OPEN DE FRANCE

October 10, 2024

Nicolai Hojgaard

Le Golf National

Quick Quotes

Q. 66 how do you evaluate your first round here?

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: A very solid day. I played lovely. Felt like I hit the ball really solid today and I putted well. Holed a lot of good putts, and yeah, there was a point in the round around 7, 8, where some strong winds and rain made it tough but it's scorable out there. Fairways are wide and soft, and it's a bit more dart golf. So you have to take advantage of some fairway hits.

But very happy with how I played. I haven't played a really good round of golf for quite a bit, and it felt really solid today.

Q. You drained a big birdie putt on 17 but I think your shot of the day was the third on 9?

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: I actually felt my second shot on 9 wasn't too bad but at the time it wasn't nowhere. It was into the wind and strong rain. I got lucky there. In my head I was trying to make five, but I saw the ball and saw the lie and sometimes you get a lucky break and I got one there.

Q. Don't want to compare you to your brother, but the Achilles' heel l you both have had is the driver. Do you feel like you're coming out of that spell?

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: Yeah, I felt like I had decent control. Looking forward to build on that and if you can drive it well on this course, you can drive it well everywhere. Yeah, as I said, I'm really pleased to see a good round of golf again, and I felt steady the whole way around. Yeah, looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. I remember first time you guys both came to this course in 2018 during the Ryder Cup.

NICOLAI HØJGAARD: Yeah, it's a special place. I remember watching it and back then we weren't too close to Thomas but we got to know him back then and then to now, I have a really good relationship with him, and I have a special relationship with this course. Olympics was one of the best weeks I've had on the golf course, and coming back here just brings back memories. We were close to fight for a medal, which was really fun. Yeah, this week is one of them where -- it's one of those courses you really want to play well in.