THE 153RD OPEN

July 20, 2025

Harris English

Mixed Zone

Q. No accidents here this week; there was a few elements, the course fitted you well. There was a plan this week. Talk about the plan, the strategy, and how it worked out.

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, Ramon and I did a great job of coming up with a strategy. He kind of knows how I operate. We had a good plan with the wind.

The first couple days of the practice round was the wind we played today, then the first couple days of the tournament was a different wind, and that's what happened out here. You've got to have a good plan for all different scenarios with the wind and what clubs you're going to hit off the tee, what lines you're going to pick, and I feel like we did a really good job of staying focused on those lines, and he did a good job of keeping me zoned in and locked in on those targets.

Q. The back nine, the last nine holes, things get emotional in a way. How do you control that? You get to 18, all the people, the crowds...

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, you semi-just learn how to block it out as much as you can and focus on seeing your shot and hitting your shot, and I feel like I did a really good job of locking in and zoning in.

Even though winning today was probably not attainable unless I shot 9-under, I felt like I needed a really good round and wanted to play well in the Open Championship and give myself a run.

I think my best finish was 14th in this tournament coming into this year, so I knew I could play better than that and wanted to play better than that. It was awesome to finish like that.

Q. Two majors, runner-up this year, and your position for the Ryder Cup is not bad at all. What are your expectations?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, losing to Scottie twice in two majors, the only guy to beat me at the PGA and this week, I'm playing some good golf. Just need to clean it up a little bit.

But one of my -- my two goals this year were to make it to the TOUR Championship and make that Ryder Cup team, and hopefully I've moved myself a little bit closer to that, and hopefully I can get in that top six to lock up a spot.

Q. You talked about yesterday your thoughts on Scottie and the way he's playing.

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it's incredible. I wasn't playing professional golf when Tiger was at his peak, early 2000s, mid 2000s. But it's pretty incredible. Just how good of a frontrunner he is. He's improved his putting. There's no stat that he's bad in. It's like, how do you beat this guy?

But he works so hard, and I see him in the gym all the time, see him practising. He's one of the hardest work I see I've ever seen, and to have No. 1 in the world working that hard, it just makes it that much harder to catch him. What he's doing right now is incredible.

Q. Talk about what you knew about Chris prior. Talk about what you've seen in his game and what he's done the last two weeks?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, he was awesome. Obviously what he did last week was awesome to see, going toe-to-toe with Rory at the Scottish Open, and I think this is his first time playing links golf. It's his first Open Championship. Obviously his ball flight suits this place. He can flight it, he can smash it. So it's awesome. I've played in, I don't know, nine or ten of these and finished 14th, and for him to first one finish third is pretty incredible. Got a heck of a game, and I know the best is in front of him. I don't know why it took him to long to play well out here.

Q. What's it like playing in a tournament like that where Scottie is so far ahead for so long?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it happened at the PGA as well.

Q. Is it difficult for the rest of you or what do you do?

HARRIS ENGLISH: You try and stay with your own game, stay with your strategy and do the best you can do and hope he falters and comes back to the field. It's not like I'm going to go out there and hit driver every single hole and go at every pin and try to shoot 10-under. I've got to pick my spots to be aggressive and just play my own game because there's a lot of World Ranking points, there's a lot of FedExCup points to play for, and I'm just trying to do the best I can with the strategy at hand and what I'm faced with on that hole.

Q. Because it's him, is there a big part of you that says, I can't win this?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, you can't say -- not saying I can't win. It's like I've got to go shoot 8- or 9-under today and play probably the best round of my life to be able to catch him. It's just amazing to see. The show he's putting on, the consistency he has is unbelievable.