ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 4, 2024

Darren Fichardt

Quick Quotes

Q. Give us your thoughts about your round around the Old Course today.

DARREN FICHARDT: Frustrating. But you know, after a day like yesterday, I knew, you know, I needed to just settle down and play, start the day like it's my first round, and I did that.

I made two quick birdies, which I thought, okay, yeah, here we go again, for a 61 again. But then the putts -- the putter started behaving very naughty. So the ball was not going to the hole.

But to be fair, I wasn't hitting it that close to the hole. The pin placements aren't there. Especially the front nine, it was pretty close to the front of the green, and it the wind was down, so it was hard to get the ball close to the hole.

Then yeah, the back nine is into the wind, and it was really cold. Started getting really cold.

So all in all, you know, bogey-free round at the Old Course, that's nothing to be ashamed of.

Q. Is it still special when you walk to the first tee at the Old Course, hear your name, playing possibly the most iconic course in the world?

DARREN FICHARDT: Absolutely. I was telling the guys, in 200, I played my first major here when Tiger won. Hearing my name echoed across the whole town of St Andrews was daunting. I had never played such a tight fairway in my life before, after they called my name on the first tee.

But it's obviously very iconic, very special, and especially coming up the 18th, all those memories of all the past champions and the majors, and even in this event, it's very, very special.

Q. You played a beautiful shot on 18. Sadly the putt didn't go. In when you have the Valley of Sin in front of you and the pin is about four paces over from it, how much does that take working out? Because you played it beautifully.

DARREN FICHARDT: Yeah, definitely. I hit a poor chip on, I think it was 14. I had a very similar -- well, I had a big mound in front of me and I overcooked it. So I thought, okay, well, I almost used the putter, but I thought let me just run something and get it on ground as soon as possible. I had Nick Faldo in my head there a little bit.

Yeah, it worked out perfect. Really, really good.

Q. One bogey in 36 holes. That's not bad, is it, going into Carnoustie tomorrow, one shot back. Tell us your thoughts about the weekend.

DARREN FICHARDT: Excited. Excited. I'm going to the range quickly and just figure something out that I didn't feel comfortable with today. But all in all, you know, even though I didn't make putts, I still very, very comfortable with the putter. I feel comfortable, yeah.

Q. You like Carnoustie?

DARREN FICHARDT: I do like Carnoustie. I usually shoot my lowest score on that course. So yeah, I don't want to jinx it, but yeah, I really enjoy that course.