THE 154TH OPEN

July 17, 2026

Sepp Straka

Mixed Zone

Q. How does par feel today? It seems good for some people. Then there's Herbert, who's 8-under on the day.

SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, scoring conditions were definitely a lot better than yesterday afternoon. Yeah, I struggled today. I didn't play very well. I got up-and-down a lot. So I'm pretty happy with the score.

Q. Tell me about the conditions, how they're different. You said easier. What makes them easier?

SEPP STRAKA: We had way less wind. We had seven miles an hour for most of the day until the last maybe two, three holes yesterday was a steady 12, 13, somewhere in there.

Q. Do you feel like you've maybe earned that because the morning wave yesterday didn't have much wind either?

SEPP STRAKA: For sure, definitely. I feel like it's probably balancing out a little bit.

Q. I wanted to ask you. Right now you're in good position. If you finished in your position now, it would be your best major finish in a little while. Does something feel different now? Is there anything, or just I happen to be playing better this time?

SEPP STRAKA: No, I just made a few putts. I actually played terrible today. It was one of my worst ball striking rounds I've had in a while, and I've had some pretty bad ones here lately. No, just made a few putts.

Q. Not to put a fine point on it, but you've been so good the last two years. Majors have been like a little blip. It just doesn't seem it's at the same level you've played in the non-ones. You've had good majors before that. Is there anything in your head of why this is happening?

SEPP STRAKA: Not really. I think majors in general are hard to perform. Big fields. You have the best fields of the year. I don't really know. I think it's maybe a little bit random.

I don't hit it very far, so that definitely doesn't help. Most majors, I feel like, other than this one, generally you've got to hit it far, and I'm not a very long hitter. I've got to be on my game to play well in most majors.