THE 154TH OPEN

July 16, 2026

Jordan Smith

Mixed Zone

Q. Jordan, you must be pretty pleased with that.

JORDAN SMITH: Yeah, I'm very, very pleased with that. It wasn't easy out there, even with the low winds that we had this morning. Yeah, I was really happy how I sort of stuck -- got to 1-over pretty early and then battled back nicely. Yeah, pretty happy.

Q. Any particular shots or holes that stood out for you there?

JORDAN SMITH: Not really. We just managed everything really well, judging how far the ball is going off the tee and the bounces you're getting into the green and sort of the flies you're getting out of the rough.

I think we just judged everything really well and holed a couple of nice putts. So it was good.

Q. What sort of score do you think there is out there potentially if somebody goes deep?

JORDAN SMITH: I'm not too sure. It's so tough to say. It's just the luck of the bounces really. Probably someone will finish with 6-, 7-under. There always is.

Q. What will you do now? Do you go have some food, get back on the range? How do you work things?

JORDAN SMITH: I think we'll take it pretty easy. Go and have some food, maybe hit a few putts. Don't think we'll go to the range, don't think I need to. Probably just hit a few putts and chill out, get in some AC.

Q. Everybody's talking here about how it takes driver out of your hand. Do you find that to be true also on this course?

JORDAN SMITH: I'm pretty confident with the driver. We hit a handful out there.

Q. What holes do you feel like are like, yes, we can do it here?

JORDAN SMITH: Again, it depends on the wind. We hit driver on 1 with the wind just off the right, perfect for that hole. But if you get wind off the left, not so perfect. It all depends on the wind.

Q. In terms of Bob MacIntyre was in here basically saying he's taking a cautious approach, coming up short on some holes, saying we'll do our best to make par but avoiding disasters. Is it a cautious kind of mindset?

JORDAN SMITH: Yeah, very much so. You've got to be very cautious because you can get a firm bounce and it could go into bunkers. If we're laying up short of the bunker and we're a bit like the club could get there, then we just go one less. There's no point risking that because then once you go in those bunkers, you're playing out sideways.

Q. I notice this tattoo. I really like it. Is there a story behind it, the triangles?

JORDAN SMITH: There is actually. Me and two other friends, who are both caddies actually, we went into London and had a bit of a boozy lunch. One of them said there's a really well-known tattoo shop up there. So we all got the same thing, Googling tatties for three friends, and triangles kept coming up.

We all went and got the same thing and don't regret it.

Q. How long ago was that?

JORDAN SMITH: Two years ago.