THE 153RD OPEN

July 17, 2025

Aaron Rai

Mixed Zone

Q. Talk about the test out there for you and your game.

AARON RAI: Yeah, it's challenging out there. I think we were quite fortunate with the conditions. We didn't get as much rain as what was forecast, especially yesterday, but with the strong sideways winds and how firm the greens are, it just presents you with a lot of challenges and choices off the tee and into the greens with the shots you've got to play, where you've got to pitch it. It's just a real good test of golf, and the greens were actually pretty fast. I think they were running at close to 11. For the conditions, it was a good challenge out there.

Q. When you know it's going to be a good test, like you just said, what's the right attitude going into the day?

AARON RAI: I think you know it's going to be extremely hard. You know you're going to have some bad breaks. Hopefully you get a couple of good breaks. But I think just trying to accept those things, come to terms with whatever has happened and then just try and keep your focus and stay patient on what's ahead of you. It's a lot easier said than done, but I think that gets amplified at events like The Open and any of the major championships.

Q. How would you describe the pace of play out there today?

AARON RAI: I think it's tricky with the style of holes, especially early on. Hole No. 5 is a drivable par-4, so there's naturally a backlog there. Then you've got a par-3 straight after that and a par-5 that comes on hole 7. I think that just kind of stacks the groups.

Then it kind of backlogs a little bit from there. So it was a little on the slow side.

But naturally with the challenging condition, the challenging course, pace of play is going to be a little bit slower than normal.

Q. Is it hard to be patient with that pace or is that kind of ignored under these conditions?

AARON RAI: I think, again, same as the conditions and the golf course, that you have to be accepting of the things that come with it. Sometimes you're going to get a little bit behind the pace of play. You may have a couple of ball searches, a couple of bad holes, and then you just have to try and deal with those things with what comes at you. Yeah, it's just part of it at times.

Q. Can I talk to you about the experience of playing out there with these huge crowds. A lot of players have talked about it being their favourite Open Championship courses. What did you make of the experience out there in terms of the crowds and the support, particularly when the weather wasn't particularly good?

AARON RAI: Yeah, it was great. I think even through the different patches of weather, the crowds remained pretty constant. Very, very polite, as well. Cheer if you hit good shots, cheer if you hit pretty average shots, and if you hit a couple of bad ones, they're very respectful and polite, so it was a pleasure to play in front of them today.

Q. Your score has given you a great platform to round 2?

AARON RAI: Yeah, really good start to the week. Played really nicely. A lot of positives to take from it. Looking forward to just getting a little bit of rest, preparing for tomorrow and try and get a little bit of sleep. It's a pretty fast turnaround between now and starting tomorrow morning.

Q. We were talking about attitude earlier. With your physical preparation in terms of gym time, is it a couple hours before the round that you're working right now?

AARON RAI: Yeah, approximately. Probably 30 minutes or so of just stretching and mobility and warming up, and then around an hour and a half or so with putting, short game and driving range.

Q. Do you do anything special technique-wise for slow greens other than try to adjust?

AARON RAI: For this week with the higher winds forecast, especially compared to last week, just added a little bit more weight to the putter just to give it a little bit more speed off the face and a little bit more stability just in the windy and gusty conditions.