THE 154TH OPEN

July 16, 2026

Pierceson Coody

Mixed Zone

Q. First experience at the links, no?

PIERCESON COODY: Yes.

Q. What worked for you today?

PIERCESON COODY: I saved quite a bit of shots. I was good around the greens. I made about two 15-footers to kind of really keep my round going when it felt a little stale from not quite hitting it exactly the way I wanted to, especially with my irons. Missed a couple of fairways with my irons. When you're hitting iron off the tee, you're trying to guarantee a ball on the fairway. Certainly would love to tighten up that 4- and 3-iron off the tee. Hopefully it kind of leads to a steady round again.

If I keep chipping and putting to this level, yeah, I have a good chance, and I can kind of fine-tune the ball striking.

Q. How do you prepare yourself for this week here? Who do you talk to? Your caddie is the one that has more information on how to play the links.

PIERCESON COODY: Yeah, it is very different, but at the same time, we kind of mapped out how far certain fairways are releasing, what kind of bounces we're getting depending on where the wind is into the green. Once you kind of map that out and accept those numbers for what they are, it just kind of comes back to hitting it solid, hitting the correct trajectory, whether you're riding or fighting the wind, and just kind of piecing those things together and try not to make it -- for it to be my first true links situation, try not to make it more than it is.

Q. You played at the U.S. Open and did quite well too?

PIERCESON COODY: Yes.

Q. Have you started to feel like this is where you should be, like in contention at a major?

PIERCESON COODY: Yeah, this is my third year on tour. I'm 26. I'm kind of hitting the stride of my -- peak stride of my career.

Yeah, I certainly feel like it's time to kind of get some pieces pulled together and start being able to contend. I believe that my good golf is good enough to contend even in the biggest tournaments.

Yeah, I'm not surprised, but I would try and put it all together and put it together after four days.

Q. Last thing in connection with that, does your vision of what you were thinking about would happen this week here is kind of what is happening right now?

PIERCESON COODY: Yeah, I didn't play well at the Scottish last week, but I certainly didn't feel like I was that far off. That was my first time coming to Europe, huge time change. Just a lot of nuances that I wasn't quite equipped for.

I feel a lot more comfortable this week, settled in. Yeah, it feels more like just normal golf now.