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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEX


July 26, 2012


Tony Johnstone


TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND

TONY JOHNSTONE:  Birdied the first and the front nine, I sort of kept picking one up and then dropping one, and then the back nine a lot of things came together, a lot of very good shots, two saves, one from the bunker and one on 15, the par3.  I knocked it down the bunker.
Just middle of the greens and holed a few putts.  Putted solid, which is something I haven't done really for two years; the putter has been ice cold.

Q.  One of those putts was at the last.
TONY JOHNSTONE:  I holed three or four of those today, which I literally haven't been doing for probably two years, my putting has been absolutely horrendous the last couple of years.  Lost my rhythm and stroke, and as I say, trying this new putter that just basically looks like a 3‑wood on the clubface.
Keith, Maxwell, the pro at Sunningdale, talked me into trying it a couple of weeks ago, took one look at it, and thought, that isn't going to work, and it did, so it's in the bag and behaving.

Q.  So looks ugly, but does the trick.
TONY JOHNSTONE:  Absolutely, yeah.  I think I had a girlfriend like that years ago.  But can't say that because my wife's over here (laughing).
It was just probably the most complete golf I've played in probably 18 months, two years, just struck the ball fantastically.  Funny enough, yesterday I didn't hit it great at all and just found something in the last five balls on the range last night.  Thought about it overnight.  Came out this morning and it was still working, and away you go, hallelujah.

Q.  Suggests you didn't come into this with a great deal of confidence.
TONY JOHNSTONE:  Funny enough, the last two weeks, the last month, I've absolutely striped it and I came here feeling really good.  In the Pro‑Am and practise round, I hit the ball very indifferently, and thought suddenly it's vanished overnight.
But this game is just about little tweaks and just finding a key thought that works, and I found it and hopefully it keeps working for the rest of the week, so feeling quite good.

Q.  How good is 3‑under around Turnberry in lovely conditions?
TONY JOHNSTONE:  I think 3‑under around Turnberry in any conditions is good, because this is one tough golf course.  There's not an awful lot of run on the fairways, and I'm going in with 3‑irons and 4‑iron and hybrids into quite a few of the holes.  You know, 3‑woods into some of the par3s.
So that's why a lot of the greens on this golf course are sort of bowl‑shaped, so there's no point going for flags because it ends up in the middle of the green anyway, so just decided I'm going to go for the middle of the greens for the first couple of rounds and see what happens.  Generally you end up with an uphill putt, too, so it's all work out quite nicely.

Q.  We listen to your words of wisdom every week and you're expounding on golfers playing well or indifferently‑‑
TONY JOHNSTONE:  Well, I think keeping playing is quite important, because I think it keeps your feet on the ground and it keeps reminding you just how tough this game is, because it's very easy to sit in the commentary box and berate bad shots.  You go, what the heck has he done there, there's an awful shot.  You tend to forget how difficult this game is, and I think that's why playing and doing commentary as a combination I think is a good thing in terms of my commentary, because I love doing it, but it keeps you sensible.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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