THE 152ND OPEN

July 20, 2024

Thriston Lawrence

Mixed Zone

Q. 6-under 65 for your round on a Saturday. Tell us how you're feeling after that.

THRISTON LAWRENCE: It's amazing. Obviously I had the perfect conditions on the front nine, and just took full advantage of it. I had a pretty aggressive game plan starting from Monday, Tuesday, and was hitting a lot of drivers, especially if that wind is in that direction.

Executed very well, didn't miss a fairway on the front nine and made a couple of putts. Yeah, very happy with 6-under.

Q. Give us an idea of the conditions out here today.

THRISTON LAWRENCE: At the moment it's not fun, but like I said, the front nine was the best we could get. Obviously I'm making a lot of birdies in the clubhouse standing right here.

Yeah, it's not fun out there. I'm very happy with myself, how patient I stayed with those holes coming in.

Q. Looking at your record so far, you're either top 10 or miss the cut. Is the next stage being a little more consistent?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: As you know, missing the cut by one is so close to winning. So I don't see missing the cut as being inconsistent. It's just a matter of golf, a bounce here and there. You just need to make the cut to have half a chance to win a golf tournament.

You could get a little bit more consistent with a couple things in your golf game, but I don't see missed cuts as being inconsistent at all.

Q. Has your goals for the week changed now, top 5 on the leaderboard at the minute, or just go out there and enjoy it tomorrow?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: Yeah, we teed it up on Thursday trying to win. Whatever happens in between up until Sunday is out of my control, but the game plan doesn't change and the mentality doesn't change.

Hopefully I'm in with a couple of shots going tomorrow, but I'm going to just try to do the same thing, be aggressive and try to win a golf tournament.

Q. When you arrived this morning with the conditions as they were, do you think to yourself I've really got to take advantage or I'm going do something special?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: Yeah, definitely, but as it started out, you feel like it's going to be like that all day. No one knew -- everyone it was going to turn out the way the forecast said, I just try to go as low as I can every single day. It doesn't matter how bad or how good the weather is.

It is moving day, as they say, and I definitely did it well.

Q. You get to the turn on 13 and you get another birdie soon after that. Does your mind start thinking about lowest rounds in majors with a 62?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: It did, to be honest, but I know where the back nine lies. When the rain started to come, it was completely out of my mind.

It can still happen. You can still shoot 5-under going in the last seven or eight holes, but it's -- I wouldn't say it's impossible, but patience was on my mind. Just try and stay patient and make pars and try not to give away the shots.

Q. Did you have a number in mind today?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: No. I just try and make as many birdies as possible and see what the weather brings. If the weather is bad, try and make easy pars. I managed to do that.

Q. Was the putter hot, or did you hit it close? What was the key?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: The putter was hot, but I didn't miss a lot of greens. I think I missed my first green maybe on the 10th hole and was just on the fringe. So I gave myself a lot of looks, obviously having no wind. Even with this rain, there's not much wind. So it's just trying to adjust to the speed.

Got quite slow, maybe a foot or two slower out there. But, yeah, I felt like I was putting it well on the front nine and just sort of try and keep momentum.

Q. How did you survive yesterday?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: It was tough, starting bogey, double bogey, 3-over after two. The front nine with that wind was almost impossible for me at one stage.

Once again, try to stay patient. Told myself don't try and push, make pars. You're not losing shots when you're making pars out here, especially when it's like that.

Once again, just told myself stay patient, try and do your best, and whatever happens happens.

Q. What's the best shot you hit today?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: There was a couple. There was a couple to be honest. That's a tough one. Maybe 18 felt good. Drive on 18 was, I think, crucial. Obviously a whole different hole than yesterday. Yesterday I had 70-odd yards to the flag, today I had 170, 180.

Just committing on that tee shot knowing bunkers are in play, but you have to hit driver. I think it was probably my best swing of the day.

Q. What's the first time you remember watching The Open?

THRISTON LAWRENCE: Probably 6, 7 years old. I couldn't tell what Open it was. But I was lucky enough to play Junior Open when I was about 15 years old, up at Lytham & St Annes, and that's the only one. So that was a nice memory playing the Junior Open and going to support Ernie winning the normal Open. So that was a cool memory for me.