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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2014

Henrik Stenson

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND

Q. It's common for you guys to start on two holes on the European Tour. What about here? Your thoughts?
HENRIK STENSON: Who wants to listen?

Q. It's being taped.
HENRIK STENSON: Okay. No, I think it's obviously never ideal to start on -- with a two-tee start on a course that's not really suited for it. But they made a decision due to bad weather on its way or whatever. So you can never really blame that. It's more that it's hassle enough when you need to get shuttles to the range and then being shuttled back, and they're calling us off early on the range to get us back to the clubhouse to ship us out to the this. And we stand there for 15 minutes before we're going to tee off. It's not ideal, but there was a reason behind it. And you can't really blame that. If you do a one-tee start and you get really poor weather, then everybody would be stuck anyway. So you make a call and you live with it.

Q. You were on the rebound a little bit, three birdies in a four-hole stretch coming home (inaudible).
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I mean, I lost my patience very early. I made two bad bogeys on 14, 15, and then drove it in a bunker on 16. And I felt like that was the end of my day. But then I still fought back, made a couple of good par saves and made a bunch of birdies. So still had a half decent score in the making, and then got a very thick lie in the rough, and went for a difficult third shot, and hit the face of the bunker, came off unplayable and had to go out sideways. Of course, that was a little finish that we didn't want to. But anyways, I'm swimming way back in the pack anyway, so it doesn't matter that much.

Q. Was that bunker (inaudible).
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I think my caddie got confused. He said three bunker shots. But he added up the whole thing. It was three bunker shots, two in the first and one in the second, but he got it down to an 8. But myself and playing partner and scorer got it down for a 7. So he obviously wanted to make the day even worse.

Q. The two-tee start, when you come to an event like a championship, is that something you ever think about?
HENRIK STENSON: No, I mean -- no, this is the first time we do it, so you don't really plan on -- that's not really entering your mind that that's going to happen. But I heard about it yesterday and it was for a reason, like I just said. And they make a call due to the weather. And of course it's going to be a bit messy, but I can't blame my own poor performance on starting on the 10th tee.

Q. The other part of that is, I guess, they didn't get the tee times to you guys until late?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, that was probably more of a nuisance, than starting off two tees. I went to bed -- I was just guesstimating. And I was only five minutes out on my guesstimate when I was going to tee off. Yeah, you hope to have tee times before 11, 11:30 the night before the third round.

Q. That's when you found out?
HENRIK STENSON: No, I didn't find out until the morning. My caddie woke up in the middle of the night and checked it. I went to bed at 11, 11:30 and I still didn't have any word.

Q. Did they give you an explanation of why?
HENRIK STENSON: No. I haven't asked anyone. Like I said, I was only five minutes out. So ask if someone else was more affected by it, someone that didn't guess as good as I did.

Q. (Inaudible.)
HENRIK STENSON: On this one? It all depends on the wind, though. It can play so differently. If it's downwind you've got two very reachable par 5s downwind. And even in crosswind, you can reach both of them. And if they're down, then of course 17 is a bit of a tough cookie coming back at you. So it all depends so much on the wind. If it's the best finishing stretch, probably not, but it's good enough.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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