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THE 146TH OPEN

July 21, 2017

Matt Kuchar

Southport, England

STUART MOFFAT: It's my pleasure to welcome Matt Kuchar back into the interview room. Matt is currently sitting in third place with 4-under par.

Matt, the playing conditions looked a bit tougher out there today. Can you give us a thought on your second performance.

MATT KUCHAR: Conditions were really hard today, certainly what we expect coming over here, having some really challenging, trying conditions. Nearly opposite wind of what we had yesterday. So the course played completely differently. And this wind, it felt like every hole was a crosswind hole. It felt like you had to play for so much curve on the ball. The wind was so strong. It was quite a trying, challenging day.

Q. Rickie Fowler says he thinks this is the hardest course on the Open rotation, would you agree with him?
MATT KUCHAR: I find Carnoustie to be the hardest on the rotation. So my answer is, no (laughter).

Q. What are the particular difficulties of this course?
MATT KUCHAR: I think this is a very good, fair -- it's a great golf course, and it's a very fair test of golf. I think you have a lot of bunkering, and I think the more pot bunkers you have, the harder. There's certainly plenty out here, but they stagger them well. You can figure out if the left or right side of the fairway is the place to avoid them. Greens tend to be on the same level with the approaches, so you can run a ball up. They give you room in front of the greens. Some of the shorter holes, the greens are perched up, which rightfully so, we are coming in with shorter irons. You should be able to hold the green with a shorter iron.

I think it's just a well designed, very fair test of golf. And certainly a demanding test of golf. But I'm really enjoying my couple rounds here at Birkdale.

Q. Can you give us a sense of how far left, how far right you're aiming from the flag on a different hole?
MATT KUCHAR: What stood out to me the 12th hole, it was a par3. I think it was playing about 162 yards today. Wind was in off the left. I pulled 5-iron. And there's a hill right of the green with nasty, weedy grass that you just don't want to be in. So I must have aimed 30 yards left of the pin into the crowd, hit a shot, started at the crowd, and stayed at the crowd for a long time before finally the last, I'd say, 20 yards started drifting over, and ended up in the middle of the green.

There's a whole lot of trouble to be had and trying to hit solid shots that the wind is going to affect the least is challenging. And even with -- I feel like I hit that shot on 12, I feel like if there was no wind it would have gone dead straight; it probably moved 30 yards. It's really tricky, really trying to try to figure out.

Q. Are you looking forward to kicking back this afternoon and seeing just how much the wind blows for the later guys?
MATT KUCHAR: A hundred percent. I think that's one of the cool things over here, whether it's Thursday or Friday, whatever your morning round is, getting to go back to the room, put on the TV and watch the guys play in the afternoon, and particularly in tough conditions. I think that's kind of what we know about The Open and I think that's what people enjoy about the British Open is watching the hard wind, the rain, the guys just trying to survive out there. Today is my day. I get to kick back in the afternoon and watch the guys just try to survive is pretty much all you can do.

Q. Four bogeys today I think, were any of them what you'd describe as soft bogeys? And secondly, as annoying as making a bogey can be, how do you condition your mind to not be under the circumstances?
MATT KUCHAR: It's going to happen. You hate to give away shots, particularly on some of the soft ones. 16, I hit a great drive, had a 9-iron in. Aimed again a good ways left of the pin. This one I would have hit a bit of a draw but still assumed the wind would overtake it and it did not. Ended up in the left bunker and made a bogey. But with a 9-iron that was frustrating.

8th hole, it's a hard, hard hole. I was just in front of the green in two and hit a lousy chip. Expected to at least give myself a better look than I did. Those two were tough.

And the 18th hole, I decided to take driver out off the tee. I thought -- the bunker I was really worried about was the third bunker on the left. I hit it at the right bunker trying to hold it and not let it ride the wind and possibly run into the left bunker. And the drive held, and it just ended up dead straight at the bunker on the right, which I never thought the ball wouldn't curve, but it didn't. And it ended up in the bunker and there's a shot penalty and a bogey to finish.

But the one probably the most frustrating was 16 where I hit a fairly good drive.

Q. How many times do you have to update your predicted game plan?
MATT KUCHAR: I don't come in with a game plan, so I did not have to make any changes. Each hole presents new challenges and I wait until I get there to see what challenge is presented to me and try to make the best of it.

Q. When people talk about the U.S. Open and how tough it is, they basically say it's frustrating. There's a lot of consternation and angst among players. When they talk about The Open Championship and how tough it is, they say, this is what we come to expect, this is what people want to see. Why is this tough perhaps a little bit more understandable or accepting?
MATT KUCHAR: I think guys hate when good shots don't go rewarded. Certainly you kind of know over here when circumstances are really, really challenging and difficult, you get unlucky sometimes. You hate under perfect conditions knowing you hit the perfect shot and it gets penalised. I think you get frustrated. I don't know if -- expectations certainly change that way. There are a lot of unlucky bounces that happen here. But it's part of golf. I think it's more of an understood thing when you come over to the UK and play links golf.

Q. Given the conditions today, how would you rate Zach Johnson's 66 (inaudible)?
MATT KUCHAR: I did not see one. That's fantastic golf. Very, very impressive. I played with him Tuesday and knew he came off a great week last week. He's a guy, he's great at grinding, good at putting the ball in the fairway. And he must have done a good job of both today.

Q. What's more enjoyable for you, battling through a round like this and putting up a good number, or going home and watching the coverage on the television?
MATT KUCHAR: Being out there in the arena is exciting. Certainly once you've done it and get to watch, kind of icing on the cake, maybe. I've had a couple situations where it's been flip-flopped. I've had a couple where for instance I've sat out some morning matches in Ryder Cup matches. Watched it on TV. Just being a fan thinking, this is amazing. And to think to myself, holy cow, I'm going to go do that this afternoon, and a fun thought.

British Open, I don't know that the guys that watched this morning get to think, holy cow, this is going to be great. I get to go out and do this this afternoon. So in my situation having been out there, posted a nice round and now get to watch is fun.

Q. On 13 you stood up over a putt and sort of backed off. The wind was just insane at that point. Do you think there's any concern about balls moving on the greens as the day goes or was that just a one-off thing?
MATT KUCHAR: That was myself getting gusted off, just my balance got pushed around. I didn't see balls wiggle around or oscillate, probably not too far from it. I didn't see any. Of the course has some moisture on it, that helps. The greens are at a slow enough speed where it's still okay. I had a bunker shot, might have been that one on the 13th, I had a nice bunker shot. Looked like it was going to be a foot and a half away. And all of a sudden a gust of wind took it to four feet away, and you just know that those gusts can happen. Putting becomes awfully tricky. If they get up. If those gusts get strong enough, certainly it can blow a ball. Always a tricky thing to figure out stopping play for that. Because it's only the instant that it gusts that high, and then kind of backs down a bit, so it's a tricky deal. But certainly when it does get to where the ball won't stay in position you've got to call it. But I think the R&A has done a nice job with the setup. There's moisture, the greens can hold most of the balls.

Q. You mentioned 12 and you mentioned 18 in terms of your line off the tee. Were there any other shots today where you were lined up, took a lot of conviction to hit it?
MATT KUCHAR: There were lots. I think almost every hole felt like it was a heavy crosswind. It didn't seem like we had many, even just out of the quarter or more in or down. It seemed like it was almost on a 90 degree cross. So it just had to play a huge amount of push from the wind.

STUART MOFFAT: Thanks, Matt, for joining us.

MATT KUCHAR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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