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DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN HOSTED BY THE RORY FOUNDATION


July 6, 2017


Michael Hoey


Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Q. The eagle on the front nine, obviously the highlight.
MICHAEL HOEY: Yeah, I've taken some of my good form from Challenge Tour in here. I'll driving it well, so gave myself a lot of chances. I felt like it could have been 6 but still, 4-under is still a good start.

Q. Overall, what sort of shape do you think your game is in coming into this week?
MICHAEL HOEY: Driving it well. Hitting a lot of fairways. If you're in the rough out here, you never know how it's going to fly. You get some big flyers from the rough, so you've got to hit fairways and there's a lot of chances. Greens are quite soft, so that's not a surprise there's an 8-under.

Q. You'll be out early tomorrow morning and conditions this morning certainly were very favorable, weren't they?
MICHAEL HOEY: Greens were still really good, but a touch bumpy obviously this afternoon, so it will be really good tomorrow among. We had a little bit of rain, so it's probably a slightly harder draw.

Q. Frustrating day?
MICHAEL HOEY: No, it was still good. Could have been 6-under but I'm driving it good and giving myself a lot of chances. If you're on the fairway, there's quite a lot of short irons and the greens are sort, so you could do 6-, 7-under. I'm sure a lot of people have shot a lot worse than me, so even though I'm hitting a lot of fairways, that's the main thing.

Q. How much golf have you played over the years? More than most?
MICHAEL HOEY: It's a different setup with the new tee boxes. I would have played more at Castle Rock. Still a member there of the Caravan. But I always enjoyed it here. Watched the Close around here. More match-play golf I've played than stroke play around here.

Q. Rumour has it last week in Scotland, you had a bad end to your weekend, you lost a phone and a wallet and had all sorts of problems coming into this tournament.
MICHAEL HOEY: I would suggest, 15 years of travel, I haven't lost a phone and a wallet. Last Sunday did both of them. So yeah, old age or something. It's good; not being contactable, it's actually quite good.

Q. What's it like this week getting back, European Tour event, after Challenge Tour golf this year?
MICHAEL HOEY: It's phenomenal. It's like an Open. You get all the excitement. Holed a long putt and it just brilliant. Standard is still really good on the Challenge Tour.

Q. And the likes of this weekend, make sure tomorrow that you're around for the weekend? Do you feel you can give it a bit of a push?
MICHAEL HOEY: Yeah, definitely. I've got confidence with the driver. Not really far off line. I can if just keep my rhythm. It gets a bit quick at times, so keep my rhythm. My putter is more confident, as well, so we'll see.

Q. And you're giving yourself chances?
MICHAEL HOEY: Lots of chances. Those par 5s, if you're on the fairway, you can really do well on them. But at the same time, if you're off the fairway, par is probably a good score on some of them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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