went about 200 yards, and I hit 2-iron, 6-iron. Today I hit 3-iron, chipped 8-iron into No. 1.

It was a lot calmer. We got the benefit of the draw this morning compared to what these guys are going to play this afternoon.

Q. Just picking up a little bit later on as you got closer to the end?

BILLY HORSCHEL: It did pick up. We're playing the wind down off our left, which for a right-handed golfer, wind off your left, you're not always a fan of, but it's downwind, so makes it a little bit easier.

So yeah, playing those holes down off the left, 15 makes it a lot easier. 16, 17, 18, those holes are a lot easier because of that wind.