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BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 15, 2004

Gary Evans

ROYAL TROON, SCOTLAND

STEWART McDOUGALL: Ladies and gentlemen, we have Gary Evans in the clubhouse with 68, 3-under par. Before we go into your round, do tell us about how you felt after you holed the 5-iron shot today.

GARY EVANS: I felt good -- well, I felt great. I gave myself 3 chances the first three holes, I didn't make any of them, and so I was a little frustrated, but you've got to play the front nine under par, otherwise the back nine becomes awfully difficult. And when I brought one in, it was fantastic. Happy days.

Q. How far out was it?

GARY EVANS: 227, 5-iron.

Q. Talk about the last albatross you had.

GARY EVANS: It was the first one.

Q. That was the first one?

GARY EVANS: First one ever.

Q. 8 was a good save, and again 11, the chip in?

GARY EVANS: I plugged it in the left trap on 8. I thought oh, my God, it could be one of those "in here all day jobs. But I had room, I got it out to about 20 feet and holed it. The first putt went in the hole. And I hit the approach, the second shot, pulled it left of the green, but had a chip up to about four feet and knocked it in.

Q. How did it feel being first off, Gary?

GARY EVANS: It was quite nerve-wracking, the first tee at the British Open, when you first start. I think that's probably about the third time I've been out in the first group. I think I led it in '93 the Birkdale. It's quite nerve-wracking. You obviously have to try to be as focused as you can. It's rather nice to have a 5-iron in your hand, rather than a driver.

Q. Can you give us details on the first couple of holes?

GARY EVANS: I chipped a 9-iron to the first to about 20 feet. I hit a really good putt, just missed the right edge.

Next hole, I hit it in right behind the flag 12 feet, missed it.

The third hole, I hit it in again pretty close, about ten feet and missed it.

Q. Why do you think you did so well? Why does it bring out the best in you?

GARY EVANS: I think most of the English players that play golf in England as amateurs play links golf. And I won a lot of tournaments on links courses. I feel very comfortable. The old boring sort of yardage and hitting to targets goes out the window. This is much more about finding your way around the golf course. You short-side yourself on some of these holes and you don't have a shot at all. And you go sort of visualize yourself and give yourself a chance. There's a lot of imagination required for links golf.

Q. With such an early start, how do you program it? What time did you get up?

GARY EVANS: Up at 4:00 with a breakfast. I left the house at 25 to 5:00, got here at 5:00. I went straight to the putting green first, because the physio didn't open until 5:30, and it's an important part of my day to get in the physio. And the boys really help me out. I struggle with my back a bit. My right shoulder has not been great. So those two, I putted for 15, 20 minutes, went to the physio. After that went to the range, had a lovely session on the range. I felt comfortable to leave there earlier than I would do normally and went back and hit another sort of ten minutes sort of putting.

Q. Did you sleep when you're making a 4:00 to get up?

GARY EVANS: No problem, had a pint of Guinness. It was perfect.

Q. Do you think you've got experience now to go on in the next three rounds?

GARY EVANS: I guarantee you one thing, there's not a human being on the planet that went through a worse time in terms of nerves than me two years ago. Standing over the putt at Muirfield is the worse I'll ever feel if my life. Actually, the two years I've had since then I've played a lot of good golf. Unfortunately I haven't played so good this year because of injuries. But I've got a lot of confidence because of The Open. But if I keep doing what I'm doing, it's boring, but you keep doing what you're doing and don't get ahead of yourself there's no reason why I can't compete at the end of the week.

End of FastScripts.

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